The Hot Blog Archive for December, 2006
The British Are Coming
The nominations for the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards are in…
Of course, they are on a somewhat different scheudle than we are here, so noms for films like The Squid & The Whale , Good NIght, And Good Luck, and The Upside of Anger are to be found.
On the flipside, they could have nominated Peter O’Toole and didn’t, choosing Sacha Baron Cohen, Christian Bale, Jeff Daniels, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Griffiths, Toby Jones, James McAvoy, Timothy Spall, David Strathairn, and Forest Whitaker instead.
There is no Daniel Craig nod either. And given the love for Children of Men, I am surprised they went for Michael Caine in The Prestige instead of COM. (I am rooting for Nighy in Supporting, though Caine is great in both roles.) In the one category that has no Brit-specific version, screenwriting, it is interesting that 4 of 5 are non-Brits (3 American, 1 Mexican).
Also of interest, another Sacha Baron Cohen nod, another foreign language nod to Apocalypto, the inclusion of Paul Verhoeven’s Black Book, and a real opportunity for an upset win (in American eyes) in Loraine Stanley for London to Brighton, a black-hearted drama with a very raw, critic-friendly performance.
The big awards… which are split between “Film of the Year” and “British Film of The Year”… have The Queen as the only film in both categories and an embrace of the very American, but directed by a Brit, United 93 and the very Spanish Volver.
The Attenborough Award, British Film of the Year
Children of Men directed by Alfonso Cuaron (UIP/UK)
The Queen directed by Stephen Frears (Pathe)
Red Road directed by Andrea Arnold (Verve Pictures)
The Last King of Scotland directed by Kevin Macdonald (20th Century Fox)
The Wind That Shakes the Barley directed by Ken Loach (Pathe)
Film of the Year
The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese (Entertainment)
Little Miss Sunshine directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris (20th Century Fox)
Volver directed by Pedro Almodovar (Pathe)
United 93 directed by Paul Greengrass (UIP/UK)
The Queen directed by Stephen Frears (Pathe)
The group’s rep tells me the films eligible for nomination were those released in the UK between February 1, 2006 and February 11, 2007, the date of the Baftas.
Amongst the late year or last year films considered and snubbed for non-Brit awards were Babel, Dreamgirls, The Pursuit of Happyness , Flags of Our Fathers (but not Letters From Iwo Jima), Blood Diamond, Bobby, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Walk the Line, and Brick.
The rest on MCN
Borat Suing Fox
Sacha Baron Cohen says:
“Borat is also suing Fox. He thought he was part of a documentary. He didn
Friday Mornin' Comin' Down
Yes… it’s going to be a slow day and a slow week or two to come (thank God), so if you want to start a fire and cozy up to one another (put DOWN that machete!), here’s some space…
18 Comments »Lunch With David – Home A'Globe
Do they matter or do they not? Can’t we all just get along?
The clip
The Battle Of The Publicists
One thing that came out of this morning was a fight between Fox and Paramount about who has more cumulative nods (meaning all divisions)
Here
Sacha Speaks (via publicist)
STATEMENT FROM SACHA BARON COHEN
ON BEHALF OF RECEIVING TWO GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINATIONS FOR
BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN; FILM NOMINATED FOR BEST COMEDY OR MUSICAL; BARON COHEN NOMINATED FOR BEST ACTOR
20 Weeks – The Search For Meaning
Please note that this column was written and posted before this morning’s Globes noms… and I feel no need to change a word. Likewise, the coilumns were posted before nominations… the only adjustment was to add a “GG” notation on the nominees and to add the Oscar-impossible noms at the bottom of each list.
The Golden Globe Nominations mean nothing.
Nothing.
Okay
Let the Moron-A-Thon Begin!!!
The nominations
Before I say anything about The Golden Globes, just one word (?)… E!
Gotta give it to them for the courage to put amateurs who know nothing on TV.
“Dame Judi Dench… you know her from the Bond movies.” Oy.
Okay…
As always, the early results
The Great Ennio Morricone…
… wil finally get an Oscar. An honorary one. After 5 nominations and a legendary career, no one could be more deserving. And nice that Eastwood will be in the room, eh?
13 Comments »Six Hours Away
The Golden Globe noms are coming and there ain’t nothin’ we can do about it
11 Comments »Ray Pride Is Right!
Nothing says “Boyle was brilliant” better…
Slowing Down…
Yes, Virginia, it’s one of those days…
Feel free to talk amongst yourselves, but here are a couple of small topics…
The Loss Of Peter Boyle.
He hasn’t been in great shape for a while. But it is still sad when someone wonderful is gone. Both Frankenstein and His Bride went too early.
Great Stocking Stuffer
Casting vets Janet Hirshenson and Jane Jenkins have a book out called “A Star Is Found: Our Adventures Casting Some of Hollywood’s Biggest Movies” and it’s a very easy, fun read with a lot of interesting info. The style – ghosted by Rachel Kranz – is a topic for every chapter and each woman offering a few hundred words on the subject, followed by the other, then back, and so on. There is plenty of inside stuff on films from Harry Potter to Parenthood to films from this year like Poseidon, The Da Vinci Code and The Holiday. They do pull punches and don’t name actors who might be embarrassed by some stories, but there is enough here for any civilian and really, people in the biz who are not just looking for a nasty exchange. The back and forth format is sometimes distracting, as it will cut one of the women off mid-story and then you have to catch up when it starts again. But it is a cover-to-cover read and that is a high compliment from me indeed.
Dinosaurs Gather To Look At Their Reflections In The Tar And Complain About The Discovery Of Fire
Horn, Goldstein, Waxman, and Holson got together at some event to talk about “their” beat for a cultural group called Zocola. It’s unfortunate that the organizers didn’t have the balls to include some of us who kick their asses up and down the beat week after week… and I’m not just talking about snarky headlines. This way, neither team was challenged in any way to explain how the floor is dissolving below them with anything other than the same old fine whines.
Patrick Goldstein, who I have long said is smarter than the work he’s been doing lately (the Irwin Winkler Academy honor push that was manifested in yesterday’s kiss-up column didn’t take at the Academy Board meeting last night… boo hoo), said something I agree with completely:
Goldstein: “It is almost impossible to beat the Internet at straight news”
Another BFCA Miss
It finally hit me when I was discussing with Academy members this morning how The Lives of Others is amongst their favorite films of the year, not just foreign language, that in spite of 6 nominees, we in the BFCA failed to nominate.
Why?
Because unlike all but one of the nominees – Apocalypto – it was not in our DVD collection this season. Sony Classics missed out. Even though they sent out other films, they didn’t send that one. (Or Black Book, which BFCA may well have gone for also) Part of the value of sending the DVD is seeing and appreciating the movie and part of it is simply looking at the pile of more than 60 films sitting on the shelf when you need to come up with 3 to vote for and picking from what is in front of you