As I technically have seven days to finish my own Decade List (more on the progress of that later on), I'm going to throw a bunch of end-of-the-year shit your way with little commentary, though you'll notice a lot of similarities below. I'm distracted enough as it is. Firstly, the LA Film Critics Association have named their awards for 2009 this afternoon. The New York Film Critics Online is, according to Twitter, in the midst of theirs right now (Correction: They were when I started writing this; they've finished and named, curiously, Avatar as the best film of 2009. Full list here). Here's the LAFCA:Picture: The Hurt Locker, d. Kathryn Bigelow
Runner-Up: Up in the Air, d. Jason Reitman
Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Runner-Up: Michael Haneke - The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band]
Actor: Jeff Bridges - Crazy Heart
Runner-Up: Colin Firth - A Single Man
Actress: Yolande Moreau - Séraphine
Runner-Up: Carey Mulligan - An Education
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Runner-Up: Peter Capaldi - In the Loop
Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious
Runner-Up: Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Cinematography: Christian Berger - The White Ribbon
Runner-Up: Barry Ackroyd - The Hurt Locker
Production Design: Philip Ivey - District 9
Runner-Up: Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg - Avatar
Music Score: T-Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton - Crazy Heart
Runner-Up: Alexandre Desplat - Fantastic Mr. Fox
Foreign Film: Summer Hours [L'heure d'été], d. Olivier Assayas, France
Runner-Up: The White Ribbon, Germany/Austria/France/Italy
Documentary/Non-Fiction: (tie) The Beaches of Agnès [Les plages d'Agnès], d. Agnès Varda; The Cove, d. Louie Psihoyos
Animated Film: Fantastic Mr. Fox, d. Wes Anderson
Runner-Up: Up, d. Peter Docter, Bob Peterson
The Boston Society of Film Critics also dished out their awards today. They are as follows:Picture: The Hurt Locker, d. Kathryn Bigelow
Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Actor: Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Actress: Meryl Streep - Julie & Julia
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious
Ensemble Cast: (tie) Precious; Star Trek
Screenplay: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - A Serious Man
Cinematography: Barry Ackroyd - The Hurt Locker
Foreign Film: Summer Hours [L'heure d'été], d. Olivier Assayas, France
Documentary: The Cove, d. Louie Psihoyos
Animated Film: Up, d. Peter Docter, Bob Peterson
Editing: Bob Murawski, Chris Innis - The Hurt Locker
New Filmmaker: Neill Blomkamp - District 9
Use of Music in a Film: Crazy Heart
The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association named their winners on 7 December. They are as follows:Film: Up in the Air, d. Jason Reitman
Director: Kathryn Bigelow - The Hurt Locker
Actor: George Clooney - Up in the Air
Actress: Carey Mulligan - An Education
Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds
Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique - Precious
Ensemble Cast: The Hurt Locker
Breakthrough Performance: Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner - Up in the Air
Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino - Inglourious Basterds
Foreign Film: Sin Nombre, d. Cary Fukunaga, Mexico/USA
Documentary: Food, Inc., d. Robert Kenner
Animated Film: Up, d. Peter Docter, Bob Peterson
Art Direction: Nine
Over the weekend, the Australian Film Institute, also known as AFI, handed out their annual awards, with Warwick Thornton's Samson & Delilah claiming the Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay (by Thornton), the Young Actor Award (for both leads, Marissa Gibson and Rowan McNamara), Cinematography, Sound and the AFI Members' Choice Award. Other winners include Balibo, which nabbed prizes for Adapted Screenplay (David Williamson, Robert Connolly), Editing, Actor (for Anthony LaPaglia) and Supporting Actor (Oscar Isaac). Kudos also to my favorite gals from Muriel's Wedding, Rachel Griffiths and Toni Collette, for each taking home an award for Best Supporting Actress in Beautiful Kate and the International Best Actress Award for The United States of Tara, respectively.
