Awards Season 2012: some of the lists and nominations

[Chris Knipp]

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Eloise Lawrance and Tim Roth in Rufus Norris' Broken

THE BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS. To start off with here's a set of awards that will mean little to most of us Yanks. However there are some important people and films in the list of winners, Jude Law, Michael Gambon, and the excellent British documentary THE IMPOSTER. And they've got a posh sponsor, Moët champagne. Thomas Vinterberg's THE HUNT also is a film (starring Mads Mikkelson) that was talked about at Cannes and hasn't been much seen in the US, if at all. I don't think it's been in any US festival or got a US release date, but it was in the LFF and had a Nov UK release and was reviewed on the London-based website I participate in, Flickfeast.uk (http://flickfeast.co.uk/reviews/film-reviews/hunt-2012/) where Alice Sutherland-Hawes gave it a rave and a ten-our-of-ten rating. We're getting screwed on this one.

List of winners
Best British independent film Broken
Best director Peter Strickland – Berberian Sound Studio
The Douglas Hickox award [best debut director] Bart Layton – The Imposter
Best screenplay Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Amy Jump – Sightseers
Best actress Andrea Riseborough – Shadow Dancer
Best actor Toby Jones – Berberian Sound Studio
Best supporting actress Olivia Colman – Hyde Park On Hudson
Best supporting actor Rory Kinnear – Broken
Most promising newcomer James Floyd – My Brother The Devil
Best achievement in production Berberian Sound Studio
Best technical achievement Nic Knowland BSC – cinematography – Berberian Sound Studio
Best documentary The Imposter
Best international independent film The Hunt
The Raindance award Strings
The Richard Harris award (for outstanding contribution by an actor to British Film) Sir Michael Gambon
The Variety award Jude Law
Special jury prize Sandra Hebron

[Chris Knipp]

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Still from Zero Dark Thirty

Calendar of important awards and nominations dates here: http://www.indiewire.com/article/save-the-dates-heres-the-2012-13-awards-season-calendar

LA FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION AWARDS. Announced Sunday, 9 Dec. 2012, another important US city movie critics' awards. It seems they noted ZERO DARK THIRTY but were not so overwhelmed by it as the New York Critics Circle. Just one acknowledgement of DJANGO UNCHAINED. It looks like they made up their minds a while ago, mostly.But I think maybe we could do better without all the runners-up. They cloud the issue. Make up your minds already. One set of awards per critics circle per year, please.

List of winners
Best Picture: Amour Runner-up: The Master
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix (The Master) Runner-up: Denis Lavant (Holy Motors)
Best Actress: (TIE) Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) + Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
Best Supporting Actor: Dwight Henry (Beasts of the Southern Wild) Runner-up: Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams (The Master) Runner-up: Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables, The Dark Knight Rises)
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master) Runner-up: Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)
Best Screenplay: Argo (Chris Terrio) Runner-up: Silver Linings Playbook (David O. Russell)
Best Editing: Zero Dark Thirty (Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg) Runner-up: Argo (William Goldenberg)
Best Cinematography: Skyfall (Roger Deakins) Runner-up: The Master (Mihai Malaimare Jr.)
Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film: The Gatekeepers Runner-up: Searching for Sugar Man
Best Animated Film: Frankenweenie Runner-up: It's Such a Beautiful Day
Best Foreign Language Film: Holy Motors Runner-up: Footnote
Best Music/Score: Beasts of the Southern Wild (Dan Romer and Benh Zeitlin) Runner-up: The Master (Jonny Greenwood)
Best Production Design: The Master (David Crank and Jack Fisk) Runner-up: Moonrise Kingdom (Adam Stockhausen)
Douglas E. Edwards Award: For Independent/Experimental Film/Video Leviathan (dir. Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Verena Paravel)

THE NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS were announced the week before (Dec. 3, 3012), and posted earlier on another thread here, notable for the big emphasis on ZERO DARK THIRTY, which many of us have not even yet seen. It was also unusual to give "Best First Film" to a documentary, HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE. (A lot of the action in HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE takes place in NYC, by the way.) The awards were as follows:

List of winners:
Best Picture: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Actress: Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Best Screenplay: Tony Kushner, Lincoln
Best Supporting Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Magic Mike and Bernie
Best Supporting Actress: Sally Field, Lincoln
Best Animated Film: Frankenweenie
Best Cinematographer: Greig Fraser, Zero Dark Thirty
Best First Film: How to Survive a Plague
Best Foreign Film: Amour
Best New Director
Best Non-Fiction Film (Documentary): The Central Park Five

[Chris Knipp]

SCREEN ACTORS GUILD (SAG) NOMINATIONS.

