César Awards 2010

Jacques Audiard's Un prophète (predictably) swept the Césars today, taking home nine awards including Meilleur film (Best Film), Réalisateur (Director) and Scénario original (Original Screenplay). Its heartthrob star Tahar Rahim, already quite the celebrity in France despite appearing in just one film, won two awards for Meilleur acteur (Best Actor) and Meilleur espoir masculin (Best Male Newcomer). Emmanuelle Devos, who starred in Audiard's last two films (and is easily one of the finest actresses in the business), won the Supporting Actress prize for Xavier Giannoli's À l'origine. Radu Mihăileanu's Le concert was the only other film to win in more than one category (for Music and Sound Design). Clint Eastwood was (again predictably) the winner in the Film étranger (Foreign Film) category for Gran Torino. The big winners are below; the full list of winners is here (in French); the nominees can be found here.

Meilleur film [Best Film]: Un prophète [A Prophet], d. Jacques Audiard
Meilleur réalisateur [Best Director]: Jacques Audiard, Un prophète
Meilleur premier film [Best First Film]: Les beaux gosses [The French Kissers], d. Riad Sattouf
Meilleur film étranger [Best Foreign Film]: Gran Torino, d. Clint Eastwood, USA
Meilleur film documentaire [Best Documentary]: L'enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot [Henri-George Clouzot's Inferno], d. Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea
Meilleur acteur [Best Actor]: Tahar Rahim, Un prophète
Meilleure actrice [Best Actress]: Isabelle Adjani, La journée de la jupe [Skirt Day]
Meilleur acteur dans un second rôle [Supporting Actor]: Niels Arestrup, Un prophète
Meilleure actrice dans un second rôle [Supporting Actress]: Emmanuelle Devos, À l'origine [In the Beginning]
Meilleur espoir masculin [Best Male Newcomer]: Tahar Rahim, Un prophète
Meilleur espoir féminin [Best Female Newcomer]: Mélanie Thierry, Le dernier pour la route [One for the Road]
Meilleur scénario original [Original Screenplay]: Un prophète - Jacques Audiard, Thomas Bidegain, Abdel Raouf Dafri, Nicolas Peufaillit
Meilleur scénario adaptation [Adapted Screenplay]: Mademoiselle Chambon - Stéphane Brizé, Florence Vignon
Meilleure photographie [Best Cinematography]: Stéphane Fontaine, Un prophète

Can I Eternal Sunshine 2009, or Do I have to like the movie for that to work?

As 2009 slips away, sadly it has been chosen that I will be spending the evening at home, reliving the few moments worth salvaging before I Eternal Sunshine the year completely. It is just about that time for me to post something really maudlin that I'll regret later (and never end up taking down). But before I do so, I'll post some (hopefully) fascinating miscellany.

My entry to The Auteurs' Notebook's year-end writers' poll went up yesterday, alongside Andrew Grant, Glenn Kenny, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, Evan Davis, Gabe Klinger, Dave McDougall, David Cairns and Ben Simington's choices for our 2009 fantasy double features (of a first-run theatrical release and an older film we happened to have seen in the past 12 months). Mine covers 2 Olivier Assayas films (though I guess technically, I saw L'heure d'été in 2008, it was in the final two weeks of the year...). Glenn's beautiful screencap of Sheryl Lee as the Good Witch in Wild at Heart has become my current desktop pattern.

Cahiers du Cinéma posted their annual 10 Best of the year and continued to prove to us Yankees how much the French love Clint Eastwood (no, not for Invictus but Gran Torino; Invictus will surely make the 2010 list). Alain Resnais' Wild Grass [Les herbes folles] was their #1 (Sony Pictures Classics' website still doesn't have an official date for its release in the States), and the pleasant surprise of the list was seeing Alain Guiraudie's Le roi de l'évasion [The King of Escape] make it. One of the (many) regrets I have in regard to the final Decade List posting was that I didn't get around to rewatching Guiraudie's Ce vieux rêve qui bouge or Pas de repos pour les braves and left them off the 100 (though I'm pretty sure they should have been there).

