'12 Years a Slave' Leads Spirit Nominations with 7; 'Nebraska' Takes 6
Awards to be presented March 1
Source: Variety
High-profile studios pics mingled with small-scale indies as Fox Searchlight's "12 Years a Slave" led nominations for the 29th Independent Spirit Awards with seven followed by Paramount Vantage's "Nebraska" with six.
In a year chock full of worth films, Film Indpendent voters spread the wealth among titles that are serious Oscar contenders as well as true indies with minimal budgets and a lack of marquee names.
"12 Years" was tapped for best feature, director for Steve McQueen, best actor for Chiwetel Ejiofer, supporting actress for Lupita Nyong'o, supporting actor for Michael Fassbender, cinematography for Sean Bobbit and screenplay by John Ridley. Nominated "12 Years" producers are Dede Gardner, Anthony Katagas, Jeremy Kleiner, McQueen, Arnon Milchan, Brad Pitt and Bill Pohlad.
"Nebraska" received noms for best feature, director Alexander Payne, best actor for Bruce Dern, supporting actress for June Squibb, supporting actor for Will Forte and best first screenplay for Bob Nelson. Producers are Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa.
Besides "12 Years" and "Nebraska," the best feature nominations went to "All Is Lost," "Frances Ha" and "Inside Llewyn Davis."
"All Is Lost" was also nominated for best director for J.C. Chandor, best actor for Robert Redford and best cinematography for Frank DeMarco for a total of four noms. "Blue Jasmine," "Fruitvale Station," "Inside Llewyn Davis" and "Short Term 12" each garnered three nominations.
Octavia Spencer and Paula Patton announced the nominations Tuesday morning at the W Hotel. The awards ceremonies will take place March 1 – the day before the Oscars – at the usual location in a massive white tent on Santa Monica beach.
Spencer, who starred in "Fruitvale Station," teared up for all three of its noms — best first feature for Ryan Coogler, best actor for Michael B. Jordan and Melonie Diaz for supporting actress.
Only films with budgets of $20 million or less are eligible for the Spirits. Focus Features' "Dallas Buyers Club" took two noms for Matthew McConaughey for best actor and Jared Leto for supporting actor. McConaughey won the Spirit's supporting actor trophy in February for "Magic Mike."
McConaughey was overlooked for his lead role in "Mud," which snagged a nod for director Jeff Nichols. The drama also won the Robert Altman award — bestowed upon a director, cast and casting director.
Other films with two noms included"Before Midnight," "Computer Chess," "Crystal Fairy," "Enough Said," "Frances Ha," "The Specatacular Now," "Una Noche" and "Upstream Color."
David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook" dominated the awards last February with trophies for best feature, actress for Jennifer Lawrence and director and screenplay for Russell.
2014 Film Independent Spirit Award Nominations:
BEST FEATURE
12 Years a Slave
All Is Lost
Frances Ha
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
BEST DIRECTOR
Upstream Color, Shane Carruth
All is Lost, J.C. Chandor
12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen
Mud, Jeff Nichols
Nebraska, Alexander Payne
BEST SCREENPLAY
Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen
Before Midnight, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater
Enough Said, Nicole Holofcener
The Spectacular Now, Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
12 Years a Slave, John Ridley
BEST FIRST FEATURE
Blue Caprice
Concussion
Fruitvale Station
Una Noche
Wadjda
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
In A World, Lake Bell
Don Jon, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Nebraska, Bob Nelson
Afternoon Delight, Jill Soloway
The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, Michael Starrbury
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD – (Best Feature made for under $500,000)
Computer Chess
Crystal Fairy
Museum Hours
Pit Stop
This is Martin Bonner
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Julie Delpy, Before Midnight
Gaby Hoffmann, Crystal Fairy
Brie Larson, Short Term 12
Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now
BEST MALE LEAD
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis
Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford, All Is Lost
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Melonie Diaz, Fruitvale Station
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Yolonda Ross, Go For Sisters
June Squibb, Nebraska
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
Will Forte, Nebraska
James Gandolfini, Enough Said
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Keith Stanfield, Short Term 12
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Sean Bobbitt, 12 Years a Slave
Benoit Debie, Spring Breakers
Bruno Delbonnel, Inside Llewyn Davis
Frank G. DeMarco, All Is Lost
Matthias Grunsky, Computer Chess
BEST EDITING
