Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award Winners

Best Film
1. "Moonrise Kingdom"
2. "Argo"
3. "Django Unchained"
4. "Zero Dark Thirty"
5. "The Cabin in the Woods"
6. "Silver Linings Playbook"
7. "Lincoln"
8. "Looper"
9. "The Master"
10. "Les Misérables"

Best Director
Wes Anderson, "Moonrise Kingdom" (Runner-up: Ben Affleck, "Argo")

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln" (Runner-up: John Hawkes, "The Sessions")

Best Actress
Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook" (Runner-up: Naomi Watts, "The Impossible")

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained" (Runner-up: Leonardo DiCaprio, "Django Unchained")

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables" (Runner-up -- TIE -- Helen Hunt, "The Sessions" and Ann Dowd, "Compliance")

Best Adapted Screenplay
"Lincoln" (Runner-up: "Argo")

Best Original Screenplay
"Moonrise Kingdom" (Runner-up: "The Cabin in the Woods")

Best Cinematography
"Skyfall" (Runner-up: "Life of Pi")

Best Score
"Moonrise Kingdom" (Runner-up: "Cloud Atlas")

Best Animated Film
"ParaNorman" (Runner-up: "Wreck-It Ralph")

Best Foreign Language Film
"The Kid with a Bike" (Runner-up: "Headhunters")

Best Documentary
"How to Survive a Plague" (Runner-up: "The Imposter")

Best Ensemble
"Moonrise Kingdom" (Runner-up: "Lincoln")

Best Overlooked FIlm
"Killer Joe" (Runner-up: "Safety Not Guaranteed")

Breakthrough Film Artist
Bart Layton, "The Imposter" (Runner-up: Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild")

Actor of the Year (for exemplary body of work)
Matthew McConaughey, "Bernie," "Killer Joe," "Magic Mike" and "The Paperboy" (Runner-up: Anne Hathaway, "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Les Misérables")

Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award Nominations

We have to remind ourselves that many of the scripts I think will make the cut were not eligible including Django Unchained, Amour, and Beasts of the Southern Wild. So including this knowledge, the nominees for the WGA were not surprising, and it was nice to see the inclusions of Perks and Looper, although both are borderline when it comes to Oscar nods.

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Chris Terrio "Argo"
David McGee "Life of Pi"
Tony Kushner "Lincoln"
Stephen Chbosky "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
David O. Russell "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Original Screenplay:
John Gatins "Flight"
Rian Johnson "Looper"
Paul Thomas Anderson "The Master"
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola "Moonrise Kingdom"
Mark Boal "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Documentary Screenplay:
"The Central Park Five"
"The Invisible War"
"Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God"
"We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists"
"West of Memphis"

State of the Oscar Race - Final Nomination Predictions: Animated Feature, Documentary Feature, and Foreign Language Film

Best Animated Feature
Brave
Frankenweenie
Le Tableau
ParaNorman
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Foreign Language Film
Amour (Austria)
The Intouchables (France)
Kon-Tiki (Norway)
No (Chile)
A Royal Affair (Denmark)

Best Documentary Feature
Bully
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Denver Film Critics Society Award Nominees

Best Film
"Argo"
"Django Unchained"
"Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Director
Ben Affleck, "Argo"
Paul Thomas Anderson, "The Master"
Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
John Hawkes, "The Sessions"
Denzel Washington, "Flight"

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Best Supporting Actor
Robert De Niro, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, "The Master"
Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"
Sally Field, "Lincoln"

Best Adapted Screenplay
"Argo"
"The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
"Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Original Screenplay
"Django Unchained"
"The Master"
"Moonrise Kingdom"

Best Original Score
"Argo"
"The Dark Knight Rises"
"Lincoln"

Best Original Song
"Suddenly" from "Les Misérables"
"Skyfall" from "Skyfall"
"When Can I See You Again?" from "Wreck-It Ralph"

Best Animated Feature
"Frankenweenie"
"ParaNorman"
"Wreck-It Ralph"

