2018 Oscar Nominations

The Oscar nominations for the 90th Annual Academy Awards were announced just over a week ago. This is one of my favorite times of year. The time of year when I eagerly scroll through the nominations, print a paper copy, and excitedly check off the boxes of the films as I watch them.

Here are upcoming dates of note as Oscar season goes into full swing:

• Oscar Nominees Luncheon Monday, February 5th
• BAFTAs (British Academy Film Awards) Sunday, February 18th
• Independent Spirit Awards Saturday, March 3rd Oscar Eve
• 90th Annual Academy Awards Sunday March 4th

2015 BAFTAs

This year's BAFTAs mark the last major event before Oscar weekend. The Independent Spirit Awards as they historically do, take place the night before the Oscars but are two weeks away. Stephen Fry hosted for the tenth time and seamlessly has his very British way of hosting down pat, no surprises. His one blunder was calling Patricia Arquette by her sister Rosanna's name in his opening monologue. The first award, Outstanding British Film, was presented by David Beckham and The Theory of Everything won. Special Visual Effects for Interstellar, the second award of the evening, was presented by the star of The Theory of Everything, Felicity Jones, and Stephen Hawking himself. Beautiful in purple, Reese Witherspoon presented Best Supporting Actor to JK Simmons for Whiplash. Simmons, Arquette and Moore seem locked to win the Oscars in their categories. Moore has also been flawless thus far on the red carpet. Redmayne has the edge over Michael Keaton for the Oscar for Best Actor, though it is still quite close. Best Film went to Boyhood. Birdman and Boyhood remain in an almost too close to call race for the Best Picture Oscar statue. The full list of BAFTA winners follows.

BEST FILM Boyhood
LEADING ACTRESS Julianne Moore, Still Alice
LEADING ACTOR Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
DIRECTOR, Richard Linklater, Boyhood
EE RISING STAR Jack O’Connell
COSTUME DESIGN The Grand Budapest Hotel
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY The Theory of Everything
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE Ida
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER Stephen Beresford (Writer), David Livingstone (Producer) Pride
CINEMATOGRAPHY Birdman 
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
SUPPORTING ACTOR JK Simmons, Whiplash
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS Interstellar
ANIMATED FILM The Lego Movie
SOUND Whiplash
EDITING Whiplash
BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION The Bigger Picture
BRITISH SHORT FILM Boogaloo and Graham
PRODUCTION DESIGN The Grand Budapest Hotel
MAKE UP AND HAIR The Grand Budapest Hotel
DOCUMENTARY Citizenfour
ORIGINAL MUSIC The Grand Budapest Hotel, Alexandre Desplat
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM The Theory of Everything
BAFTA FELLOWSHIP Mike Leigh

2015 BAFTA Nominations

The BAFTA film awards are the British equivalent of the Oscars and the esteem that they represent tends to trend well as an Oscar indicator. Birdman, Boyhood, The Theory of Everything and The Imitation Game have several nominations that continue to add to their Oscar buzz. The film with the most BAFTA nominations is The Grand Budapest Hotel, with 11 (last year Gravity had 11 BAFTA nominations). The BAFTAs have more accurately predicted the best picture winner at the Oscars more often than the Golden Globes (which air Sunday, January 11th on NBC).

The BAFTA awards ceremony will air on BBC America on Sunday, February 8th, a full two weeks before the Oscars. The awards show will be hosted by Stephen Fry for the tenth time.

Nominations list:
BEST FILM
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything

 OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
’71
The Imitation Game
Paddington
Pride
The Theory of Everything
Under the Skin

DIRECTOR
Alejandro G Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
James Marsh, The Theory of Everything
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Alejandro G Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr, Armando Bo, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Paul King, Paddington
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything 

LEADING ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel

LEADING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Edward Norton, Birdman
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
JK Simmons, Whiplash
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emma Stone, Birdman
Imelda Staunton, Pride
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Rene Russo, Nightcrawler

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Elaine Constantine, Writer/Director, Northern Soul
Gregory Burke, Writer, Yann Demange, Director, ’71
Hong Khaou, Writer/Director, Lilting
Paul Katis, Director/Producer, Andrew de Lotbinieere, Producer, Kajaki: The True Story
Stephen Beresford, Writer, David Livingstone, Producer, Pride