So the Decade List posting... thanks to everyone for the nice comments. Aside from a clerical error in posting the two Abel Ferrara films in the wrong positions (Go Go Tales should be at 55, Mary at 76), I'm happy (enough) with the way things lined up, and I will be working on a "defense" if you will for my #1 within the next couple weeks. Anyway, to those of you who sent me your list, they will be posted by the end of next week, and if you're still working on yours, don't take the posting of my list as the curtain drop for the 00's nonsense...

...and though there's a purposeful hesitancy in the way I've spoken of the project in the more recent posts, I'm still possibly considering trying the previous decade on for size for 2010... but that depends on a number of factors, not least of which coming up with a (clever) name for it and determining the amount of time I will have to dedicate to it (it would really be better if I didn't have all the time, actually, as being gainfully employed and/or leaving the Midwest sound much more appealing).

2010 looks to be your year if you happen to be a Blu-ray player owning, French-speaking cinephile, as a number of really exciting releases have already been announced by Gaumont on high-definition format:

- Danton, 1983, d. Andrzej Wajda, 9 February
- La nuit de Varennes, 1982, d. Ettore Scola, 9 February, w. Marcello Mastroianni, Hanna Schygulla, Harvey Keitel
- Le silence de la mer, 1949, d. Jean-Pierre Melville, 25 March
- Un condamné à mort s'est échappé [A Man Escaped], 1956, d. Robert Bresson, 25 March
- Les maudits [The Damned], 1947, d. René Clément, 20 May
- Le général della Rovere, 1959, d. Roberto Rossellini, 20 May
- La peau [La pelle / The Skin], 1981, d. Liliana Cavani, 15 June, w. Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Burt Lancaster
- Le rouge et le noir [The Red and the White], 1954, d. Claude Autant-Lara, 15 June, w. Danielle Darrieux

All of the films will also be released on DVD on the same date, some for the first time in France, as far as I can tell. Also in France, though not exactly exciting, the film I've been blabbing about all year, Sébastien Lifshitz's Plein sud, opens today, to almost exclusively damning reviews... Though I will reserve judgment for when I do see it, I was hoping the weariness I felt after watching the blasé trailer and noticing it wasn't announced for any of the autumn film festivals was unwarranted...

And finally, I never got around to posting a 2009 music list for the Decade List, which is fine as I generally only made those for my own benefit, and while I had planned on doing some sort of "the 25 '00 albums that did the most to shape me into the cynic I am today" list... it's looking less likely. I have, however, collected 50 of my favorite singles from 2009. I looked past the disappointment I felt in (a lot of) the particular albums and selected the tracks that left their mark on me in some way. I had planned the list to only include one song per artist, but the thing ran out of steam around 43, so instead of nixing three, I tossed a couple alternate choices from the albums I did happen to like a lot this year (Fever Ray, A Woman A Man Walked By, Logos). So if my plan to Eternal Sunshine all of 2009 actually works, I guess I won't have to look far to play catch up in the music world (though my ability to discern which of the 50 aren't really good songs and don't belong has vanished today). I could post an mp3 link at some point, but I haven't the energy at the moment. It looks like I'm finished rambling, and it doesn't look as dejected as I thought I might. That's good, right? Bonne année à tous.

