The Adorable Jacki Weaver, Sweetie (LAFCA Winner!)

Points to our friend Glenn for pointing this out. Here's Jacki Weaver's acceptance speech at the Australian Film Awards for Animal Kingdom -- introduced by her current co-star Cate Blanchett. The speech is so adorable we are just going to pretend that it was delivered to us in America via satellite for her Los Angeles Film Critics Association triumph and NBR win.



How ya feeling about her Oscar chances, now?  

RIPE!

Related articles

• Glenn FYC'ed her for an Oscar nomination right here in March!
• I wrote her up for "best in show" at Tribeca Film
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards

Los Angeles Critics (Social Network vs. Carlos)

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association, now in their 35th year, hosted a battle between Carlos the Jackal and Mark Zuckerberg the punk. genius. billionaire. The Social Network co-founder won. But not without some concessions... including a tie.

Picture: The Social Network
[Runner up: Carlos]
Director: (tie) Olivier Assayas for Carlos and David Fincher for The Social Network
Actress: Kim Hye-Ja in Mother
[Runner up: Jennifer Lawrence in Winter's Bone]
Actor: Colin Firth in The King's Speech
[Runner up: Edgar Ramirez in Carlos]

Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom *check out this acceptance speech*
[Runner up: Olivia Williams in Ghost Writer]
Supporting Actor Neils Arestrup in A Prophet
[Runner up: Geoffrey Rush in The King's Speech]
Screenplay Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network
[Runner up: The King's Speech]
Cinematography Matthew Libatique for Black Swan
[Runner up: Roger Deakins for True Grit]
Music (tie) The Social Network and Alexandre Desplat The Ghost Writer
Production Design Guy Dyas for Inception
[runner up: The King's Speech]
Documentary Last Train Home
[Runner up: Exit Through the Gift Shop]
Experimental Jean Luc Godard's Film SocialismeForeign Film Carlos (France)
[Runner up: Mother (South Korea)]
Animated Film Toy Story 3
[Runner up: The Illusionist]
New Generation Lena Dunham for Tiny Furniture
Legacy of Cinema Award Serge Bromberg, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno, and the F.W. Murnau Foundation and Fernando Pena for the restoration of MetropolisCareer Achievement Paul Mazursky


The win for Jacki Weaver is good news for that fine Australian film.  They did a good thing, sweetie. Though Animal Kingdom was the first or near-first screener out, it didn't necessarily have a strong "watch me" hook for Academy voters who hadn't been paying attention to Sundance buzz. I've said ever since January that if people watch this movie, she'll be nominated. Simple as that. But you have to get the voters to watch. This vote of confidence from Los Angelenos can't hurt.

I'm also thrilled for Last Train Home which is my choice for Best Documentary of the Year ...unless Prodigal Sons counts as this year... I get so confused. I'm totally horrified that it didn't make Oscar's finalist list. Unless of course it wasn't eligible for some reason. It's so tough to track with docs and shorts and whatnot, these eligibility requirements and windows.


Finally, it's good to see LAFCA staying true to their own impulses with all the foreign film love. This group tends to not be as beholden to Oscar frontrunners as many other critics groups are. That said, I'm still unsure about how I feel about Carlos winning film prizes. I know it was released theatrically but wasn't it made as a TV miniseries?

ONE FINAL IMPORTANT NOTE: South Korea's Mother & France's A Prophet, which both won awards today with Los Angeles critics, represent flip sides of the same Oscar coin. Both were submitted for Oscar consideration last year in the foreign film category but were not released in Los Angeles theaters in 2009 rendering them ineligible for other Oscar nominations that year. They both received theatrical releases in 2010, and because of Oscar rules on that matter, only Mother is now eligible for Oscar consideration (in all categories EXCEPT foreign film since it had its shot last year). A Prophet, having been nominated in its only eligible category last year, is not eligible for any further consideration. Make sense?
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Five x Five

5 Funny Reads
Then fuck you, Jack Outlaw Vern on Animal Kingdom 'Australia's answer to Goodfellas'. Hilarious as always, that Vern.
Tom & Lorenzo "Kristin Chenoweth had a gayer Saturday night than we did."
The Onion "Oscar Contenders" It's all about the killer punchline.
SteveMartinToGo every so often I forget how much I love Steve Martin and then I remember while laughing. Usually I have this weird split second where I don't laugh. And then I start laughing.
Pajiba Why comic actors keep making such terrible movies. Oh, wait. This isn't funny. It's just about the funny. It's kind of sad actually.