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Ida Leviathan
The Lunchbox
Trash
Two Days, One Night

DOCUMENTARY
20 Feet from Stardom
20,000 Days on Earth
Citizenfour
Finding Vivian
Maier Virunga

ANIMATED FILM
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
The Lego Movie

ORIGINAL MUSIC
Antonio Sanchez, Birdman
Alexandre Desplat, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar
Jóhann Jóhannsson, The Theory of Everything
Mica Levi, Under the Skin

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ida
Interstellar
Mr Turner 

EDITING
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Nightcrawler
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

PRODUCTION DESIGN
Big Eyes
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Mr Turner

COSTUME DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Into the Woods
Mr Turner
The Theory of Everything

MAKE UP AND HAIR
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Into the Woods
Mr Turner
The Theory of Everything

SOUND
American Sniper
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
X-Men: Days of Future Past

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
The Bigger Picture
Monkey Love
Experiments
My Dad

BRITISH SHORT FILM
Boogaloo and Graham
Emotional Fusebox
The Karman Line
Slap Three Brothers

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Jack O’Connell
Margot Robbie
Miles Teller
Shailene Woodley

2014 BAFTAs

The 67th Annual British Academy of Film Awards took place in London this evening at the Royal Opera House. Stephen Fry singled out A-List names in his opening and even got Leonardo DiCaprio to blow a kiss at that camera. His best joke was that Dame Helen Mirren was attending with her grandson -- Prince William was in attendance (where was Kate?! -- home with George?) and she of course earned a BAFTA and an Oscar for her role as the Queen. Then there was a somewhat strangely paced live performance of a rap song with clips from the nominated movies playing on an overhead screen. Then Oprah presented the first award, Outstanding British Film, to Gravity and the awards show proceeded.

I was shocked, and I mean SHOCKED that Jennifer Lawrence got Supporting Actress and not Lupita Nyong'o. Chiwetel Ejiofor won the BAFTA for Leading Actor in 12 Years A Slave and Barkhad Abdi for his supporting role in Captain Phillips. Cate Blanchett took home the award for Leading Actress. Alfonso Cuarón won Best Director for Gravity and 12 Years A Slave took home the big prize for Best Film. What was most striking about the awards ceremony was how genuinely happy the fellow nominees were for the winners. Leonardo Dicaprio stood and clapped for Ejiofor and Tom Hanks whistled. Jeremy Irons presented the Fellowship (a lifetime achievement award) with Prince William to Helen Mirren. Prince William is the president of BAFTA. He even returned the joke from the opening monologue and said he should call her granny. Also of note, with the same number of categories as the Oscars and no playing the music to cut off speeches, the BAFTAs stuck to their two and a half hour timeslot. I was puzzled by this and wondering how they do it when I came to realize, they are not broadcast live, they are edited and not all 24 awards are shown.

Outstanding British Film nominees Gravity, Philomena, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Saving Mr Banks, The Selfish Giant and Rush. 

Watching the BAFTAs, host Stephen Fry brought attention to the fact that so many of the films this year are based on true stories. Four of five of the nominees for Best Film at the BAFTAs are based on true stories, no matter how loosely. Indeed, six of the nine Oscar Best Picture nominees are based on true stories.

There is a very different voting body for the BAFTAs but it may shed some light in the close Oscar categories of Production Design, Foreign Film, Documentary Feature and Original Screenplay. The Great Gatsby won the BAFTA and it has a slight edge for the Production Design Oscar. The Act of Killing is nipping at the heels of 20 Feet From Stardom for Documentary Feature and took home the BAFTA. The Great Beauty's Best Non-English Language Film win strengthens its Oscar chances. Oscar voting began February 14th and ballots are not due until February 25th. Perhaps the news of the BAFTAs will influence the Academy voters. American Hustle won best the BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay. Her still has a lead in the Oscar forecast. I find it enjoyable that the Brits had nothing to do with Her and it received no BAFTA nominations.