The other AFI (the American Film Institute) named their 10 Best Films of 2009 today, in alphabetical order (note that only American films are eligible): Coraline [d. Henry Selick], The Hangover [d. Todd Phillips], The Hurt Locker [d. Kathryn Bigelow], The Messenger [d. Oren Moverman], Precious [d. Lee Daniels], A Serious Man [d. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen], A Single Man [d. Tom Ford], Sugar [d. Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck], Up [d. Peter Docter, Bob Peterson] and Up in the Air [d. Jason Reitman].
The British Independent Film Awards were dolled out over a week ago, but I didn't have the time to post it then. I am especially pleased at the recipient of the Best Director Prize. The major winners below; full list here:Film: Moon, d. Duncan Jones
Director: Andrea Arnold - Fish Tank
Douglas Hickox Award (for Directorial Debut): Duncan Jones - Moon
Actor: Tom Hardy - Bronson
Actress: Carey Mulligan - An Education
Supporting Actor: John Henshaw - Looking for Eric
Supporting Actress: Anne-Marie Duff - Nowhere Boy
Most Promising Newcomer: Katie Jarvis - Fish Tank
Screenplay: Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche - In the Loop
Documentary: Mugabe and the White African, d. Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson
Foreign Independent Film: Let the Right One In [Låt den rätte komma in], d. Tomas Alfredson, Sweden
Sacha Gervasi's Anvil! The Story of Anvil was the surprise winner at the International Documentary Association's gala last week. Despite its growing fan base, the film was not short-listed for the Academy Award Documentary category. Also, Thanks to the Alternative Film Guide for providing a schedule for all the upcoming critics and industry awards (check this link). Tomorrow: the New York Film Critics Circle and the San Francisco Film Critics, as well as both Chicago and my hometown St. Louis' "nominations." Both Chicago and STL will announce their official winners on 21 December. And, for those with award frenzy (I can't count myself as one of them this year, even though I'm spending all this time posting these listings), the Golden Globe nominations will be announced on Tuesday, the 15th.
The Golden Globes have listed their record-breaking 69 foreign language films that will be eligible for that category's 5 nominees, announced on Tuesday. Among the qualifying films (full list here via Variety): About Elly [d. Asghar Farhadi], Ajami [d. Scandar Copti, Yaron Shani], Baarìa [d. Giuseppe Tornatore], Broken Embraces [d. Pedro Almodóvar], No puedo vivir sin ti [d. Leon Dai], City of Life and Death [d. Lu Chuan], Eden Is West [d. Costa-Gavras], The Girl on the Train [d. André Techiné], The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [d. Niels Arden Oplev], I Killed My Mother [d. Xavier Dolan], Lebanon [d. Samuel Maoz], The Maid [d. Sebastián Silva], Micmacs [d. Jean-Pierre Jeunet], Mother [d. Bong Joon-ho], Police, Adjective [d. Corneliu Porumboiu], A Prophet [d. Jacques Audiard], Rudo & Cursi [d. Carlos Cuarón], Samson & Delilah [d. Warwick Thornton], The Secret in Their Eyes [d. Juan José Campanella], Thirst [d. Park Chan-wook] and The White Ribbon [d. Michael Haneke].