01. Annie - My Love Is Better [Don't Stop]
02. Fever Ray - Keep the Streets Empty for Me [Fever Ray]
03. The xx - Crystalised [xx]
04. PJ Harvey & John Parish - Pig Will Not [A Woman A Man Walked By]
05. The Hidden Cameras - Walk On [Origin: Orphan]
06. Japandroids - Sovereignty [Post-Nothing]
07. Bat for Lashes - Sleep Alone [Two Suns] (yes, the album version is much better)
08. Röyksopp (featuring Karin Dreijer Andersson) - This Must Be It [Junior]
09. Dizzee Rascal featuring Calvin Harris and Chrome - Dance wiv Me [Tongue 'N Cheek]
10. No Age - You're a Target [Losing Feeling EP]
11. Junior Boys - Parallel Lines [Begone Dull Care]
12. St. Vincent - The Party [Actor]
13. Atlas Sound featuring Laetitia Sadier - Quick Canal [Logos]
14. Vivian Girls - Before I Start to Cry [Everything Goes Wrong]
15. Whitney Houston - Million Dollar Bill [I Look to You]
16. Phoenix - Fences [Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix]
17. Sally Shapiro - Dying in Africa [My Guilty Pleasure]
18. Jay-Z - D.O.A. (Death of Auto-tune) [The Blueprint 3]
19. The Radio Dept. - David [David EP]
20. Peaches - Talk to Me [I Feel Cream]
21. The Legends - You Won [Over and Over]
22. Little Boots - Stuck on Repeat [Hands]
23. Passion Pit - The Reeling [Manners]
24. The Juan Maclean - Happy House [The Future Will Come] (the 12-minute version is much better)
25. Alcoholic Faith Mission - Gently [421 Wythe Avenue] (The song I would have chosen from this album doesn't seem to be available streaming anywhere)
26. Charlotte Gainsbourg - IRM [IRM]
27. Dirty Projectors - Stillness Is the Move [Bitte Orca]
28. Animal Collective - Bluish [Merriweather Post Pavilion]
29. Depeche Mode - Wrong [Sounds of the Universe]
30. Girls - Lust for Life [Album]
31. Deerhunter - Disappearing Ink [Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP]
32. Ciara featuring Justin Timberlake - Love Sex Magic [Fantasy Ride]
33. Bon Iver - Blood Bank [Blood Bank EP]
34. Beirut - The Concubine [March of the Zapotec / Rainpeople Holland EP]
35. Bill Callahan - Jim Cain [Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle]
36. Peter Bjorn and John - I'm Losing My Mind [Living Things]
37. Miike Snow - Animal [Miike Snow]
38. Antony Hegarty and Bryce Dessner - I Was Young When I Left Home [Dark Was the Night]
39. Grizzly Bear - Foreground [Veckatimest]
40. ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - The Far Pavilions [The Century of Self]
41. The Decemberists - Sleepless [Dark Was the Night] (The only song I've ever liked by them, well at least 70% liked)
42. Fuck Buttons - Surf Sport [Tarot Sport] (The album version... exceedingly better)
43. Matt & Kim - Daylight [Grand]
44. Piano Magic - The Nightmare Goes On [Ovation]
45. Yeasayer - Tightrope [Dark Was the Night]
46. Atlas Sound - Shelia [Logos]
47. Annie - Anthonio [All Night]
48. Fever Ray - If I Had a Heart [Fever Ray] (my favorite music video of 2009)
49. Serge Gainsbourg featuring Jane Birkin - L'hôtel particulier [Histoire de Melody Nelson] (Obviously, this isn't new, but as the album was released for the first time in the US this year, and I needed to fill the 50)
50. PJ Harvey and John Parish - Cracks in the Canvas [A Woman A Man Walked By] (this isn't the 2nd best song off the album, but it's the perfect close and part of what keeps me wanting more)

Golden Globe Nominations 2010

The Golden Globe nominations are in and have proven what a strange year it has been for Hollywood. While two nods for Meryl Streep is usually an annual affair, two for Sandra Bullock is just about unheard-of; Matt Damon makes the third actor with two nominations. In the non-acting categories, Jason Reitman and Quentin Tarantino received two nominations for directing and writing. As usual, the nominations were all over the board, giving recognition to films most people would would argue don't deserve it (Nine, Avatar, Tobey Maguire... at least if early word is accurate). But the two best moves the Hollywood Foreign Press made were ignoring both Lee Daniels and Rob Marshall in the directing category. I've discussed Daniels previously, but Marshall is quite possibly one of the worst directors in Hollywood. Chicago worked (for the most part) as a result of its source material and Catherine Zeta-Jones, but pay attention to any of the non-musical scenes, and you'll see that the guy can't direct for shit.

So who was missing, in terms of expectations? Invictus for picture, even though ol' Clint got a directing nod; Jeremy Renner; A Single Man in any non-acting category; Samantha Morton and Ben Foster; In the Loop, period; the Coens and A Serious Man in the Musical/Comedy category; and of course Tilda Swinton, though Julia came out so early this year, all the award folk have forgotten. Oh, and also, Mariah Carey. Full nominees, including the television categories and film music ones (Karen O. is now a GG nominee), via the press release.

