Getting into film awards season, starting with various U.S. cities critics’ associations.
NY Film Critics:
Film: “Milk”
Director: Mike Leigh, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Actor: Sean Penn, “Milk”
Actress: Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin, “Milk”
Supporting Actress: Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Screenplay: Jenny Lumet, “Rachel Getting Married”
First Film: Courtney Hunt, “Frozen River”
Foreign Film: “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days”
Animated Film: “WALL-E
Documentary: “Man on Wire”
Cinematographer: Anthony Dod Mantle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles film critics went this way:
Picture: “Wall-E”
Runner-up: “The Dark Knight”
Director: Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Runner-up: Christopher Nolan, “The Dark Knight”
Actor: Sean Penn, “Milk”
Runner-up: Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
Actress: Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Runner-up: Melissa Leo, “Frozen River”
Supporting actor: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
Runner-up: Eddie Marsan, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Supporting actress: Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Elegy”
Runner-up: Viola Davis, “Doubt”
Screenplay: Mike Leigh, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Runner-up: Charlie Kaufman, “Synecdoche, New York”
Foreign-language film: “Still Life”
Runner-up: “The Class”
Documentary: “Man on Wire”
Runner-up: “Waltz With Bashir”
Animation: “Waltz With Bashir”
Cinematography: Yu Lik Wai, “Still Life”
Runner-up: Anthony Dod Mantle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Production design: Mark Friedberg, “Synecdoche, New York”
Runner-up: Nathan Crowley, “The Dark Knight”
Music/score: A.R. Rahman, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Runner-up: Alexandre Desplat, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
New Generation: Steve McQueen, “Hunger”
Douglas E. Edwards independent/experimental film/video: James Benning, “RR” and “Casting a Glance”
Washing Tundy Sea critics went for Slumdog Millionaire.
Also, the Golden Globe nominations have been released. These are the awards given annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a group of just a few dozen foreigners who spend their time on as many press junkets as possible. This is the same group that once gave Pia Zadora the award for newcomer of the year, pun very possibly intended. This gets a lot of attention and the ceremony even gets televised in part because they can find advertisers to pay for it and in part because they’re seen as some sort of Oscar predictor.
So here are their noms for film (they also do TV):
BEST FEATURE – DRAMA
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“The Reader”
“Revolutionary Road”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
BEST FEATURE – COMEDY
“Burn After Reading”
“Happy-Go-Lucky”
“In Bruges”
“Mamma Mia!”
“Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
ACTOR – DRAMA
Leonardo DiCaprio – “Revolutionary Road”
Frank Langella – “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn – “Milk”
Brad Pitt – “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke – “The Wrestler”
ACTRESS – DRAMA
Anne Hathaway – “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie – “Changeling”
Meryl Streep – “Doubt”
Kristin Scott Thomas – “I’ve Loved You So Long”
Kate Winslet – “Revolutionary Road”
ACTOR – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Javier Bardem – “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Colin Farrell – “In Bruges”
James Franco – “Pineapple Express”
Brendan Gleeson – “In Bruges”
Dustin Hoffman – “Last Chance Harvey”
ACTRESS – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Rebecca Hall – “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Sally Hawkins – “Happy-Go-Lucky”
Frances McDormand – “Burn After Reading”
Meryl Streep – “Mamma Mia!”
Emma Thompson – “Last Chance Harvey”
SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tom Cruise, “Tropic Thunder”
Robert Downey Jr., “Tropic Thunder”
Ralph Fiennes, “The Duchess”
Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Doubt”
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, “Doubt”
Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis, “Doubt”
Marisa Tomei, “The Wrestler”
Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Stephen Daldry, “The Reader”
David Fincher, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Ron Howard, “Frost/Nixon”
Sam Mendes, “Revolutionary Road”
SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE
Simon Beaufoy, “Slumdog Millionaire”
David Hare, “The Reader”
Peter Morgan, “Frost/Nixon”
Eric Roth, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
John Patrick Shanley, “Doubt”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“The Baader Meinhof Complex” (Germany)
“Everlasting Moments” (Sweden)
“Gomorrah” (Italy)
“I’ve Loved You So Long” (France)
“Waltz with Bashir” (Israel)
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
“Bolt”
“Kung Fu Panda”
“Wall-E”
ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat– “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Clint Eastwood — “Changeling”
James Newton Howard — “Defiance”
A.R. Rahman — “Slumdog Millionaire”
Hans Zimmer — “Frost/Nixon”
ORIGINAL SONG
“Down to Earth” — “Wall-E” (Music by Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman; Lyrics by Peter Gabriel)
“Gran Torino” — “Gran Torino (Music by Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens;
Lyrics by Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens)
“I Thought I Lost You — “Bolt” (Music & Lyrics by Miley Cyrus, Jeffrey Steele)
“Once in a Lifetime” — “Cadillac Records” (Music & Lyrics by Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street)
“The Wrestler” — “The Wrestler” (Music & Lyrics by Bruce Springsteen)
Bettie Page has died, age 85. The ultimate pin-up and fetish model, subject of a pretty good bio-pic a few years back, a unique talent.
Hi, I’m Spike. Born and bred in The Bronx but I've been calling Hong Kong home since 1995. I'm a corporate IT professional, music and film critic and aspiring photo-journalist. I've been writing Hongkie Town since 2004 and have been writing the "Spike" column in BC Magazine since 2006. You can follow me on Twitter 
