Screen Actors Guild's Surprise Best Actor SAG Nomination, and Mary Tyler Moore

Demián Bichir

18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards honoring the Years outstanding performances will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS,  Sunday, January 29, 2012, from the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center. Of all the industry guilds, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has the most voting members of any guild in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Van Dyke and Moore

Actress Mary Tyler Moore will receive the SAG Life Achievement Award. Dick Van Dyke, Moore's former co-star on The Dick Van Dyke Show, will present her with the award next month.

Moore's breakout role was on The Dick Van Dyke Show in 1961. For that role, she won two Emmy Awards. Next, she played Mary as star of her own show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, co-starring the likes of Ed Asner and Betty White. The show won 29 Emmys during its seven-year run (1970 - 1977).

She was nominated for an Oscar in 1980 for her role as Beth Jarrett in Robert Redford's directorial debut Ordinary People.

When the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) announces its annual nominations in movies and television, those in the industries, and fans take serious note. When it comes to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and (AMPAS), SAG members comprise the biggest voting block in AMPAS. Therefore, it natually follows that the SAG Awards are often predictors of Oscar winners.

There was one nomination for 2012 that took me most by surprise, and that was the best actor actor nomination of actor Demián Bichir (Che, part 2, 2008, and Weeds on TV), for his role in the independent movie, A Better Life,  directed by Chris Weitz, (Twilight: New Moon, 2009, and About a Boy, 2002).

Bichir plays Carlos Galindo, a hardworking undocumented worker in East Los Angles, who works as a gardener and landscaper for another undocumented immigrant. Carlos is raising his 15-year-old, American-born son Luis alone, because the mother left the family. Luis (Jose Julian) is wrestling with joining a gang to gain respect among his peers while showing little respect for his hard-working father, who comes home sweaty and exhausted every day of the week.

The movie is available for instant view now, or buy DVD, either for $3.99, from Amazon Instant Video. Support independent movies, click graphic:

The other actors nominated with Bichir for outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role, are:

GEORGE CLOONEY / Matt King - The Descendants
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO / J. Edgar Hoover - J. Edgar
JEAN DUJARDIN / George - The Artist
BRAD PITT / Billy Beane - Moneyball

The entire nomination list is long, so access it by clicking the title of this post. Remember, SAG does not nominate "Best Picture," or "Best TV Show," because for them it is all about the acting! I'll work in more about the SAG member's nomination choices in upcoming posts.

'The Tree of Life' Wins San Francisco Critics Best Picture, and Sundance News

 

The San Francisco Critics Circle rallied around the Cannes' winner, The Tree of Life on Sunday, naming it the best picture of the year, and giving the best director award to Terrence Malick. The critics also singled out the movie's Emmanuel Lubezki for best cinematography.

Watch featurette of The Tree of Life star Jessica Chastain, also with Brad Pitt, and producers Dede Gardner and Grant Hill.
VIDEO 

Comprised of 31 Bay Area film critics the organization, voted Gary Oldman best actor for his portrayal of a British intelligence officer in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Tilda Swinton

They hailed Tilda Swinton as best actress for portraying the mother of a severely troubled boy in We Need to Talk About Kevin.

  

Supporting actor went to Albert Brooks for Drive,

Vanessa Redgrave

and supporting actress to Vanessa Redgrave for Coriolanus.           

Fiennes and Chastain

Ralph Fiennes not only stars in the Coriolanus, he makes his directorial debut in this  lesser-known Shakespearean tragedy.

Also in Coriolanus, Chastain shows her best Shakespearean acting chops.
VIDEO

Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan took the best adapted screenplay prize for Tinker, while J.C. Chandor received the best original screenplay prize for Margin Call, which revolves around the key people at a investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis, and stars Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci and Kevin Spacey.

Rango was named best animated feature, again beating out Scorsese's Hugo.

Certified Copy (France, starring Juliette Binoche, William Shimell and Jean-Claude Carrière) garnered best foreign language film.