Shane Carruth & David Lowery, Upstream Color
Jem Cohen & Marc Vives, Museum Hours
Jennifer Lame, Frances Ha
Cindy Lee, Una Noche
Nat Sanders, Short Term 12
BEST DOCUMENTARY
20 Feet From Stardom
After Tiller
Gideon's Army
The Act of Killing
The Square
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM
A Touch of Sin (China)
Blue is the Warmest Color (France)
Gloria (Chile)
The Great Beauty (Italy)
The Hunt (Denmark)
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD – (Ensemble Cast)
Mud
17th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Toby Halbrooks & James M. Johnston
Jacob Jaffke
Andrea Roa
Frederick Thornton
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
My Sister's Quinceañera, director Aaron Douglas Johnston
Newlyweeds, director Shaka King
The Foxy Merkins, director Madeline Olnek
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Kalyanee Mam, A River Changes Course
Jason Osder, Let the Fire Burn
Stephanie Spray & Pacho Velez, Manakamana
Quote from: MacGuffin on November 26, 2013, 03:08:25 PM
Pit Stop
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Yen Tan
WRITER: David Lowery
PRODUCERS: Jonathan Duffy, James M. Johnston,
Eric Steele, Kelly Williams
This is Martin Bonner
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Chad Hartigan
PRODUCER: Cherie Saulter
BEST EDITING
Shane Carruth & David Lowery
Upstream Color
\m/
may i ask the rather strange question about how it feels to be twice nominated for other things but not once nominated for your own movie? i feel ok asking this q because i would've nominated atbs
(edit)
Quote from: MacGuffin on November 26, 2013, 03:08:25 PM
17th ANNUAL PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Toby Halbrooks & James M. Johnston
oooh i wonder why <3
i didn't realize sebastián lelio's gloria would be a crowd pleaser, but it appears to have become that. awesome. i think samsong should be hopeful about the hunt because it was nominated here. i know the foreign language movies votes have occurred at the academy, i wonder when they'll announce
good to see manakamana nominated
Ain't them bodies didn't cost more than 20 mil, did it?
The noms lists in all these awards reminds me of the xaxie nom process. The voting contingency latch onto a few films and then just keep nominating them in every category regardless of their actual achievement in any distinct category. Leaves no room for variety.
Not sure if it's laziness or that no one at xixax (or anywhere else apparently) watches movies anymore, but most awards these days feel like a prepackaged advertisement for the few films they've decided to get behind.
Not sure where I was going with this but I'll be watching ain't them bodies this week (woo!) and I'm ready for it to sweep the xaxies noms due to this phenomenon. let's all just try to watch blue is the warmest colour and the act of killing so we have the two best movies of the year in competition as well.
Subtle campaigning over.
Quote from: jenkins<3 on November 26, 2013, 03:18:14 PM
may i ask the rather strange question about how it feels to be twice nominated for other things but not once nominated for your own movie? i feel ok asking this q because i would've nominated atbs
Can't help but feel like it's a pointed reminder to stick to what I know I'm good at. Which I won't. : )
My feeling is that ATBS isn't sensational enough to demand attention, as UPSTREAM is, nor is it solid enough to get the more passive accolades that 12 YEARS A SLAVE or NEBRASKA get. It's not a movie that inspires, elicits or demands much passion.
Quote from: Ghostboy on November 27, 2013, 02:42:24 AM
My feeling is that ATBS isn't sensational enough to demand attention, as UPSTREAM is, nor is it solid enough to get the more passive accolades that 12 YEARS A SLAVE or NEBRASKA get. It's not a movie that inspires, elicits or demands much passion.
Even if one were to concede that, the fact that not one of your four main actors got nominated is an objective outrage.
Sight & Sound
The Act of Killing
Gravity
Blue is the Warmest Color
The Great Beauty
Frances Ha
A Touch of Sin
Upstream Color
The Selfish Giant
Norte, the End of History
Stranger By the Lake
Cahiers Du Cinéma
Stranger By the Lake
Spring Breakers
Blue is the Warmest Color
Gravity
A Touch of Sin
Lincoln
La Jalousie
Nobody's Daughter Haewon
You and the Night
La bataille de Solférino
New Yorker
1–2. "The Wolf of Wall Street" and "To the Wonder."
3. "Like Someone in Love."
4–5. "Computer Chess" and "Upstream Color."
6. "Night Across the Street."
7. "A Touch of Sin."
8. "Blue Is the Warmest Color."
9. "An Oversimplification of Her Beauty."
10–12. "Inside Llewyn Davis," "Sun Don't Shine," and "Ain't Them Bodies Saints."
glad to see the wolf of wall street is indeed firing off. and what's that mysterious movie at the end of the list
(edit)
should mention lowery co-edited sun don't shine and upstream color. he's gone so top shelf this year. he simply has (!)