Best Documentary Feature
"Bully"
"Jiro Dreams of Sushi"
"Samsara"

Best Non-English Language Feature
"Amour"
"Holy Motors"
"The Intouchables"

State of the Oscar Race - Final Nomination Predictions: Best Film Editing, Sound Editing, and Costume Design

This year, because of the shortened schedule, some of the guilds (CDG, MPSE, and ACE) will not announce their nominees until after the Oscar nominations leaving us blind for Sound Editing, Film Editing, and Costume Design. So I am going to go ahead and take a shot in the dark on these categories:

Best Costume Design
Anna Karenina
Cloud Atlas
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Film Editing
Argo
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Sound Editing
The Dark Knight Rises
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Skyfall

Art Director's Guild (ADG) Nominations

Probably the biggest immediate snub is Moonrise Kingdom, but overall, the nominees are expected and well-deserved. I will start posting my final Oscar nomination predictions today, and through next Wednesday, so I will discuss how these feature into the Production Design category very soon.

NOMINEES FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTION DESIGN FOR A FEATURE FILM IN 2012:

Period Film
ANNA KARENINA

Production Designer:  Sarah Greenwood

ARGO

Production Designer:  Sharon Seymour

DJANGO UNCHAINED

Production Designer:  J. Michael Riva

LES MISÉRABLES 

Production Designer:  Eve Stewart

LINCOLN 

Production Designer:  Rick Carter

Fantasy Film
CLOUD ATLAS  

Production Designer:  Uli Hanisch, Hugh Bateup

LIFE OF PI 

Production Designer:  David Gropman

PROMETHEUS 

Production Designer:  Arthur Max

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES 

Production Designers:  Nathan Crowley, Kevin Kavanaugh

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY 

Production Designer:  Dan Hannah

Contemporary Film
FLIGHT  

Production Designer:  Nelson Coates

SKYFALL 

Production Designer:  Dennis Gassner

THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

Production Designer:  Alan MacDonald

THE IMPOSSIBLE 

Production Designer:  Eugenio Caballero

ZERO DARK THIRTY 

Production Designer:  Jeremy Hindle

NOMINEES FOR EXCELLENCE IN PRODUCTION DESIGN IN TELEVISION FOR 2012:

One-Hour Single Camera Television Series
BOARDWALK EMPIRE Episode:  Resolution

Production Designer:Bill Groom

DOWNTON ABBEY Episode:  Christmas Special

Production Designer: Donal Woods

GAME OF THRONES Episode:  The Ghost of Harrenhal

Production Designer: Gemma Jackson

HOMELAND Episode:  The Choice

Production Designer: John D. Kretschmer

NEWSROOM Episode:  We Just Decided To

Production Designer:Richard Hoover

Television Movie or Miniseries
AMERICAN HORROR STORY: ASYLUM Episode: I Am Anne Frank, Part 2

Production Designer:  Mark Worthington

GAME CHANGE

Production Designer:  Michael Corenblith

HATFIELDS and MCCOYS

Episode:  Ep.#1.1-Night One, Ep.#1.2-Night Two, Ep.#1.3-Night Three

Production Designer:  Derek R. Hill

HEMINGWAY & GELLHORN

Production Designer:  Geoffrey Kirkland

MOCKINGBIRD LANE

Production Designer:  Michael Wylie

Episode of a Half Hour Single-Camera Television Series
COMMUNITY Episode:  Pillows and Blankets

Production Designer:  Denise Pizzini

GIRLS Episode:  Pilot

Production Designer:  Judy Becker

MODERN FAMILY Episode:  Mystery Date

Production Designer:  Richard Berg

PARKS & RECREATION Episode:  Soda Tax

Production Designer:  Ian Phillips

THE NEW NORMAL Episode:  Sofa’s Choice

Production Designer:  Tony Fanning

Episode of a Multicamera, Variety, or Unscripted Series
2 BROKE GIRLS Episode:  And The Silent Partner