From Hollywood Reporter (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/silver-linings-playbook-lincoln-les-401218). Television nominations omitted here.

19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominations
MOTION PICTURE
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Silver Linings Playbook
Lincoln
Les Miserables
Argo
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Denzel Washington, Flight
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin, Argo
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy
Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
STUNT ENSEMBLES
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Bourne Legacy
The Dark Knight Rises
Les Miserables
Skyfall

[Chris Knipp]

THE GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS
Sunday, 13 January 2013.

A movie buff friend wrote me today she loves the Golden Globes: "This is my favorite awards show because everybody is drinking and having a swell time." And for "all the eye candy."

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JESSICA ALBA LOOKED STUNNING

The following list shows a lot of acting talent noted working on TV these days. Much favor thrown to ARGO and SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. Some awards, D.Day-Lewis, J. Chastain, are not surprises. Affleck gets some compensation for his Oscar "snub" (as tabuno notes). And at least Bigelow and Tarantino got Best Actor nominations by the Globistas. It is very significant that Quentin Tarantino won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. Anne Hathaway turned a nice phrase: "Hathaway thanked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association 'for this lovely blunt object, that I will forever use as a weapon against my self-doubt.' Tina Fey and her cohort got in some good one-liners: "When it comes to torture, I trust the lady who spent three years married to James Cameron," Ouch! I'm happy for any prizes won by Quentin or his movie (including Chritoph Waltz) and the nods to LIFE OF PI. Readers of my jottings here know I find LINCLON and ARGO a little too middlebrow, however worthy as mainstream Hollywood efforts. Remember the gritty Boston stuff Affleck began with as a director, GONE, BABY, BONE? He stuck with that, though drifting toward the mainstream, with THE TOWN.

I would definitely have chosen SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK over LES MISERABLES as a "comedy or musical" best for 2012, even though PLAYBOOK may not deserve quite all the awards attention it is getting. I'm not convinced it's a great film, though I did enjoy it and find it warm and human and, distortions or not, "real". It was good movie politics to give out awards to both Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway in the "comedy or musical" category. LES MIS fanatics won't be happy without Hathayway's big schtick in "Dream a Dream" getting nods. "I beat Meryl," chirped Jennifer; I'd forgotten all about HOPE SPRINGS, and guess I'm glad it got mention, though it's only proof that most of the year's comedies were forgettable. I liked THIS IS 40 better. It's not a great movie, but it has more original, fun stuff in it. One can't quarrel with the choice of AMOUR for Best Foreign, and I'm very happy with the nomination of RUST AND BONE. (There are plenty of others.....see my Best Lists.)

I have not yet seen KON-TIKI and I have not seen any of the animated films nominated. Usually I seem some of them, not this year; and BRAVE did sound like the winner even when it was first showing. A friend I went to an art show with just today was telling me that "Girls" was a really funny series, and I find it's the work of Lena Durham, whose 2010 IFC first feature TINY FURNITURE (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1655) showed she was an up-and-comer.