Tabloid(UK)was named best documentary. For more on the awards, click title of this post.

~~~~~~ SUNDANCE ~~~~~~
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The 2012 Sundance Film Festival online film guide is up and running, and it is in html. Search now to learn more about this year’s films, and the new ones for 2012, make a must-see list, and share on your social networks. The Festival opens January 19 and runs though the 29th in Park City, Utah.

Ticket registration closes at 5 p.m. MST on December 19. Register for tickets today! Get Park City’s best digs and deals when you book your accommodations online through the Sundance Institute.

Boston Society of Film Critics Choose 'The Artist' as Best Film of 2011

THE ARTIST

This past weekend, the Boston Society of Film Critics chose to name the black and white movie The Artist recipient of their top prize for 2011. The actual awards will be presented February 4, 2012 at the Brattle Theater in Boston.

BOSTON FILM CRITICS' List:

Best Picture - The Artist
Best Actor - Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Best Actress - Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor - Albert Brooks, Drive
Best Supporting Actress - Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids
Best Director - Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Best Screenplay - Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin and Stan Chervin, Moneyball
Best Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life
Best Documentary - Project Nim
Best Foreign-Language Film - - Incendies
Best Animated Film - Rango
Best Film Editing - Christian Marclay, The Clock
Best New Filmmaker - Sean Durkin, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Best Ensemble Cast - Carnage
Best Use of Music in a Film - Tie: Drive and The Artist

For more, click the title of this post.

Labels at the bottom of a post, if clicked, will bring up other posts that relate to the same subject. Try clicking one. To follow foreign language films, click the label that is the name of the country that interests you.

National Board of Review and NY Film Critics Circle Award Their "Best Of" for 2011

Three Breakout Movies

 

Last week, both the National Board of Review (NBR) and the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) voted the Iranian movie A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin) Best Foreign Film. Few outside the movie industry hear about the NBR or the NYFCC awards, but I post them because I rely upon them when making my Oscar picks.

 
A Separation, written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, was awarded the Golden Bear for best film and the Silver Bear for best acting ensemble at the Berlin Film Festival this year. In addition it won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Riga Film Forum in Latvia, along with many festival nominations and awards from various countries around the world.

I hope A Separation receives better treatment by the Academy this year than Farhadi's 2009 film, About Elly. For a list of films submitted and accepted for a run for and Oscar as Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards this coming February, see the link on the right sidebar.

 
Farhadi has a long list of awards beginning with his first movie, Dancing in the Dust in 2003, through his most previous film, About Elly. Unfortunately, his films have not received a single Oscar nomination. His internationally acclaimed About Elly was submitted to the Academy by Iran, but did not make the first cut. This year, A Separation was submitted by Iran. I hope the cultural, religious and political divides between the USA and Iran will not handicap this movie's chance for an Academy Award.

 
So far, there is hope for a first-time nomination for Farhadi. A Separation is about a married couple faced with a difficult decision. Should they move to another country to improve the life of their child, or stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's? For more on A Separation, click the title of this post.

 
The NY Film Critics Circle bestowed its Best Picture award for 2011 to Michel Hazanavicius’ black-and-white silent film The Artist, along with the Best Director award. I predict good things for this movie at the 84th Academy Awards.  Here is the NYFCC's winner's list:

Best Picture: The Artist
Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree of Life)
Best Screenplay: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin (Moneyball)
Best Director: Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Best Foreign-Language Film: A Separation
Best Actor: Brad Pitt (Moneyball, The Tree Of Life)
Best Actress: Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain (The Tree Of Life, The Help and Take Shelter)
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks (Drive)
Best Nonfiction Film: Cave Of Forgotten Dreams
Best First Feature: Margin Call
2011 Special Award: Raoul Ruiz (posthumous).

 
The National Board Of Review Named Hugo Best Film, and Martin Scorsese Best Director for the animated movie. I also predict good things for this movie at the Academy Awards. Here is is the NBR's winner's list:

Best Film: Hugo