The day WINGS won the first Oscar -hey, we discussed that one!

5 News Bits of Note
Oscars.org I'm going to love this Oscar countdown stopping in on each ceremony. Wheeee
Backstage Blogstage They're going to let the Glee cast graduate in 2012. Smart move for longevity (if the phenom show can manage longevity that is.)
Bad Ass Digest Cate Blanchett will remain Galadriel (The Hobbit casting)
Artforum it's not really "news" unless you wait for it each year and I do: John Water's Top Ten List: Jackass 3D, Dogtooth and more...
Movie|Line must-read interview with Jesse Eisenberg. He's a great candid interview but saying...

It’s hard to kind of attribute any kind of personal success to [it]. I just feel that I’ve been better in other things, so the fact that there’s so much attention on this movie in some ways is a bit jarring to me. Because I wonder what will happen if I’m not involved in something as great as this... the reception is not in accordance with what I felt I produced.

 ...probably isn't the best way to secure oneself an oscar nomination.

Just sayin'.

The Kick-Off! NBR Favors "The Social Network", Shuns "127 Hours"

God, they get us every time! The National Board of Review has haters all over the internet but despite endless attacks on their legitimacy claiming that their choices are nothing but studio banquet-table-buying driven ... we (collectively speaking) still always let them kick it off.

Sometimes we get a kick out of it. Sometimes we just get kicked in the gut. It's totally an S&M relationship. But through it all we admire the way they've maintained their enviable kick-off mythos well despite the growth of movie awards in which they can no longer shouting "first!" like monosyllabic screen-refreshing trolls. (Gotham, EFA, BIFA, Satellite and Spirit Awards nominations have already come and gone after all... though most of them are not dealing with the whole pool of Oscar hopefuls the way the NBR does.)

The NBR prizes are usually a mix of "awesome! well done" and "aren't you embarrassed to publicly state that?" ...and this year? There's arguably more "awesome!" than "wtf" this time 'round including major boosts for Another Year, Animal Kingdom and The Social Network.

BEST PICTURE
The Social Network
BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher, The Social Network

• Four major prizes to The Social Network undoubtedly marks this as the film to beat for Oscar. I know that people are saying "The King's Speech!" But I believe that in the end, that film's appeal will be shorter-lived. Just my hunch as to how it plays out (though I expect the Globes and the BFCA will give The King's Speech a major boost very soon) There's still nearly two months before Oscar nominations let alone the time of full stop campaigning after that. Contrary to popular belief, the NBR Best Picture prize does not doom your Oscar chances. It's not totally correlative either but so what. To each (group) their own.

BEST ACTRESS
Lesley Manville, Another Year
BEST ACTOR
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network (performance review)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom (performance review)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter

• Of the acting prizes the NBR favor provides a major boost for Eisenberg and Weaver who are both difficult sells for traditional Oscar choices in some ways: Eisenberg because he's young for the category and the character is abrasive, Weaver because she's in a small film from overseas. But great choices by the NBR here. May this push at least a few dozen more AMPAS members towards careful consideration of these star turns.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Chris Sparling, Buried

• This will have to count as the biggest shock, yes?

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
FOREIGN FILM
Of Gods and Men, France
DOCUMENTARY
Waiting For Superman 
ANIMATED FEATURE
Toy Story 3


ENSEMBLE CAST
The Town

• I enjoyed this movie alot and it's just the type that wins these "ensemble" prizes, given that it's a big cast of recognizable faces. But I prefer movies with more group interaction for these prizes -- a personal thing. This film has mostly one-on-one scenes other than what is for me the standout scene: that great accidental lunch meeting between Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner and Ben Affleck. Awkkkkkwward.

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
SPOTLIGHT AWARD (DIRECTORIAL DEBUT)
Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington Restrepo
SPECIAL FILMMAKING ACHIEVEMENT (writing, directing and producing)
Sofia Coppola, Somewhere
WILLIAM K EVERSON FILM HISTORY AWARD
Leonard Maltin
NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Fair Game, Conviction, Howl

And finally... the Lists.

