A Second Look At "True Grit"

Last night, I began what I thought would be a live-blog of True Grit. I scrapped it without posting as it was basically a series of line quotations; presumably you don't come to the blog to watch me take dictation.

It's a testament to the Coen Bros singular voice and gift with language that they can launch a movie with a particularly evocative scriptural quotation

"The wicked flee when none pursueth."Proverbs 28:1

...and begin topping it straightaway with their own words. Or what one assumes are their own words since this is an adaptation. Confession: I have not read the Charles Portis novel or seen the John Wayne film. I've been allergic to John Wayne for as long as I can remember and the only successful antihistamine I've yet encountered is Montgomery Clift (see Red River. Literally. See it. What a film!)

True Grit is an extremely mannered film. That's not a qualitative judgment, just an observation. As I stated in my 7 word review "even the horses act with meticulous predetermination." Which is to say --  here comes the qualitative judging -- this particular movie could stand to breathe in a little of its cold night air or just to stumble from its saddle, the way Rooster does once he's fallen to drink. True Grit doesn't feel entirely human. No Country For Old Men benefitted enormously from the Coen Bros machine-like control of cinema. It made the whole film feel malevolent and underlined its thematic death march. That level of inhuman control is not as much to your advantage when you're telling a story about a little girl out to avenge her father's death.

The plot setup, in case you haven't yet seen it, is that Cheney (Josh Brolin) has killed Mattie Ross's (Hailee Steinfeld) father and fled. Since the law doesn't seem to care Mattie hires a Marshall Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) to track down her daddy's killer. A Texas ranger (Matt Damon) accompanies them. Mattie admires men with grit and she's got the stuff herself, but none of the characters (including Mattie) have much in the way of emotional depth. Some, like the villains, are straight up types / cartoons.

 The performances are often amusing but these roles are but tiny sandboxes in which the actors can play. Matt Damon is quite funny in that casual fraternal way of his. Josh Brolin and Hailee Steinfeld don't fare as well, especially on second viewing, adding a stiff "I'm acting now" vibe to the film's already overt mannerisms. These can't be the easiest lines to say -- think for a moment on how hard it is to speak naturally without contractions -- but sometimes, particularly with Steinfeld, the dialogue is spoken as if it were lines rather than verbalized thoughts. Even in two-character scenes, she's monologuing rather than conversing. I continue to be bewildered by the intense praise and awardage Steinfeld is receiving for what is, at best, a solid performance of an endearing lead role, and what is, at worst, an adequate reading of a role that could have elevated the film if there were more complex subtext. There's precious little nuance or backstory teased out which keeps the role in its one dimensional origin space. Arguably Steinfeld also hits those non-verbal notes to convey Mattie thinking or scheming a bit too hard. Is she telling us that Mattie is less clever than she thinks she is or is this merely overplaying?

Best in show, and by an enormous margin with a star turn that deepens on second viewing, is Jeff Bridges as the sozzled Rooster Cogburn. The actor knows that this already iconic role is a rich opportunity for showmanship and understands its imitations otherwise, so he zeroes in on the voice and the physicality, both of which can be readily aped at home to further endear people to the character and actor. (Pop culture statisticians tell us that "I can't do nuthin' for you, son" has already been quoted with amateur approximations of Rooster's voice at least 36,230 times since December 22nd from people of both sexes and of all ages in over 4 different countries. I'm rooting for "performin' his necessaries" to also hit it big.)

Bridges' best decision is that tilted stare, sometimes with his head just slightly yanked backwards; is Rooster trying to refocus his eyes? 'I mean his eye.' He continually holds that stare a shade too long. There's just so much humor in the way Rooster sizes up each character. Even better is that Rooster has the same reaction to surprising lines that are lobbed his way. He treats them like verbal pistol-cocking and he'd best locate a target.

The Coen Bros are beloved of cinephiles and it's not hard to understand why. Filmmakers like the brothers force you to think about the construction of films, because you suddenly notice that every shot, every cut, every moment represents a choice. The dark side of this is that the mannered films perpetually risk devouring themselves like an oroborus or, be they less aggressive or more pretentious, merely sticking their head up their own arse. Excessive stylization is also anathema to viewers who don't like to be confronted by the man (or men) behind the curtain while they're watching films. But on second viewing, the belabored filmmaking proves more boon than bane though and makes the movie quite a lot funnier.

And as everyone has noted, the technical elements are lovely. Roger Deakins' cinematography is beautifully expressive as well as just being plainly beautiful and the editing is top notch. (It's less discussed than their writing skills but aren't the Coens just as gifted in the editing bay?) Nick once called the dissolve a more "soulful" option than a cut and the Coen Bros lean on it a lot here. It works well for the film.  What True Grit lacks in heart and warmth it nearly makes up for in cool soul.

Best line in the movie? It comes during a fade to black near the beginning of the picture as Mattie crashes at the local undertakers before beginning her trip with Rooster.

