Let The Awards Season Begin!

[MacGuffin]

The 'best' season begins
National Board of Review picks its winners; Spirit Award nominees are announced.

The abbreviated movie awards season officially kicked off Wednesday when the National Board of Review named Clint Eastwood's emotional drama "Mystic River" the best film of 2003, and the Independent Feature Project announced nominations for the Independent Spirit Awards.

Irish director Jim Sheridan's semi-autobiographical drama "In America" led the Spirit nominations with six, including best feature, director and best female lead, for Samantha Morton.
 
The National Board of Review, comprising educators, writers, film historians and film students, is the first organization to announce its picks for the year.

The board selected Sean Penn best actor for his performances in "Mystic River," as a grieving father out to avenge the murder of his daughter, and in "21 Grams," where he played a critically ill mathematician.

Diane Keaton won as best actress for her comedic performance in the coming "Something's Gotta Give," which casts her as a divorcée who falls in love with her daughter's boyfriend (Jack Nicholson).

The movie awards season is abbreviated this year because the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has moved the Academy Awards from late March to February — the first time in 62 years that the Oscars will be held in February.

And independent studios are holding their breath to see if the MPAA's controversial ban on screeners to all except the Academy's 6,000 voting members will hurt indies' Oscar chances.

The board also named Alec Baldwin best supporting actor for his role in the drama "The Cooler," as a ruthless Las Vegas casino operator, and Patricia Clarkson was voted best supporting actress for the comedies "Pieces of April" and "The Station Agent."

Edward Zwick was honored as best director for his lavish historical epic "The Last Samurai," which opens Friday.

Anthony Minghella won best adapted screenplay for the Civil War romance "Cold Mountain," which opens on Christmas, and Sheridan and his daughters Naomi and Kristen took original screenplay honors for "In America."

The cast of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" won best ensemble, and Paul Giamatti ("American Splendor") and Charlize Theron ("Monster") received the nods for breakthrough performance. Vadim Perelman was chosen for best directorial debut for "House of Sand and Fog."

Rounding out National Board of Review winners were "Finding Nemo" for best animated film, "The Barbarian Invasions" for best foreign film, "The Fog of War" for best documentary and "Angels in America" for best cable movie or miniseries.

The awards will be handed out Jan. 13 in New York City.

In addition to "In America," the IFP Independent Spirit Awards nominees for best feature are "American Splendor," whose five nominations also included best actor for Paul Giamatti; "Lost in Translation," which also earned nominations for Sofia Coppola as director and screenwriter and Bill Murray as best actor; "Raising Victor Vargas," which included a nomination for best director for Peter Sollett among its five; and "Shattered Glass," which was also nominated for best screenplay for Billy Ray.

Films nominated for Spirit Awards were selected by 11-person committee including IFP/Los Angeles Executive Director Dawn Hudson and Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan.

The awards will be handed out Feb. 28 at a ceremony on the beach in Santa Monica.

2004 INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS

BEST FEATURE

American Splendor; Producer: Ted Hope
In America; Producers: Jim Sheridan, Arthur Lappin
Lost in Translation; Producers: Sofia Coppola, Ross Katz
Raising Victor Vargas; Producers: Alain de la Mata, Robin O'Hara, Scott Macaulay, Peter Sollett
Shattered Glass; Producers: Craig Baumgarten, Tove Christensen, Gaye Hirsch, Adam Merims

BEST DIRECTOR
Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini, American Splendor
Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation
Jim Sheridan, In America
Peter Sollett, Raising Victor Vargas
Gus Van Sant, Elephant

BEST SCREENPLAY
American Splendor; Writers: Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini
Lost in Translation; Writer: Sofia Coppola
A Mighty Wind; Writers: Christopher Guest & Eugene Levy and the cast of A Mighty Wind
Pieces of April; Writer: Peter Hedges
Shattered Glass; Writer: Billy Ray

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Bomb the System; Director: Adam Bhala Lough; Producers: Ben Rekhi, Sol Tryon
House of Sand and Fog; Director: Vadim Perelman; Producers: Michael London, Vadim Perelman
Monster; Director: Patty Jenkins; Producers: Mark Damon, Donald Kushner, Clark Peterson, Charlize Theron, Brad Wyman
Quattro Noza; Director: Joey Curtis; Producer: Fredric King
Thirteen; Director: Catherine Hardwicke; Producers: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Michael London