Best Picture - Drama

- Avatar, d. James Cameron
- The Hurt Locker, d. Kathryn Bigelow
- Inglourious Basterds, d. Quentin Tarantino
- Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, d. Lee Daniels
- Up in the Air, d. Jason Reitman

Best Picture - Musical/Comedy

- (500) Days of Summer, d. Marc Webb
- The Hangover, d. Todd Phillips
- It's Complicated, d. Nancy Meyers
- Julie & Julia, d. Nora Ephron
- Nine, d. Rob Marshall

Best Director

- Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
- James Cameron, Avatar
- Clint Eastwood, Invictus
- Jason Reitman, Up in the Air
- Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Best Actor - Drama

- Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
- George Clooney, Up in the Air
- Colin Firth, A Single Man
- Morgan Freeman, Invictus
- Tobey Maguire, Brothers

Best Actress - Drama

- Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
- Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
- Helen Mirren, The Last Station
- Carey Mulligan, An Education
- Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Best Actor - M/C

- Matt Damon, The Informant!
- Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine
- Robert Downey, Jr., Sherlock Holmes
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt, (500) Days of Summer
- Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man

Best Actress - M/C

- Sandra Bullock, The Proposition
- Marion Cotillard, Nine
- Julia Roberts, Duplicity
- Meryl Streep, It's Complicated
- Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia

Best Supporting Actor

- Matt Damon, Invictus
- Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
- Christopher Plummer, The Last Station
- Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
- Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Best Supporting Actress

- Penélope Cruz, Nine
- Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
- Anna Kenrick, Up in the Air
- Mo'Nique - Precious
- Julianne Moore, A Single Man

Best Screenplay

- Neill Blomkamp, District 9
- Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
- Nancy Meyers, It's Complicated
- Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
- Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Foreign-Language Film

- Baarìa, d. Giuseppe Tornatore, Italy
- Broken Embraces [Los abrazos rotos], d. Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
- The Maid [La nana], d. Sebastián Silva, Chile
- A Prophet [Un prophète], d. Jacques Audiard, France
- The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band], d. Michael Haneke, Austria/Germany/France/Italy

Animated Feature

- Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, d. Phil Lord, Chris Miller
- Coraline, d. Henry Selick
- Fantastic Mr. Fox, d. Wes Anderson
- The Princess and the Frog, d. Ron Clements, John Musker
- Up, d. Peter Docter, Bob Peterson

...aaaaaand it starts again.

The National Board of Review tossed out their annual film awards this afternoon. Almost always the first to do so, the NBR awards aren't typically the most respectable of the end-of-the-year critics' prizes (remember when they named Quills the best picture of 2000?), but since they've been announced, it means that award season is in full swing. Expect plenty of other Film Circles to reveal their winners throughout the month. Awards below:

Best Picture: Up in the Air, d. Jason Reitman
Best Director: Clint Eastwood - Invictus
Best Actor: (tie) Morgan Freeman - Invictus; George Clooney - Up in the Air
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan - An Education
Best Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson - The Messenger
Best Supporting Actress: Anna Kendrick - Up in the Air
Best Foreign Film: A Prophet [Un prophète], d. Jacques Audiard, France
Best Documentary: The Cove, d. Louie Psihoyos
Best Animated Feature: Up, d. Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Best Ensemble Cast: It's Complicated
Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Jeremy Renner - The Hurt Locker
Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Gabourey Sidibe - Precious
Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut: (tie) Duncan Jones - Moon; Oren Moverman - The Messenger; Marc Webb - (500) Days of Summer
Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Wes Anderson - The Fantastic Mr. Fox
William K. Everson Film History Award: Jean Picker Firstenberg
NBR Freedom of Expression: (tie) Burma VJ; Invictus; The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellseberg and the Pentagon Papers

Top 10 Films (After Up in the Air), alphabetically

(500) Days of Summer, d. Mark Webb
An Education, d. Lone Scherfig
The Hurt Locker, d. Kathryn Bigelow
Inglourious Basterds, d. Quentin Tarantino
Invictus, d. Clint Eastwood
The Messenger, d. Oren Moverman
A Serious Man, d. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Star Trek, d. J.J. Abrams
Up, d. Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
Where the Wild Things Are, d. Spike Jonze


