Alright, I’m off to the show. Remember, the awards are televised live on VH1 at 9pm EST, 6pm EST. If you haven’t given it a go yet, try your hand at predicting tonight’s festivities. The original nominations announcement can be found here.
Obviously I won’t be around to comment as the winners come down, so feel free to discuss them in this space while I’m gone. And enjoy the show!
I’ll refrain from participating here, given that I’m in the BFCA membership, but have at it in the comments section below if you want some space to predict tonight’s winners. I’ll offer up a separate post just before I take off for you guys to discuss the winners, since I won’t be here to comment.
The nominees are here if you need a refresher (and I’ll go ahead and include them after the jump, too, I guess).
As soon as I make it to my destination (the journey has been an epic one…for me to poop on!), I’ll finally get the final post of my week in review up, a list of superlatives in a variety of categories. And Monday, the Oscar column will be back up and running with fresh charts. Yes, it looks like Cate Blanchett has fallen away (despite a BFCA nomination that frankly still means something). To my mind, it’s a bit shocking, and I think many will agre with me once you guys see the film in a few weeks. But it is what it is. The lead actress reace has been a cat fight this year. But otherwise, everything is pretty much steady going, nothing sticking out as particularly disruptive to the season’s progression.
• After months of speculating, we finally have an Oscar host … and his name is Hugh Jackman. Bouquets all round.
• Obviously, the Golden Globe nominations were the week’s biggest news. They offered their usual dose of wacky surprises — principally the near shut-out of “Milk.”
• Sticking with the Globes, we got some of the nominees’ reactions here, before offering a subjective take on the rights and wrongs of this year’s slate.
• Elsewhere in the precursors, the Los Angeles Film Critics threw up the most unexpected — and contentious — pick of the awards race so far, handing their top prize to “WALL-E.”
• Their New York counterparts played it safer, giving Best Picture to “Milk,” but they had their own surprise package in the shape of “Happy-Go-Lucky.”
• Meanwhile, the latter film’s star, Sally Hawkins, emerged as a genuine threat in the Best Actress race, taking awards from both groups. We interviewed her here.
• The Broadcast Film Critics announced their nominations — which were more interesting for what they left out (“Revolutionary Road” in particular) than what they kept in.
• In a rare mea culpa from the Academy’s music branch, the disqualification of “The Dark Knight”‘s score was thankfully reversed.
• We chatted to the man who has so far enjoyed the smoothest ride through awards season: “Man on Wire” helmer James Marsh.
• As the prospect of an acting victory for Clint Eastwood hovers in the background, this week’s edition of The Lists examines which noteworthy actors have won for less notheworthy work.
A late night premiere and after party kept me in bed most of the morning. It happens. So I’m just now coming around to today’s BFCA announcement. First, some reactions (full disclosure, I am a member of the organization).
First and foremost, the group subtracted one category (Best Family Film) and added another (Best Action Film). I think we all know where the latter is headed. Speaking of which, “The Dark Knight” actually had a hell of a showing, popping up in the expected areas but also grabbing a nomination for director Christopher Nolan and composers James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer (who find themselves back in the Oscar hunt as of yesterday).
The group also combined the Best Young Actor and Best Young Actress categories to reflect both sexes in the same arena. A good call, since I’m sure I’m not the only one who has felt like I was grasping at straws to list six names some years.
The startling omission: “Revolutionary Road.” I’m sure there are more than a few broken hearts at Paramount Vantage this morning, but chin up. “Into the Wild” landed the most nominations with the BFCA last year and only managed two Oscar nominations. So it all goes to show you these things aren’t set in stone. That having been said, the BFCA is simply the best Oscar predictor around and I’m thinking it will prove itself a nice tip sheet going into January 22.
A few quasi-surprises were in store. I’m sure not too many people were expecting Kate Beckinsale and Vera Farmiga’s names to pop up for Rod Lurie’s “Nothing But the Truth.” Lurie, it should be said, is a founding member of the BFCA, though in fairness, that was 15 years ago and he was in the group for two years. He has friends in the organization, sure, but they represent a fraction of the 200-strong membership. Regardless, I truthfully think both actresses deserve a spot at the table so it’s nice they could push their way through.
But getting back to “Revolutionary Road,” this is an out-and-out shut-out, and that really hurts the film’s buzz potential. It’s one thing to miss this category or that, but nothing for Leo (with six shots at it), nothing for Kate (ditto), not even a nod for Michael Shannon, who damn well deserves a mention. I’m truthfully surprised. I think our Best Picture line-up will be taken from the top 10 list, and like I said, it can’t be happy times for that hard-working crew. Scott Rudin is still sitting pretty, though, as his “Doubt” popped up in a number of areas. But “Button,” “Dark Knight,” “Frost,” “Milk,” “Slumdog” — you might as well take it to the bank.
Oh, and one final note. I’m actually quite happy to see Clint Eastwood’s name pop up in the composer category for “Changeling.” I think the jazzy soundtrack is his best work as a film musician to date and, if the Academy’s music branch ever saw past their bias, would make a fine Oscar nominee. Nice to see him show up here.
The top 10 list, with a full list of nominations after the jump:
Best Picture
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Doubt”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
“The Wrestler”