Production Designer:  Glenda Rovello

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION 

Production Designer:  Bruce Rodgers

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER Episode:  The Magicians Code Part 1

Production Designer:  Stephan Olson

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Episode:  Mick Jagger Host

Production Designer:  Keith Raywood

THE VOICE

Production Designer:  Anton Goss, James Pearse Connelly

Awards, Music, or Game Shows
84th ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS
Production Designer:  John Myhre
GRAMMY NOMINATION CONCERT LIVE Episode:Countdown
Production Designer:  Matthew Russell
SUPER BOWL XLVIEpisode: Halftime Show Starring Madonna
Production Designer:  Bruce Rodgers
THE 64th ANNUAL PRIMETIME EMMY AWARDS
Production Designer:  Steve Bass
THE AMERICAN MUSIC AWARDS, 40th ANNUAL
Production Designer:  Joe Stewart

Commercials and Music Videos
BUDWEISER Episode: The Return of the King

Production Designer:  Jason Hamilton

MACY’S Episode:  Dream

Production Designer:  Carlos A. Menendez

NIKE Episode:  Fast is Faster

Production Designer:  Tino Schaedler

NIKE+ Episode:  Game On World

Production Designer:  James Chinlund

X-BOX Episode:  Halo 4 Commissioning

Production Designer:  Christopher Glass

The 3rd Annual Awards Psychic Award Winners

Best Picture - Drama
Winner - Lincoln
Runners Up - Skyfall, Django Unchained, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Commentary - In a year of great movies, none really stood out to me as much as Steven Spielberg's Lincoln. Maybe it is the history buff in me, or maybe it was the real sense of the care and work that was put into this political epic, but for me there was none better.

Best Picture - Comedy/Musical
Winner - Moonrise Kingdom
Runners Up - Silver Linings Playbook, 21 Jump Street
Commentary - For me, it is really hit or miss when it comes to Wes Anderson films. But in my humble opinion, Anderson knocked it out of the park. He managed to aptly combine his quirky style, with a genuine love story and lots of warmth to create his most accessible and best film to date.

Best Picture - Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Comic Book/Horror
Winner - The Dark Knight Rises
Runners Up - Looper, The Avengers, Chronicle
Commentary - Was The Dark Knight Rises as good or better than The Dark Knight? No. But despite some obvious plot holes, and the lack of Heath Ledger, Nolan's dark and incredible vision of Batman and Gotham City was still an incredible film, and was a great capper to one of the best film trilogies in recent memory.

Best Picture - Animated
Winner - Wreck-It Ralph
Runners Up - Frankenweenie
Commentary - A really close race between two really good films. Frankenweenie was an adorable and wonderful pet project, but Wreck-It Ralph was just pure awesome. Fun, emotional, and beautifully animated, Wreck-It Ralph wasn't just one of the top animated films of the year, but one of the top twenty films, period.

Best Actor - Drama
Winner - Daniel Day-Lewis "Lincoln"
Runners Up - Denis Lavant "Holy Motors", Joaquin Phoenix "The Master"
Commentary - In a great year for lead actors, there were too many names to pick from, in terms of nominations. But in terms of the win, only one name popped into my mind. Daniel Day-Lewis fully embodied Abraham Lincoln, so much to the point that you forget that there is an actor underneath there, and continued to prove why he is possibly the greatest actor working today.

Best Actress - Drama
Winner - Quvenzhane Wallis "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Runners Up - Jessica Chastain "Zero Dark Thirty", Anne Hathaway "The Dark Knight Rises"
Commentary - This was also a tight race, as Jessica Chastain's performance in Zero Dark Thirty showed so much skill and power. But since the first time I saw Beasts of the Southern Wild (four times so far), the tiny powerhouse Quvenzhane Wallis literally had me cheering, and astoniched me with her blazing performance. People can make up as many excuses as they want to as to why I am wrong about this (and they have tried), but I dare you to not become completely enthralled with her performance.