Top 10 "Independent" Films, alphabetically

Amreeka, d. Cherien Dabis
District 9, d. Neill Blomkamp
Goodbye Solo, d. Ramin Bahrani
Humpday, d. Lynn Shelton
In the Loop, d. Armando Iannucci
Julia, d. Erick Zonca
Me and Orson Welles, d. Richard Linklater
Moon, d. Duncan Jones
Sugar, d. Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck
Two Lovers, d. James Gray


Top 5 Foreign Films (After A Prophet), alphabetically

The Maid [La nana], d. Sebastián Silva, Chile/Mexico
Revanche, d. Götz Spielmann, Austria
Song of Sparrows, d. Majid Majidi, Iran
Three Monkeys [Üç maymun], d. Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Turkey
The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band], d. Michael Haneke, Austria/Germany/France/Italy


Top 5 Docmentary Films (After The Cove), alphabetically

Burma VJ, d. Anders Østergaard
Crude, d. Joe Berlinger
Food, Inc., d. Robert Kenner
Good Hair, d. Jeff Stilson
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, d. Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith

Millennium Mambo, Part 3

More on the Best of the Decade list round-up from Mike D'Angelo and the Skandies, which was actually posted earlier this month (and which I thought I had already mentioned, but... I guess not) and from Glenn Kenny. D'Angelo and the Skandies listed 20 films and 20 performances, with Lars von Trier's Dogville and Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood topping the respective lists. First, the films:

01. Dogville, 2003, d. Lars von Trier, Denmark/Sweden/UK/France/Germany/Norway/Finland/Netherlands, Lionsgate
02. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004, d. Michel Gondry, USA, Focus Features
03. In the Mood for Love, 2000, d. Wong Kar-wai, Hong Kong/China/France, USA Films/Criterion
04. Mulholland Drive, 2001, d. David Lynch, USA/France, Universal Studios
05. There Will Be Blood, 2007, d. Paul Thomas Anderson, USA, Paramount Vantage/Miramax
06. The New World, 2005, d. Terrence Malick, USA/UK, New Line
07. Memento, 2000, d. Christopher Nolan, USA, Newmarket Films
08. 25th Hour, 2002, d. Spike Lee, USA, Touchstone
09. Yi yi: A One and Two, 2000, d. Edward Yang, Taiwan/Japan, Fox Lorber/Criterion
10. No Country for Old Men, 2007, d. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, USA, Paramount Vantage/Miramax
11. Before Sunset, 2004, d. Richard Linklater, USA, Warner Independent
12. Silent Light [Stellet licht], 2007, d. Carlos Reygadas, Mexico/France/Netherlands/Germany, Palisades Tartan
13. Kill Bill, Volume 1, 2003, d. Quentin Tarantino, USA, Miramax
14. Werckmeister Harmonies [Werckmeister harmóniák], 2000, d. Béla Tarr, Ágnes Hranitzky, Hungary/Italy/Germany/France, Facets
15. Irréversible, 2002, d. Gaspar Noé, France, Lionsgate
16. Zodiac, 2007, d. David Fincher, USA, Paramount
17. Ghost World, 2001, d. Terry Zwigoff, USA/UK/Germany, United Artists
18. The Man Who Wasn't There, 2001, d. Joel Coen, USA/UK, USA Films
19. Trouble Every Day, 2001, d. Claire Denis, France/Germany/Japan, Lot 47 Films
20. Gerry, 2002, d. Gus Van Sant, USA, Miramax

And the performances...

01. Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
02. Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
03. Naomi Watts, Mulholland Drive
04. Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake
05. Isabelle Huppert, The Piano Teacher [La pianiste]
06. Summer Phoenix, Esther Kahn
07. Björk, Dancer in the Dark
08. Laura Dern, Inland Empire
09. Mathieu Amalric, Kings and Queen [Rois et reine]
10. Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
11. Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
12. Christian Bale, American Psycho
13. Billy Bob Thornton, The Man Who Wasn't There
14. Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
15. Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me
16. Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
17. Q'orianka Kilcher, The New World
18. Julianne Moore, Far from Heaven
19. Peter Sarsgaard, Shattered Glass
20. Aurélien Recoing, Time Out [L'emploi du temps]

I don't have much to say about either list, aside from... Summer Phoenix? Really? Above Björk? Well, not just above Björk, but on the list altogether. I remember her lead performance in Arnaud Desplechin's English-language Esther Kahn to lack quite a bit. I'm still planning on revisiting that one before the year ends, so I'll let you know then. And I've complained enough about Ghost World; unless it starts showing up a lot more often, I'm keeping mum.