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000)
Anne B. Real; Director: Lisa France; Writers: Lisa France, Antonio Macia; Producers: Josselyne Herman, Luis Moro, Jeanine Rohn
Better Luck Tomorrow; Director: Justin Lin; Writers: Ernesto M. Foronda, Justin Lin, Fabian Marquez; Producers: Julie Asato, Ernesto M. Foronda, Justin Lin
Pieces of April; Writer/Director: Peter Hedges; Producers: Alexis Alexanian, John S. Lyons, Gary Winick
The Station Agent; Writer/Director: Thomas McCarthy; Producers: Mary Jane Skalski, Robert May, Kathryn Tucker
Virgin; Writer/Director: Deborah Kampmeier; Producer: Sarah Schenck

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Blue Car; Writer: Karen Moncrieff
Monster; Writer: Patty Jenkins
Raising Victor Vargas; Writers: Peter Sollett and Eva Vives
The Station Agent; Writer: Thomas McCarthy
Thirteen; Writers: Catherine Hardwicke & Nikki Reed

BEST FEMALE LEAD
Agnes Bruckner, Blue Car
Zooey Deschanel, All the Real Girls
Samantha Morton, In America
Elisabeth Moss, Virgin
Charlize Theron, Monster

BEST MALE LEAD
Peter Dinklage, The Station Agent
Paul Giamatti, American Splendor
Sir Ben Kingsley, House of Sand and Fog
Bill Murray, Lost in Translation
Lee Pace, Soldier's Girl

BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Shohreh Aghdashloo, House of Sand and Fog
Sarah Bolger, In America
Patricia Clarkson, Pieces of April
Hope Davis, The Secret Lives of Dentists
Frances McDormand, Laurel Canyon

BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Judah Friedlander, American Splendor
Troy Garity, Soldier's Girl
Djimon Hounsou, In America
Alessandro Nivola, Laurel Canyon
Peter Sarsgaard, Shattered Glass

BEST DEBUT PERFORMANCE
Anna Kendrick, Camp
Judy Marte, Raising Victor Vargas
Victor Rasuk, Raising Victor Vargas
Nikki Reed, Thirteen
Janice Richardson, Anne B. Real

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Elephant, Harris Savides
In America, Declan Quinn
Northfork, M. David Mullen
Quattro Noza, Derek Cianfrance
Shattered Glass, Mandy Walker

BEST FOREIGN FILM
City of God - (Brazil); Director: Fernando Meirelles
Lilya 4-Ever - (Denmark); Director: Lukas Moodysson
The Magdalene Sisters - (England/Ireland); Director: Peter Mullan
The Triplets of Belleville - (France); Director: Sylvian Chomet
Whale Rider - (New Zealand); Director: Niki Caro

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Fog of War; Director: Errol Morris
Mayor of the Sunset Strip; Director: George Hickenlooper
My Architect; Director: Nathaniel Kahn
OT: our town; Director: Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Power Trip; Director: Paul Devlin

[Jeremy Blackman]

Isn't it a little early?

[godardian]

Am I the only one finding Mystic River grossly overpraised? Stephen King was writing about it in EW recently, calling it "maybe the greatest movie of the past 30 years" while in the same column calling Kill Bill Vol. I "bleah."

Mystic River is (mostly) solid, (mostly) well-crafted and -acted storytelling. It is nowhere near the league of 21 Grams or The Barbarian Invasions, in my opinion.

[Gold Trumpet]

Am I the only one finding Mystic River grossly overpraised?

Absolutely. I liked the movie, but only some elements were really raising it above the typical crime movie. If I looked just at the story, it would be a dismal film. The acting, photography and effortless directing make the film good.

Nice to see City of God get at least one nomination from the Indepedent Spirit Awards. I almost hung them last year for not voting for it.

[soixante]

Eastwood's films are low-key, and take time to grow on you.  I liked Unforgiven when it first came out, but it wasn't until I saw it on video a few years later that I fully appreciated how great it is.  A Perfect World and Bridges of Madison County get better with time.

Eastwood's approach as director is the antithesis of the in-your-face visual style currently fashionable (as evidenced by the work of the Coen Brothers, Fincher, Lynch, Spike Lee).  Eastwood gives lots of breathing room for both the unfolding of the narrative and for the actors to find their characters.

I've only seen Mystic River once, and I didn't think it was a classic, however, the film continues to haunt me, and I think upon second viewing it will get better.

[xerxes]

Am I the only one finding Mystic River grossly overpraised? Stephen King was writing about it in EW recently, calling it "maybe the greatest movie of the past 30 years" while in the same column calling Kill Bill Vol. I "bleah."

Mystic River is (mostly) solid, (mostly) well-crafted and -acted storytelling. It is nowhere near the league of 21 Grams or The Barbarian Invasions, in my opinion.

i agree with you there... it was well made, well acted and overall pretty good, if a little uneven near the end... but the best film of the year it is not

[Jeremy Blackman]

Am I the only one finding Mystic River grossly overpraised?

