Sunday, December 12, 2010

Boston Society of Film Critics. Juliette is a Rock Star

The Boston Society of Film Critics have been known to surprise in the past and this year, they've opted for Juliette Lewis as Best Supporting Actress in Conviction. Bet you didn't see that under five minute surprise coming! A good day for The Fighter, Black Swan and The Social Network. Less so for The Kids Are All Right which did manage two runner up citations but, alas, runner up citations aren't really official and don't get you great FYC material. It was also a bad day for Ben Affleck's The Town. Home-town bias didn't help it to place anywhere.

Full list with commentary after the jump




Picture The Social Network
Runner up: Toy Story 3
Director David Fincher for The Social Network
Runner up: Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan
Actress Natalie Portman in Black Swan
Runner up: Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right

Actor
Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
Runner up: Colin Firth (
The King's Speech) who lost by just one vote apparently.
Supporting Actress:
Juliette Lewis in Conviction (read the TFE interview)
Runner Up: Melissa Leo (
The Fighter)
Supporting Actor
Christian Bale in The FighterRunner Up: Andrew Garfield in The Social Network
Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
Runner up: Nicole Holocener for Please Give


Cinematography: Roger Deakins for the Coen Bros True Grit Runner up: Matthew Libatique for Black Swan
Editing (in memory of Karen Schmeer) Andrew Weisblum for Black Swan
Runner up: Lee Smith for
Inception

"It's our time."
A lot of people 'round the net are calling this a "sweep" for ...Network. It's a very strong showing yes, but a sweep? A sweep implies everything and they didn't win Supporting Actor and they won none of the technical prizes -- not even runner up -- apart from "music". Nitpicking forever! Very very strong showing, yes, but not a sweep. Several other films also won invites to Boston's wonderful Brattle Theater for the ceremony on January 30th, 2011. Think Juliette Lewis will show?


New Filmmaker (in memory of David Brudnoy) Jeff Malmberg for Marwencol
Runner up: David Michôd for
Animal Kingdom
Best Use of Music in a Film Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross for The Social Network
Runner up: Carter Burwell for
True Grit
Ensemble Cast  The Fighter
Runner up: The Kids Are All Right
Documentary Marwencol
Runner up: Inside Job
Foreign Language Film Mother (South Korea)
Runner up: I Am Love (Italy)
Animated Film  Toy Story 3
Runner up: The Illusionist

32 comments:

Jake D said...

Not that Firth can be overcome probably, but I really hope these critics' awards will launch it into at least somewhat of a horserace with Eisenberg.

Poor 127 Hours along with James Franco has plummeted in the last two weeks or so.

Boston has been making great choices though- the Lewis pick is completely deserved.

NATHANIEL R said...

Jake D -- their runner ups are so strong in each category too. I do wonder what exactly went wrong with 127 Hours. although it could always find a second wind. We're still 40+ days away from Oscar nominations.

cinephile said...

YES! Finally some nice ensemble awards. Glad for the lack of The Town love here.
btw, the Houston film critics nominations were announced as well, they have Noomi Rapace in Best Actress, Bill Murray and Jeremy Renner in Best Supporting Actor and Julianne Moore in best SUPPORTING actress.

Jin said...

Wow. This is such a cool list. Runner up for Andrew Garfield? Way cool.

pomme said...

they like Boston-based movies apparently (where is "the town?")

RJ said...

Lots of Boston ...

tesh said...

Remind me again why Marwencol, IMO easily in the top ten films of the year, was not on the Academy list?

James T said...

Boo to the Please Give mention.

Do they actually think we don't know which movie will get the top prize?

Alex said...

Love to see recognition of Marwencol and Please Give! I guess my city's critics have some taste.

Also you guys, The Social Network is getting awards all over the place. I don't think being set in the Boston area really fueled the votes here.

NATHANIEL R said...

and they shunned THE TOWN so...

RJ said...

... yes, but that's a lot of Fighter and more Conviction than anywhere else thus far.

Ryan T. said...

As I said on my twitter, they really embraced those hometown movies for those big awards, huh? And lest anyone forgets, Natalie Portman graduated Harvard.

NATHANIEL R said...

Is Conviction set in Boston? How quickly i forget these things.

RJ said...

^ haha. That I might be inclined to chalk up to coincidence, but still funny.

Ryan T. said...

BTW not saying they WON because they were based in Massachusetts. Just found the whole thing all meta and interesting.

Jin said...

So they're saving foreign language film for last?

Lucky said...

I've always wondered if the winners actually get something. Is there a trophy or a certificate or something that indicates you've won besides a post on the internet?

NATHANIEL R said...

ryan -- yeah. i get ya. I think they have had a history of preferencing them slightly. But then again. there are an awful lot of films with Boston connections. Not as many as NYC but still. a lot.

jin -- perhaps they forgot to update it on their site. curious.

NATHANIEL R said...

lucky -- they have an awards ceremony, so i'm sure they give them something at that. most critics awards have a ceremony later on (to give the stars time to try and schedule it i guess)

Jin said...

Yay! Mother. My excessive refreshing was totally worth it.

NATHANIEL R said...

Jin - lol. certainly a great day for THE SOCIAL NETWORK but given the Black Swan and Toy Story 3 showings... i wonder how many critics groups will let one of those slip through to take a director or pic prize from TSN.

pomme said...

OMG! i remember how i LOVED Mother's actresses

OtherRobert said...

It is strange that Black Swan wasn't cited for Use of Music, one of the few Music awards it could win for a score that relies so heavily on Swan Lake. That film would be nothing without the music on many levels. It is so well-used, I'm tempted to expand my own music category to Score-Adapted or Original so I can write about it again after my review tomorrow. Not that I need an excuse to write about film scores.

/3rtfu11 said...

Mercedes Ruehl versus Juliette Lewis – I mean Melissa Leo versus Juliette Lewis and Mila Kunis as the new Marisa Tomei – this year’s Supporting Actress race just became my most anticipated.

NATHANIEL R said...

/3rtfull -- well, it's only going to get exciting if the other critics awards throw curveballs like that. these things only work in quantity :)

Steve said...

Yay for Jesse Eisenberg! Do you think he could actually gain enough steam to beat Colin Firth?

Peggy Sue said...

I'm sorry but I don't see the greatness in Eisenberg's performance. When it comes to range, I think he's very limited.

/3rtfu11 said...

Peggy, Love your name btw!

He’s playing an emotionally limited character. We the audience either identify with him or we don’t. I did and actually like his character in spite of the betrayal Eduardo felt.

NATHANIEL R said...

Steve -- in short, no :( sorry... Firth is just so everything Oscar looks for in a Best Actor winner (the category where they prefer people with some years on them... unlike best actress) but i loved Jesse's performance.

adam k. said...

Eisenberg is still struggling for a nomination. No way he becomes the youngest best actor oscar winner. Firth has it in the bag... ESPECIALLY if TSN takes over the best pic race and best actor has to be TKS's big consolation prize.

These wins definitely help solidify Jesse's nomination chances, though.

NATHANIEL R said...

adam -- i'm finally not that worried about Jesse but part of me still is nervous. I could easily see him being the Sideways big snub (remember when Paul Giamatti sat out the best actor list?) which is really too bad because he's so marvelous in the movie.

but as of right now i think he's making it in.

Peggy Sue said...

Thanks /3rtfu11!

I know he's playing "an emotionally limited character" but he also did that in "Squid and the Whale" and "Adventureland".

I think we should wait a little to see more of him in the future...