"If you would like to sleep in a coffin, it would be all right."

It's a comic line in direct context but it's so much more, too. Could there be a slyer preceding line for such a willful march towards vengeance? And could there be a more perfect line to illustrate the often morbid comic sensibility of the Coen brothers?

Speaking of death...

True Grit really sticks its landing which is so important and so hard for movies to do. [VAGUE SPOILER] The climactic nighttime run, which needs to be the most operatically emotional moment in the movie, is just that. Bridges lends the scene natural gravitas and the brave surreal length of that race against the clock is superbly handled. The 25 years later coda, which we also need, is more surprising but ends the movie on just the right note of starch. Mattie (now played by Elizabeth Marvel, the acclaimed stage actress who we're betting is the new Coen regular) has never been a particularly emotional or fun-loving girl and though "time gets away from us" we know it hasn't actually changed her all that much.

B (up from B-)

Box Office Blather: Jeff Bridges Double Dips

A weekly box office series, in beta, to see if we like. To remind you that you're here and not elsewhere and we can't just do things normally, we'll come at it from weird angles when we can.

Jeff Bridges stars in TRON GRIT

1. Little Fockers $30 NEW
2. True Grit $24.8 NEW
3. Tron Legacy $19.5 (cumulative: $87.3)
4. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader $9.4 (cumulative: $62.5)
5. Yogi Bear $7.8 (cumulative: $35.8)
6. The Fighter $7.6 (cumulative: $26.6)
7. Tangled $6.4 (cumulative: $143.6)
8. Gulliver's Travel $6.3 NEW 
9. Black Swan $6.2 (cumulative: $28.6)
10. The Tourist $5.4 (cumulative: $40.8)
11. The King's Speech $4.4 (cumulative: $8.3)
12. How Do You Know $3.5 (cumulative: $15)

With Little Fockers and True Grit topping the charts and we experience an unexpected flashback. Bridges & Babs haven't dipped into the top box office together since The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). And this time Jeff is double-dipping.

♪ this is it... OHHHH i finally found someone... someone to share my life ♪♫

The first thing to note is that Jeff Bridges is hogging the higher altitudes of the chart as both True Grit's grizzled Rooster Cogburn and the god/father figure for Garret Hedlund (and cross-generational computer geeks) in Tron Legacy. I haven't seen the latter picture but it's good to see Bridges back in sleeker form again after those last two sloshed rundown beer-bellied men in Grit and Crazy Heart. The new old western is is now the Coen Bros' best opening narrowly beating Burn After Reading (2008) which, had almost exactly the same budget but more stars to sell itself with. No Country For Old Men (2007) is their highest grosser though. Will Grit surpass it?

art by Daniel Foez

Couple other things.

• You'd think the Narnia series would die as its box office descends with each film but it's still popular globally and the budget on this one dropped considerably. Does it show?
• Christmas was the first wide weekend for The King's Speech, arguably the only major film relying entirely on Oscar buzz to sell tickets. (You can't really count the films that have barely even tried to open and they are unfortunately many.)
• Tangled is holding well, despite losing some theaters to Christmas fare, demonstrating long legs to accessorize that golden hair. It'll need them. For some reason it cost $260 to make -- which is at quite a bit more expensive than the three animated films which have outgrossed it this year. Was it the frequent retooling that made it that expensive? It'll presumably be awhile before profits once you factor in marketing costs.

Speaking of animated fairytales... Does anyone else remember The Last Unicorn? Is that even on DVD? Here's Jeff Bridges (as the charming Prince) serenading/romancing Mia Farrow (the unicorn)



 It's not some sick interspecies romance because somehow she's a beautiful woman and not just a unicorn. No, I don't remember the story at all.

Three questions to send you on your way: 

1. The Mirror Has Two Faces? Go. (even if you haven't seen it you MUST read this awesome review of it by Glenn at Stale Popcorn. It's laugh out loud funny)
2. Aren't you glad Jeff's musical talents improved before The Fabulous Baker Boys and Crazy Heart?
3. What did you see over Christmas?

Barbra Streisand

Links: True Grit, Spidey, Gay Rugby, and "Original" Films

Movie|Line celebrates a year of "The Verge," their great up-and-coming actor series.
Cinema Blend goosing the sales of True Grit (the novel)
Today One of the Fantastic Four will die in the comic's #587th issue. Does anyone still believe in these marketing ploys? I'm sure they'll come back to life within 3 years. That's how comics do.
MUBI The great Michel Piccoli is 85 today. Has anyone seen La Belle Noiseuse (1991)? That's such a good one.
CineEuropa international actor Armin Mueller-Stahl will receive a lifetime achievement award at Berlinale this year.
The Guardian talks to Andrew Garfield about Spider-Man (with audio)
Blog Stage an informative and weird animated bit describing what's going on with Spider Man's Broadway disaster.
Towleroad Mickey Rourke to pay gay rugby legend Gareth Thomas in a sports bio. We've had a lot of sports bios at the movies but you can't say we've had a lot of rugby films, gay or otherwise.
Scott Feinberg, fine Oscar pundit, delivers his top ten.

