Rejoice, Drive Fans: The BFCA Just Saved Your Awards Hopes
Good news for those Drive fans who've spent the last three months wondering who they had to head-stomp to get some awards recognition around here: The Broadcast Film Critics Association has singlehandedly boosted the film back into the seasonal spotlight, nominating Drive for eight Critics Choice Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. That tied with The Help's showing, and while it isn't quite the haul enjoyed by The Artist and Hugo -- which nabbed 11 nods apiece -- it's something! Be encouraged! Read on for more notes and the complete list of this year's Critics Choice nominees.
I know, I know: "But it's just the Critics Choice Awards!" Fair enough, but as Steve Pond astutely notes this morning, the BFCA's Best Picture category "generally coincides almost exactly with the Academy's." This year might be a slight exception with that whole 5-percent rule; nevertheless, finally finding Drive in the company of frontrunners like The Artist, The Descendants, War Horse and, apparently, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close has to brighten even the glummest countenance.
Also of note: "Andrew" Serkis broke through Rise of the Planet of the Apes's mo-cap barrier for a Supporting Actor nomination, Glenn Close was snubbed in favor of Elizabeth Olsen, and Margin Call, which has camped squarely on the awards bubble for last month or so, is nowhere to be found. Literally not one thing for J.C. Chandor's acclaimed, buzzy debut. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo didn't fare much better, earning recognition only for Best Score and Best Editing. Womp wommmmp. Fingers crossed for the Golden Globes!
And now your complete list of nominees:
BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
BEST ACTOR
George Clooney - The Descendants
Leonardo DiCaprio - J. Edgar
Jean Dujardin - The Artist
Michael Fassbender - Shame
Ryan Gosling - Drive
Brad Pitt - Moneyball
BEST ACTRESS
Viola Davis - The Help
Elizabeth Olsen - Martha Marcy May Marlene
Meryl Streep - The Iron Lady
Tilda Swinton - We Need to Talk About Kevin
Charlize Theron - Young Adult
Michelle Williams - My Week With Marilyn
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Kenneth Branagh - My Week With Marilyn
Albert Brooks - Drive
Nick Nolte - Warrior
Patton Oswalt - Young Adult
Christopher Plummer - Beginners
Andrew Serkis - Rise of the Planet of the Apes
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Berenice Bejo - The Artist
Jessica Chastain - The Help
Melissa McCarthy - Bridesmaids
Carey Mulligan - Shame
Octavia Spencer - The Help
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Asa Butterfield - Hugo
Elle Fanning - Super 8
Thomas Horn - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Ezra Miller - We Need to Talk About Kevin
Saoirse Ronan - Hanna
Shailene Woodley - The Descendants
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
The Artist
Bridesmaids
The Descendants
The Help
The Ides of March
BEST DIRECTOR
Stephen Daldry - Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
Michel Hazanavicius - The Artist
Alexander Payne - The Descendants
Nicolas Winding Refn - Drive
Martin Scorsese - Hugo
Steven Spielberg - War Horse
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius
50/50 - Will Reiser
Midnight in Paris - Woody Allen
Win Win - Screenplay by Tom McCarthy, Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni
Young Adult - Diablo Cody
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Descendants - Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Eric Roth
The Help - Tate Taylor
Hugo - John Logan
Moneyball - Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Artist - Guillaume Schiffman
Drive - Newton Thomas Sigel
Hugo - Robert Richardson
The Tree of Life - Emmanuel Lubezki
War Horse - Janusz Kaminski
BEST ART DIRECTION
The Artist - Production Designer: Laurence Bennett, Art Director: Gregory S. Hooper
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 - Production Designer: Stuart Craig, Set Decorator: Stephenie McMillan
Hugo - Production Designer: Dante Ferretti, Set Decorator: Francesca Lo Schiavo
The Tree of Life - Production Designer: Jack Fisk, Art Director: David Crank
War Horse - Production Designer: Rick Carter, Set Decorator: Lee Sandales
BEST EDITING
The Artist - Michel Hazanavicius and Anne-Sophie Bion
Drive - Matthew Newman
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
Hugo - Thelma Schoonmaker
War Horse - Michael Kahn
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Artist - Mark Bridges
The Help - Sharen Davis
Hugo - Sandy Powell
Jane Eyre - Michael O'Connor
My Week With Marilyn - Jill Taylor
BEST MAKEUP
Albert Nobbs
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
The Iron Lady
J. Edgar
My Week With Marilyn
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8
The Tree of Life
BEST SOUND
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Hugo
Super 8
The Tree of Life
War Horse
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Adventures of Tintin
Arthur Christmas
Kung Fu Panda 2
Puss in Boots
Rango
BEST ACTION MOVIE
Drive
Fast Five
Hanna
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
Super 8
BEST COMEDY
Bridesmaids
Crazy, Stupid, Love
Horrible Bosses
Midnight in Paris
The Muppets
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
In Darkness
Le Havre
A Separation
The Skin I Live In
Where Do We Go Now
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Buck
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Page One: Inside the New York Times
Project Nim
Undefeated
BEST SCORE
The Artist - Ludovic Bource
Drive - Cliff Martinez
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
Hugo - Howard Shore
War Horse - John Williams
BEST SONG
"Hello Hello" - performed by Elton John and Lady Gaga/written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin - Gnomeo & Juliet
"Life's a Happy Song" - performed by Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie - The Muppets
"The Living Proof" - performed by Mary J. Blige/written by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman and Harvey Mason, Jr. - The Help
"Man or Muppet" - performed by Jason Segel and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie - The Muppets
"Pictures in My Head" - performed by Kermit and the Muppets/written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis and Chen Neeman - The Muppets
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Comments
The happiness I would normally feel about Drive's recognition is quelled by the absence of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I mean come on, there's no way in hell The Help, Hugo & War Horse are better than Dragon Tattoo. Now of course I haven't seen Tattoo yet but there are some films you don't need to see to know their great. Do I need to see The Dark Knight Rises to know that's it's a great film? QT's Django Unchained? P.T. Anderson's The Master?
Moving on, their Best Supporting Actor category is in shambles. I know everyone's like "isn't it great Andy Serkis got recognition?", no, it's not. Motion capture takes talent, but its very different from a live performance. And yeah, I'll say it, it doesn't require as much skill. And but whatever, lets say for the sake of argument that it does require as much talent. I just recently watched the wildly over rated Apes movie and I was struck by how little Serkis's movements resembled an actual ape. From the way his joints bended to just the overall movement of the ape, he failed to impress. I realize I'm in the minority, but that's how I feel. Nick Nolte? Certainly good but not award worthy, especially when you have performances like Jeremy Irons in Margin Call & Viggo Mortenson in A Dangerous Method whom seem to be getting no awards buzz. And I still maintain that while I absolutely love Drive, Brooks doesn't deserve to get nominated. He was very good, just not great. People seem to be getting hung up on the fact he's so out of character as a sociopath. Sorry for writing an essay.