In Contention

Tag: Richard Attenborough Awards

  • UK critics honor ‘Up,’ Mulligan

    Carey Mulligan in An EducationThe London Film Critics’ Circle Awards may be the most prestigious of British critics’ honors (not saying much, admittedly), but there are critics in the rest of the country too. These regional writers have their say in the Richard Attenborough Awards, which held their fourth annual ceremony last night.

    Last year, the Attenboroughs stuck very much with the consensus, but they made some bolder calls this time, handing their film of the year honors to “Up,” while “Moon” star Sam Rockwell took Best Actor honors. (Well, it’s nice that he has something to show for his career-best performance.)

    Carey Mulligan was a double winner, earning both Best Actress and Rising Star awards, while a handful of public-voted awards proved that Brits still like Harry Potter — but also that some of them saw “Moon.”

    Not exactly the most significant awards of the season, but fun nonetheless. List of winners (via Screen Daily) after the cut.

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  • Brit critics follow the script

    It seems we really have reached consensus here. The Richard Attenborough Film Awards, a relatively new set of awards voted on by regional UK critics, haved chimed in with nearly everyone else, handing their Film of the Year and Director of the Year honours to Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire.”

    They stuck with the well-awarded in the acting categories too, crowning Mickey Rourke and Kate Winslet (for “The Reader”) as Actor and Actress of the Year, respectively, while Dev Patel took the Breakthrough Star award.

    Meanwhile, I’m pleased to see Screenwriter of the Year went to Martin McDonagh for “In Bruges.” That might have been a less expected choice a month ago, before the nearly year-old release achieved a remarkable awards-season turnaround in the last few weeks.

    Four People’s Choice awards were spread between “The Dark Knight,” “Mamma Mia!” and “Slumdog,” completing a very British-leaning set of winners — hardly surprising, given that last year, the Attenboroughs were all about “Atonement.” I expect the BAFTA winners list will look somewhat similar.

    List of winners after the cut.

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