All the more interesting are the acting categories that seemed all but predetermined for Oscar victory before tonight. The acting and supporting actor Oscar frontrunners Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto were not nominated for BAFTAs. Dallas Buyers Club is just now being seen in England and this explains that. Leto is still as good as gold but Chiwetel Ejiofor's win for 12 Years A Slave heats up the Best Actor race. Cate Blanchett has not lost a major award and will undoubtedly win the Oscar. The Best Supporting Actress race seems to have blown wide open with Jennifer Lawrence's BAFTA win. My hunch is that Lupita Nyong'o will still win the Oscar. Lawrence won the Oscar just last year and did not win the BAFTA. Personally I think Nyong'o is more deserving as well. The main take away is how Ejiofor's win will affect McConaughey's Oscar prospects.

Before the complete list of winners, the red carpet fashions.

Dior Haute Couture

Victoria Beckham

Angelina's Saint Laurent

Alexander McQueen

Rita in Jenny Packham

Maria Grachvogel

Noamie Harris in Gucci

BEST FILM 12 Years a Slave

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM Gravity

BEST ACTOR Chiwetel Ejiofor

BEST ACTRESS Cate Blanchett

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

BEST DIRECTOR Gravity

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Philomena

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY American Hustle

BEST ANIMATED FILM Frozen

RISING STAR Will Poulter

BRITISH SHORT FILM Room 8

BEST SHORT ANIMATION Sleeping with the Fishes

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN The Great Gatsby

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Gravity

BEST SOUND Gravity

BEST EDITING Rush

BEST DOCUMENTARY The Act of Killing

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR American Hustle

BEST COSTUME DESIGN The Great Gatsby

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC Gravity

OUTSTANDING BRITISH DEBUT Kieran Evans for Kelly and Victor

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY Gravity

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO BRITISH CINEMA Peter Greenaway

BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM The Great Beauty

Philomena

A heartbreaking and true story, Philomena is a real woman and the events the film depicts are based on the published work of journalist Martin Sixsmith. Co-star, producer and writer of the movie Steve Googan portrays Sixsmith. The script is based on Sixsmith's novel, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee. Judi Dench stars as Philomena, an old-fashioned, yet at the same forward thinking, devout woman seeking to find her lost child. The poignant drama of the circumstances are balanced with Coogan's comedic relief at just the right moments.

Coogan co-wrote the script with Jeff Pope and it is nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film is also nominated for Best Picture, Best Score and Dench for Best Actress. Philomena is not expected to take home any Oscar statues. Which is too bad because it is such a lovely film. It has a good shot at Best British Film at the BAFTAs this weekend. Dench is right behind Blanchett for the BAFTA as well. Philomena is one of this year's award season movies that I enjoyed the most. At one point the thought crossed my mind that I did not want it to end.

After seeing the movie I participated in the trailer market research that takes up residency frequently at Regal Bridgeport. It was a very interesting experience and actually for a trailer I had not seen yet -- the Equalizer with Denzel Washington. C and C Market Research was the company and they encourage you to participate whenever you are back at the theater. It takes maybe twenty minutes so it is not always feasible but for this movie nut worth the time if I have it.

2014 BAFTA Nominations

The 67th British Academy Film Awards, generally known as the BAFTAs, will take place Sunday, February 16th. Stephen Fry will be hosting for the ninth time at the Royal Opera House in London. There are 24 categories in the BAFTA Awards like at the Oscars, most are the same, and this year the nominees overlap considerably. The BAFTAs air on BBC America at 8pm on Sunday. If you have an east coast feed in your cable or HD programming, you can catch them at 5pm, in Pacific Standard time. They may also be listed as EE British Academy Film Awards.

A bit of background. The British Academy of Film and Television has several award types. Film, Television, Television Craft, Games and Children's each have their own awards ceremonies. The film awards are the ones most commonly referred to and reported on in the States. The Britannia Awards are part of BAFTA Los Angeles. Benedict Cumberbatch won the Britannia Award for British Artist of the Year for the truly amazing year he had appearing in five major feature films and starring in television's Sherlock. The Britannia Awards celebrate individual achievement and awards are giving to people and not films. There are also BAFTA branches in Scotland, Wales and New York. The gist is that the Brits are really organized. While there are certainly other British awards, the highest honors come from one organization. It would be like if the Oscars and the Emmys had one Academy, plus additional entities.

BAFTA results can shed light on Oscar categories that remain unclear. The closest Oscar races are in the Best Original Screenplay, Best Production Design, Best Foreign Film, and Best Documentary Feature categories. American Hustle has a slight edge over Her for Original Screenplay, The Great Gatsby is ahead of Gravity for Production Design and if it wins the BAFTA, it may be another indication that Gatsby has it. The splashiest picture usually wins the category. For Foreign Film, The Great Beauty is running in the front for the Oscar. Documentary Feature is probably the closest race of the year. 20 Feet From Stardom is leading among Oscar experts but The Act of Killing is close behind.