Best Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER: "Argo"
» "Django Unchained"
» "Life of Pi"
» "Lincoln"
» "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER: "Les Miserables"
» "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"
» "Moonrise Kingdom"
» "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"
» "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER: Daniel Day-Lewis - "Lincoln"
» Richard Gere - "Arbitrage"
» John Hawkes - "The Sessions"
» Joaquin Phoenix - "The Master"
» Denzel Washington - "Flight"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama
WINNER: Jessica Chastain - "Zero Dark Thirty"
» Marion Cotillard - "Rust and Bone"
» Helen Mirren - "Hitchcock"
» Naomi Watts - "The Impossible"
» Rachel Weisz - "The Deep Blue Sea"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER: Hugh Jackman - "Les Miserables"
» Jack Black - "Bernie"
» Bradley Cooper - "Silver Linings Playbook"
» Ewan McGregor - "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"
» Bill Murray - "Hyde Park on Hudson"

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JENNIFER LAWRENCE

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
WINNER: Jennifer Lawrence - "Silver Linings Playbook"
» Maggie Smith - "Quarter"
» Emily Blunt - "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"
» Judi Dench - "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"
» Meryl Streep - "Hope Springs"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
WINNER: Christoph Waltz - "Django Unchained"
» Alan Arkin - "Argo"
» Leonardo DiCaprio - "Django Unchained"
» Philip Seymour Hoffman - "The Master"
» Tommy Lee Jones - "Lincoln"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
WINNER: Anne Hathaway - "Les Miserables"
» Amy Adams - "The Master"
» Sally Field - "Lincoln"
» Helen Hunt - "The Sessions"
» Nicole Kidman - "The Paperboy"

Best Director - Motion Picture
WINNER: Ben Affleck - "Argo"
» Kathryn Bigelow - "Zero Dark Thirty"
» Ang Lee - "Life of Pi"
» Steven Spielberg - "Lincoln"
» Quentin Tarantino - "Django Unchained"

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TARANTINO: BEST SCREENPLAY

Best Screenplay - Motion Picture
WINNER: Quentin Tarantino - "Django Unchained"
» Mark Boal - "Zero Dark Thirty"
» Tony Kushner - "Lincoln"
» David O. Russell - "Silver Linings Playbook"
» Chris Terrio - "Argo"

Best Original Song - Motion Picture
WINNER: "Skyfall" - "Skyfall"
» "For You" - "Act of Valor"
» "Not Running Anymore" - "Stand Up Guys"
» "Safe and Sound" - "The Hunger Games"
» "Suddenly" - "Les Miserables"

Best Original Score - Motion Picture
WINNER: "Life of Pi"
» "Argo"
» "Anna Karenina"
» "Cloud Atlas"
» "Lincoln"

Best Animated Film
WINNER: "Brave"
» "Frankenweenie"
» "Hotel Transylvania"
» "Rise of Guardians"
» "Wreck-It Ralph"

Best Foreign Language Film
WINNER: "Amour"
» "A Royal Affair"
» "The Intouchables"
» "Kon-Tiki"
» "Rust and Bone"

Best Television Series - Drama
WINNER: "Homeland"
» "Breaking Bad"
» "Boardwalk Empire"
» "Downton Abbey"
» "The Newsroom"

Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy
WINNER: "Girls"
» "Big Bang Theory"
» "Episodes"
» "Modern Family"
» "Smash"

Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER: "Game Change"
» "The Girl"
» "Hatfields & McCoys
» "The Hour"
» "Political Animals"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama
WINNER: Damien Lewis - "Homeland"
» Steve Buscemi - "Boardwalk Empire"
» Brian Cranston - "Breaking Bad"
» Jeff Daniels - "The Newsroom"
» Jon Hamm - "Mad Men"


Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama
WINNER: Claire Danes - "Homeland"
» Connie Britton - "Nashville"
» Glenn Close - "Damages"
» Michelle Dockery - "Downton Abbey"
» Julianna Margulies - "The Good Wife"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
WINNER: Don Cheadle - "House of Lies"
» Alec Baldwin - "30 Rock"
» Matt LeBlanc - "Episodes"
» Louie C.K. - "Louie"
» Jim Parsons - "Big Bang Theory"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy
WINNER: Lena Dunham - "Girls"
» Zooey Deschanel - "The New Girl"
» Julia Louis-Dreyfu - "Veep"
» Tina Fey - "30 Rock"
» Amy Poehler - "Parks and Recreation"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER: Kevin Costner - "Hatfields & McCoys"
» Benedict Cumberbatch - "Sherlock"
» Woody Harrelson - "Game Change"
» Toby Jones - "The Girl"
» Clive Owen - "Hemingway & Gellhorn"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER: Julianne Moore - "Game Change"
» Nicole Kidman - "Hemingway & Gellhorn"
» Jessica Lange - "American Horror Story"
» Sienna Miller - "The Girl"
» Sigourney Weaver - "Political Animals"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER: Ed Harris - "Game Change"
» Max Greenfield - "New Girl"
» Danny Huston - "Magic City"
» Mandy Patinkin - "Homeland"
» Eric Stonestreet - "Modern Family"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
WINNER: Maggie Smith - "Downton Abbey"
» Hayden Panettiere - "Nashville"
» Archie Panjabi - "The Good Wife"
» Sofia Vergara - "Modern Family"