No, you're definitely not. I actually disliked the movie outside of Sean Penn. Hopefully it's not like the Gladiator overration fiasco.

the word "overration" was coined by sphinx, and my apologies, but I feel it was appropriate in this instance

[modage]

Am I the only one finding Mystic River grossly overpraised?

Absolutely. I liked the movie, but only some elements were really raising it above the typical crime movie. If I looked just at the story, it would be a dismal film. The acting, photography and effortless directing make the film good.

me too. i liked it and everyone was really good.  but it just didnt blow my hair back or anything.  i couldnt help but thinking I was watching Sleepers again.

[nix]

Sleepers came to mind while I was watching it too. The casting of Kevin Bacon only added to that problem. Although, I thought Bacon's performance was maybe the beast in the film. I credit Penn for taking some really melodramatic material and making it watchable, and Robbins for making the obvious red harring somewhat compelling. But bacon, for me, was the only one to completely dissapear in the role. His was also the least melodramatic by far. Laura Liney and Marcia Gay Harden were both good, but given little to work with.

As for the film itself, I think it's definatly getting over praised. At the end of the day, it's simply a fairly engaging story with good performances. The melodrama is a bit too thick throughout most of the two hour plus running time (mostly due to the music. My gawd how fucking ham fisted!). The climax suprised me, but didn't leave my jaw on the floor.

[Gamblour.]

I'm glad to see a lot of these nominations, and these categories are awesome, I've never really paid much attention to the Spirit awards. All the Pieces of April nominations make me wish I had gone to that screening. Oh well.

I agree with everyone on Mystic River. Good, but the ending was terrible. Nothing amazing.

[kotte]

Lilya 4-Ever - (Denmark); Director: Lukas Moodysson

What the fuck...? he's from Sweden goddammit!

[Find Your Magali]

My pure speculation -- based on everything I've read -- is that the race for director and film and most Oscars will come down to Return of the King vs. Cold Mountain.

Cold Mountain needs to distance itself from the likes of Mystic River and House of Sand and Fog and position itself as THE film to go head-to-head with ROTK in a two-film. ... If those so-called "serious" films all get lumped together, they could cancel each other out and pave the way for a ROTK romp.

Still, I would bet we'll see another director/film split this year at the Oscars (which I would disagree with). ... I could see them giving Peter Jackson a director Oscar for his massive achievement, but giving the grand prize to Cold Mountain.

Alternately, it wouldn't surprise me to see a more "prestigious" director take home that Oscar, and then the popular film, ROTK, wins Best Picture, a la Gladiator a couple years ago.

Am I just talking out my ass? Of course. But that's what's fun about following the politics and prognostications of Oscar season.

[Rudie Obias]

Lilya 4-Ever - (Denmark); Director: Lukas Moodysson

What the fuck...? he's from Sweden goddammit!

what's wrong with sweden?  a lot of good things come from sweden like refused, the (i)nc, the cardigans and jonas akurlund.  i really wanted to see this movie but i missed my oppurtunity a while ago.  i guess that's why god invented video!

[SHAFTR]

My pure speculation -- based on everything I've read -- is that the race for director and film and most Oscars will come down to Return of the King vs. Cold Mountain.

Cold Mountain needs to distance itself from the likes of Mystic River and House of Sand and Fog and position itself as THE film to go head-to-head with ROTK in a two-film. ... If those so-called "serious" films all get lumped together, they could cancel each other out and pave the way for a ROTK romp.

Still, I would bet we'll see another director/film split this year at the Oscars (which I would disagree with). ... I could see them giving Peter Jackson a director Oscar for his massive achievement, but giving the grand prize to Cold Mountain.

Alternately, it wouldn't surprise me to see a more "prestigious" director take home that Oscar, and then the popular film, ROTK, wins Best Picture, a la Gladiator a couple years ago.

Am I just talking out my ass? Of course. But that's what's fun about following the politics and prognostications of Oscar season.

cold mountain isn't doing so great at rottentomatoes (although only 12 reviews are in)

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/ColdMountain-1128336/

[Gold Trumpet]

AFI's Top Ten Films (in alphabetical order):

-American Splendor
-Finding Nemo
-The Human Stain
-In America
-The Last Samuari
-Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
-Lost in Translation
-Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
-Monster
-Mystic River

What, they have problems with films that begin with letters in the last half of the alphabet? I've seen five of those films and only one really is worthy of the acclaim. I'm hopeful for American Splendor and In America.