For an European the award season is really a shitty thing, a lot of films who are considered to be in the race aren't yet released here. So you just have to base your predictions on what the critics say and not on your own viewing experience and thoughts.
i forget where the oscars thread is. there's an oscars thread, a golden globes thread, and a general awards thread? idk 'bout that
anyway. the oscars foreign shortlist:
Belgium, "The Broken Circle Breakdown," Felix van Groeningen, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker," Danis Tanovic, director;
Cambodia, "The Missing Picture," Rithy Panh, director;
Denmark, "The Hunt," Thomas Vinterberg, director;
Germany, "Two Lives," Georg Maas, director;
Hong Kong, "The Grandmaster," Wong Kar-wai, director;
Hungary, "The Notebook," Janos Szasz, director;
Italy, "The Great Beauty," Paolo Sorrentino, director;
Palestine, "Omar," Hany Abu-Assad, director.
broken circle breakdown was a blast hit. i missed it, frown. excited wkw was shortlisted, of course. there's the hunt. i like how the great beauty is being appreciated across the board. gloria where are you!?! the other movies are mysteries to me, not sure what they're about, i think foreign people are in them
Quote from: jenkins<3 on December 20, 2013, 12:13:31 PM
the other movies are mysteries to me, not sure what they're about, i think foreign people are in them
An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker is about someone that picks iron, the movie is an episode in their life.
The Missing Picture is about a picture that is missing.
Two Lives is about two people who are living, it is also about living twice.
The Notebook is about a book in which notes are kept.
Omar is about a fella who walks down the street collecting money but he doesn't announce himself, the only time it is known that he is approaching is when someone notices him and then they tell the neighbourhood that he is coming.
The Notebook is a movie about an emotionally unstable obsessive who refuses to let Rachel McAdams move on with her life. I think Rockford is in it.
^lol x2
my personal favorite la critic made his list. i mentioned him in the wolf thread. he didn't include wolf. related to what he's previously said, he tweeted "When I submitted that LAT top-10, I had not yet seen THE WOLF OF WALL STREET. Now I see it splattered like a paint ball over whole list."
spring breakers
upstream color
computer chess
frances ha
her
post tenebras lux
after tiller
the bling ring
ain't them bodies saints
a touch of sin
QuoteThe swooning romance of AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS, steeped in twilight Americana, touches the struggle & sacrifice of love at its purest.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-mark-olsen-best-films-2013-list,0,4127498.story#ixzz2o2xnnqsE
the theater that's good at playing movies no one else is playing, cinefamily, made a list and they're showing the movies. bolded parts where i'm all "hell yeah"
1) CUTIE AND THE BOXER (or as I like to call it, LOVE AS A ROAR!!!).
Any talented and intelligent woman who's fallen for an older, more established male counterpart in the field of her interest -- and I suspect this might have happened more than a few times on this planet -- will likely be drawn to the story of talented artist Shinohara Noriko. In her early twenties, Noriko married the much older, avant-garde, hard-drinking wildman Ushio Shinohara: a literally pugilistic painter who punched his canvasses with boxing gloves smeared in pigment, and soon found her life subsumed into his. After decades of letting her own artistic ambitions fall to the wayside as she became his de facto assistant, the film tracks their relationship as she tries to restart her artistic career, and find a "room of her own" -- or, at least a gallery. I'll let the feminists parse it out and pass judgements, but anyone interested in male-female relationships between strong personalities will likely find Noriko and her husband's story fascinating.
Winner of the documentary directing award at Sundance last year, Cutie and the Boxer lacked a "fit in the palm of your hand" synopsis that would easily sell it to arthouse audiences (just look at me struggle in the above paragraph)...and surprise, surprise, it didn't really sell. Who is cutie? What kind of boxer? The little cigar-chomping, carny-barking movie mogul I carry inside me wanted to rename it, to help capture the kind of complicated, antagonistic, tough view of the love/marriage between two artists that I think are the heart of the film's universal appeal.
My new name? Well, at one point -- perhaps in my favorite scene in the movie -- unbeknownst to her husband, she has renamed his art book from the simpler, punchier "ROAR!!!" to "LOVE IS A ROAR!!!" She has a great explanation: "Why? Because I think so: Love is a roar. I found out by experience in my life. Love is a roar." Now you want to see it? Then you should come tomorrow afternoon, for not only will filmmaker Zach Heinzerling be there, but the Shinoharas will be there IN PERSON as well!
