AMPAS starts baking, women like "The Social Network," and the Globes just can't get enough stars.
It's old age vs. split lips and a lycanthrope vs. a grizzled U.S. Marshall in the Academy's makeup race, where an executive committee from the makeup branch has narrowed the list of contenders to seven: "Alice in Wonderland," "Barney's Version," "The Fighter," "Jonah Hex," "True Grit," "The Way Back" and "The Wolfman." Since I started making a point of seeing every nominee in every Oscar category several years ago, this branch has been responsible for some of my least-pleasant viewing experiences (not that the makeup wasn't swell in "Norbit," for instance), and this year's I'm sensing an impending date with a hirstute Benicio del Toro (left). The decisions will come at a "bakeoff" on January 22. (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)
You know that Facebook movie that some people said was misogynist? Well, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists just named it the best film of the year at its annual EDA Awards. "The Social Network" also won for its director, screenplay and music, but the AWFJ's more entertaining choices are in the categories that other groups don't use: Actress Defying Age and Ageism to Helen Mirren, Sexist Pig Award to Mel Gibson, Hall of Shame Award to "Sex and the City 2," Actress Most in Need of a New Agent to Jennifer Aniston and Movie You Wanted to Love But Just Couldn't to "For Colored Girls," among others. The Alliance of Women Film Journalists website has the full list.
The slate of presenters at the Golden Globes is filling up. The press release I received says five more participants were announced on Monday: Kevin Bacon, Helen Mirren, Kevin Spacey, Hailee Steinfeld and Vanessa Williams. The Associated Press adds Jeff Bridges, Tina Fey and Tilda Swinton to the list. And those are the latest to be added to a lineup that already includes Julie Bowen, Sandra Bullock, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Jimmy Fallon, LL Cool J, Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Lopez, Robert Pattinson, Bruce Willis and about half a dozen others. One would hope that they'll leave enough room for their host, Ricky Gervais, to properly mock the proceedings.
Michael Wilmington offers his annual breakdown of the National Society of Film Critics voting, in which he points out that "The Social Network" didn't just win four awards, it won three of them (picture, director and screenplay) by a lot. The fourth "TSN" victor, actor Jesse Eisenberg, barely edged out Colin Firth ("The King's Speech") and Edgar Martinez ("Carlos") by a score of 30-29-29, while the NSFC's most surprising winner, "Vincere" actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno, beat Annette Bening and Lesley Manville by a slightly bigger margin, 33-28-27. Now, wouldn't we all like to see those kind of breakdowns of the Oscar voting? (Movie City News)
As long as we're on the subject of the National Society of Film Critics, Tom O'Neil uncovers an interesting stat about the group. In the 44 years that the NSFC has handed out its own Best Picture award, it turns out, its choice and the Academy's choice have coincided a paltry five times. Still, one of those five came with "The Hurt Locker" last year, and four of the five have occurred since 1992. It was in the society's earlier years, O'Neil says, that "logically plotted films featuring characters speaking English were usually cursed" in NSFC voting. (Awards Tracker)