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MALE HEARTTHROBS; HUGH AND ANNE; GOSSIP SHARING

[tabuno]

I'm in love with Golden Globes, at least for this year. We'll see if the marriage is short-lived or not and we get a divorce next year. Nevertheless, the Golden Globes and I shared my accolades for:

Les Miserables
Argo
Silver Lining Playbook
Brave

I do acknowledge that this year is a difficult awards year as there are strong film contenders out there including good, solid movies such as:

recognized movies such as -

Moonrise Kingdom
Life of Pi
Looper
Dark Knight Rises
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen

and personally I would add -

Hitchcock
Cloud Atlas

However, I'm very content with how the Golden Globes came out.

[Johann]

I didn't see the show last night, but I really have no issues with the winners.
I have missed a lot of movies so I'm not qualified to give sound pros or cons.

Tarantino said that he was sorry that Leonardo DiCaprio wasn't recognized, and I agree. He was fantastic in Django.
The original screenplay award was definitely deserved and so was Waltz' acting award.
Good to see Hollywood isn't completely asleep.

I will post soon about The Master, Holy Motors and Life of Pi soon.
I may even see Argo this week.

[cinemabon]

This is going to be one of the those years when the Globes and Oscars will be two entirely different shows with two sets of winners that do not reflect the other (as the catagories are dissimilar in nominations for one and because the Academy members are not influenced as members of the press are). Congratulations again to Tab for his pick of "Argo" this year (as I mentioned in the AA thread). This week will bring about a change in my opinion as you will note later on this open forum as I am going to see all of the nominees (after all, I can hardly call myself a film critic if I haven't seen the films, can I?)

[tabuno]

It remains difficult for me to really know what I'm writing about because I never seem to be able to get to see all the movies in contention for an award and this year is no exception. Without having yet seen Django Unchained (which I'm not to thrilled in seeing) and Zero Dark Thirty which came out recently where I live, it hard to really comment about best movies and so forth, it's like talking about a room part of which is in the dark. Hopefully I'll be able to get out of the house and recover from bacterial infection and asthma sufficiently to go see these two movies.

[Chris Knipp]

If you have seen all the main noms but ZD30 and DJANGO, tabuno, you're ahead of most of the public, I reckon. How you get well soon and can get out of the house and see those.


Good to see Hollywood isn't completely asleep. No, only partially dormant, as usual. They do see all the likely or nominated film,s that's for sure; they are guaranteed that in the Academy.

[tabuno]

Four movies stand out so far not because they aren't good, but I really didn't expect them to be and I rather forced myself to see them. While none of them are my favorite movies, three made my top ten list and another came really close, but it's been a great year it seems to me for good movies (subject to not having yet seen Django Unchained or Zero Dark Thirty).

Life Of Pi - I definitely didn't want to see this movie, the trailer seemed interesting from a photographic stand-point, but come on a boy in a life boat with a tiger? It seemed pretty boringly dorky to me. Nevertheless, after seeing this movie, it made my top ten list and I came away from the movie very pleased with having forced myself to watch it.