Top Eleven Films (because a top ten isn't good enough for the NBR!)
(alpha order): 
Another Year
, The Fighter
, Hereafter, Inception
, The King’s Speech
, Shutter Island, 
The Social Network, 
The Town
, Toy Story 3, True Grit and 
Winter’s Bone

• Tolda that Hereafter would be here, though it wasn't a difficult call at all. Despite the film's tepid reviews, NBR voters are ever faithful to their Eastwood. This is his 8th consecutive film to be so honored.

Top Ten Independent Films
(alpha order): 
Animal Kingdom, 
Buried
, Fish Tank, 
The Ghost Writer
, Greenberg, 
Let Me In
, Monsters
Please Give, 
Somewhere
 and Youth in Revolt

• Another snub for Blue Valentine, which is having a rough week given the lack of Spirit Awards love, too. Either they withheld the film too long, the stupid MPAA rating scared people off or the film is just too brutal emotionally for ballot love. Shame. It's such a good movie.

Top Six Foreign Films
(alpha order): 
I Am Love, 
Incendies, 
Life Above All
, Of Gods And Men
, Soul Kitchen
 and White Material

• The buzz on Incendies is still just a low hum but the humming is fiercely tuneful. I keep hearing words like "astounding." So perhaps it's the film to beat for Oscar's foreign film competition. Note that Biutiful did not make their list.

Top Six Documentary Films
(alpha order): 
A Film Unfinished, 
Inside Job, 
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, 
Restrepo
, The Tillman Story and 
Waiting For “Superman”.

BIGGEST SNUB STORY: Black Swan, 127 Hours and The Kids Are All Right, which have all been winning major attention, were completely shut out. No prizes for any of them. Other films that maybe weren't destroyed but certainly weren't boosted by today's announcement were Rabbit Hole, Blue Valentine and all of those one week qualifying releases that were hoping for last minute attention (The Way Back, Barney's Version, Biutiful, Frankie & Alice).


BIGGEST BOOSTS: The Social Network (which was a gimme anyway), but more importantly Mike Leigh's Another Year (1 prize, 1 list) and David Michôd's Animal Kingdom (1 prize, 1 list)


MOST BORING DEVELOPMENT: The endless fawning over Waiting For 'Superman'. With so many fine documentaries this year, why that one? The Lottery, on the very same topic, is more focused and convincing (though it comes without any bells and whistles), if you must reward this topic.
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Animal Kingdom To Rack Up Awards (...In Australia)

Remember that one year (2001) when the list-happy AFI (American Film Institute) decided to compete with the Globes and the Oscars in year end prizes? No, that didn't last long. But there's another AFI, The Australian Film Institute, that has been around for a long time and is in no such danger of being a one-off. This year, they're all about the amazing family crime drama Animal Kingdom which they awarded with a record breaking 18 nominations. Sure, the film is in danger of being way overhyped for people who are coming to it late (which is just about everyone given the sorry state of international distribution for dramas of virtually any kind) but for those who can slough off the "omg" raves, I guarantee you'll think it at least an insinuating and well executed crime drama.

AFI Favorites with multiple nominations

Its main competition for the coveted prizes, if you go by nomination counts, is Bright Star (different eligibility calendar over there in Australia). I haven't really covered the Australian Awards before -- we lean on Glenn for that -- but since i've seen three of their Best Picture nominees this time around (the two leaders plus the aborigine musical Bran Nue Dae), why not?

Complete nomination list -- with more Oscar adjacent & actor related comments -- after the jump.

Read more »

Actressing, Swag, Oscar Updates

Heads up: I interviewed Juliette Lewis (!) a few days ago and that piece will hit on Thursday. In November... TILDA. Stay tuned. The fall film season always brings fresh golden excitement to The Film Experience.

Speaking of pick-me-ups...

This T to your left, is my favorite piece of swag for precursor season thus far. They passed some law that bloggers are supposed to tell you what gifts they get, right? It's really not complicated in my case. I get what other members of certain critics groups get (I'm a member of the BFCA): some screeners, the occassional film book, random infrequent goodies such as this. It's a little hard to see but basically it's a Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) bust with her sure-to-become classic line "You've done some bad things, sweetie." scrawled under her face.