12 Years A Slave is expected to win Best Film, much like the Oscars. Outstanding British Film is a close race between Philomena and Gravity, with Philomena having a slight edge. Reflecting a global film community, only one of the nominees for Outstanding British film is simply a British picture, The Selfish Giant. Rush needs little interpretation though it was filmed in England and Germany, it featured a British crew and an American director. Gravity is considered a British Film despite its two stars being Hollywood actors and that it is set in space, not Britain. It was filmed in the UK and its groundbreaking visual effects were made in Britain, with a British crew. Director Alfonso Cuarón lives in Britain. If there is a question of a film's Britishness if it receives 16/31 criteria, it is British. Elements include, having the dialogue in the English language, being set in the UK, using British locations, director, cast, writer, composer and producer.

Winners at the BAFTAs and red carpet coverage will be posted Sunday night. The long list of nominees follows.

BEST FILM
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Philomena

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Gravity
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Philomena
Rush
Saving Mr. Banks
The Selfish Giant

DIRECTOR
12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen
American Hustle, David O Russell
Captain Phillips, Paul Greengrass
Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón
The Wolf of Wall Street, Martin Scorsese

LEADING ACTOR
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Christian Bale, American Hustle
Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips

LEADING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr Banks
Judi Dench, Philomena
Sandra Bullock, Gravity

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
Daniel Brühl, Rush
Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels' The Butler
Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
American Hustle, Eric Warren Singer and David O Russell
Blue Jasmine, Woody Allen
Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón and Jonás Cuarón
Inside Llewyn Davis, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Nebraska, Bob Nelson

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 Years a Slave, John Ridley
Behind the Candelabra, Richard LaGravenese
Captain Phillips, Billy Ray
Philomena, Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
The Wolf of Wall Street, Terence Winter

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR, OR PRODUCER
Good Vibrations, Colin Carberry (writer) and Glenn Patterson (writer)
Saving Mr. Banks, Kelly Marcel (writer)
Kelly + Victor, Kieran Evans (director/writer)
For Those in Peril, Paul Wright (director/writer)
Shell, Scott Graham (director/writer)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
The Act of Killing
Blue Is the Warmest Colour
The Great Beauty
Metro Manila
Wadjda

DOCUMENTARY
The Act of Killing
The Armstrong Lie
Blackfish
Tim's Vermeer
We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks

ANIMATED FILM
Despicable Me 2
Frozen
Monsters University

ORIGINAL MUSIC
12 Years a Slave, Hans Zimmer
The Book Thief, John Williams
Captain Phillips, Henry Jackman
Gravity, Steven Price
Saving Mr. Banks, Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY
12 Years a Slave, Sean Bobbitt
Captain Phillips, Barry Ackroyd
Gravity, Emmanuel Lubezki
Inside Llewyn Davis, Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska, Phedon Papamichael

EDITING
12 Years a Slave, Joe Walker
Captain Phillips, Christopher Rouse
Gravity, Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
Rush, Dan Hanley and Mike Hill
The Wolf of Wall Street, Thelma Schoonmaker

PRODUCTION DESIGN
12 Years a Slave, Adam Stockhausen and Alice Baker
American Hustle, Judy Becker and Heather Loeffler
Behind the Candelabra, Howard Cummings
Gravity, Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, and Joanne Woodlard
The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin and Beverley Dunn

COSTUME DESIGN
American Hustle, Michael Wilkinson
Behind the Candelabra, Ellen Mirojnick
The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin
The Invisible Woman, Michael O'Connor
Saving Mr. Banks, Daniel Orlandi

MAKEUP AND HAIR
American Hustle, Evelyne Noraz and Lori McCoy-Bell
Behind the Candelabra, Kate Biscoe and Marie Larkin
Lee Daniels' The Butler, Debra Denson, Beverly Jo Pryor, and Candace Neal
The Great Gatsby, Maurizio Silvi and Kerry Warn
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, and Rick Findlater

SOUND
All Is Lost
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Rush

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
Pacific Rim
Star Trek Into Darkness