Best Director: Martin Scorsese, Hugo
Best Actor: George Clooney, The Descendants
Best Actress: Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
Best Original Screenplay: Will Reiser, 50/50
Best Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, The Descendants
Best Animated Feature: Rango
Breakthrough Performance: Felicity Jones, Like Crazy
Breakthrough Performance: Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Debut Director: J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
Best Ensemble: The Help
Spotlight Award: Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class)
NBR Freedom of Expression: Crime After Crime
NBR Freedom of Expression: Pariah
Best Foreign Language Film: A Separation
Best Documentary: Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory
Special Achievement in Filmmaking: The Harry Potter Franchise – A Distinguished Translation from Book to Film.

The 84th Academy Awards nominations will be announced live on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, at 5:30 a.m. PT, in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2011 will be presented on Sunday, February 26, 2012, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Official Site

Movie Awards Season is Officially Open

Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor in Beginners

In an unprecedented tie, Beginners and The Tree of Life shared the prize for best feature at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, one of the two major awards given to independent film. The Gotham Independent Film Awards, were presented last night in New York City, and the Official Movie Awards' Season in the USA is now open!

Beginners, starring Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller and Keegan Boos, won the best ensemble performance award. Also, Beginners has been nominated for the Film Independent Spirit award. Scroll down.

Here is the list:

Best Feature: Beginners and The Tree of Life (tie)
Best Documentary: Better This World **
Best Ensemble Performance: Beginners (Christopher Plummer, Ewan McGregor, Melanie Laurent, Goran Visnjic, Kai Lennox, Mary Page Keller, Keegan Boos)
Breakthrough Director: Dee Rees, Pariah
Breakthrough Actor: Felicity Jones, Like Crazy
Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You: Scenes of a Crime
Audience Award: Girlfriend
Spotlight on Women Filmmakers Live the Dream , and Grant: Lucy Mulloy, Una Noche (One Night)

**Documentary did not make the short list for an Oscar nomination.

For more on The Gotham Awards visit their Web Site.

  The Tree of Life won the Palme d'Or at Cannes earlier this year. Directed by Terrence Malick (Badlands, The Thin Red Line, The New World), it stars Brad Pitt, Sean Penn and Jessica Chastain (The Help).

There are only two organizations in the U.S. that solely specialize in recognizing independent film, The Gotham Independent Film Awards, and the Film Independent Spirit Awards, which is bigger and better known than The Gotham Awards. However, The Gotham's are presented earlier, traditionally mark the opening of the film awards season, are very respected, and every bit as prestigious as the Spirit Awards.
 

The Film Independent Spirit nominations were announced today, Tuesday, in Los Angeles. Take Shelter and the black-and-white silent film, The Artist, both with five nominations each, are the top nominees for the 2012 Film Independent Spirit Awards. Both are nominated for the best feature award.

Others nominated in the the best feature category are: Beginners, 50/50, The Descendants and Drive.

Films receiving four nominations each are: Beginners, Drive, The Descendants and Martha Marcy May Marlene. For all Independent Spirit Film nominations, click the title of this post, which links to a PDF file.

Winners of the 27th annual award will be announced at the Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony on Saturday, February 25, 2012, at a daytime luncheon in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica, California. The premiere broadcast will air later that evening at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on IFC. Visit the FIS Awards Web Site.

San Sebastián IFF Open and Going Strong

The San Sebastián International Film Festival (SSIFF) opened Friday night with the main presentation (Opening Film) in the Victoria Eugenia Theater of INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS. Director Quentin Tarantino and actor Brad Pitt presented the movie to kick off the Official Selection, although BASTERDS screened out of competition.

Coincidentally, according to Box Office Mojo, this past weekend BASTERDS took in $3.8 million for a $110.1 million 31-day haul. It passed PULP FICTION to become Tarrantino's highest grossing movie. However, over-all attendance for PULP was much higher than BASTERDS because of the difference in ticket prices between then and today.

Of course, that wasn't the only thing that happened Friday evening in San Sebastián, because SSIFF is a marathon of multiplexes. It is not linear with only one thing happening at a time. Other Sections opened as well.