2) GIMME THE LOOT
I'm not knocking your Drinking Buddies and Short Term 12s (I liked both), but if you're gonna take a taste of just one little, itty-bitty, low-budget, relationship-based, SXSW-style, naturalistic New York indie flick, I think Gimme The Loot is the crowd-pleaser for you. With a wisp of a heist-like Macguffin to keep your classic narrative needs occupied, you'll be charmed, amused, and maybe moved, as our endearing and scrappy teen protagonists bop around the five boroughs, have various picaresque and romantic misadventures, and maybe find out a little about their own feelings -- all while planning to graffiti-bomb the Mets' famous "apple" . I can't picture anyone finishing this movie without a smile on their face, unless their paralyzed face muscles have been over-Botoxed...by LIFE.
3) COMPUTER CHESS
Returning from Sundance one year ago, Computer Chess was certainly the film we most wanted to talk about. With its nerdcore aesthetics par excellence in place -- complete with a perfectly recreated '70s B&W PortaPak video look, and gaggles of perfectly-cast-and-costumed, four-eyed computer jockeys that were downright Tumblr-iffic in their consistently pleasing, unified look -- it had some pop appeal. But it's the laid-back, off-the-cuff surrealism, and the Altman-like diagonal wanderlust that make Computer Chess the oddball artfilm film we thought would connect with a younger arthouse audience -- if only they got their eyeballs on it. No film released in 2013 comes even close to its wholly unique balance between playful emotional resonance and keen aesthetics - and no other indie film in recent memory evokes the warm feelings of a bygone era with such empathetic zeal.
4) THE ANGELS' SHARE
OK, look, it's absolutely a minor Ken Loach film -- understood. But Ken Loach is great! I think I might just put his whole career on my "underrated and overlooked" list for all time. To me, it's weird fate he hasn't achieved the kind of pathological pantheon status that keeps foolios giving rave reviews to every Godard flick that comes out -- even if Godard shoots it on his iPhone and perversely withholds the subtitles ('cause he doesn't give a shit about you.)
If you fall for Loach, you'll find his formal approach is as consistent in its own way as Ozu's or Bresson's, for, like a lot of stubborn stylists, it's 'cause he's slowly trying to climb the Mt. Everest of perfection. Unfortunately, it's the kind of perfection easiest to overlook -- just one right choice after another. The guy's almost 80, and he still cranks out small miracles from the working class realism factory almost every year -- all with a range of emotion and humanity that produces laughs and tears in equal measure, with nary a cheat. Even in a "warmhearted" comedy mode, Loach here tosses off a detailed, realistic courtroom confrontation between a thug and his former victim, on that has the emotional wallop of a therapeutic breakthrough -- and that's just to set up a backstory for our protagonist.
5) PASSION
With a four-week theatrical release grossing just under $100k, Passion may be the worst received film of Brian De Palma's career -- he's clearly not a player in the American cinematic landscape anymore. And there was certainly was no buzz for the film; at the packed screening I attended at Toronto, the only audience sound to be heard was the quiet shuffling of attendees towards the exits, as one onscreen absurdity compounded upon another as witnessed by humorless stone faces. But I thought it was a hoot. It's for any De Palma fan that misses the kind of cartoonish fever dreams of sex and violence he concocted back in the '80s and '90s (think Raising Cain and Body Double), films with complicated plots that don't weave together seamlessly, but rather melt together into sticky thematic messes -- with characters that are morasses of madness and Freudian freakouts, and with cinematic setpieces that erupt with all the subtlety of money shots.
I'm not saying Passion's as winning as those vintage De Palma fever dreams. There's a general out-of-touchness that would be touching if De Palma wasn't such a misanthrope. and there's a lack of concern for the actors' performances -- the kind that always somewhat ran throughout his career, but here has reached near-catastrophic proportion. But for those of us who loved all those crazy flicks, and waited/waded through Redacted and Black Dahlia, it's nice to see our favorite movie maniac back in action -- and it's certainly a pretty good time at the movies.
6) PAIN & GAIN
Bret sez: "Yes, we hear your cries. This most recent entry in the Michael Bay canon does sit askew from the rest of the films in our year-end roundup -- for how could the man who's THE very representation of the modern Hollywood machine be considered overlooked? That's it exactly, though: the surface fact that he's made enough gargantuan CGI spectacles in a row to last a lifetime was the reason why a lot of movieheads still haven't seen Pain & Gain -- and in the process, they've missed out on a film that has as many laughs as Hot Fuzz, and as much rad, explosive razzmatazz as any old-school actioner like Speed or Lethal Weapon.