Glenn Kenny's list covers his "Seventy Greatest Films of the Decade," in alphabetical order from A.I. to Zodiac. Of the nice surprises on the list: Catherine Breillat's Fat Girl, Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience (which I don't think was a bit of personal bias, despite the fact that he played one of Sasha Grey's johns), Azazel Jacobs' The GoodTimesKid, Lucrecia Martel's The Headless Woman, Brad Bird's The Incredibles, Clint Eastwood's Invictus (which he can't talk about yet... but this inclusion isn't stirring any interest in me as Gran Torino is also on his list), Lynne Ramsay's Morvern Callar, Jacques Rivette's The Duchess of Langeais, Hong Sang-soo's Night and Day, Olivier Assayas' Summer Hours and Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon. I spotted a few other Best of the Decade lists floating around, but most of them were deplorable, so I'm not going to waste posting/linking to them.

I also meant to thank Eric over at IonCinema for first directing me toward the TIFF list I posted yesterday, and please do check out out Blake Williams' blog, who also included TIFF's picks for the 1990s, which was topped with Víctor Erice's The Dream of Life [El sol del membrillo], still without a DVD release in the US, and included my favorite first-time viewing of a not-2000-era film in 2009, Olivier Assayas' L'eau froide. Thanks guys. Now, on to some writing of my own...

Previous 10: 15 December - Closing In

It would seem fitting that the only film in the "Les Autres" category would be one I don't know where to place in terms of year or in the simple terms of "like" or "dislike." According to some sites, IFC releases Abel Ferrara's Go Go Tales this year at some point, but I can't find evidence of such on either IFC's site or anywhere else for that matter. While there was plenty to like about his last film Mary (which, to this day, I believe IFC has done nothing with), there's a lot about Go Go Tales that demands a bit of settling before I decide my feelings on it (and, yes, that is Asia Argento French kissing a dog). At least two people suggested that Frost/Nixon worked not only because it was based on excellent source material but also that Ron Howard wasn't working with that absolute hack Akiva Goldsman. It's a pretty good sign when my biggest complaint about a Ron Howard film revolves around the overuse of eyeliner on Michael Sheen. Also, if anyone wants to explain to me why they (or anyone else) liked Gran Torino, I'd be much obliged. Most of the rest of the films will show up somewhere on my year-end round-up, so expect more close to the end of the month! P.S.: Even if you're slightly curious or a closet gore fan, I would still suggest it better to avoid Donkey Punch and Gutterballs altogether.

La Crème

Frost/Nixon - dir. Ron Howard - USA/UK/France - Universal - with Michael Sheen, Frank Langella, Kevin Bacon, Sam Rockwell, Matthew Macfadyen, Rebecca Hall, Oliver Platt, Toby Jones

Gomorrah [Gomorra] - dir. Matteo Garrone - Italy - IFC Films - with Toni Servillo, Gianfelice Imparto, Salvatore Cantalupo, Gigio Morra, Maria Nazionale, Carmine Paternoster, Salvatore Abruzzese, Marco Macor, Ciro Petrone

Milk - dir. Gus Van Sant - USA - Focus Features - with Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch, Alison Pill, Diego Luna, Victor Garber, Joseph Cross, Stephen Spinella, Denis O'Hare, Lucas Grabeel

Summer Hours [L'heure d'été] - dir. Olivier Assayas - France - IFC Films - with Charles Berling, Juliette Binoche, Jérémie Renier, Dominique Reymond, Edith Scob, Valérie Bonneton, Isabelle Sadoyan, Kyle Eastwood, Alice de Lencquesaing, Emile Berling