Finally, the New York Times has a totally bizarre article called "Hollywood Moves Away from Middlebrow Movies" which is about the new quality edict in Hollywood. I never understand these articles which seem to find all sorts of bizarre trends that the box office data doesn't actually support like "originality sells!" Er, no... I wish! I knew the article was in trouble when it says that Hollywood is going for quality and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland is referred to as "arty" example of directorial artistry. Let me get this straight, in an article praising studio interest in Quality Original Films one of the prime examples is a messily 3D converted 2D film of a story that's been adapted literally dozens of times for the movies back to the days of silent film?

sigh

I swear to the cinematic gods that that one 2010 junkpile is going to be the death of me. It will not go away. I'll even have to be dealing with it in 2011 for the Oscars. Nooooooooooooooooo
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The Ballots Are Coming. The Ballots Are Coming.

The day has arrived. Today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences mails out those mythical Oscar nomination ballots to their members. Each member gets to nominate for their branch category(or categories) and for Best Picture. The ballots are due back on Friday January 14th at the latest but supposedly the majority of voters are quick about mailing them back. On the morning of Tuesday, January 25th we'll hear the results of the voting. Which actors did the other actors rally behind, which sound design thrilled the sound mixers, and which newbie will the exclusive music branch fraternity punch in Original Score category? And so on.

So freeze the Oscar buzz this week. It's decision time. If you believe that out of sight equals out of mind -- and you'd be wise to do so given the borg-mind of precursors -- you'll understand why so many of the Oscar hopefuls have just hit theaters. For example, how many earlier worthier nominees will True Grit muscle out? We shall see.

Here's the events that will occur during voting.

• Dec 27 Box Office media coverage (as far as Oscar goes, True Grit's strong opening and Black Swan and The King's Speech expansions will be the stories.)
• Dec 27 Online Film Critics Nominees (the usual suspects with key LAFCA's suggestions placing.)
• Dec 29 Blue Valentine finally opens in a handful of theaters. Jesus, they took long enough.
• Dec 31 New Year's Eve Shenanigans. Who fills out their ballots while plastered? Oh come on, you know someone does. (I mean, besides HFPA and NBR members.)
• Jan. 3 Online Film Critics Society winners announced
• Jan. 4 Producers Guild of America nominations
• Jan. 4 Writers Guild of America nominations
• Jan. 7 Blue Valentine expands
• Jan. 10 Directors Guild of America nominations announced

And finally, a Film Experience reminder to any Academy voters reading, particularly actors: Don't let precursor groups control you!

FACT: You are not a "Supporting" actor, when you're in every scene
and the entire story is about you.

Here's how it's supposed to work: You look at your lead ballots and you pick the five best in that category and rank them in order. If someone is not one of your five best, sorry no can do. It's totally sad for #6 & #7  *sniffle* but it's called a "shortlist" for a reason. It's supposed to be a major honor. If you're sad for your #6, don't demote them to another category. That's so unkind to the hard working character actors who deserve to be judged on a level playing field with other actors who have to sell entire characters in a limited number of scenes and gird up the starring player(s) when acting opposite them; different achievement, but you know it's equally worthy of honor. You've acted in films so you get the difficulties of either carrying a whole picture handily or adding a specific color or mood or a contrasting personality to the ensemble and thereby elevating the film. Vote accordingly.

A dramatization: Ewan McGregor contemplates his ballot.

Above all else, don't let anyone else tell you what to do. Including me (sigh) though if you'll allow me two suggestions, and I'll keep it simple, it's this:

1. Watch some acclaimed or popular films released before September before you vote. Films like The Ghost Writer, I Am Love, Mother, Animal Kingdom, The Kids Are All Right, Shutter Island, How to Train Your Dragon all had their ardent fans. Are you one of them? You don't want to keep perpetuating the myth that AMPAS voters can't remember what they had for breakfast, let alone what opened last month.
2. If you're not truly moved by some movie everyone is talking about... let's say you didn't like The Social Network or True Grit, ignore it in your best picture field. Just because everyone is talking about it right now, does not mean it's "best". What is "best" is totally up to you. If you wanna vote for Rabbit Hole or Another Year or whatever -- it's your ballot.

Happy voting!

Houston, St. Louis & Florida Name Their Favorites

I'm just going to keep using this one photo I concocted below until people stop with the Hailee Steinfeld is a supporting actress in True Grit meme. I've even seen her so labelled IN REVIEWS that have nothing to do with Oscars. Oscar culture has truly distorted all concepts of narrative in our modern society. I realize that I'm the lone ornery voice of dissent but, so what? I'm demonstrating my own true grit; Hailee would be proud of me... well, except for the part where I wouldn't nominate her.