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
Everything I Can See From Here
I Am Tom Moody
Sleeping With the Fishes

BRITISH SHORT FILM
Island Queen
Keeping Up With the Joneses
Orbit Ever After
Room 8
Sea View

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Dane DeHaan
George MacKay
Lupita Nyong'o
Will Poulter
Léa Seydoux

2012 BAFTAs

The Orange BAFTA awards celebrate achievement in film. The BAFTA organization, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, has several awards shows each year honoring different areas of entertainment. The Orange or film awards have 24 categories. The same number as the Oscars though not all of the categories are the same. The nominees in several of the categories were very similar to those of the Oscar nominations.

While the award show aired in the US on BBC America at 5pm, the winners had been announced in London by that time. The Artist led the pack with 12 nominations and won seven including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay. Meanwhile, Meryl Streep, Christopher Plummer, and Octavia Spencer took home the other acting prizes. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was nominated in 11 categories, winning two. While the most Oscar nominated movie of the year Hugo had nine BAFTA nominations, it won in two categories. The BAFTAs are often a good indicator of what films will win in the technical categories. On the red carpet George Clooney seemed to know that he would not be winning for Best Actor and the Oscar race in that category continues to be close. Jean Dujardin was in New York last night making an appearance on SNL and made it to the BAFTAs Sunday. Perhaps he and Kristen Wiig were on the same flight. She and Annie Mumolo were nominated for the Bridesmaids screenplay, as they are for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars.

Jean Dujardin, producer Thomas Langmann and director and screenwriter Michel Hazanavicius with three of the Artist's seven awards.

Stephen Fry hosted the ceremony, if you watch Bones you may recognize him. There was a lovely movie montage of the year's films, though I am a sucker for a movie montage or package as Fry announced it. Martin Scorsese was honored with the Academy Fellowship and John Hurt was awarded with Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema (I share a birthday with Hurt). I actually spotted a seat filler while watching the awards show.

No dresses were real standouts on the red carpet but there were no real misses either. There were many comments about how cold it was. Of note, Michelle Williams' black and white dress was H and M!

Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis and Michelle Williams

The winners:
Best Film The Artist
Best Director Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Actor Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Best Actress Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
Best Supporting Actor Christopher Plummer, Beginners
Best Supporting Actress Octavia Spencer, The Help
Best Original Screenplay Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Adapted Screenplay Bridget O’Connor and Peter Straughan, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best British Film Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Best Film Not in the English Language The Skin I Live In
Best Animated Film Rango

Best Documentary Senna
Best Editing Senna
Best Costume Design The Artist
Best Cinematography The Artist
Best Original Music The Artist
Best Make-Up and Hair The Iron Lady
Best Visual Effects Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Best Production Design Hugo
Best Sound Hugo
Best British Debut Tyrannosaur
Orange Rising Star Award Adam Deacon
Best Animated Short A Morning Stroll
Best Live-Action Short Pitch Black Heist

2012 BAFTA nominees

Tomorrow is a big awards day. The more well known Grammys celebrating the best in music will air at 8pm Pacific time. Prior to that, the British equivalent of the Oscars will air on BBC American at 5pm Pacific time. I first watched the BAFTAs last year, when the King's Speech ruled supreme. The Social Network and Natalie Portman's performance in Black Swan were also recognized at the BAFTAs last year.

The Artist has the most nominations with 12. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is nominated in 11 categories, while the most Oscar nominated Hugo has nine nominations. My Week with Marilyn has six nominations and The Help and War Horse are each nominated five times.

The BAFTA nominees honoring the films of 2011 are:

Best Film:
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Help
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Outstanding British Film:
My Week With Marilyn
Senna
Shame
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
We Need To Talk About Kevin

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer:
Attack The Block – Joe Cornish (director/writer)
Black Pond – Will Sharpe (director/writer), Tom Kingsley (director), Sarah Brocklehurst (producer)
Coriolanus – Ralph Fiennes (director)
Submarine – Richard Ayoade (director/writer)
Tyrannosaur – Paddy Considine (director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (producer)

Foreign language film:
Incendies
Pina
Potiche
A Separation
The Skin I Live In

Director:
The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
Drive – Nicolas Winding Refn
Hugo – Martin Scorsese
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Tomas Alfredson
We Need To Talk About Kevin – Lynne Ramsay

