News: Screen Actors Guild Gives Out Nominations

     This actually happened yesterday, so you may have already heard this, but just in case you have not, I thought I would alert you about the Screen Actors Guild (SAG). Unlike the critics' awards, the SAG awards includes actual members of the Academy. The Screen Actors Guild is much larger though than the actors branch of the Academy, and it includes a lot of smaller bit players who tend to vote for popular actors more than the Academy. Nevertheless, it gives you a rough idea of what some of the acting nominations might look like come Oscar time. If you want to check out the SAG nominees, click here.

Top 100: 60-51

     This week we reach the halfway point in my countdown, going from 60 to 51 (check out 100-91, 90-81, 80-71, and 70-61, if you missed them). Comedy makes its biggest presence felt since the first week, with three and one-half of the films falling under the genre's heading. Not surprisingly then, two more Woody Allen films (including my favorite Allen movie) make appearances, which brings a grand total of five of Woody's films on my list, tying him for the most appearances of any director on my list. There are also a few second appearances from some of my other favorite directors, and the only appearance from one director who I consider to be the most underrated director working today (a few of his other films almost made my list). In terms of a timeline, the 1990's and 1980's make the most appearances, with each decade having three films in this week's list. Now on to the countdown!

News: Golden Globes Nominations

     The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominations today for the 68th annual Golden Globes show. Who were the winners and losers? The two biggest winners in my opinion were "Black Swan", which had four nominations (Best Picture Drama, Best Director, Best Actress Drama, Best Supporting Actress), and "The Fighter", which had six nominations (Best Picture Drama, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and two Best Supporting Actresses). Today's nominations, along with their relative success in the critics circuit, almost locks up an Oscar nomination for Best Picture in my estimation.

News: New York Gets Onboard "The Social Network" Bandwagon, Broadcast Film Critics Association Nominees, and Globes Nominations Tomorrow

     The most prestigious critics awards, the New York Film Critics Circle, announced their winners today, giving "The Social Network" their Best Film award and giving David Fincher its Best Director award. The Broadcast Film Critic Association also announced their nominees with nothing too unusual to report about their nominations. Tomorrow, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association will announce the Golden Globe nominees which I will go over at some point. The Golden Globes have never been that good of a predictor for the Oscars (especially recently), but since they have their own television show on NBC in January, people usually make a big deal about them. The Golden Globes also have television categories, so I might make a few comments on those tomorrow too.

News: When the Awards Keep Rolling In

     A slew of nominees and awards were announced today, and the one thing to take away from it all is that "The Social Network" is without a doubt this year's critics' favorite. Every single major awards organization which has announced its winners have given the film Best Picture, and the film has also been included as a Best Picture nominee in all the organizations that have yet to announce their winners. Director David Fincher has either won or tied in all the awards that have been given out so far, and actor Jessie Eisenberg has fared pretty well too for his fantastic performance as Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, which should quell any doubts of an Oscar nomination for Eisenberg. If I had to pick one other film that has seemed to benefit the most from these critics awards, I would probably have go with "Black Swan", Darren Aronofsky's film which is a supernatural/psychological-thriller/ballet picture (not a combination that I would have thought of). There are also a few other actors who have benefitted from the critics awards, but I don't want to get in to it here, as I am saving this analysis for my next Oscar predictions column (which I will do my best to get up within the next few weeks). In the meantime, if your interesting in seeing some of the critics nominations and winners, click any or all of the following links:

Houston Film Critics Society

Boston Society of Film Critics

New York Film Critics Online

Los Angeles Film Critics Association

American Film Institute