If the Golden Globes are the poor man’s Oscars, then the Broadcast Film Critic Awards are the poor man’s Golden Globes. Nevertheless, it will be the first televised film awards show of the season (airing around the first week of January), and features all of the same categories as the Oscars, expanded this year to include all the technical categories such as editing, cinematography, visual effects, etc. Also, these awards can be a surprisingly good predictor of what the Oscars might bring. For example, last year the BFCA called it right for Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress (sort of, as Kate Winslet won for “The Reader” but it was in the Supporting category), Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Documentary, Animated, and Score. Now if you ask me, that’s pretty damn impressive, but it should be. What the BFCA essentially does is round up all the critics’ votes from the various cities and nominate the best reviewed films of the year. And isn’t that what should be nominated? Which brings us to this year’s nominations…
The top three films with the most nominations raise three separate questions.
1.) How did “Nine” manage to lead the pack with 10 noms when right now it sits at a dismal 36% on Rotten Tomatoes?
2.) With “Inglourious Basterds” also leading the pack with 10 noms as well, does this mean it will do more damage than expected at the Oscars after being released before the award season began?
3.) With 9 noms to its credit, where will the so-called ‘enjoyable yet silly’ “Avatar” stand?
As for the rest of the bunch, it is pretty much what we expected. “Up in the Air” and “The Hurt Locker” deservedly received a bunch of noms, as did “Precious” just because it is what it is. The poorly reviewed “The Lovely Bones” surprised us with its nom tally, but what it got was a couple acting noms for the two best things in it and some tech stuff.
We were also delighted to see “An Education” and “A Single Man” made an impression. It was no surprise “Up” managed to score a nom for both Best Pic and Best Animated Pic in this weak year, and you can expect Oscar to do the same. And finally, “Invictus” only garnered 4 noms which could be seen as an insult, but what more do you think it should get other than Best Pic, Director, Actor and Sup Actor? The only other thing we think is worth noting is how “A Serious Man” apparently is a good enough to be nominated, but all the elements that make up its creation weren’t, save for the script. We’re just not sure it will make the Academy’s ten. Also, keep in mind there are 6 noms for all the actors and director, so for the Oscars, one must get cut. We’re glad to see “Where The Wild Things Are” got some musical love as did Marvin Hamlisch’s hilarious score for “The Informant” (not often you hear a score used as subtle comedy these days).
BEST PICTURE
* Avatar
* An Education
* The Hurt Locker
* Inglourious Basterds
* Invictus
* Nine
* Precious
* A Serious Man
* Up
* Up In The Air
BEST ACTOR
* Jeff Bridges – “Crazy Heart”
* George Clooney – “Up In The Air”
* Colin Firth – “A Single Man”
* Morgan Freeman – “Invictus”
* Viggo Mortensen – “The Road”
* Jeremy Renner – “The Hurt Locker”
BEST ACTRESS
* Emily Blunt – “The Young Victoria”
* Sandra Bullock – “The Blind Side”
* Carey Mulligan – “An Education”
* Saoirse Ronan – “The Lovely Bones”
* Gabourey Sidibe – “Precious”
* Meryl Streep – “Julie & Julia”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
* Matt Damon – “Invictus”
* Woody Harrelson – “The Messenger”
* Christian McKay – “Me And Orson Welles”
* Alfred Molina – “An Education”
* Stanley Tucci – “The Lovely Bones”
* Christoph Waltz – “Inglourious Basterds”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
* Marion Cotillard – “Nine”
* Vera Farmiga – “Up In The Air”
* Anna Kendrick – “Up In The Air”
* Mo’Nique – “Precious”
* Julianne Moore – “A Single Man”
* Samantha Morton – “The Messenger”
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
* Jae Head – “The Blind Side”
* Bailee Madison – “Brothers”
* Max Records – “Where The Wild Things Are”
* Saoirse Ronan – “The Lovely Bones”
* Kodi Smit-McPhee – “The Road”
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
* Inglourious Basterds
* Nine
* Precious
* Star Trek
* Up In The Air
BEST DIRECTING
* Kathryn Bigelow – “The Hurt Locker”
* James Cameron – “Avatar”
* Lee Daniels – “Precious”
* Clint Eastwood – “Invictus”
* Jason Reitman – “Up In The Air”
* Quentin Tarantino – “Inglourious Basterds”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
* Mark Boal – “The Hurt Locker”
* Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – “A Serious Man”
* Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber – “(500) Days Of Summer”
* Bob Peterson, Peter Docter – “Up”
* Quentin Tarantino – “Inglourious Basterds”
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
* Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach – “Fantastic Mr. Fox”
* Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell – “District 9”
* Geoffrey Fletcher – “Precious”
* Tom Ford, David Scearce – “A Single Man”
* Nick Hornby – “An Education”
* Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner – “Up In The Air”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
* Barry Ackroyd – “The Hurt Locker”
* Dion Beebe – “Nine”
* Mauro Fiore – “Avatar”
* Andrew Lesnie – “The Lovely Bones”
* Robert Richardson – “Inglourious Basterds”
BEST ART DIRECTION
* Dan Bishop – “A Single Man”
* Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg – “Avatar”
* John Myhre, Gordon Sim – “Nine”
* Naomi Shohan, George De Titta, Jr. – “The Lovely Bones”
* David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds Wasco – “Inglourious Basterds”
BEST EDITING
* Dana E. Glauberman – “Up In The Air”
* Sally Menke – “Inglourious Basterds”
* Bob Murawski, Chris Innis – “The Hurt Locker”
* Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron – “Avatar”
* Claire Simpson, Wyatt Smith – “Nine”
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
* Colleen Atwood – “Nine”
* Janet Patterson – “Bright Star”
* Sandy Powell – “The Young Victoria”
* Anna Sheppard – “Inglourious Basterds”
* Casey Storm – “Where The Wild Things Are”
BEST MAKEUP
* Avatar
* District 9
* Nine
* The Road
* Star Trek
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
* Avatar
* District 9
* The Lovely Bones
* Star Trek
* 2012
BEST SOUND
* Avatar
* District 9
* The Hurt Locker
* Nine
* Star Trek
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
* Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
* Coraline
* Fantastic Mr. Fox
* Princess And The Frog
* Up
BEST ACTION MOVIE
* Avatar
* District 9
* The Hurt Locker
* Inglourious Basterds
* Star Trek
BEST COMEDY
* (500) Days Of Summer
* The Hangover
* It’s Complicated
* The Proposal
* Zombieland
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
* Broken Embraces
* Coco Before Chanel
* Red Cliff
* Sin Nombre
* The White Ribbon
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
* Anvil
* Capitalism: A Love Story
* The Cove
* Food, Inc.
* Michael Jackson’s This Is It
BEST SONG
* “All Is Love” – Karen O, Nick Zinner – “Where The Wild Things Are”
* “Almost There” – Randy Newman – “The Princess And The Frog”
* “Cinema Italiano” – Maury Yeston – “Nine”
* “(I Want To) Come Home” – Paul McCartney – “Everybody’s Fine”
* “The Weary Kind” – T Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham – “Crazy Heart”
BEST SCORE
* Michael Giacchino – “Up”
* Marvin Hamlisch – “The Informant!”
* Randy Newman – “The Princess and the Frog”
* Karen O, Carter Burwell – “Where The Wild Things Are”
* Hans Zimmer – “Sherlock Holmes”
– Jonathan Helm