NEVADA FILM CRITICS SOCIETY ANNOUNCES

Best Film

Argo

Best Director

Ben Affleck (Argo)

Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Actor

John Hawkes (The Sessions)

Best Actress

Helen Hunt (The Sessions)

Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Supporting Actor

Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)

Best Supporting Actress

Sally Field (Lincoln)

ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS NOMINATIONS

AWFJ Best Of Awards

Best Film

·          Argo

·          Lincoln

·          Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director

·          Ben Affleck (Argo)

·          Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

·          Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)

Best Actor

·          Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

·          John Hawkes (The Sessions)

·          Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)

Best Actress

·          Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

·          Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

·          Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

·          Alan Arkin (Argo)

·          Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

·          Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)

·          Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

·          Amy Adams (The Master)

·          Sally Field (Lincoln)

·          Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

Best Screenplay, Original

·          Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom)

·          Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty)

·          Michael Haneke (Amour)

Best Screenplay, Adapted

·          Tony Kushner (Lincoln)

·          David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

·          Chris Terrio (Argo)

Best Cinematography

·          Roger Deakins (Skyfall)

·          Mihai Malaimare Jr. (The Master)

·          Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi)

Best Editing

·          Alexander Berner (Cloud Atlas)

·          William Goldenberg (Argo)

·          William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Film Music or Score

·          Alexandre Desplat (Argo)

·          Alexandre Desplat (Zero Dark Thirty)

·          Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Best Ensemble Cast

·          Argo

·          Lincoln

·          Silver Linings Playbook

Best Animated Film

·          Brave

·          Frankenweenie

·          ParaNorman

Best Documentary

·          The Gatekeepers (Dror Moreh)

·          The Imposter (Bart Layton)

·          The Invisible War (Kirby Dick)

·          Searching for Sugar Man (Malik Bendjelloul)

Best Non-English-Language Film

·          Amour

·          A Royal Affair

·          Rust and Bone

WOMEN FILM CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES

Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

Best Actress

Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

Best Family Film

Life of Pi

Rise of the Guardians

Best Movie about Women

A Royal Affair

Best Movie by a Woman

Zero Dark Thirty

Best Foreign Film by or about Women

Where Do We Go Now? (Nadine Labaki)

Best Young Actress

Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Best Woman Storyteller

Julie Delpy (2 Days in New York)

Best Comedic Actress

Maggie Smith (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

Women’s Work: Best Ensemble

Judi Dench, Celia Imrie, Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OSCAR SHORTLIST

The Academy has chosen nine films from a selection of 71 to compete for official nominations on the 10th of January. Et voila!

• Amour - Austria
• Beyond the Hills - Romania
• The Deep - Iceland
• The Intouchables - France
• Kon-Tiki - Norway
• No - Chile
• A Royal Affair - Denmark
• Sister - Switzerland
• War Witch - Canada

BLACK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES

Best Film

1.        Zero Dark Thirty

2.        Argo

3.        Django Unchained

4.        Beasts of the Southern Wild

5.        Lincoln

6.        Flight

7.        Life of Pi

8.        Skyfall

9.        Silver Linings Playbook

10.     Middle of Nowhere

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Actor

Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Supporting Actor

Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

Best Supporting Actress

Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

Best Original Screenplay

Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Chris Terrio (Argo)

UTAH FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION ANNOUNCES

Best Picture

1.     Zero Dark Thirty

2.        Looper

Best Achievement in Directing

1.     Wes Anderson (Moonrise Kingdom)

2.        Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Lead Performance by an Actor

1.     Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)

2.        Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

John Hawkes (The Sessions)

Best Lead Performance by an Actress

Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Supporting Performance by an Actor

1.     Dwight Henry (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

2.        Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

Best Supporting Performance by an Actress

1.     Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

2.        Ann Dowd (Compliance)

OSCAR PREDICTIONS 8 - 3 WEEKS TO GO

Meh.