But, the ageism and sexism of movie awards is really getting to me this year, sorry.

Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), the captain of True Grit's ship.

Fact: No teenage boy who was leading a picture like True Grit (just imagine the gender reversed) would ever win any awards beyond "breakthrough." Remember when Leonardo DiCaprio won all those statues for his wildly acclaimed "supporting" work in This Boy's Life (1993) and Jesse Bradford won all those awards for King of the Hill (1993)  and Christian Bale won those same prizes for his debut "supporting" work in Empire of the Sun (1987) and Max Records won them for supporting all of those Wild Things Whereever They Were last year and remember when...

No, neither do I.

Pretend Hailee was a boy and imagine her chances competing against Bale or Rush. HA! Like that would ever happen. People respect veteran actors too much to take their trophies away from them. But put a young girl up against a veteran actress and the veteran actresses are toast. They get no respect.

Anyway... if you wanna discuss what Texas, Missouri and Florida critics are honoring, keep on readin'.




Houston
Best Picture The Social Network
Best Director David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actress Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor  Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Best Supporting Actress Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Documentary Restrepo
Best Foreign Film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Best Animated Film Toy Story 3
Best Cinematography Wally Pfister, Inception
Best Original Score Hans Zimmer, Inception
Best Original Song “We Are Sex Bob-Omb!”, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (music and lyrics by Beck)
Worst Picture Jonah Hex
Humanitarian of the Year George Clooney
Lifetime Achievement Award Sissy Spacek

• I can't feign more anger at the Hailee Steinfeld True Grit thing but to say that it's the single biggest category fraud since Jamie Foxx as "supporting" in Collateral. Moving on... it's the usual suspects here so... moving on.
  
  Oh P.S. Sissy Spacek is a Texan but she's definitely a good choice for lifetime achievement. What would be even better than a lifetime achievement prize would be a role worth her time. When is that coming?

Florida
Best Picture: The Social Network
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor: Firth, The King’s Speech
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Original Screenplay: Christopher Nolan, Inception
Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister, Inception
Best Visual Effects: Inception
Best Art Direction/Production Design: Guy Dyas, Inception
Best Foreign Language Film: I Am Love
Best Animated: Toy Story 3
Best Documentary: The Tillman Story
Breakout: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Golden Orange: Matthew Curtis, Enzian Theater and the Florida  Film Festival

• More usual suspects as Natalie Portman begins to take the critical lead (after a slow start where she didn't manage either of the important coastal awards, LAFCA or NYFCC).
  
  Of note: Inception fared better than usual here. I do think it's still going to have a very high nomination count at the Oscars.

St. Louis

Best Picture The Social Network
Best Director David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actress Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor  Colin Firth, The King's Speech
Best Supporting Actress Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Original Screenplay David Seidler, The King's Speech
Best Documentary The Tillman Story
Best Foreign Film MicMacs
Best Animated Film Toy Story 3
Best Comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Cinematography Roger Deakins, True Grit
Best Music The Social Network
Visual Effects Inception
Artistic/Creative Film (Arthouse) MicMacs
Moving the Medium Forward Award Inception
Special Merit (Scene) (tie) 127 Hours (zoomout when first trapped) and Inception (zero gravity hallway)

• Nathaniel R Award For Altruistic Groupthink: To all minor critics organization who make blogging easier by choosing all of the same films and performances to award. For the ease and speed of copying and pasting, my fingers and wrists thank you!

Oh and one more thing before I forget...

Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), the captain of True Grit's ship.

Globes Snubs From Ruff' to Gritty

While the Hollywood Foreign Press Association does not have member overlap with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, their very high profile assures that their nominees get a large media platform with which to pursue more Oscar votes. Sometimes it helps sometimes it doesn't. But here's a list of major contenders shunned by the Globe voters this morning.

"I never thought they'd use my stuff!"

Mark Ruffalo -though The Kids Are All Right won four major nominations, he was still snubbed. This could be a bad Oscar sign. As we've long thought, he makes acting look far too easy. He takes complex characters and performs them so naturalistically that voters who like to see actors sweat or strain for effect -- there are many such voters as awards history readily proves -- will never be won over. Arguably only Jeff Bridges, an American icon, has ever really been able to get away with that and win steady awards love. Ruffalo has yet to be nominated by either the Globes, the Oscars, SAG or the BAFTAs for anything. His only major awards run remains a small handful of critics citations for his debut You Can Count on Me (2000). It's not all bad news though. His performance in The Kids Are All Right was recently nominated at the Spirits and by the BFCA.

127 Hours -It didn't place in Best Director or in Best Picture. In terms of the awards race, has it morphed into the one man show (James Franco) that it looks like on the surface?

Cher - We were pulling for a Best Actress Comedy/Musical honor because we know they don't perform the nominated songs. Get Cher back on that red carpet, damnit. This was the only place to do it really. You can never count on Oscar to let the nominated songs be performed as they should. So who knows what to expect even if "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me" gets shortlisted by Oscar. For all we know, the ageist Academy producers will ask Miley Cyrus to sing it.