The New Directors Section got underway at 4:00 p.m. in the Kusaal, 2, with WO DE TANG / SEASONS IN THE SUN, China, Zhang Huilin, director. The Latin Horizons followed in the same venue with SIN NOMBRE (NO NAME, USA, Mexico), directed by Cary Joji Fukunaga.

Over in the Principe 7, at 6:30 p.m., the Made in Spain Section opened with PAGAFANTAS (Spain), Borja Cobeaga, director. Later, in Principe 9, the Panorama of Basque Cinema opened with ZUZENDU, MESEDEZ!, Juan Miguel Gutiérrez, director. Sorry, Google does not translate Euskara, i.e., Basque, but it is a documentary about teacher, artist, filmmaker Juanjo Franco Zabalegi, who died at San Sebastian in 2008.

San Sebastián IFF Opens Friday

The 57th San Sebastián International Film Festival (the Zinemaldia) opens this Friday, 18 September, in San Sebastián, Spain. Renault, once again, will provide the official cars for the Festival.

Tickets went on sale Sunday and a total of 46,455 tickets were sold as compared to 37, 579 last year. Quentin Tarantino's INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, WATEVER WORKS and PRECIOUS were the first to sell out, the Tarantino movie within seven minutes.

This year's Festival will include a total of 202 films. The competitive sections are as follows: 17 films in the Official Selection, 14 in Zabaltegi-New Directors, 15 in Zabaltegi-Pearls and 13 in Horizontes Latinos. Made in Spain will offer 15 titles and Zinemira-Basque Film Showcase another 9, plus a short retrospective. The Zabaltegi-Specials has a recent addition of Hana Makhmalbaf’s GREEN DAYS.

The 57th Edition will offer 27 world premieres, 5 international premieres and 12 European premieres. The Selection Committee viewed a total of 1,819 films, compared to the 1,696 in 2008, in order to choose the titles presented in the different sections.

Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore and Amanda Seyfried star in the opening movie, CHLOE, which is almost sold out for the largest venue, the Kursaal Auditorium. As of now, there are still tickets available in the smaller venues for opening night.

Only a few tickets remain for the Cannes Festival winner, THE WHITE RIBBON (Das Weisse Band), also winner of this Festival's FIPRESCI Grand Prix. Same for THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS and SIN NOMBRE, all three expected to be among the most popular movies screening at the Festival.

Sir Ian McKellen will receive the Donastia Award on the 23rd. Cultivated in the Shakespeare classics, the British actor achieved worldwide fame in THE LORD OF THE RINGS and X-MEN. He won the Festival's Silver Shell for Best Actor in 1998 for GODS AND MONSTERS.

The Antonio Elorza Velodrome has been converted into an enormous 3-D cinema for screening the Spanish premiere of BATTLE FOR TERRA, OCEANWORLD, THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS and the 3-D version of TOY STORY. Almost 3,000 viewers at each screening will be able to enjoy the experience of watching films in three dimension as part of an enormous audience and before a giant screen.

Canadian director Atom Egoyan and producer Ivan Reitman will present their film CHLOE at the Festival opening gala. Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz will also present INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, the opening movie of the Zabaltegi-Pearls section, on the first day of the Festival at the Victoria Eugenia Theatre.

At the closing gala in the Kursaal, on Saturday, 26th, the director Rodrigo García, together with actresses Naomi Watts and Kerry Washington, are expected to present MOTHER AND CHILD, bringing the 57th edition to a close.

French director Laurent Cantet will chair the Official Jury. He will be accompanied by Mexican actor Daniel Giménez Cacho, Korean director Bong Joon-ho, Spanish actress Pilar López de Ayala, British director John Madden, Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf and the Portuguese actress Leonor Silveira.

Some of the glitterati expected to attend the festival, other than those mentioned above are: Ang Lee, Jim Jarmusch, Terry Gilliam, Michael Winterbottom, François Ozon, Tom DiCillo, Jacques Audiard, Johnnie To, Bahman Gobhadi, Lee Daniels, Olivier Hirschbiegel, Christophe Honoré, Juan José Campanella, Matthias Glasner, Fernando Trueba, Isaki Lacuesta, Javier Rebollo, Nicolas Klotz, Jalil Lespert. Robert Duvall, Chiara Mastroianni, Miranda Otto, Brenda Blethyn, Ricardo Darín, Carmen Machi, Lola Dueñas and Ariadna Gil.

The International Film School Meeting 24 and 25 September will offer youngsters the chance to present their works. They and their teachers will also comment on them. The showings at the Kutxa Function Hall are open to the public.

Producer and director Lluís Miñarro will chair the jury consisting of students from the participating film schools that will choose the winning film, the director of which will win €10,000 in Panavision filming material for his or her next work, also earning the chance to participate in the Short Film Corner at Cannes. Twelve countries will participate in the Meeting, which includes a Masterclass.

For more see previous posts. For detailed ticket information, click the title of this post to link to the Festival's official Web site.

