Las Vegas Film Critics Choose "The Social Network"

The Academy Awards is a little under a week and a half away (Sunday, Feb. 27th).  Until then, I'm going to catch this blog up on the critics awards. The Las Vegas Film Critics Society announced their awards, which they call the "Sierras," back in December.

The Las Vegas Film Critics Society is a non-profit organization that describes itself as “progressive” and “dedicated to the advancement and preservation of film.” The LVFCS membership is comprised of “select” print, television and internet film critics in the Las Vegas area. The LVFCS presents its "Sierra" awards each year for the best in film, including The William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award, which is named for the late Academy Award winning actor.

2010 Sierra Award winners:

Best Picture
“Social Network”

Best Actor
James Franco, “127”

Best Actress
Natalie Portman, “Black Swan”

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, “The Fighter”

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, “The Fighter”

Best Director
David Fincher, “Social Network”

Best Screenplay (Original or Adapted)
Aaron Sorkin, “Social Network”

Best Cinematography
Wally Pfister, “Inception”

Best Film Editing
Lee Smith, “Inception”

Best Costume Design
Colleen Atwood, “Alice in Wonderland”

Best Art Direction
“Black Swan”

Best Visual Effects
“Inception”

Best Documentary
“Waiting for Superman”

Best Foreign Film
“Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” (Sweden)

Best Song
“I See the Light” (Theme from Disney’s Tangled)

Best Score
Trent Reznor, “Social Network”

Best Family Film
“Toy Story 3”

Best Animated Film
“Toy Story 3”

Youth in Film
Hailee Steinfeld, “True Grit”

Best DVD (Packaging, Design, and Content)
“Alien Anthology” (Blu-Ray) Fox Home Entertainment

William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award for 2010:
Thelma Schoonmaker

http://www.lvfcs.org/lvfcs/Home.html

Helena Bonham Carter Wins "Best Supporting Actress" BAFTA

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

HELENA BONHAM CARTER The King’s Speech WINNER

AMY ADAMS The Fighter

BARBARA HERSHEY Black Swan

LESLEY MANVILLE Another Year

MIRANDA RICHARDSON Made in Dagenham

Paramount Pictures Celebrates 2011 Academy Award Nominations

PARAMOUNT EARNS A RECORD 20 ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS, INCLUDING TWO BEST PICTURE NOMINATIONS FOR “TRUE GRIT” AND “THE FIGHTER”

“True Grit” received a total 10 nominations, while “The Fighter” received 7

HOLLYWOOD, CA (January 25, 2011) - Paramount Pictures received a total of 20 Academy Award nominations this morning, following the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announcement of the best films of 2010.

“On behalf of everyone at Paramount, we are incredibly proud of the recognition our films received today from the Academy. The tremendous and continued success that each film has achieved is deeply gratifying and is a testament to the extraordinary work of all of the artists involved,” said Brad Grey, Paramount Pictures Chairman and CEO.

TRUE GRIT received a total of 10 Academy Award nominations, including for Picture, Directing for Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Adapted Screenplay, Actor for Jeff Bridges, Best Supporting Actress for Hailee Steinfeld, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Costume Design, Cinematography and Art Direction.

The Fighter received a total of 7 Academy Award nominations, including for Picture, Directing for David O. Russell, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actress for Amy Adams and Melissa Leo, Supporting Actor for Christian Bale and Editing.

The hit movie from DreamWorks Animation HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON received 2 nominations, including for Best Animated Film of the Year and Original Score for composer John Powell.


About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.