The Supporting Actress Race is, as you've presumably surmised (being the smarty that you are) unpredictable at the moment. Almost everyone who people think might be in the running is an uncertainty.

The obstacles to certainty

• Helena Bonham Carter (The King's Speech) AMPAS has resisted all but one of her worthy perfs. And even that one time (The Wings of the Dove) when she absolutely deserved the actual win, she lost.
• Dianne Wiest (Rabbit Hole) has a small film emerging in the annual December glut.
• Miranda Richardson (Made in Dagenham) is fun but the role is kind of easy, if you will. If they're in the mood to hand her a career acknowledgement, it's a go but otherwise...
• Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom). Hollywood doesn't know her and might not see her film.
• Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit). The actors branch is, for whatever reason, semi-resistant to Coen Bros pictures.
• Melissa Leo & Amy Adams (The Fighter) are in the same film that few have yet seen.
  
  

• Sissy Spacek (Get Low) is in a film where the men get almost all the attention.
• Barbra Hershey & Mila Kunis (Black Swan) are in a film that might be too outre for the acting branch and one in which the lead actress is hogging all the attention anyway. Weirder still: though Hershey and Portman are the ones with the nominatable roles, Kunis is the only one to win anything thus far (Venice by way of Quentin Tarantino).
• Kristin Scott Thomas (Nowhere Boy) has the Bonham Carter problem, doesn't she?
• Saoirse Ronan (The Way Back) has a small film with a huge cast in the annual December glut.
• Rosamund Pike (Barney's Version & Made in Dagenham) is quite a good actress but she never seems to generate buzz. Incidentally, she gets two of the very best moments in Made in Dagenham but still people aren't talking about her and you only hear "Miranda & Sally".
• Dale Dickey (Winter's Bone) is in a small film where the lead actress hogs the attention.
• Marion Cotillard (Inception) is in a movie that's not exactly an "actor's movie"
• Loretta, Whoopi, Janet, Kerry, Thandie, Phylicia, Anika, Macy, etc... (For Colored Girls) They have the internal competition problem times infinity. For any traction whatsoever one or two of them will have to steal the entire show.

And so on and so on. DISCUSS.

Incidentally, at least one film writer wants Annette Bening to move to supporting for The Kids Are All Right. While it's true that she could probably win the category with ease were she to be nominated there, I doubt the Academy would buy the classification. For one thing, she's top billed, which has not been the case in other instances where they've demoted a co-lead to supporting. And they don't always buy the ridiculous re-classifications, anyway. I mean, trying to sell The Bening as supporting Julianne Moore would as foolish as trying to sell the idea that Jamie Foxx was supporting Tom Cruise in Collat--- oh f***, never mind.

 Best Actress has also been updated

Oscar Prediction Index

Links: Newt, Exorcisms, Movie Homes and More

Final Girl an exorcism movie flowchart. Hilarious even if you're not a horror fan.
Journalistic Skepticism I love this. "25 Most Optimum Film Residences". I think I'm going to go with the Pink Palace Apartments (as long as it comes with the cat), Howards End or Erica's Beach House from Something's Gotta Give (Nancy Meyers movies are real estate porn.)


Hollywood Reporter Actress Cammie Conlon (famously known as "Bonnie Blue Butler" in Gone With the Wind) has died. RIP
Greenbriar Picture Show "Fairy Dust Blown Off..." on the appeal and arguable repeal of Audrey Hepburn.
Just Jared Karl June on the set of the new Hugh Jackman picture Real Steel. I didn't know they were filming in Detroit. This means that right now as I type this, Hugh is wandering around my home state!
MNPP Another convert to Animal Kingdom. Let's hope the Aussie flick keeps building.
I Need My Fix Lindsay Lohan goes to the movies. Like this blog, I think this is a step in the right direction. But I still have a concern: which movie? Cuz, that's an important thing to know.

And over at Serious Film a question: "How about a little fire, scarecrow?" Have you ever noticed this bit in The Wizard of Oz? On a related side note I would like to note that Michael who runs Serious Film will be joining the Film Experience team this week with a new weekly column I think you'll enjoy. Welcome, Michael!

One more to go...