No robots or Carl's Jr. tie-ins here -- just 'roided-out, dumb hulks saying a rapid-fire stream of very funny things, and getting themselves tied up in an insane, barely-based-on-a-true-story plot of murder, extortion and other frothy stuff. Plus, the chemistry between co-stars Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg, and Anthony Mackie is impeccable. It says something about the age we're in that what might've been considered twenty years ago as "massive" and "stupid" comes off today as a relatively grounded character study -- but make no mistake, this overheated blockbuster tastes not of Mountain Dew-flavored Doritos, but rather of the finest In 'N Out Burger, Animal-style."
7) LAURENCE ANYWAYS
We all worked together on this list -- but this one is the only one I haven't seen -- so here's Bret again:
"There are enfants terribles -- and then there are infants. Quebecois actor/director Xavier Dolon has, at the incredibly young age of 24, helmed four feature films (with a fifth reportedly already underway) equally hyper-stylish, deeply emotional, packed with impeccable music choices, and displaying a shocking maturity. Quickly becoming one of Canada's most prominent filmmakers ever, Dolon is refreshing, as he builds an alternate universe that feels hermetically sealed and fully realized. Across the near-three-hour running time of his third feature Laurence Anyways, Dolon shows off a keen sense of epic storytelling: we witness fifteen years in the romantic life of a schoolteacher taken over by his emerging transsexualism, and the girlfriend who can't ever quite deal with the emotional upheaval. Told in sweeping, novelistic strokes, this is Fassbinder and Cassavetes pressure-cooked into a dense, meaty stock.
On top of hitting a plethora of affecting notes, never have we seen such dedication to Nineties period detail. Every haircut, every car, every sweater, and every scarf is all correctly in place, but Dolon smartly never crams it down our eyeholes, instead leaving it to the attentive viewer to spot how well all these items color the background -- or, indeed, the foreground, during one particularly vibrant fantasy sequence when a wintery sky rains a department store's worth of womens' garments upon a smalltown highway.
For all the hype, articles written about Dolon and goodwill built up amongst his growing fanbase, pretty much no one at all saw Laurence Anyways in a theater here in America. Was it a marketing failure, the running time, the queer content, all of the above? Whatever the case, the film came and went with zero fanfare, and even less residual effect on the American arthouse public. This kind of ambitious, playful moviemaking deserves to be rewarded, though, and marks the beginning of our love affair with this major talent."
8) SIGHTSEERS
One more from Bret: "Specializing in weirdos, whackos, wiccans and hatchet men, Britain's Ben Wheatley has, much like Laurence Anyways's Xavier Dolon, become a truly vibrant film artist to watch in just a handful of years. His movies are a mad buffet of the murderous and the mundane, and none better illustrate this then Sightseers, the outrageous serial-killing satire released stateside this year. Paired perfectly, co-stars/co-writers Alice Lowe and Steve Oram are a daft shut-in and a rage-filled bloke on holiday in the English countryside. In this uproarious vision of literal suburban hell, they dispatch a gruesome demise first to any annoying posh yuppies in their overly souped-up RVs, then to pretty much anyone who crosses their path at the slightest provocation. Working as a gigglefest cross between Withnail & I and Henry: Portrait Of A Serial Killer, Sightseers constantly rides the daring knife-edge of stark violence in contrast to its astute observational humor, giving it an unpredictable flavor so desperately lacking in a lot of today's big-screen comedies."
9) THIS IS MARTIN BONNER
Aww -- Martin Bonner. It's movies like these that make round-ups like this worthwhile. It took not one, but two Kickstarter campaigns to get this tribute to sad dads everywhere onto the screen, and it's told with a steadfast restraint and minimalism that belies its genuine emotionality. It's set in Reno, NV, and the town's limbo-like qualities are perfectly captured as a backdrop for two fathers, each completely isolated from their kids. One's a newly-minted ex-con, and the other's an exiled church official who, after a divorce highly unliked by his congregation, must start over as a job counselor for recently released offenders. It's a tearjerker, really, and a good one, but one that doesn't shed a lot of tears for itself; director Chad Hartigan knows it's a lot more powerful to see people who try not to cry, and let the audience do it for them. We're having the director out for this screening.
10) AFTERNOON DELIGHT
I won't deny my eye was caught when this modest festival dramedy graced Tarantino's "top 10" list of 2013 -- though with Frances Ha, Swanberg's Drinking Buddies and Blue Jasmine on there as well, I think QT's taste may now be running far more to the mature, relationship-oriented side of the spectrum than any of us would think. Well, here was someone else's list working like a charm, 'cause after checking out Afternoon Delight, I was more than charmed by the steady wit and humanity of filmmaker Jill Soloway (whose background includes exec-producing Six Feet Under, among many other projects).