Cannes Winners Announced

Austrian director/writer Michael Haneke's black and white drama, THE WHITE RIBBON (Das Weisse Band) received the top prize Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival (CFF), taking home the coveted Palme d'Or (Golden Palm) for Best Feature Film. In a pre-WW I German village a series of crimes terrorizes its ultra-conservative residents. The brutality portends the Nazi era in pre-WW II Germany. Anyone get a whiff of a possible Oscar®?

The main Jury responsible for selecting the winners was headed by French Actress Isabelle Huppert. She was named best actress at the 2001 Festival for her role in Haneke's THE PIANO TEACHER. A Special Prize for lifetime achievement was awarded to French Filmmaker Alain Resnais at the screening of his latest, WILD GRASS (Les Herbes Folles).

French director Jacques Audiard's prison drama, A PROPHET (Un Prophéte), received the second place Grand Prize. The Festival's Jury Prize, the third-place award, was shared by FISH TANK (British director Andrea Arnold's teen drama) and THIRST (South Korean Park Chan-wook's vampire romance).

It was a big night for Austrian film, with Christopher Waltz as a "Jew hunter" in Nazi Germany, named as best actor for Quentin Tarantino's World War II epic INGLOURIOUS BASTARDS, starring Brad Pitt. Uh oh - WW II, Germany, Nazis - anyone get another whiff of a possible Oscar®?

Also, fellow Austrian Charlotte Gainsbourg won the best-actress honor for her role in ANTICHRIST, directed by Lars Von Trier. The last film riled and repelled many Cannes viewers with its explicit images of physical abuse involving a grieving couple (Gainsbourg and Willem Dafoe).

Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza received the award as Best Director for KINATAY. It concerns police inflicting bodily harm as retribution against uncooperative prostitutes.

Hong Kong screenwriter Feng Meiu garnered the Best Screenplay award for SPRNG FEVER (Hong Kong), directed by Lou Ye. It is a tale of forbidden romance involving homosexual relationships. First-time director Warwick Thornton was awarded a Camera d'Or (Golden Camera) in that category for his first feature, SAMSON AND DELIAH (Australia).

ARENA (Portugal), directed by João Salaviza, took home the Best Short Film Palme d'Or. THE SIX DOLLAR FIFTY MAN directed by Louis Sutherland received the Short Film Special Distinction award.

COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY, directed by Dutch-born Jan Kounen, closed the festival. It stars Anna Mouglalis and Mads Mikkelsen, and is based on Chris Greenhalgh's novel. The novel weaves fact and fiction as does the film set in the 1920s, which is a lush portrayal of a brief affair between Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and fashion pioneer Coco Chanel.

2009 Films In Competition (20):

* À L'ORIGINE (IN THE BEGINNING) directed by Xavier GIANNOLI
* ANTICHRIST directed by Lars VON TRIER
* BAK-JWI (THIRST) directed by PARK Chan-Wook
* BRIGHT STAR directed by Jane CAMPION
* CHUN FENG CHEN ZUI DE YE WAN (Spring Fever) directed by LOU Ye
* DAS WEISSE BAND (THE WHITE RIBBON) directed by Michael HANEKE
* ENTER THE VOID directed by Gaspar NOÉ
* FISH TANK directed by Andrea ARNOLD
* INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS directed by Quentin TARANTINO
* KINATAY directed by Brillante MENDOZA
* LES HERBES FOLLES (WILD GRASS) directed by Alain RESNAIS
* LOOKING FOR ERIC directed by Ken LOACH
* LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS (BROKEN EMBRACES) directed by Pedro ALMODÓVAR
* MAP OF THE SOUNDS OF TOKYO directed by Isabel COIXET
* TAKING WOODSTOCK directed by Ang LEE
* THE TIME THAT REMAINS directed by Elia SULEIMAN
* UN PROPHÈTE (A PROPHET) directed by Jacques AUDIARD
* VENGEANCE directed by Johnnie TO
* VINCERE directed by Marco BELLOCCHIO
* VISAGE (FACE) directed by TSAI Ming-Liang

To access links for individual films and directors, go here.

GOLDEN GLOBES NOMINATE FOREIGN FILMS

These five films were nominated by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) to vie for a Golden Globe as best foreign language film (BFLF):

THE BAADER MEINHOF COMPLEX (DER BAADER MEINHOF KOMPLEX, Germany)*;

EVERLASTING MOMENTS (MARIA LARSSONS EVIGA ÖGONBLICK, Sweden/Denmark)*;

GOMORRAH (GOMORRA, Italy)*;
I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (IL Y A LONGTEMPS QUE JE T’AIME, France). Releasing: Sony Pictures Classics;
WALTZ WITH BASHIR (Israel)*. Releasing: Sony Pictures Classics.
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* Submitted to the Academy for consideration for BFLF Oscar. EVERLASTING MOMENTS submitted by Sweden, and France submitted THE CLASS instead.
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In addition, the "little movie that might," SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, received a best picture (drama) nomination, and the director Danny Boyle received a best director nomination. SLUMDOG also received a best original score nomination for composer A. R. Rahman. This movie has been picked up by Fox Searchlight. Pay attention to it.