2011 Oscar Nominations: Supporting Actress

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams in “The Fighter”

Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”

Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”

Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”

Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Melissa Leo Wins Supporting Actress Golden Globe for "The Fighter"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture:


Melissa Leo for The Fighter WINNER

Amy Adams for The Fighter

Helena Bonham Carter for The King's Speech

Mila Kunis for Black Swan

Jacki Weaver for Animal Kingdom

Review: "Talladega Nights" is a Ferrell-McKay Gem

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 167 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes:
MPAA – PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, drug references, and brief comic violence
DIRECTOR: Adam McKay
WRITERS: Will Ferrell and Adam McKay
PRODUCERS: Jimmy Miller and Judd Apatow
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Oliver Wood
EDITOR: Brent White

COMEDY/SPORTS/ACTION

Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Gary Cole, Michael Clarke Duncan, Leslie Bibb, Jane Lynch, Houston Tumlin, Grayson Russell, Amy Adams, Greg Germann, Molly Shannon, Andy Richter, David Koechner, and Pat Hingle with Elvis Costello, Mos Def, Darrell Waltrip, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

In 2004, co-writer/director Adam McKay and co-writer/star Will Ferrell gave us Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, about a dense, arrogant, but very popular local news anchor. This month the same duo gives us Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, about a dense, arrogant, but very popular and successful NASCAR race driver. This time Ferrell and McCay have refined their process, and while Ricky Bobby is every bit as funny as Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights simply works better as a film. Talladega Nights is funny, but it’s more than just a joke fest. It has an insane comic premise, but with heart, and the cast makes the characters believable as Ricky Bobby’s family, friends, and rivals

Talladega Nights tells the story of the rise of Ricky Bobby, from a 10-year old boy (Luke Bigham) abandoned by his father, Reese Bobby (Gary Cole), to a win-at-all-cost stock car driver. At the peak of his success, Bobby has a loyal racing partner in his childhood friend, Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly), and a veteran racing crew chief in Lucius Washington (Michael Clarke Duncan). He has a “red-hot” wife, Carley Bobby (Leslie Bibb) and two sons, Walker (Houston Tumlin) and Texas Ranger (Grayson Russell). However, Larry Dennit, Jr. (Greg Germann), the owner of the racing team to which Ricky Bobby belongs adds a pompous and conceited French Formula One racer named Jean Girard (Sacha Baron Cohen) to the Dennit racing team, and Girard is gunning for Ricky Bobby. Soon, Ricky Bobby’s career crashes and burns, but with the help of his negligent and immature dad and his loving mom, Lucy Bobby (Jane Lynch), Ricky Bobby might just return to the front of the pack.

Ricky Bobby could have been some paper-thin character Will Ferrell created during his tenure on “Saturday Night Live,” but he gives the characters such depth. He’s not a caricature – this arrogant dim-wit who makes you laugh – he has humanity. In fact, the Ricky Bobby of the movie is much deeper, a much richer character than what the advertisements for Talladega Nights suggests. That’s a testament to Ferrell’s skill as a great comic actor, with an emphasis on actor. However, while Ricky Bobby is a wonderful character, having an outstanding supporting cast of characters makes Ricky Bobby even better.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is impeccably cast and performed in terms of supporting players. The actors embody their roles, such as John C. Reilly’s Cal Naughton, Jr., Gary Cole’s Reese Bobby, and Jane Lynch’s Lucy Bobby. The caricatures also work to comic perfection, including Leslie Bibb as Ricky Bobby’s wife, Carley, and Sacha Baron Cohen (“Ali G”) as Ricky Bobby’s rival, Jean Girard. Carley is the perfect send-up as the greedy, camera-hogging, ambitious celebrity wife, and Girard gives the movie a flavor of the bizarre. Michael Clarke Duncan’s Lucius Washington is the steadying center and the fatherly guide to the wacky and childish racing team, and he creates a balance between the farce and satire with the characters on one hand, and the seriousness with which the film has to take NASCAR racing on the other.

Although Talladega Nights pokes fun as NASCAR and its brawny emphasis on and robust relationship with its advertising sponsors, the film doesn’t make fun of NASCAR, its culture, or fans. The brilliance of McKay and Ferrell’s screenplay is that it is a memorable comic creation filled with the kind of eccentric and harebrained characters that make a comedy actually funny. However, they also give the comedy dramatic tension and conflict, and the characters have convincing motivation. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is a farce, a comic romp, and a dramatic narrative, and not just a bag of jokes and sketch comedy scenes. But it was up to the cast to make this nice scenario work, and they certainly worked it.

8 of 10
A

Saturday, August 5, 2006

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