Afternoon Delight is a kind of re-gendered reworking of Love in the Afternoon, Eric Rohmer's beautiful examination of a married man's sexual midlife crisis (and a film that inspired Drinking Buddies as well, clearly), but here it's lead actress Kathryn Hahn who needs to fill her joyless afternoons with something -- more. Also toying with the housewife/whore relationship, Hahn becomes fascinated, and drawn into the life of a stripper she meets and befriends, played by latest ubiquitous indie-stalwart Juno Temple.
And if there's any single reason to do so, I fell in love with Afternoon Delight (which has many fine qualities) through Juno Temple's miracle of a performance -- there's a truism that great dumb blondes are always played by the smartest women (Judy Holliday had a 150 IQ or something, Lisa Kudrow's medical degree background, etc.), and there's something so incredibly precise and well-observed about every one of Temple's line-readings that I found myself laughing at nearly everything word that came out of her mouth.
I noticed the reviews of Afternoon Delight weren't all as strong as I would have thought, and I detected a certain ad hominem quality to the negative ones; people seemed upset at merely the portrayal of a relatively wealthy, L.A. Jewish woman's emotional life that wasn't grossly satirical. But I thought its emotions were real and earned, as were the laughs; I've already found myself recommending this to a gaggle of friends who missed it -- and now you.
[gimme the loot trailer:]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyBGkojSUvE
I like your list Jenkins, I got my eyes on Computer Chess almost instantly after finding the thread and I absolutely loved it.
However it's the only movie on the list that I've seen besides Laurence Anyways, I'll start with Martin Bonner tonight.
Making these lists reaffirms how we need a really good comedy soon (cough). Soon. A really good one.
2014 DGA Award Nominations
ALFONSO CUARÓN - Gravity
PAUL GREENGRASS - Captain Phillips
STEVE McQUEEN - 12 Years A Slave
DAVID O. RUSSELL - American Hustle
MARTIN SCORSESE - The Wolf of Wall Street
I generally hate the Daily Mail unanimously and in every regard, but I just saw this and I thought it was interesting enough to share (although it probably doesn't tell us that much we hadn't already expected). Highlights mine.
QuoteNext month, all eyes will turn to the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden for the glittering annual Bafta film awards ceremony.
On February 16, the great and the good of the film world will walk the (usually somewhat soggy) red carpet, and prizes will be handed out for Best Actor and Actress, Best Director and, the biggie, the Best Film of 2013.
A Bafta is one of the most prestigious prizes in the business, and winning one represents the pinnacle of most people's careers. Even being nominated can catapult you into the major league.
And so you would imagine that the 6,500-strong voting membership of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts has a thoughtful, fair and well-considered procedure for choosing the five nominees in each category (announced last Wednesday) and then for picking the ultimate winner.
You might be surprised.
As a Bafta voter for many years I can reveal that the voting process is based less on artistic merit than on a combination of coercion, trend-following and pot luck.
Here's how it works. Maybe 100 films released over the past 12 months have a realistic chance of winning a Bafta, and probably 70 to 80 of those are released in the last two months of the year.
Distributors seem to think Bafta voters have short memories and, given the average age of the Bafta voter — there are a lot of retired film people in the Academy — they might be right.
So, around November, you start getting invited to screenings and Q&A sessions with cast and crew. Gone are the days of the lavish dinners and all-expenses-paid jollies — but you are certainly looked after. A Mayfair hotel. A complimentary glass of champagne. Not an inducement, of course. But we hope you enjoyed the film.
These events are expensive to put on. So already the field of competitors is being narrowed down to the Hollywood studios with their big marketing budgets.
They will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars putting adverts in the trade press, targeting voters with what are known as 'For Your Consideration' ads — inviting academy members to consider voting for their films and their stars. How can a low-budget independent film compete against that?
And while everyone wants to see films on the big screen, that's not always possible. Not everyone lives in London, for one thing.
So, as the year draws to a close, you start receiving 'screeners'. These DVDs are one of the great perks of being a Bafta member, and mean you can watch the main awards contenders in the comfort of your own home.
But still, you now have 50 or 60 films to get through. In less than a month. With Christmas in the middle. And a deadline of January 3 to vote for your five nominations in each category.
It's just not possible to watch them all. So which ones rise to the top of the pile? The ones you've already heard about. And the ones that have already started winning.