Best Actor - Comedy/Musical
Winner - Channing Tatum "Magic Mike/21 Jump Street"
Runners Up - Jack Black "Bernie", Bruce Willis "Moonrise Kingdom"
Commentary - I said this at my Halfway Awards this year, but I never thought in my life that Channing Tatum would win, let alone be nominated, for anything involving the phrase "best of the year". But in both 21 Jump Street and in Magic Mike, Tatum finally proved all of us who doubted him wrong, giving charming star performances that proved he is more than just a stripper. If this year was any indication of future projects, they we all have a lot to look forward to.

Best Actress - Comedy/Musical
Winner - Leslie Mann "This is 40" and Jennifer Lawrence "Silver Linings Playbook"
Runners Up - Meryl Streep "Hope Springs"
Commentary - Jennifer Lawrence was a pretty easy choice for her star turn in Silver Linings Playbook, where she presented emotional maturity far beyond her years. But every time I thought I was done, I kept going back to Leslie Mann. This is 40 is not a film for everyone, as proven by its mixed reviews. But I personally thought it was Apatow's most mature work to date (which I know is not saying too much), and that Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann both did a great job. And Mann is one of those actresses that continually delivers (in good films and in bad ones), and doesn't get much recognition for her work. So this year, Mann is finally getting some love for a well-developed and incredibly funny turn.

Best Supporting Actor
Winner - (TIE) Leonardo DiCaprio "Django Unchained" and Samuel L. Jackson "Django Unchained"
Runners Up - James Spader and Tommy Lee Jones "Lincoln", Ezra Miller "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"
Commentary - Like last year's dynamic duo of Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain, there are some performances that while great on their own merits, also click with another actor's performance. This year both Samuel L. Jackson and Leonardo Dicaprio give crackling performances in Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. But it is the combination of both of them that really makes the movie pop.

Best Supporting Actress
Winner - Anne Hathaway "Les Miserables"
Runners Up - Ann Dowd "Compliance", Judi Dench "Skyfall"
Commentary - This was probably the easiest choice of the year. Les Mis is in my top 20 films of the year, and while I liked some parts of it, I also thought that some of its components were not as great. But there was one thing that stood out so far and above the good/bad fray, and that was Anne Hathaway. In one song, she managed to tear our hearts, and showcase her acting and singing abilities. She was devastating, and a powerhouse. And throughout the rest of the film, all I could seem to think about was her. If that's not a worthy performance, I don't know what is.

Best Voice-Acting Performance
Winner - Catherine O'Hara "Frankenweenie"
Runners Up - John C. Reilly "Wreck-It Ralph"
Commentary - I love Catherine O'Hara is basically everything, and in Frankenweenie, she was able to provide emotion simply through her voice. I have advocated the recognition of voice acting for a while, but was being hypocritical by not honoring voice acting myself. So congratulations to Catherine O'Hara for being the inagural winner.

Best Ensemble
Winner - Lincoln
Runners Up - The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Moonrise Kingdom
Commentary - Lincoln's cast was a sprawling who's who of veteran character actors, all of whom brought passion and historical accuracy to their roles. And not just the big guns either, but even those with one lines made them count.

Best Director
Winner - Steven Spielberg "Lincoln"
Runners Up - Quentin Tarantino "Django Unchained", Sam Mendes "Skyfall", and Wes Anderson "Moonrise Kingdom"
Commentary - Some have been criticizing Spielberg lately for some of his choices in Lincoln. I agree the the ending left a little bit to be desired, but I will fully admit that I do not have enough authority to tell him what he should have done differently. What he did do is make a film that is intelligent, wonky, yet also highly entertaining, and the best film of the year.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Winner - Tony Kushner "Lincoln"
Runners Up - Stephen Chbosky "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and The writing team of "Skyfall"
Commentary - Having read Doris Kearns Goodwin's incredible Team of Rivals, I can tell you it takes a master adapter in order to make it into a concise and entertaining film. Tony Kushner's playwriting abilities proved to be the perfect match, and the result was fantastic.