Dark Knight Rises - I haven't really liked any of Christian Bale's Batman movies, excepting for Heath Ledger's performance, yet this current version really stood out as a good movie and made my top ten list not because it didn't have technical flaws, but its deep characters and the emotive themes worked so well as to overcome them.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen - Surprised. This movie really didn't interest me initially and I watched it out of boredom and it wasn't too expensive or inconvenient to stream it down on Amazon.com. The movie was very enjoyable, consistent in its depiction, and well crafted as a comedy-drama that was never pretentious, overbearing, stereotypical. It had heart and was openly real in its story telling. A dark horse movie that almost made my top ten list.

The Devil's Carnival - a fabulous unique quirky on nobody's award list and available on Netflix for those with nothing else to do with no expectation. Made my top ten list.

[Johann]

The Dark Knight Rises gets my vote for best film of the year, with Django Unchained right behind it.
It's just my personal picks.

Chris Nolan is unforgivably ignored this awards season. I don't understand. Lord of the Rings was honored with Return of the King winning Best Picture and Best Director, why not Chris Nolan? His trilogy is better. Less bloated. More exciting. Cinematically satisfying in so many ways.
Wally Pfister nailed it to the WALL. Whenever I watch it now, I pretend I am Bane. LOL
I can see ignoring the acting in The Dark Knight Rises, but zero technical awards?
I actually don't care this year what film wins Best Picture. Whoever wins, wins. Yawn.

[tabuno]

I'm going to only speculate, but as sequels go even though in my opinion this is the best of the trilogy, the previous Batman movies were over-rated and that the bubble burst unjustly at the wrong moment. Oddly enough, if the earlier two Batman movies had been awarded to what I felt were their actual merits, this final version may or may not have had a better chance of award recognition as its nice to go out on top. This reasoning assumes that the The Dark Knight was so well received that any sequels would just not be recognized as well. However, being a sequel almost always places a movie at a disadvantage for an award with the common belief that most sequels aren't nearly as good as the original movie on which they are based.

[Chris Knipp]

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES made AFI's top ten of 2012 list. But the Academy does not favor Best Picture awards for movie franchises from comic books. LOTR isn't a comic book, it's a set of books.

[Johann]

No Chris Nolan Batman movie is overrated.
I'm sorry, but that comment can go straight into the incinerator.

Anyone who thinks his Batman trilogy is overrated doesn't know cinema. If the hype and media attention got to you, well then, that just sux for you.
It doesn't reflect on the films themsleves. You can get away with that shit with George Lucas, but not Christopher Nolan.
There is far too much quality craft in this Batman trilogy.

Comic books vs. fantasy books?
What's the difference? If the cinema is excellent then it's excellent.
Something you should remember is that these Batman films were not made to please audiences.
I happen to know that they were in large part made to satisfy the director. Chris Nolan wanted to see Batman done right.
And so did I. And so did Legions of others who were utterly disgusted with the Joel Schumacher shit films.
Nolan gave us breathtaking cinematic rides, building from an amazing base with Batman Begins.
He re-booted everything and gave it high-octane.

If that annoys you or makes you think it's "overrated" so be it. I happen to think you're Batshit Nuts, and you should be barred from seeing the Dark Knight trilogy for the rest of your life.
That trilogy is fucking KILLER.

[Chris Knipp]

Of course I was not the one who said Nolan's Batman movie last year or his trilogy was "overrated." It deserved its reviews. The Metacritic rating is 78, reflecting very positive presss but far from through-the roof. There are eleven other movies currently showing with higher than 78 ratings on Metacritic right now, including the (to me) incomprehensible 95 of ZERO DARK THIRTY (now that's overrated!).

I was merely trying to dope out the Academy politics and sociology behind the failure to name THE DARK KNIGHT RISES for a Best Picture consideration, and I think what I said had some validity. The voters do tend to hold back from blockbusters -- and from comic book adaptations. True, a movie is a movie, but a comic book is not the same as a trilogy of books by a distinguished professor at Oxford. You can't get much more respectable and non-pulp than J.R.R. Tolkien so LOTR ain't the same as Marvel Comics. And as I said THE DARK KNIGHT made AFI's 2012 Top Ten List.