Best Picture

·          Argo

·          Beasts of the Southern Wild

·          Django Unchained

·          Life of Pi

·          Lincoln

·          Les Misérables

·          Silver Linings Playbook

·          Zero Dark Thirty

Best Directing

·          Ben Affleck (Argo)

·          Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

·          Ang Lee (Life of Pi)

·          Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)

·          Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained)

Best Actor in a Leading Role

·          Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

·          John Hawkes (The Sessions)

·          Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables)

·          Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)

·          Denzel Washington (Flight)

Best Actress in a Leading Role

·          Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

·          Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

·          Helen Mirren (Hitchcock)

·          Naomi Watts (The Impossible)

·          Rachel Weisz (The Deep Blue Sea)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

·          Alan Arkin (Argo)

·          Javier Bardem (Skyfall)

·          Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)

·          Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)

·          Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

·          Amy Adams (The Master)

·          Sally Field (Lincoln)

·          Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

·          Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy)

·          Maggie Smith (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel)

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)

·          Amour

·          Django Unchained

·          The Master

·          Moonrise Kingdom

·          Zero Dark Thirty

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

·          Argo

·          Beasts of the Southern Wild

·          Life of Pi

·          Lincoln

·          Silver Linings Playbook

REVIEW - ROOM 237

This documentary, which relates a great amount of theories into hidden subtexts within Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and in great detail, is almost thoroughly reliant on the strength, believability and validity of these theories. There are so many, some of which have been researched most rigorously, some of which seem more like hopeful whims, wishful thinking. Some seem integral to Kubrick's take on Stephen King's story, and either support or are supported by known information regarding both the content of The Shining, and of its production, some seem perfunctory. Some are comically profane, some are intellectual. Some are elements of larger theories (the Apollo 11 real or fake debate is resurrected yet again). Some depend upon analysing Kubrick as a person, not just as a filmmaker, some are revealed to be probably meaningless quirks. The question, in the end is whether or not any of this has meaning. Each person who watches Room 237 may give credence to a different combination of these theories - there is an argument to be made for all being fake, and just the usual over-analysis of Kubrick obsessives, and an argument to be made for all being true. What was certain to me was that those theories which are more probably real were intended, by Kubrick, to form pieces of an intriguing, socially and historically rich puzzle that cannot be solved, full of sly red herrings, silly little pointers to contextual cul-de-sacs. And then there is an argument that this whole thing is merely a hoax. But even as a hoax, Room 237 is a well-edited, well-researched and (fitfully) entertaining hoax. However you consider it, though, some of the theories are more likely to provoke laughter than lasting interest (it helps keep the tone light, I suppose), and some which initially threaten to go nowhere, eventually do go nowhere, and take an awful long time getting nowhere too. They ought to have been excised. This would have made a sensational short film.

DUBLIN FILM CRITICS CIRCLE ANNOUNCES

Best Film

1.     The Artist

2.        Amour

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

3.        The Avengers

Elena

Michael

The Turin Horse

4.        Life of Pi

Looper

The Master

The Raid: Redemption

5.        The Grey

Martha Marcy May Marlene

Rust and Bone

(Nominees)

·          About Elly

·          Beasts of the Southern Wild

·          The Descendants

·          The Hunt

·          Killer Joe

·          Laurence Anyways

·          Margin Call

·          Monsieur Lazhar

·          The Muppets

·          A Royal Affair

·          Samsara

·          Shame

·          What Richard Did

Best Director

1.     Michael Haneke (Amour)

2.        Ben Affleck (Argo)

3.        William Friedkin (Killer Joe)

4.        Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master)

5.        Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia)

(Nominees)

·          Lenny Abrahamson (What Richard Did)

·          Jacques Audiard (Rust and Bone)

·          Leos Carax (Holy Motors)

·          Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)

·          Markus Schleinzer (Michael)

·          Béla Tarr (The Turin Horse)

·          Joe Wright (Anna Karenina)

Best Actor

1.     Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)

2.        Jean-Louis Trintignant (Amour)

3.        Mads Mikkelsen (The Hunt)

4.        Matthias Schoenaerts (Rust and Bone)

5.        Michael Fassbender (Shame)

Matthew McConaughey (Killer Joe)

(Nominees)

·          Mohamed Fellag (Monsieur Lazhar)

·          Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Looper)

·          Dwight Henry (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

Best Actress

1.     Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)

2.        Marion Cotillard (Rust and Bone)

3.        Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

4.        Anna Paquin (Margaret)

5.        Suzanne Clément (Laurence Anyways)

Nina Hoss (Barbara)

Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene)

(Nominees)

·          Selma Blair (Dark Horse)

·          Nadezhda Markina (Elena)

·          Andrea Riseborough (Shadow Dancer)

·          Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)