Les Autres

Go Go Tales - dir. Abel Ferrara - Italy/USA - IFC Films - with Willem Dafoe, Matthew Modine, Bob Hoskins, Sylvia Miles, Asia Argento, Roy Dotrice, Joe Cortese, Burt Young, Pras, Riccardo Scamarcio, Stefania Rocca, Bianca Balti, Anita Pallenberg, Lou Doillon

The Bad

Changeling - dir. Clint Eastwood - USA - Universal - with Angelina Jolie, John Malkovich, Jeffrey Donovan, Amy Ryan, Michael Kelly, Colm Feore, Jason Butler Harner

Donkey Punch - dir. Oliver Blackburn - UK - Magnet Releasing - with Robert Boulter, Sian Breckin, Tom Burke, Nichola Burley, Julian Morris, Jay Taylor, Jaime Winstone

Gran Torino - dir. Clint Eastwood - USA - Warner Bros. - with Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Christopher Carley

Gutterballs - dir. Ryan Nicholson - Canada - TLA/Danger After Dark - with Alastair Gamble, Mihola Terzic, Nathan White, Wade Gibb, Candice Lewald

Mamma Mia! - dir. Phyllida Lloyd - USA/UK/Germany - Universal - with Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried, Pierce Brosnan, Stellan Skarsgård, Colin Firth, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Dominic Cooper

And the ball is rolling...

The National Board of Review has started critics' award month for cinema, giving Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire the top prize. There appears to be too many awards for actors given out by NBR, but so be it... The NBR usually ranks as one of the less sophisticated of the year's awards. The rest are as follows:

Picture: Slumdog Millionaire - dir. Danny Boyle
Director: David Fincher (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
Actor: Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino)
Actress: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married)
Supporting Actor: Josh Brolin (Milk)
Supporting Actress: Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Foreign Film: Mongol - dir. Sergei Bodrov
Documentary: Man on Wire - dir. James Marsh
Animated Feature: WALL·E - dir. Andrew Stanton
Breakthrough Actor: Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire)
Breakthrough Actress: Viola David (Doubt)
Directorial Debut: Courtney Hunt (Frozen River)
Original Screenplay: Nick Schenk (Gran Torino)
Adapted Screenplay: (tie) Eric Roth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button); Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire)
Spotlight Award: Melissa Leo (Frozen River); Richard Jenkins (The Visitor)

Top 10 Films (That Aren't Slumdog, "Independent" or "Foreign," but Can Be Animated)
Burn After Reading - dir. Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Changeling - dir. Clint Eastwood
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - dir. David Fincher
The Dark Knight - dir. Christopher Nolan
Defiance - dir. Edward Zwick
Frost/Nixon - dir. Ron Howard
Gran Torino - dir. Clint Eastwood
Milk - dir. Gus Van Sant
WALL·E - dir. Andrew Stanton
The Wrestler - dir. Darren Aronofsky

Top 10 "Independent Films"
Frozen River - dir. Courtney Hunt
In Bruges - dir. Martin McDonagh
In Search of a Midnight Kiss - dir. Alex Holdridge
Mister Foe [Hallam Foe] - dir. David Mackenzie
Rachel Getting Married - dir. Jonathan Demme
Snow Angels - dir. David Gordon Green
Son of Rambow - dir. Garth Jennings
Wendy and Lucy - dir. Kelly Reichardt
Vicky Cristina Barcelona - dir. Woody Allen
The Visitor - dir. Thomas McCarthy

Top 5 "Foreign" Films (That Aren't Mongol)
The Edge of Heaven [Auf der anderen Seite] - dir. Fatih Akin
Let the Right One In [Låt den rätte komma in] - dir. Tomas Alfredson
Roman de gare - dir. Claude Lelouch
A Secret [Un secret] - dir. Claude Miller
Waltz with Bashir - dir. Ari Folman

Top 5 "Documentaries" (That Aren't Man on Wire)
American Teen - dir. Nanette Burstein
The Betrayal - dir. Ellen Kuras, Thavisouk Prasavath
Dear Zachary - dir. Kurt Kuenne
Encounters at the End of the World - dir. Werner Herzog
Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired - dir. Marina Zenovich