[tabuno]

The Dark Night (2008). Heath Ledger saves Batman. It is the singular performance of Heath Ledger that saves Batman from descending into a overly dense and overly hypocritical fusion of dark action shots, twists and turns, predictable scenes (surviving bullets), confusion and smoke and mirrors that many might consider quality art. But underneath there lies obfuscation hiding the fundamental weaknesses of this movie. The chase scenes using the artificial placement of innocent bystander vehicles placed in the most unlikely locations. The Joker's escape from the holding cell without detailing how that is so unrealistic (as think Hannibal Lector holding cell). The raw nastiness of the human spirit lowers this movie into a vision so dark and awful that it becomes a condemnation of human society in general with only brief beacons of light that appear more for scriptwriter, acceptability sake than for cinematic integrity. The beginning unnecessary voice narrative of the burglars. The dizzying and apparently unremarkable fight scenes. The uncertainty of who is good and evil, the blurring of the lines of role models - that turn the comic book image into a direct mirror of reality instead of idealism. The attempts at moralist messages and emotional deaths, the guilt trips, the violation of basic human rights in the cause of anti-terrorism and the upholding of lies and deceit and obliteration of the truth. The one outstanding feature is the mentally unbalanced purity of pure Joker craziness is so compelling as to keep the movie centered around this singular performance, holding all the loose, chaotic pieces together.

The Dark Knight Rises joins There Will Be Blood (2007) as one of the extremely few flawed movies to rise above its slight annoyances to almost completely overshadow any lingering irritating oversights or logical flaws to become by the end a genuinely satisfying and qualitative, substantive action thriller movie, which only speaks to its strengths and integrity. As for the flaws that are sizeable in number, the stolen necklace that is so easily traced and for Catwoman to be so easily caught the second time; Batman's camouflage of his flying Bataeroflighter of flimsy army stock instead of invisible car used in Day Another Day (2002); just leaving Bane of the roof in which of course the whole movie would have ended perhaps; the overly too convenient angle of the road barriers allowing the criminals to just ride over them from their escape of the Stock Market; and even Batman's own escape using a similar ramp he created; the fusion bomb being so easily armed without a failsafe and the more likely decision in reality of doing using one, an almost unlikely mob scene of good and bad fighting sequences (unlike even what would be an even more authentic Civil War battle of hand to hand combat) and the absence of the better direction and choreography of the jumping in the hell hole scene. The martial arts scenes have been vastly improved for their clarity and visual impact since the first of the three movies in Batman Begins (2005). Nevertheless for all these apparently convenient script devices or oversights, The Dark Knight Rises is aptly named and the darker serious thread as well as the humanity both bad and good that arises sometimes in the same character is so riveting and dramatically authentic that it strikes at the universal themes of the lives of almost everyone watching the movie. The more controversial element of the movie is whether one can make a statement about the movie as being an indictment of our existing capitalist system in America or whether it can be a more subtle endorsement of the present system of structure and political law enforcement in our society. It is fascinating that there is some ways a resemblance to themes that can be found in the epic romantic drama Dr. Zhivago (1965) shot against the background of the Russian Revolution where the masses revolted against the rich elite. The Dark Night Rises is edited, even though a few scenes seem too short (except for considering the overall length of the movie) in a nicely timed way, the characters are both hated and loved, quality of the substance of the deeper dialogue of human, existential being is offered up and the energy and tension, keeps increasing and the audience angst and anguish at the pull of good versus evil and martyrdom of many characters both good and and in this movie continues to build until the end which has its own nicely wrapped, enfolded conclusion as if there was any doubt.

[Chris Knipp]

DGA (Directors' Guild of America) 2013 awards announced. Affleck top winner.