Rabbit Hole  *just added* it's still only the Nicole Kidman show (but what a show that is), despite fine work from Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest to either side of her.

True Grit -Zero nominations. Nada. Perhaps they didn't screen in time. Perhaps the HFPA just didn't bite... they've embraces Coen Bros pictures in the past, even more often than Oscar.

The Ghost Writer -Zero nominations. The Roman Polanski film won some early honors overseas but has been ignored by the majority of American awards. Pity. Everyone has such short memories here in the US awards circuit... even the "Foreign Press"


How Do You Know - Zero nominations. The brand new James L Brooks comedy stars Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Jack Nicholson and Paul Rudd. Brooks and his cast have won 26 Globe nominations, 8 Globe statues and a Cecil B. DeMille between them. Why no love this time? It can't be the bad buzz. The Tourist, which has received an excruciating 20% critical approval on Rotten Tomatoes (and disappointing box office receipts!) won a Best Picture nomination.

Other rejected films: Mike Leigh's Another Year, Clint Eastwood's Hereafter (they often go for him), and the Robert Duvall period piece Get Low.

Finally, we think it's worth noting that in the very loosely defined Comedy/Musical Best Picture category  --they chose two action films Red & The Tourist, one eyesore Alice in Wonderland, one musical Burlesque and one dramedy The Kids are All Right -- any number of entirely snubbed films like Greenberg, Please Give, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World or Made in Dagenham would have been far worthier choices than the first three category (and quality) definition-stretchers. The Globes are the only major organization that reaches out regularly to comedic-tilting films, so to screw up so badly, eschewing all traditional notions of quality, is a blunder; a real opportunity wasted.

The tragedy of that Comedy category -- does it actually hurt the wonderful Kids, this guilt-by-association effect? -- is something of a headscratcher in that within some years they do make a real effort to think about the comedy categories. Remember how acclaimed the bulk of that category was just two years ago?
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7 Word Reviews: True Grit, The Illusionist. Somewhere

Because this week is about trying to keep up with screenings, interviews and endless precursor announcements, here are some very very short reviews.

The Illusionist
A magician in the twilight of his career, finds companionship in a young woman.
7WR: Slow but just sublimely rendered. Devastating finale. B+/A-?


All Good Things
Unsolved mystery from the 80s about a wealthy heir and his missing wife.
7WR: Nightmarishly uneven, convoluted. But Kirsten hurts authentically C-

True Grit
The Coens adapt a western about a young girl seeking to avenge her father's murder
7WR: Even the horses act with meticulous predetermination. B-

And in conclusion a highly narcissistic double feature. Both films are rendered with visual aplomb and quite in tune with their own unique frequencies but you should steer wide and clear if you're allergic to wealthy people hosting their own pity parties and expecting you to bring gifts.

Tiny Furniture
A college graduate returns to her artist mothers home; regresses, refuses to leave it.
7WR: Navel-gazing finds funny highly specific lint. B+

Somewhere
A famous actor, lost to himself, kills time with his daughter.
7WR: Director/Protagonist treads water but what form! B

NYFCC's 2010 Wins: "The Social Kids That Are All Right Network"

The New York Film Critics Circle forms, together with LAFCA (Los Angeles Film Critics Association) and the NSFC* (National Society of Film Critics), the holy trinity** of critics awards. LA & NY combined can be a potent influential mix... not that they often agree. But this year they did, further underlining the dominance of The Social Network this awards season. The other big boost went to The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko's warmly funny family-at-crossroads film, which picked up three major wins (Actress, Supporting Actor, Screenplay)

Picture The Social Network
Director David Fincher for The Social Network
Actress Annette Bening for The Kids Are All Right
Actor Colin Firth for The King's Speech

We already knew that Best Actress was shaping up to be a Bening vs. Portman showdown. But it was not confirmed in a neatly bi-coastal way since Portman did not take LAFCA yesterday. She wasn't even runner-up. Nevertheless, it's still firmly on track to turn out that way, a two-person battle, since they're the likely Globe winners in Comedy and Drama, respectively.


Supporting Actress Melissa Leo for The Fighter
Supporting Actor Mark Ruffalo for The Kids Are All Right
Screenplay Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg for The Kids Are All Right
Cinematography Matthew Libatique for Black Swan
Animated Film Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist
Documentary Inside Job
Foreign Film Carlos
First Feature David Michôd's Animal Kingdom
Special Prize is there one this year? I haven't seen one specified online and their site has not been updated.

Having been a big fan of Animal Kingdom all year, I am pleased for David Michôd's win, since the praise has usually reduced the film to the Jacki Weaver show. Weaver aside, the entire cast is strong and so is the film so good on NYFCC for noticing.