From late November onwards, reviewers and film critic groups start to publish their 'Top 10' lists. The New York Film Critics Circle is an early big one at the start of December, followed by the American National Board Of Review a few days later, and the Golden Globe nominations a week after that.
(Can you see a pattern emerging? The Americans are already setting the pace.)This year, films such as 12 Years A Slave, Gravity and American Hustle got a lot of early momentum. Other much-hyped films such as The Great Gatsby or August: Osage County started to fall away.
Lupita Nyong'o from 12 Years A Slave was hailed early on as a shoo-in for Best Supporting Actress, and now looks set to claim the Bafta. Old favourite Bruce Dern was hailed the comeback king for his Best Actor role in the little-seen Nebraska, and sure enough he has bagged a Bafta nomination.
So, very quickly, the front-runners are anointed. And they ride that wave all the way to the Baftas and beyond.
The point is clear. We're sheep. And we follow the sheep in front of us. And the little guys fall by the wayside.
But the days are still ticking by, and you still have all these films to watch, and you've been meaning to get to them but you can't, and there are all these obvious front-runners . . .
And so you do it. You vote for a film you haven't seen.
Let's be clear. Bafta voting guidelines state explicitly that you must only vote for films you have seen. Which makes perfect sense. But I've done it. And I bet everyone else has, too. You vote for the ones you think are going to win.
It's why the same old names appear year after year.
Judi Dench could blow her nose and she'd get nominated (she famously won a Bafta for her eight minutes of screen time as Elizabeth I in Shakespeare In Love).
Emma Thompson, check. Tom Hanks, check. Kate Winslet, hmm, she wasn't in a movie this year, can I vote for her anyway?
Are these really the crowning performances of their careers? No, but they'll get nominated anyway.
And because we're British we'll throw a few bones to British films such as Philomena (about a woman's search for her long-lost son) or the motor-racing drama Rush — both wonderful movies, as it happens, but a little national pride goes a long way at the Baftas.
Voting is done online now, and it takes five minutes. Click, click, click. I voted for Cate Blanchett because apparently she's amazing in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine.
And it'll be great if she turns up to the awards. And having Woody films on the shortlist makes Bafta look smarter.
Cate's practically British anyway. And I'm sure I'll get round to seeing it one day.
I voted for Martin Scorsese. I haven't seen The Wolf Of Wall Street but everyone knows Scorsese is a film-making genius and I have no doubt that his latest is up to his usual breathtakingly high standard.
Click, click, send. It's that easy.
You back winners, and winners are the ones with momentum, and momentum is generated by marketing muscle, pure and simple.
Hang on, you say. How does The Artist, a French black-and-white film with no dialogue, win the Bafta for Best Picture in 2012? Exactly the same way, with momentum.
The king of the 'Awards Push' is American mogul Harvey Weinstein, who, along with his brother Bob, has helped his films win 75 Oscars in the past 20 years.
He saw The Artist, bought it, and ran a textbook campaign, pitching it as 'The Little Film That Could'. Boy, could it ever.
There are two problems at play here. The first is this insistence on pushing out every quality movie in the last two months of the year. It overloads us, and leaves cinemas empty of decent material the rest of the time.
The Olivier Theatre Awards, the Costa Book Awards, the Turner Prize for art can all take a year's worth of work and examine it in a more considered fashion, and with an element of perspective. Can't the film industry do the same?
But the second is more worrying. Bafta is still happy — desperate even — to be seen as the Oscars' younger brother, the penultimate awards ceremony in a months-long bandwagon leading up to the big daddy.
So Hollywood stars turn up to a ceremony they might otherwise avoid, and TV ratings boom.
It's why we work to these crazy timelines, why we still vote for so many American movies in the British Academy Awards, and why relatively few home-grown films get recognised.
Surely we are a big enough country to define for ourselves what is worthy of praise, rather than following the lead of the Americans?
But maybe the system does work, after all. I voted for 12 Years A Slave in several categories and I confidently predict it will win big at both the Baftas and the Oscars.
As it should — considering it's the best film of the year. At least, so I'm told.
And, in order to live with myself after just copying and pasting something from the Daily Mail: This. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI)
tonight the academy counts the votes for nominations. the situation is what you'd expect: the people working on counting the vote can't bring in their phones, they can't leave for places like not even the nearby cvs, and they work all night and don't leave until the announcement tomorrow. i'm going to ask why the counting takes so many hours. they should go full internet. this year the academy introduced online voting, and assigned people to work a beginning help line because duh. overshare --> lunch is at 3:45 am <--overshare
(edit)
i asked why it takes so many hours. these are already counted from pwc (whatever that is). what everyone is doing tonight until the announcement seems like some mystery, probably scooby doo is the manager, i think, i think scooby doo is the recipient of at least one oscar so
Quote from: jenkins<3 on January 15, 2014, 11:54:25 PM
(edit)
i asked why it takes so many hours. these are already counted from pwc (whatever that is). what everyone is doing tonight until the announcement seems like some mystery, probably scooby doo is the manager, i think, i think scooby doo is the recipient of at least one oscar so
PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC focuses on audit and assurance, tax and consulting services.
