Jessica Chastain and Howard Shore to be honored at Palm Springs

Posted by · 6:41 pm · December 28th, 2011

The Palm Springs International Film Festival has announced its final honorees for this year’s Awards Gala. Jessica Chastain will receive the Spotlight Award for her work in “The Help,” “The Tree of Life,” “Take Shelter,” “The Debt” and “Coriolanus,” while composer Howard Shore will be feted with the Frederick Loewe Music Award for “Hugo.”

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Austin film critics like 'Hugo,' Refn and Shannon

Posted by · 9:13 am · December 28th, 2011

The Austin Film Critics Association is the latest group to speak up on the year’s best, tapping “Hugo” as the best picture of the year. The film didn’t show up anywhere else on the unique slate of superlatives, though, which included two acting wins for “Take Shelter.”

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Off the Carpet: Setting the field with the precursors so far

Posted by · 11:41 am · December 19th, 2011

In just three weeks we’ve gone from zero to a hundred on the circuit as the film awards landscape has been sculpted into a bit of a consensus in these waning moments of 2011. Let’s see what that consensus appears to be.

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'Tree of Life' wins four awards from Chicago critics, including Best Picture

Posted by · 8:03 am · December 19th, 2011

After Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” led with seven nominations from the Chicago Film Critics Association, it seemed obvious the film was likely to win the group’s Best Picture award. But the film ended up walking away with four big wins in total.

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2011: the year in superlatives

Posted by · 10:11 am · December 16th, 2011

Who am I to complain about the amount of year-end kudos announcements when I had this post coming all along? I know. I’m so hypocritical.

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'Tree of Life' leads Chicago film critics nods

Posted by · 8:56 am · December 16th, 2011

The Chicago Film Critics Association has announced its list of nominees this year, and it’s full of the usual. But most interesting is that “The Tree of Life” star Hunter McCracken has finally received some attention.

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Detroit critics go with 'The Artist,' Fassbender

Posted by · 7:47 am · December 16th, 2011

The Detroit Film Critics Society has joined the chorus of superlatives for “The Artist,” giving the film Best Picture and Best Director after it racked up five nominations from the group. “Take Shelter,” which led the nominees, only won as part of Jessica Chastain’s Breakthrough Artist award.

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San Diego critics pick 'Artist,' Refn

Posted by · 5:04 pm · December 14th, 2011

The San Diego Film Critics Society has chosen “The Artist” as Best Picture for 2011 and Nicolas Winding Refn as Best Director for “Drive,” among other honors.

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Toronto critics tap 'Tree of Life,' Terrence Malick

Posted by · 9:22 pm · December 13th, 2011

One more before you shut out the lights. The Toronto Film Critics Association has named “The Tree of Life” the best film of the year. The film’s director, Terrence Malick, was also awarded.

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Oscarweb Round-up: The year's best performances

Posted by · 8:13 am · December 13th, 2011

In today’s round-up, consideration of the year’s best performances, Christopher Nolan opens up a bit on “The Dark Knight Rises” and in honor of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” the top five badass female roles.

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Bottled up: the best films of 2011

Posted by · 7:28 am · December 12th, 2011

With the year winding to a close, it’s time to showcase the 10 best films of 2011. If you heard Friday’s podcast, you know. If you didn’t, dig in.

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'Take Shelter' leads Detroit critics nods

Posted by · 3:03 pm · December 11th, 2011

“Take Shelter” leads the Detroit critics’ nominees with five mentions, the odd one out in a Best Picture lineup heavy on established critical favorites.

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'The Descendants,' Terrence Malick win with LA film critics

Posted by · 1:13 pm · December 11th, 2011

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association has tapped Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” for its Best Picture prize, a bit of an anti-climactic conclusion to what had until then been a fresh and exciting vote.

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'The Artist' wins Best Pic from NY online critics, 'Bridesmaids' clearly a favorite

Posted by · 12:09 pm · December 11th, 2011

The New York Film Critics Online have gone the way of the rest and awarded “The Artist” the prize for Best Picture of 2011. Michael Shannon and Meryl Streep were also singled out.

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Oscar Talk: Ep. 73 — Our top 10 films of 2011!

Posted by · 7:58 am · December 9th, 2011

In today’s podcast, Kris and Anne take a break from the usual order of things to count down, separately, their picks for the best films of the year.

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Interview: Michael Barker talks 'Midnight in Paris,' 'Take Shelter' and 20 years of Sony Classics

Posted by · 11:28 am · December 6th, 2011

Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker has seen a lot in his 20 years at that post. This year his company has a typically heavy slate of awards hopefuls, two of them — “Midnight in Paris” and “Take Shelter” — beginning to light up the awards circuit. He recently discussed as much with In Contention.

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'Artist,' 'Tinker,' 'Shame' and 'Marilyn' among contenders not eligible for WGA

Posted by · 3:52 pm · December 2nd, 2011

As happens every year, a list of potential Oscar nominees is ineligible for WGA consideration due to a number of issues (signatory concerns, paperwork avoidance, etc.). This year, though, the list seems particularly long.

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Film Independent spotlights the right stuff in Independent Spirit Award nominations

Posted by · 9:57 am · November 29th, 2011

The Independent Spirit Award nominations were announced this morning, and they showcased some of the absolute best in cinema this year.

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