Animal Kingdom's cast: Frecheville, Stapleton, Ford, Weaver,
Joel Edgerton and Ben Mendelsohn

In other film critics org news today, The Southeastern Film Critics Association named The Social Network the years best and also hilariously named True Grit's Hailee Steinfeld the best "supporting" actress of the year. What she's supporting, other than her entire Coen Bros picture, we don't know. They used to call that "carrying" a film and that's only done by lead actors. What the Christ? She's even more of a lead than Frances McDormand was in Fargo! See also: BFCA Nominations for this year's most egregious Category Fraud party. Every year has one.

*in recent years it seems that the NSFC has been fading -- so perhaps the only powerful critics orgs are now LA & NY... at least in terms of media interest -- given NSFC's late voting and the ever expanding roster of film awards.

Broadcast Film Critics: Black Swan Shows True Grit

The BFCA have revealed their "Critics Choice" nominees and Black Swan looms like an evil tutu'ed shadow over the competition with a record breaking 12 nominations. True Grit and The King's Speech were second with 11 nominations each, indicating that the BFCA voters really do like the films they've just seen the most. The BFCA has long been known (and celebrated and reviled) as being obsessed with predicting the Oscars. It's a curious character quirk for an awards body that ought to be concerned with establishing its own voice and one that would be a smidgeon more respectable, even as pure punditry, if they'd only limit their acting categories to 5 nominees like the Oscars do. When individual pundits are judged on their predictive power, they aren't allowed extras, you know? But ah well.

Running the gamut from beloved to respected to entirely snubbed

 The top ten films are as follows:

• 127 Hours
• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The King's Speech
• The Social Network
• The Town
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter's Bone

Did not make it all the way: The films racking up the highest nomination tallies outside of the Best Picture field were The Kids Are All Right and Alice in Wonderland (with 4 noms a piece).

Proving once again that comedies have tough treks to awards glory outside of the Globes, you'll notice that none (apart from an animated film) are mentioned. Though the BFCA are 16 years old, there is only one year to accurately compare their listings to the Academy in terms of Best Picture. Last year they chose Nine and Invictus in their top ten; Oscar passed on both. If the same stats hold true this year, two of those 10 above will drop away in 42 days when the Oscar nominations are announced. (Perhaps The Kids Are All Right, or Another Year will step in. Perhaps not... maybe the BFCA will go 9/10 or even *gasp* 10/10 this year.)

Curiously the BFCA field of nominees is only four-wide in four different craft categories? I can't figure why. Don't want to hog the entire blog with each and every category so the full nomination list with much opinionated commentary (and snubbing notes) is after the jump.

BEST ACTRESS

Annette Bening – “The Kids Are All Right”

Nicole Kidman – “Rabbit Hole”

Jennifer Lawrence – “Winter’s Bone”

Natalie Portman – “Black Swan”

Noomi Rapace – “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”

Michelle Williams – “Blue Valentine”

• This list is a bit more unruly as is this category in 2010. The four women most often predicted for Oscar are present but the other two (Noomi & Michelle) are important campaign gets. There's no Lesley Manville for Another Year (bad news for her) no Julianne Moore (she'll be in the Globe lineup I expect) and no Tilda Swinton for I Am Love... who has been picking up a smidgeon of renewed buzz again lately.
  
  Trivia note: This is Nicole Kidman's 7th nomination with BFCA (including ensemble citations) making her one of their very top performers in their 16 year history.

BEST ACTOR

Jeff Bridges – “True Grit”

Robert Duvall – “Get Low”

Jesse Eisenberg – “The Social Network”

Colin Firth – “The King’s Speech”

James Franco – “127 Hours”

Ryan Gosling – “Blue Valentine”

• No surprises here but... F*** yeah, Ryan Gosling. This is every pundits top six for Oscar. But obviously Oscar restrains itself to five. So who is out? I'm assuming Franco & Firth are quite safe. But the other four... I could see any snub (yes even Bridges or Eisenberg) and any get. I'm so pleased for Gosling who is smashingly good in that movie. What'cha think?

Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), the captain of True Grit's ship.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams – “The Fighter”

Helena Bonham Carter – “The King’s Speech”

Mila Kunis – “Black Swan”

Melissa Leo – “The Fighter”

Hailee Steinfeld – “True Grit”

Jacki Weaver – “Animal Kingdom”

• In the past couple of weeks the Supporting Actress category has seemed to be in major flux but we may be experiencing The Great Settling as it were. (The Mila Kunis nod is the only mild surprise. She's fun and totally sexy in the movie but I don't understand it as "great acting"... would've much preferred Barbara Hershey.) I still think we need the Golden Globes tomorrow to be sure about this lineup.
  