Disney Pixar has released several production images from the abandoned Pixar film Newt (2011). They look beautiful, no surprise. I realize that everyone thinks Pixar is infallible but something tells me it's downhill from Toy Story 3. The recent abandoning of original projects like this coupled with a new focus on sequels no one needs (Cars, Monsters Inc and the inevitable Toy Story 4) suggests to me... well, it isn't good omens. It just feels reminiscent of how every other studio behaves. And no other studio is as consistently grand as Pixar ... so why should Pixar start emulating the others?

Best in Show: Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom, the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury winner, is now playing on 39 of the nation's screens. Let that be 39 steps closer to an Oscar nomination for Jacki Weaver; it could happen if Academy members actually see the acclaimed crime thriller. But let’s not jump ahead of the narrative. An Oscar nomination would be a deserving climax, but it’s not exactly a prologue. If Animal Kingdom's confident storytelling teaches us anything, it’s to stay focused and earn your dramatic developments...

Read the rest @ Tribeca Film

Not all of my "best in show" columns at Tribeca can necessarily double as awards season FYC but this one isn 't subtle about that particular agenda. Awards traction is tricky for people who aren't big (U.S.) stars, especially in foreign born films, so why not start early?

I was a bit concerned about being too spoilery in tone (if not in plot) but then I remembered that the film's trailer and ad campaign are already relying heavily on the visibly underlined raves about Weaver's not-so-very-nice momster. And, hey, even if you know details about each character going in, the plot will still twist and turn in organic but surprising ways while you're watching. Good movie.

"Smurf" with her boys.

Is this playing anywhere near you?
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For Your Consideration: 10 Months Out

Glenn here from Stale Popcorn to help fill in during the absense of Nathaniel while is he is in Nashville. I'm here to do what I do best and that's talk about Australian film.

We're ten months away from finding out what films from 2010 the Academy decide are worthy enough to join the lofty ranks of Best Picture nominees - /snark - but by this time last year we had already been advised that Mo'Nique was going to win an Oscar for a movie that co-starred Mariah Carey and that a British unknown was poised to steal thunder and glory from the likes of Meryl Streep. Only one of those things came true, but it bears repeating, so it's never too early to start the For Your Consideration campaign for someone who is completely and utterly deserving.

That someone is Jacki Weaver as "Janine Cody" in Animal Kingdom.


I saw David Michôd's debut feature a couple of weeks ago now and it is very good. So good, in fact, that it has been picked up for American distribution by an actual distributor with cash flow and resources and the ability to market something to more than just a few 60-seat arthouse cinemas in New York City (that would be Sony Pictures Classics)! Animal Kingdom is a Melbourne-set crime drama revolving around a family of armed bank robbers and the young teenager who gets drawn into their dirty deeds.

Jacki Weaver, a sort of acting legend here in Australia, plays the family matriarch who has a creepy need to pash her sons (and grandsons) on the lips to show her unflinching devotion. What makes Weaver's performance so delicious is how she spends much of the first half slowly building her character's persona as the quiet, ever-smiling, loving mother. All that changes as the film's second half brings about a twist and lovely ol' Mrs Cody becomes an embodiment of evil, unleashing her puppet master skills as she tries to blackmail, cover-up, extort and manipulate those around her into dancing to her tune.

I wrote in my review that Weaver's performance is "sure to be remembered as one of the finest displays of acting ever committed to an Australian film", and it reminds me of the recent towering performances of Mo'Nique and Javier Bardem. This lady will give you nightmares.

Nathaniel ranked Ms Weaver as a long shot for Best Supporting Actress honours at the Academy Awards based on, I imagine, the buzz that came out of Sundance and from people such as myself who couldn't shut up about her. I walked out of the cinema wanting to shout "Jacki Weaver just won the Academy Award!" but I didn't because she's old, she's foreign and features in a movie that will probably go way too underseen to really make much of a charge, but boy would it be sweet to see this 62-year-old unknown actress ("unknown" in the grand scheme of Academy things) plow right on through to an Oscar nomination.



"You've done some bad things, Sweetie!"
So I, right here, put forth a year long FYC campaign for Jacki Weaver in Animal Kingdom. It's released in Australia on the 3rd of June and will hopefully see an American release sometime later in the year. But enough about me and my wishes, I'd love to know if any readers out there have seen anything that they think strongly merits a studio plonking down the cash for a FYC campaign. The Ghost Writer? Shutter Island? Hot Tub Time Machine? A Razzie FYC for the latter, I'm sure.