^^nice
OSCARS: How Academy's Most Obscure Nominee – Maybe EVER – Managed To Beat Out Taylor Swift, Coldplay And Celine Dion
http://www.deadline.com/2014/01/oscars-how-academys-most-obscure-nominee-maybe-ever-managed-to-beat-out-taylor-swift-coldplay-and-celine-dion/
Quote"Alone Yet Not Alone" from, you guessed it, Alone Yet Not Alone with music by Bruce Broughton and lyrics by Dennis Spiegel. Has anyone actually heard of this film? Or the song which I understand is very low key? Probably not. Certainly not Taylor Swift or Coldplay or Celine Dion or Lana Del Rey who were among the artists in contention for a nomination this year but lost out to this. Somehow it snuck in and completed a 7-day qualifying run in September, but, according to the website for the movie, its national release won't happen until March 14th. It is a Christian film or "faith based" as they are known now. There isn't a single review of the movie on Rotten Tomatoes (a first for any Oscar-nominated movie in memory). The distributor is listed as Enthuse Entertainment. IMDB describes it as a historical drama based on a true story recounting the "faith and courage" of a German-American immigrant family as they face hardships and loss during the French and Indian war. The music score for the film is by William Ross, who is also conductor of the Academy Awards orchestra this year (as he was last year) and Broughton is a former Governor and former head of the Academy's music branch .
QuoteSo, as a former Governor and head of the music branch he is obviously well-connected and well-liked within the organization and I am told he started making phone calls to colleagues urging them to consider the song. Call it the most grass roots of campaigns. This is sometimes how the inner workings of these groups operate. This one is one of the most exclusive clubs in the world and you can have all the consultants and publicity in the world, but what it really takes is you gotta have friends. Enough of them obviously paid attention and Broughton landed his second-ever Oscar nomination having been previously nominated just once in 1985 for his first major movie, the stirring western score for Silverado. He is also an 8-time Emmy Winner.
huh
And they totally ripped their title off of You Are Your Body / You Are Not Your Body.
THANK YOU. The way I see it, that's my Oscar nomination.
what academy nomination screening schedules look like:
http://imgur.com/fS9Xn81
Quote from: jenkins<3 on January 16, 2014, 01:23:48 PM
QuoteSo, as a former Governor and head of the music branch he is obviously well-connected and well-liked within the organization and I am told he started making phone calls to colleagues urging them to consider the song. Call it the most grass roots of campaigns.
That is almost literally the exact opposite of a grassroots campaign. Like there could not be a description of a thing that would be less aptly described as "grassroots".
Quote from: jenkins<3 on January 20, 2014, 12:29:59 PM
what academy nomination screening schedules look like:
http://imgur.com/fS9Xn81
I wonder if those films that are only ever presented in 3D are actually hurting themselves. Since the Academy has lots of older members, they might be inclined to avoid 3D movies, so could be they'll inevitably end up voting for one of the 2D-screened films that they've actually seen. Just a thought.
Yuval Adler's bethlehem and Hany Abu-Assad's omar --- those are about the same place and problem? not sure. i'd have to wiki for a half hour. demonstrating there's much i don't know about the palestinian conflict. it's clear to me that political turmoil has torn people from other people, and also torn people within themselves, and the lines of separation are growing
^^that's a kinda political statement, isn't it? i said a kinda political thing because politics, and i think maybe the same politics, are the center of both movies. but wait. even without research into what is happening, omar is a glorious movie. i was surprised by how much i liked it, and i'm surprised too that i quoted it all of yesterday. memorable lines, luscious cinematography, a story comprehensible outside politics, and engaging characters. omar has the things to make it a great movie
omar made me think about palestine, and broken circle breakdown made me think about stem cell research. made me think about stem cell research, cancer, the challenges of love through hardship, bluegrass music, tattoos, verandas, and how birds can't understand glass. it surfs waves of emotions in a stormy ocean
ground floor conversation points sturdily toward the hunt winning best foreign. damnit. ahh well
i'd vote for the great beauty, and i'd be excited if omar won. were you wondering? oh, you weren't wondering. awkward