  P.S. Hailee Steinfeld is the lead of True Grit, no ifs ands or buts. She's in every scene. She drives the story. She narrates. She even gets in on the action. It's so silly to call her supporting but whatever. Awards season makes people do dumb things.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTORChristian Bale – “The Fighter”

Andrew Garfield – “The Social Network”

Jeremy Renner – “The Town”

Sam Rockwell – “Conviction”

Mark Ruffalo – “The Kids Are All Right”

Geoffrey Rush – “The King’s Speech”

• The only surprise here, if you can call it that, is the lack of a Bill Murray citation. But otherwise all of these men are expected to be actual threats for Oscar nominations next month. Obviously AMPAS might change it up a bit. 

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Elle Fanning – “Somewhere”

Jennifer Lawrence – “Winter’s Bone”

Chloe Grace Moretz – “Let Me In”

Chloe Grace Moretz – “Kick-Ass”

Kodi Smit-McPhee – “Let Me In”

Hailee Steinfeld – “True Grit”

• This category disappoints me as I knew it would as it usually only settles around whichever young performers are the most famous. But that said, I think it's pretty inexcusable in a list of six not to include Josh Hutcherson (who is mildly famous) from The Kids Are All Right who was so perfect at conveying the film's coming of age catalyst need as well as in his differentiating his relationship with all five of his co-stars since his relationship to each was quite different.
  
  Low profile snubees also include Katie Jarvis (Fish Tank), James Frecheville (Animal Kingdom) and Faith Wladyka (Blue Valentine).
  
  Perhaps Lawrence is the defacto winner but I didn't vote for her myself, primarily because I didn't even think of her as eligible (it's "under 21" which she is... but since she's so close to 21 she didn't even occur to me when voting. Oops).

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

The Fighter

The Kids Are All Right

The King’s Speech

The Social Network

The Town

• I'm on board with these choices apart from The Town, which I don't understand as "great ensemble acting" but only as good cast of recognizable faces performing their roles adequately (some) to well (many) all the way to superbly (Renner). Having watched The King's Speech a second time recently, I think I've been a bit rough on it in terms of hating its presence in these ensemble categories. The supporting cast is quite delectable actually. But knowing the way ensemble votes tend to go I'm assuming that if they win, it'd only be because of the trio which is why I have a problem with it as an "ensemble". The Kids Are All Right should obviously win this prize but I have no illusion that it will.

BEST DIRECTOR

Darren Aronofsky – “Black Swan”

Danny Boyle – “127 Hours”

Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – “True Grit”

David Fincher – “The Social Network”

Tom Hooper – “The King’s Speech”

Christopher Nolan – “Inception”

• Oscar's expected nominees list absent the Coen Bros. I believe True Grit would not be in the running for 11 nominations had it opened a couple of months ago. This is an example of a film really benefitting from its last minute berth. Since I often bitch about the reverse (films which are doomed by December glut releasing) I thought it was worth noting when it really works. Maybe I'll be in the minority but I just don't think it's top tier Coen Bros at all. But it's good enough with a few super sharp moments and a strong finish to be an exciting last watch before turning in your ballot. Ending well is so important.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

“Another Year” – Mike Leigh

“Black Swan” – Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin

“The Fighter” – Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson (Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson)

“Inception” – Christopher Nolan

“The Kids Are All Right” – Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg

“The King’s Speech” – David Seidler

• One of these will have to fall off with Oscar. That looks to be Black Swan, which is more often lauded for its visuals and performances than its story or dialogue.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

“127 Hours” – Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle

“The Social Network” – Aaron Sorkin

“The Town” – Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Sheldon Turner

“Toy Story 3” – Michael Arndt (Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)

“True Grit” – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

“Winter’s Bone” – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini

• Again, you have to jettison something for Oscar. I'm guessing we lose The Town. And I still hope that Oscar voters throw a surprise in here, like The Ghost Writer or Rabbit Hole. You can imagine that The Social Network will hog many #1 spots on AMPAS ballots. When there's a steamrolling #1, that opens up the field to upsets, given the unique way that Oscar tallies votes, discarding the ballot after calculating its #1 (if you're #1 choice is counted on the first round, your ballot is gone... which means that true passion for something other than Aaron Sorkin's highly verbal instant classic, will count since those ballots won't be discarded immediately as they fill the other 4 slots.)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

“127 Hours” – Anthony Dod Mantle

“Black Swan” – Matthew Libatique

“Inception” – Wally Pfister

“The King’s Speech” – Danny Cohen

“True Grit” – Roger Deakins

• These nominations are getting really repetitive, eh? But these are some talented men.