Best Original Screenplay
Winner - (TIE) Quentin Tarantino "Django Unchained"; Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola "Moonrise Kingdom"
Commentary - Two very different films, both represent the best in original filmmaking. Both writers and directors, their fiercely independent and original scripts made both of these movies really pop. Anderson's script was magical, humorous, and nostalgic; Tarantino's was uproarious, ridiculous, and fierce. Either way you can't go wrong.

Best Cinematography
Winner - Roger Deakins "Skyfall"
Runners Up - Life of Pi, The Master
Commentary - Skyfall would have been masterly shot thirty years ago thanks to the talents of the great Roger Deakins. But you throw in his use of the new digital format, and Skyfall is one of the most beautifully rendered films of the year.

Best Visual Effects
Winner - Life of Pi
Runners Up - The Dark Knight Rises, Cloud Atlas
Commentary - Life of Pi may not have ranked as high on my list as it did on others, but it was still a great film (it just happened to be in a year of lots of great films), and most importantly, rivals the other great use of 3-D, Avatar, as the best use of the technology, and more importantly as the best effects on screen. Just the tiger itself was remarkable, and that is only a small part of the visual treat.

Worst Film of the Year
Loser - Twilight Series; Breaking Dawn Part II
Runners Up - John Carter
Commentary - So no, this film was probably not actually the worst film of the year, and will actually go down as a relatively well-reviewed entry in the Twilight canon. But for me it was just the icing on a huge crap cake. Sorry, but I am thrilled that this dreadful film series is finally over.

Writer's Guild of America (WGA) Nomination Predictions

Either tomorrow or Friday (I'm getting conflicting reports) the Writer's Guild of America will toss its hat into the ring, leaving only two really big pieces to the puzzle (DGA and BAFTA) before the Oscar nominations are announced next Thursday. As always, there are so many films that are ineligible that will replace some of the WGA nominees. But nonetheless, for some eligible films a nomination here is a nice boost. Here are my predictions for this year's nominees:

Best Adapted Screenplay
Chris Terrio "Argo"
David McGee "Life of Pi"
Tony Kushner "Lincoln"
David O. Russell "Silver Linings Playbook"
John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade "Skyfall"

Best Original Screenplay
John Gatins "Flight"
Rian Johnson "Looper"
Paul Thomas Anderson "The Master"
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola "Moonrise Kingdom"
Mark Boal "Zero Dark Thirty"

Producer's Guild of America (PGA) Nominees

The expected ones, Argo, Lincoln, Life of Pi, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty, and Les Mis made the cut, as did Django Unchained, which is lately been making big impressions. I was thrilled that my prediction of Skyfall came through, as it is one of the best films of the year. I know its probably still a longshot, but a nomination at the Oscars would really make my day. Moonrise Kingdom also made the cut, as I predicted, and is really on the rise. Finally, and probably most surprisingly, the Producers went for the very small indie film Beasts of the Southern Wild. It is not eligible for WGA and SAG, and DGA has too many choices, so popping up here is a good sign that it is on the minds of many voters, despite lack of real recognition beyond critical notices. Now, most likely these will not all repeat at the Oscars, and The Master is looming as well, but my guess is that at least 7 or 8 of these titles repeat on Jan. 10th. Check back tomorrow for ADG nominations, and either tomorrow or Friday for WGA nominations! Also stay tuned as my final nomination predictions are also going to be coming out soon, as time is running out!

Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

In Best Animated Feature the nominees were:

Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
Rise of the Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph

Producers Guild of America (PGA) Nomination Predictions

So either tomorrow or Thursday (I'm getting conflicting reports), the PGA will announce its ten nominees for Motion Picture. The PGA has always done well to match up with the Oscars, and this year it will be interesting to see which films make the cut. Here are my ten predictions:

Argo
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty