When I first received info about The Sundance Film Festival last year, there was a movie description that sounded like an Onion parody of the festival: a Bay Area man in an iron lung wants to lose his virginity before he dies and hires a sexual surrogate to make that happen. It was called “The Surrogate.” Then the buzz came: John Hawkes (“Winter’s Bone”) makes the movie in the lead role. Helen Hunt bares all as the surrogate. Crowds laughing and crying. Having seen the film, I can say that Hawkes is a shoe-in for a best actor Oscar nomination. No question. No money risked in betting. I am not a viewer that likes my emotions manipulated, so although the film, now retitled “The Sessions,” is a crowd-pleaser, i didn’t join in on the group weep at the end. Maybe I just wasn’t going to give the movie the satisfaction. So I’m not with those that say Hunt will get an Oscar nom, or that the movie is unquestionably bound for a best picture or best adapted screenplay nod (it’s based on a personal essay by poet and polio survivor Mark O’Brien), but Hawkes excels at the kind of role that earned Daniel Day Lewis an Oscar in “My Left Foot” in 1990.
And the Oscar goes to….
Oscar the Grouch
Here’s the list of winners for the Academy Awards:
Best picture Winner:
“The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company), A See-Saw Films and Bedlam Production, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
Performance by an actor in a leading role Winner:
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech” (The Weinstein Company)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role Winner:
Christian Bale in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Performance by an actress in a leading role Winner:
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” (Fox Searchlight)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role Winner:
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” (Paramount)
Best animated feature film of the year Winner:
“Toy Story 3” (Walt Disney), Lee Unkrich [Read more…]
Independent Spirit Award Winners
The complete list of Spirit Award winners:
BEST FEATURE (Award given to the Producer)
Black Swan
BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronfosky, “Black Swan”
BEST FIRST FEATURE (Award given to the director and producer)
Get Low
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD
(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)
Daddy Longlegs
BEST SCREENPLAY
“The Kids Are All Right”
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
“Tiny Furniture”
BEST FEMALE LEAD
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”
BEST MALE LEAD
James Franco, “127 Hours”
BEST SUPPORTING FEMALE
Dale Dickey, “Winter’s Bone”
BEST SUPPORTING MALE
John Hawkes, “Winter’s Bone”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Black Swan
BEST DOCUMENTARY (Award given to the director)
Exit Through The Gift Shop
BEST FOREIGN FILM (Award given to the director)
The King’s Speech
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to one film’s director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)
“Please Give”
PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Anish Savjani (“Meek’s Cutoff”)
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Mike Ott (“Little Rock”)
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Jeff Malmberg (“Marwencol”)
New Racetrack Odds on who’ll win the oscars
By Gold Derby News Desk
Jan 26 2011 | 18:57 pm
Here are the latest racetrack odds on the top Academy Academy contests based upon the Oscar predictions of our team of experts from leading media. Click HERE to see their forecasts in all 24 categories
BEST PICTURE
“The King’s Speech” – 2/5
“The Social Network” – 4/1
“The Fighter” – 20/1
“True Grit” – 25/1
“Black Swan” – 40/1
“Inception” – 50/1
“Toy Story 3” – 80/1
“The Kids Are All Right” – 85/1
“127 Hours” – 90/1
“Winter’s Bone” – 100/1 [Read more…]
Goldderby.com Oscar predictions from top experts
Here are the latest Oscar predictions from these top experts: Thelma Adams (Us Weekly, Thelmadams.com), Brooke Anderson (CNN), Tim Appelo (Hollywood Reporter), Erik Davis (Cinematical), Scott Feinberg (ScottFeinberg.com), Pete Hammond (Deadline Hollywood), Tariq Khan (Fox News), Joseph Kapsch (Zap2It), Dave Karger (Entertainment Weekly), Peter Knegt (Indiewire), Kevin Lewin (WENN), Guy Lodge (In Contention), Michael Musto (Village Voice), Tom O’Neil (Gold Derby, The Envelope), Kevin Polowy (NextMovie), Steve Pond (The Odds, The Wrap), Paul Sheehan (Gold Derby), Keith Simanton (IMDB), Sasha Stone (Awards Daily), Kris Tapley (In Contention), Anne Thompson (IndieWire) Bob Tourtellotte (Reuters), Peter Travers (Rolling Stone), Stu Van Airsdale (Movielie),Chuck Walton (Fandango), Jeffrey Wells (Hollywood-Elsewhere), Susan Wloszczyna (USA Today).
Click HERE to see the racetrack odds based upon these predictions. Click HERE to see how our pundits fared predicting nominations. (Congrats to Steve Pond for leading the way!)
BEST PICTURE
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception” — Simanton
“The Kids Are All Right”
“The King’s Speech” — Adams, Anderson, Appelo, Feinberg, Hammond, Karger, Khan, Knegt, Lewin, Lodge, Musto, O’Neil, Pond, Sheehan, Tapley, Thompson, Tourtellotte, Van Airsdale, Walton, Wloszczyna
“127 Hours”
“The Social Network” — Davis, Kapsch, Polowy, Stone, Travers, Wells
“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”
BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, “Black Swan”
David O. Russell, “The Fighter”
Tom Hooper, “The King’s Speech” — Adams, Anderson, Ebert, Feinberg, Musto, Pond, Tapley, Van Airsdale, Walton, Wloszczyna
David Fincher, “The Social Network” — Appelo, Davis, Hammond, Kapsch, Karger, Khan, Knegt, Lewin, Lodge, O’Neil, Polowy, Simanton, Stone, Thompson, Tourtellotte, Travers, Wells
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “True Grit” [Read more…]