BEST ART DIRECTION

“Alice in Wonderland” – Stefan Dechant

“Black Swan” – Therese DePrez and Tora Peterson

“Inception” – Guy Hendrix Dyas

“The King’s Speech” – Netty Chapman

“True Grit” – Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh

• Glad to see Black Swan here though I am horrified by the nomination for Alice in Wonderland. That film was so ugly and busy on so many levels. I like the handsome sets and costumes of The King's Speech quite a lot but it is, in some very noticeable ways, striving to be nominated in all these craft categories. It's always presenting itself like "look how pretty I am... like a twee diorama. Did you notice the wallpaper?! Yeah, we thought that was a great touch"

BEST EDITING

“127 Hours” – Jon Harris

“Black Swan” – Andrew Weisblum

“Inception” – Lee Smith

“The Social Network” – Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

• Why only 4 nominations? It's a mystery. I expect these are all easy gets for Oscar noms, too. But what else? 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

“Alice in Wonderland” – Colleen Atwood

“Black Swan” – Amy Westcott

“The King’s Speech” – Jenny Beavan

“True Grit” – Mary Zophres

• Black Swan was on my ballot and I was among the first pundits to suggest it could find its way to Oscar in this category -- knowing that it would have the performative element, and not just ballerinas rehearsing and sexing. I'm disappointed, though that there's no imagination left for a 5th and less high profile nominee. What about Made in Dagenham or Tilda's duds in I am Love. Or even all those espionage sleek corporate power looks in Inception. People are so literal about costume design which is why you almost only ever seen very period films and / or royalty porn hogging this category each year.

BEST MAKEUP

Alice in Wonderland

Black Swan

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

True Grit

• I can't figure why Harry Potter is here. Which new characters were there makeup wise? The makeup in True Grit is fun -- Barry Pepper and Josh Brolin are so hideous in that movie so you know the make up team had to work hard.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Alice in Wonderland

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Inception

Tron: Legacy

• No Scott Pilgrim. Oh, my fellow voters... you bore me. Alice in Wonderland is U-G-L-Y. Why do people like it? ARGH.

BEST SOUND
127 Hours

Black Swan

Inception

The Social Network

Toy Story 3

• Oscar list? I love the sound work in The Social Network but I worry that it might be a little artful for Oscar if you know what I mean. They prefer the loud explosive movies. Movies which attempt to use sound in interesting or authentic or mood-shifting ways, don't always fare well.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Despicable Me

How to Train Your Dragon

The Illusionist

Tangled

Toy Story 3

• No surprises there though Oscar's 3-wide field is still hard to read beyond the toys and dragons. Will Tangled (old school retro choice), The Illusionist (sublime artful choice) or Despicable Me (populist choice) win that crucial third spot?

BEST ACTION MOVIE

Inception

Kick-Ass

Red

The Town

Unstoppable

• No Scott Pilgrim again? sigh.

BEST COMEDY

Cyrus

Date Night

Easy A

Get Him to the Greek

I Love You Phillip Morris

The Other Guys

• No Scott Pilgrim? Trivia: It received a higher BFCA rating at the time of its premiere "80" than all but one of their nominated comedies (strangely Easy A was the top reviewed). No Kids Are All Right?

Entirely Snubbed Films That Were Rated "80" or Higher by BFCA (i.e. higher than some of their actual nominees)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Shutter Island and The Ghost Writer

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

The Pacific

Temple Grandin

You Don’t Know Jack

• I abstain from this category each year as I never know what's eligible and I generally haven't seen any of them since I am cinema focused. Hasn't Temple Grandin been winning prizes for like 15 months now?

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Biutiful

I Am Love

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

• Why only 3 nominees?

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Exit Through the Gift Shop

Inside Job

Restrepo

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

The Tillman Story

Waiting for Superman

• Really? You just went for Oscar frontrunners even here? (Barring Joan Rivers). They couldn't have made a point of nominating something like Catfish? That would have been an exciting move.

BEST SONG

“I See the Light” – performed by Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi/written by Alan Menken & Glenn Slater – Tangled

“If I Rise” – performed by Dido and A.R. Rahman/music by A.R. Rahman/lyrics by Dido Armstrong and Rollo Armstrong – 127 Hours

“Shine” – performed and written by John Legend – Waiting for Superman

“We Belong Together” – performed and written by Randy Newman – Toy Story 3

“You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me Yet” – performed by Cher/written by Diane Warren – Burlesque

• Can I just say, nothing against Dido and A.R. Rahman who I've enjoyed before. "If I Rise" is so dull. Now that I actually vote in a major organization I'm realizing why campaigning is so important. In categories like this it's really hard to know what's eligible unless the films present those songs to you. Some films send out CDs and some don't. I received the music to all of these so they were obviously campaigning.

BEST SCORE

“Black Swan” – Clint Mansell

“Inception” – Hans Zimmer

“The King’s Speech” – Alexandre Desplat

“The Social Network” – Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

“True Grit” – Carter Burwell

• Disappointed that they went with Desplat's The King's Speech rather than his superior work on The Ghost Writer but then you have to remember... the voters are thinking Oscar. Still, in this category, I'd be surprised to see much Oscar similarity. Oscar is notoriously stingy with previously unnominated composers and this list contains four of them: Mansell, Reznor, Ross, Burwell. So, this list will never transfer without some adjustment to Oscar.

There you go. Your verdict on this year's pool of film nominations? Or would you rather just wait for the Golden Globes tomorrow.