All the directors in the best motion picture (drama) competition were nominated, to wit: THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (David Fincher) , FROST / NIXON (Ron Howard), THE READER (Stephen Daldry), and REVOLUTIONARY ROAD (Sam Mendes). Oh, if the Oscars could only be that clean this year.

Four of the nominated pictures picked up nominations for their leading actors: Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road), Frank Langella (Frost / Nixon), Sean Penn (Milk), and Brad Pitt (The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button). However, the one to watch in this category is Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler).

Only one actress from the nominated best motion picture (drama) list was nominated, Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road). The other actresses are: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Meryl Streep (Doubt), and Kristin Scott Thomas (I've Loved You So Long). Meryl Streep is also nominated for best actress (musical or comedy) for MAMMA MIA!

The five nominees in the best motion picture (musical or comedy) category are: BURN AFTER READING, HAPPY-G0-LUCKY, IN BRUGES, MAMMA MIA! and VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA. The actresses nominated in this category, other than Streep, are: Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky), Frances McDormand (Burn After Reading) and Emma Thompson (Last Chance Harvey).

My favorite actor leads the actors nominated in the best actor (musical or comedy) category, Javier Bardem (Vicky Cristina Barcelona). The others are: Colin Farrell (In Bruges), James Franco (Pineapple Express), Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges) and Dustin Hoffman (Last Chance Harvey).

You can see the full list of nominees by clicking here, or the title of this post and hopefully, there will be a Golden Globes ceremony. You must remember that the gala was canceled last year because of the Writers Guild strike. Well, the actors (Screen Actors Guild) have been threatening to walk. Let us hope not, especially with the economy in such bad shape.

Film Festival Page Updated

Anjelina Jolie and Brad Pitt at the Santa Barbara Festival earlier this year.
There is new information on my Mimi's Film Festivals Page about the film festivals now playing: Miami International, San Diego Latino, Austin's South by Southwest, and the sister festivals in Mexico: Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta in conjunction with the University of Guadalajara.

Check the happenings at these festivals, and start preparing for the other upcoming international festivals: Memphis, River Run, Canadian Hot-Docs, San Francisco, and the biggest of the internationals - - the 61st in Cannes, France.

Oh, I haven't forgotten NYC's Tribeca, or the Ebertfest, as in Roger Ebert. This will be the 10th in Champaign, IL. As always, there are links to the festival's official Web sites.

All the above, and it is only Part I this year of my Mimi's Film Festivals Page 2008! This year's previous festivals are included, and I update the page about every week, but don't always post an update notice here, so visit often. There is a permanent link on the right sidebar of this blog.

Santa Barbara IFF Wraps

Wow! What a festival! Couldn't make it to Santa Barbara, CA, for the annual film festival? Get a capsule read on my Film Festival Page 2008, plus great links to explore more.

Find out why these stars attended: Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, and John Travolta, plus learn about some winning films: AMAL, AQUARIUM, BEAUTIFUL BITH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, and SAVING LUNA. Click permanent link on the right sidebar of this blog. What are you waiting for?

SOME TOP MOVIES AT CANNES

According to many critics, there were more top-rate movies at Cannes than were expected. The first thing that caught my eye was the Mexico-Spain co-production THE ORPHANAGE (El Orfanato), produced by director Guillermo del Toro (PAN'S LABYRINTH). It's a Spanish ghost story that has been described as, "terrifying and enthralling." I suggest you watch for it.

Others you might want to put on your must-see list:

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (French) that won best director at Cannes for Julian Schnabel, and A MIGHTY HEART, produced by Brad Pitt and starring Angelina Jolie as reporter Daniel Pearl's widow, were both extremely well received.

The Coen brother's NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN starring Javier Bardem, Kelly Macdonald and Josh Brolin, didn't win any awards but it received great buzz. It arrived with distribution from Miramax, which acquired DIVING BELL at the market.

Sony Pictures Classics purchased rights to the Israeli comedy THE BAND'S VISIT, while IFC bought the Palme d'Or winner, the Romanian drama 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS & 2 DAYS (now mostly referred to as 4 MONTHS). IFC also acquired FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON (Le Voyage du ballon rouge, France) starring Juliette Binoche.

It's almost summer, and I'm going on a short hiatus. Of course, if anything happens that I think is interesting, movie-wise, I'll probably post it.

HAPPY SUMMER EVERYONE!