Leading actor:
Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Gary Oldman – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
George Clooney – The Descendants
Jean Dujardin – The Artist
Michael Fassbender – Shame

Leading actress:
Berenice Bejo – The Artist
Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
Michelle Williams – My Week With Marilyn
Tilda Swinton – We Need To Talk About Kevin
Viola Davis – The Help

Supporting actor:
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Jim Broadbent – The Iron Lady
Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Ides Of March

Supporting actress:
Carey Mulligan – Drive
Jessica Chastain – The Help
Judi Dench – My Week With Marilyn
Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids
Octavia Spencer – The Help

Documentary:
George Harrison: Living In The Material World
Project Nim
Senna

Animated film:
The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn
Arthur Christmas
Rango

Screenplay:
The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
Bridesmaids – Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
The Guard – John Michael McDonagh
The Iron Lady – Abi Morgan
Midnight In Paris – Woody Allen

Adapted screenplay:
The Descendants – Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
The Help – Tate Taylor
The Ides Of March – George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
Moneyball – Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan

Original music:
The Artist
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse

Cinematography:
The Artist
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse

Editing:
The Artist
Drive
Hugo
Senna
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Production design:
The Artist
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse

Costume design:
The Artist
Hugo
Jane Eyre
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Make-up and hair:
The Artist
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
The Iron Lady
My Week With Marilyn

Sound:
The Artist
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse

Special visual effects:
The Adventures Of Tintin: The Secret Of The Unicorn
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2
Hugo
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
War Horse

Short animation:
Abuelas
Bobby Yeah
A Morning Stroll

Short film:
Chalk
Mwansa The Great
Only Sound Remains
Pitch Black Heist
Two And Two

The Orange Wednesdays Rising Star Award (voted by the public)
Adam Deacon
Chris Hemsworth
Chris O'Dowd
Eddie Redmayne
Tom Hiddleston

BAFTAs 2011

The British Academy of Film Awards were today in London. I watched the ceremony and found it interesting that with less categories included in the telecast than the Oscars, the actual awards show was 2 1/2 hours of the three hour telecast (the first half hour was red carpet coverage). From what I can make out, the BAFTAs also have 23 categories. The Harry Potter film franchise was honored and JK Rowling was present. There was one montage for the dearly departed and no one was rushed in their acceptance speech. Maybe the event was not live like the Oscars, so it only appeared to be so succinct. The thing is, it wasn't as much fun. I enjoyed it, I love movies. There was a host and presenters, but those song and dance numbers or other sketches that lengthen our show, the Oscars, are what make it fun and create memorable moments. I suppose its the fun that makes us American. I have read that the producers of this year's Oscar ceremony have encourage all nominees to be prepared to speak for 45 seconds, to not have anything written, if they win and were even provided with DVDs to practice with.

The King's Speech began the night with 14 nominations (it also leads the Oscars with 12 noms). It won seven. As of this moment, I think it will win four Oscars, a tie with Social Network of four wins each. Inception will win three Oscars. My official predictions for all 24 categories and how I would vote, what I think deserves the Oscar, will be posted Oscar weekend.

After you check out the winners below, read Dave Kager's article about how historically the BAFTAs have been an accurate predictor of the Oscars and to what degree. It looks like at least 10 of the categories will repeat winners at the February 27th Oscar telecast.
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/02/13/bafta-winners-repeat-oscars/

The BAFTA winners (what does the T stand for?!):
BEST FILM: The King’s Speech
OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: The King’s Speech
OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER: Four Lions, Director/Writer Chris Morris
DIRECTOR: The Social Network, David Fincher
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: The King’s Speech, David Seidler
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin
FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
ANIMATED FILM: Toy Story 3
LEADING ACTOR: Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
LEADING ACTRESS: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
ORIGINAL MUSIC: The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
CINEMATOGRAPHY: True Grit, Roger Deakins
EDITING: The Social Network, Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Alice in Wonderland, Robert Stromberg and Karen O’Hara
COSTUME DESIGN: Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood
SOUND: Inception, Richard King, Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo, and Ed Novick
SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: Inception, Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, and Peter Bebb
MAKE UP AND HAIR: Alice in Wonderland
SHORT ANIMATION: The Eagleman Stag
SHORT FILM: Until the River Runs Red
ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING AWARD: Tom Hardy