Talkback: Who Benefited Most From the Awards-Weekend Whirlwind?
A windfall of accolades, honors, plaudits and other year-end superlatives swept film culture over the weekend, with voting bodies including AFI and three major regional critics groups announcing their awards for 2011. And while it may not be enough to dramatically shake up the Oscar Index, voices have been heard and impacts have been made. Read on for six quick first impressions, a full rundown of winners and (hopefully) your take on where things stand.
1. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is probably done
We've seen this coming for a while now, but even the awards bodies that included the Daldry among their considerations couldn't be bothered to toss it more than one bone -- a runner-up nod in Boston for Max von Sydow. Word of mouth from screenings over the weekend has been largely negative. The most it can hope for at this point is some Golden Globes love this Thursday, but I wouldn't bet on it -- not when it can nominate Warner Bros.' other limping stallion J. Edgar instead and get Leonardo DiCaprio to show up. Sorry, Thomas Horn!
2. Bridesmaids is for real
Between Melissa McCarthy's dual Supporting Actress wins, AFI's selection of Bridesmaids in its Top 10 and the whole team's tireless industry crusade for recognition, this one's looking sticky for both McCarthy and possibly Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo for Best Original Screenplay. The latter's a long shot, but as long as influencers keep the film in the conversation, it could happen.
3. Hugo isn't going away
Martin Scorsese's family-friendly 3-D paean to the early days of cinema once felt like a awards-race wild card. But now -- with various degrees of representation in each of this weekend's announcements -- it seems more determined than ever to stick around into February. It could use a box-office nudge to back up its honors to date, but either way, Hugo seems primed for the long haul.
4. Jessica Chastain had better clear her schedule
She's been an Oscar Index staple pretty much all season, and there's no reason to think the ongoing consensus about her year won't carry over into the nominations. The only thing left to determine is what film's hat she'll wear on the big night. Take Shelter? The Help? Or...
5. The Tree of Life -- believe it
Right now I can't see this falling out of Picture and Cinematography (it's going to scrap for a Visual Effects nod as well, and it will be close), but the film's devotees in the Actors Branch should be enough to get Chastain recognized accordingly -- especially if those back The Help push Octavia Spencer through for Supporting Actress. Of course, no performance in a Terrence Malick film has ever been nominated for an Oscar, so Team Chastain and Fox Searchlight each have their work cut out for them.
6. Uggie wuz robbed
And your complete lists of honorees...
AFI -- Top 10 Films of 2011
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
The Help
Hugo
J. Edgar
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
SPECIAL AWARDS
The Artist
The Harry Potter Series
[AFI SPECIAL AWARDS are given to outstanding achievements in the moving image that do not fit into AFI's criteria for the other honorees.]
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
BEST PICTURE
The Descendants
Runner-Up: The Tree of Life
BEST DIRECTOR
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Runner-Up: Martin Scorsese, Hugo
BEST ACTOR
Michael Fassbender, A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class
Runner-Up: Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
BEST ACTRESS
Yun Jung-Hee, Poetry
Runner-Up: Kirsten Dunst, Melancholia
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Runner-Up: Patton Oswalt, Young Adult
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain, Coriolanus, The Debt, The Help, Take Shelter, Texas Killing Fields, Tree of Life
Runner-Up: Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
BEST SCREENPLAY
Asghar Farhadi, A Separation
Runner-Up: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life
Cao Yu, City of Life and Death
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Dante Ferretti, Hugo
Runner-Up: Maria Djurkovic, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
BEST MUSIC/SCORE
The Chemical Brothers, Hanna
Runner-Up: Cliff Martinez, Drive
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Rango
Runner-Up: The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn
BEST DOCUMENTARY/NONFICTION FILM
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Runner-Up: The Arbor
Boston Society of Film Critics
BEST PICTURE
The Artist
Runners-up: Hugo and Margaret
BEST DIRECTOR
Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Runner-up: Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
BEST ACTOR
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Runners-up: George Clooney, The Descendants and Michael Fassbender, Shame
BEST ACTRESS
Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn
Runner-up: Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Albert Brooks, Drive
Runner-up: Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Runner-up: Jeannie Berlin, Margaret
BEST SCREENPLAY
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, Moneyball
Runner-up: Kenneth Lonergan, Margaret
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life
Runner-up: Robert Richardson, Hugo
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Project Nim
Runner-up: Bill Cunningham New York
BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Incendies
Runners-up: A Separation and Poetry
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Rango
BEST FILM EDITING
Christian Marclay, The Clock
Runner-up: Thelma Schoonmaker, Hugo
BEST NEW FILMMAKER
Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Runner-up: J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
Carnage
Runner-up: Margaret
BEST USE OF MUSIC IN A FILM
(tie) Drive and The Artist
Runner-up: The Descendants
New York Film Critics Online
BEST FILM
The Artist
BEST DIRECTOR
Michael Hazanavicius, The Artist
BEST ACTOR
Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
BEST ACTRESS
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Albert Brooks, Drive
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life
BEST SCREENPLAY
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE
A Separation
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Adventures of Tintin
BEST USE OF MUSIC
Ludovic Bource, The Artist
BREAKOUT PERFORMER
Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life, The Help, The Debt, Take Shelter
BEST DEBUT AS DIRECTOR
Joe Cornish, Attack the Block
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
Bridesmaids
TOP PICTURES OF 2011 (alphabetical)
The Artist (The Weinstein Company)
The Descendants (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Drive (Film District)
The Help (Walt Disney Pictures)
Hugo (Paramount Pictures)
Melancholia (Magnolia Pictures)
Midnight in Paris (Sony Pictures Classics)
Take Shelter (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Tree of Life (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
War Horse (Dreamworks Pictures)
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