Now onto decade proceedings. The Onion's A.V. Club ranked their 50 Best Films of the '00s on 3 December. Their top 10 is below, but you can check out all 50 plus commentaries on their website.01. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004, d. Michel Gondry, USA
02. 25th Hour, 2002, d. Spike Lee, USA
03. There Will Be Blood, 2007, d. Paul Thomas Anderson, USA
04. No Country for Old Men, 2007, d. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, USA
05. Memento, 2000, d. Christopher Nolan, USA
06. Spirited Away, 2001, d. Hayao Miyazaki, Japan
07. Kill Bill, Vol. 1, 2003, d. Quentin Tarantino, USA
08. Capturing the Friedmans, 2003, d. Andrew Jarecki, USA
09. The New World, 2005, d. Terrence Malick, USA/UK
10. Children of Men, 2006, d. Alfonso Cuarón, UK/USA/Japan
Also of note, take a look at Michael Atkinson at Zero for Conduct's 50 Best Films of the '00s. His top 10 are below, but the full list can be found here.01. La commune (Paris, 1871), 2000, d. Peter Watkins, France
02. What Time Is It There?, 2001, d. Tsai Ming-liang, Taiwan/France
03. Werckmeister Harmonies [Werckmeister harmóniák], 2000, d. Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky, Hungary/Italy/Germany/France
04. Adaptation., 2002, d. Spike Jonze, USA
05. 2046, 2004, d. Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong/China/France/Germany
06. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004, d. Michel Gondry, USA
07. Time of the Wolf [Le temps du loup], 2003, d. Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany
08. Battle in Heaven [Batalla en el cielo], 2005, d. Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Germany/Belgium
09. Caché, 2005, d. Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany/Italy
10. Inland Empire, 2006, d. David Lynch, USA/Poland/France
Reverse Shot has their Best of the Decade proceedings in medias res, counting down from 20 for the rest of the month. They're up to #16 with Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours [L'heure d'été]. So far, they have the following: Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country for Old Men at #17, Cristi Puiu's The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu [Moartea domnului Lăzărescu] at #18, Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men at #19 and Terence Davies' The House of Mirth at #20. To keep up with their countdown, check this link periodically.
For all your film list needs, please check out David Hudson's posts at The Auteurs' Notebook, which rounds up a seemingly mind-boggling collection of film writings, from the elite to the 0ccasional middle-brow. Also on The Auteurs' Notebook, Adrian Curry ranks the best posters of the decade (film quality notwithstanding). As he told me, he loves "negative space," so keep that in mind... his collection is uniformly excellent (though I could maybe do without the entire third row of runners-up). The gorgeous, haunting image of Naomi Watts' shedding a tear (what she does best) on the poster for Michael Haneke's Funny Games remake tops the list (see above).
And finally, a bit of musical lists to close this entry. The A.V. Club made lists for both the decade and 2009; 50 for the '00s, 25 for '09. The top 10s of both lists are below:The '00s
01. The White Stripes - White Blood Cells, 2001
02. Kanye West - The College Dropout, 2004
03. Radiohead - Kid A, 2000
04. OutKast - Stankonia, 2000
05. Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 2002
06. The Hold Steady - Separation Sunday, 2005
07. Modest Mouse - The Moon & Antarctica, 2000
08. Arcade Fire - Funeral, 2004
09. Jay-Z - The Blueprint, 2001
10. The National - Alligator, 2005
Two-Thousand-and-Nine
01. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
02. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
03. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
04. Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer
05. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
06. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
07. P.O.S. - Never Better
08. Converge - Axe to Fall
09. Brother Ali - Us
10. Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Slant Magazine also dropped a pair of 2009 music lists, one for albums, the other for singles. It's almost not worth mentioning due to their #2 pick in the album section, but aside from that, their spell- and fact-checker was out sick, as they misspelled the title of their #1 album of 2009 and referred to Bat for Lashes' album by the wrong solar entity. Regardless, here's their 10 Albums and Singles. Full list here.LPs
01. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion
02. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz! [ugh]
03. Patrick Wolf - The Bachelor
04. Bat for Lashes - Two Suns
05. St. Vincent - Actor
06. Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
07. Japandroids - Post-Nothing
08. Raekwon - Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. II
09. Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
10. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Singles
01. Animal Collection - "My Girls" [Merriweather Post Pavilion]
02. Lady GaGa - "Poker Face" [The Fame]
03. Phoenix - "1901" [Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix]
04. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Zero" [It's Blitz!]
05. Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Heads Will Roll" [It's Blitz!]
06. Major Lazer featuring Mr. Lexx and Santigold - "Hold the Line" [Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do]
07. Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks" [Veckatimest]
08. Camera Obscura - "French Navy" [My Maudlin Career]
09. Dirty Projectors and David Byrne - "Knotty Pine" [Dark Was the Night]
10. Girls' Generation - "Gee" [Gee]
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