Award Contenders

   The always hilarious Ricky Gervais will be back to host the 68th Annual Golden Globes!  Great news for us awards show freaks!

   Per Nellie Andreeva at Deadline.com:

Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Ricky Gervais (“The Invention of Lying,” “The Office”) has signed for an encore performance when he returns to host “The 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards” on Sunday, January 16, 2011 on NBC. This year’s show will again be broadcast live coast-to-coast from 5-8 p.m. (PT) and 8-11 p.m. (ET) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Phil Berk, dick clark productions and NBC made the announcement today.

“I can’t believe they invited me back after awful things I said,” said Gervais. “Let’s see how far I can go this time.”

“As viewers discovered with our last awards telecast, Ricky’s surprising and unpredictable humor is a great fit for the Globes which will continue as a live event across the nation,” said Paul Telegdy, Executive Vice President, Alternative Programming, NBC and Universal Media Studios. “He’s a true force of nature with a wicked sense of humor who always keeps everyone on their toes waiting for the unexpected.”

“We are thrilled to have Ricky back as the host of the Golden Globe Awards,” said HFPA President, Philip Berk. “His combination of wit, irreverence, and spontaneity makes him the ideal host. He was fantastic last year, and he’ll be even better the second time around.”

The Sunday, January 17 telecast of “The Golden Globes” delivered NBC’s highest adult 18-49 rating in the time period, excluding sports, in five years and attracted NBC’s largest non-sports viewership in the time period in six years.

   The Producers Guild of America has announced that the 22nd Annual PGA Awards, honoring excellence in motion picture and television production, will take place on Saturday, January 22, 2011.

   The Screen Actors Guild Awards will be held on January 30th, 2011.  The SAG’s take place at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center.

   The Razzies are to the Oscars what, say, the devil is to God.  One you really want… the other you desperately avoid.   Unless, of course, you are the charming and courageous Sandra Bullock.  In that case, you can possibly have both! 

   Sandra followed up on her promise to attend the Razzies if she were to win the Worst Actress award, and she more than lived up to her vow!  Check out the hilarious acceptance speech:

   One thing is certain, Sandy makes it hard for you to not like her!

   See the rest of the Razzie winners after the jump…

Read the rest of this entry »

 Here are the winners from last night’s Spirit Awards:

BEST FEATURE: “Precious”
BEST DIRECTOR: Lee Daniels, “Precious”
BEST ACTOR: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”
BEST ACTRESS: Gabby Sidibe, “Precious”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo’Nique, “Precious”
BEST FIRST FEATURE: “Crazy Heart”
BEST SCREENPLAY: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber, “(500) Days of Summer”
BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY: Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins, “A Serious Man”
BEST DOCUMENTARY: “Anvil!”
BEST FOREIGN FILM: “An Education”
JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD: “Humpday”
ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD: Director and Cast of “A Serious Man”
PRODUCERS AWARD: Karen Chien (“The Exploding Girl,” “Santa Mesa”)
SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD: Kyle Patrick Alvarez, “Easier With Practice”
TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD: Bill Ross, Turner Ross, “45365″

   You can probably guess by the title of this post that the VES awards honor Visual Effects.  The film with the most VES wins ever?  The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002, 7 wins). 

   Here are the winners:

Visual Effects in Effects-driven Motion Picture: Avatar
Supporting Visual Effects: Sherlock Holmes (Avatar not nommed in category)
Outstanding models and miniatures in a feature motion picture: Avatar
Outstanding matte paintings in a motion picture: Avatar
Single Effect: Neytiri – drinking water from a leaf (Avatar)
Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture: District 9
Outstanding Animation in an Animated Movie: Up
Effects Animation in an Animated Movie: The balloons in Up
Animated Character in Live Action Movie: Neytiri, Avatar
Animated Character in Animated Movie: Carl in Up
Outstanding Environment: Avatar wins for jungle/biolume (had 3 noms)

   Over the weekend we have had two surprise award wins.  First The White Ribbon pulled the upset over Avatar and The Hurt Locker by taking the ASC award given to Best Cinematography.  Next, The Hurt Locker beat Avatar for the CAS award for Best Sound Mixing.  Could this be another split year in the sound categories, with Avatar taking Sound Editing and The Hurt Locker taking Sound Mixing?  I was already on the fence about going this route… so be prepared!

   The Hurt Locker continues to be the real “Goliath” this awards season, as it adds 6 BAFTA wins to its incredible pre-Oscar run.

   See the winners:

Best Picture – The Hurt Locker
Best Actress – Carey Mulligan, An Education
Best Actor – Colin Firth, A Single Man
Best Director -Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Film not in the English Language – Un Prophete
Animated Film – Up
Adapted Screenplay – Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner for Up In The Air
Orange Rising Star Award – Kristen Stewart
Production Design - Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg & Kim Sinclair for Avatar
Original Screenplay – Mark Boal for The Hurt Locker
Outstanding British Film - Fish Tank
Supporting Actress – Mo’nique, Precious (Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire)
Makeup and Hair - Jenny Shircore, The Young Victoria
Costume Design - Sandy Powell, The Young Victoria
Supporting Actor – Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Visual Effects – Avatar
Cinematography – Barry Ackroyd for The Hurt Locker
Editing – The Hurt Locker
Sound – The Hurt Locker
Music – Michael Giacchino, Up
Outstanding British Debut - Duncan Jones, Moon
Short Film – I Do Air
Short Animation – Mother Of Many