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/1171/laaffleck20130202.jpg

Feature Film:
WINNER — Ben Affleck, Argo
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Tom Hooper, Les Miserables
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Documentary:
WINNER — Malik Bendjelloul, Searching For Sugar Man
Kirby Dick, The Invisible War
David France, How to Survive a Plague
Lauren Greenfield, The Queen of Versailles
Alison Klayman, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Dramatic Series:
WINNER — Rian Johnson, AMC’s Breaking Bad, “Fifty-One”
Michael Cuesta, Showtime’s Homeland, “The Choice”
Jennifer Getzinger, AMC’s Mad Men, “A Little Kiss”
Lesli Linka Glatter, Showtime’s Homeland, “Q&A”
Greg Mottola, HBO’s The Newsroom, “We Just Decided To”
Comedy Series:
WINNER — Lena Dunham, HBO’s Girls, “Pilot”
Louis C.K., FX’s Louie, “New Year’s Eve”
Mark Cendrowski, CBS’s The Big Bang Theory, “The Date Night Variable”
Bryan Cranston, ABC’s Modern Family, “Election Day”
Beth McCarthy-Miller, NBC’s 30 Rock, “Live from Studio 8H”
Movies for Television and Mini-Series:
WINNER — Jay Roach, HBO’s Game Change
Greg Berlanti, USA’s Political Animals, “Pilot”
Philip Kaufman, HBO’s Hemingway & Gellhorn
Kevin Reynolds, History’s Hatfields & McCoys
Michael Rymer, FX’s American Horror Story: Asylum, “Dark Cousin”
Musical Variety:
WINNER — Glenn Weiss, CBS’ 66th Annual Tony Awards
Michael Dempsey, 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief
Don Roy King, NBC’s Saturday Night Live with host Mick Jagger
Don Mischer, ABC’s 84th Annual Academy Awards
Chuck O’Neil, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, “Episode #17153″
Reality Programs:
WINNER — Brian Smith, Fox’s Master Chef, “Episode #305″
Tony Croll, The CW’s America’s Next Top Model, “The Girl Who Becomes America’s Next Top Model”
Peter Ney, Syfy’s Face Off, “Scene of the Crime”
J. Rupert Thompson, NBC’s Stars Earn Stripes, “Amphibious Assault”
Tim Warren, SpikeTV’s Ink Master, “Episode 103″
Daytime Serials:
WINNER — Jill Mitwell, ABC’s One Life to Live, “Between Heaven and Hell”
Albert Alarr, NBC’s Days of Our Lives, “Episode #11895″
Larry Carpenter, ABC’s General Hospital, “Bad Water”
William Ludel, ABC’s General Hospital, “Magic Milo”
Scott McKinsey, ABC’s General Hospital, “Shot Through the Heart”
Children’s Programs:
WINNER — Paul Hoen, Disney Channel’s Let it Shine
Stuart Gillard, Disney Channel’s Girl vs. Monster
Savage Steve Holland, Nickelodeon’s Big Time Movie
Jonathan Judge, Nickelodeon’s Camp Fred
Amy Schatz, HBO’s Don’t Divorce Me! Kids’ Rules for Parents on Divorce
Commercials:
WINNER — Alejandro G. Inarritu (Best Job, Proctor and Gamble)
Lance Acord (Jogger, Nike; The Dog Strikes Back, Volkswagen 2012; Thread, Levi’s; Greatness, Nike)
Steve Ayson (Beer Chase, Carlton Draught; Let Me Go, The Cosmopolitan of Los Vegas)
Fredrik Bond (Surfer, Puma; Eternal Optimism, Budweiser)
Tom Kuntz (Terry Crews Muscle Minds, Old Spice; Stray Animals, DirecTV; Roadside Ditch, DirecTV; Platoon, DirecTV)
--as reported by "Inside Movies." (http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/02/02/directors-guild-award-will-argo-continue-its-victory-march-to-the-oscars/)

[cinemabon]

As we suspected, Affleck has clearly made many friends in Hollywood and cultivated those friendships over the past decade. His win in all of the catagories indicates that "Argo" will win Best Picture but fail to "Oscar" its director. I believe many Academy voters felt his not being nominated for director as a snub, probably the most obvious snub in recent history. The backlash is overwhelming. Affleck should accept the Best Pix award with a similar "You really like me" speech. They (meaning the Hollywood community) really like him.

[tabuno]

At one time Kevin Costner was at the top of his game. Did Mr. Costner somehow fall out of favor with the movie establishment and not liked in Hollywood which explains his absence in any awards?