The Gold Knight: Hop onboard the awards season train
Written by James A. Molnar | The Gold Knight | jmolnar@toledofreepress.com
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The 2011 awards season train has left the station. Its destination: the 83rd Academy Awards on Feb. 27. There are many stops along the way. It may be a bumpy ride for some; but for others, a smooth ride to Oscar Sunday could be possible.
Colin Firth may be one of the lucky few sitting in first class. His much ballyhooed performance in “The King’s Speech” may win him the Best Actor Oscar, among a slew of other trophies. But The Gold Knight will save the prognosticating for another column.
The first stop on the long and winding journey to Feb. 27 was the Gotham Independent Film Awards. Held in New York on Nov. 29, the Independent Feature Project (IFP) gave top prizes to “Winter’s Bone” for Best Feature and Best Ensemble Performance. The film, out on DVD, beat other buzzed-about films including “Black Swan” and “The Kids Are All Right.”
Continuing the love for “Winter’s Bone,” the Film Independent Spirit Awards announced its nominees Nov. 30. “Winter’s Bone” led the pack with seven nominations, including Best Feature, Director, Female Lead (Jennifer Lawrence), Supporting Male (John Hawkes) and Supporting Female (Dale Dickey). “The Kids Are Alright” scored the second-most nominations with five: Feature, Director, Screenplay, Female Lead (Annette Bening) and Supporting Male (Mark Ruffalo). Close behind, “Black Swan” has four nominations, including Feature and Female Lead (Natalie Portman). Other Feature nominees include Danny Boyle’s thriller “127 Hours” and “Greenburg,” a dramedy with Ben Stiller in the title role. The Spirit Awards, hosted by Joel McHale, are Feb. 26.
“If you feel like dancing, well come on, it’s up to you/We got the sound to keep you getting down, down/The train is coming through” — Quad City DJ’s
Is “Winter’s Bone” the early front-runner fordancing home with an few Oscars? Not quite. The train still has quite a few stops to make. The National Board of Review (NBR) awards is one of them.
Announced Dec. 1, NBR honored “The Social Network” with Best Film, Director (David Fincher), Actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin). Note: “Up in the Air” took home four awards last year from NBR, including Film, but did not clinch the Best Picture Oscar. Since 1995, only three of NBR Best Film winners have won the Oscar. Other films honored include “Waiting for ‘Superman’” (Documentary), “Toy Story 3” (Animated Feature), “The Town” (Ensemble Cast) and “Buried” (Chris Sparling for Original Screenplay).
Toledo Free Press Star pop culture guru Jeff McGinnis said “The Social Network” “will be the best movie of 2010” in his Oct. 5 column. He also said Aaron Sorkin “will surely win an Oscar for his work” on the screenplay. McGinnis may be an Oscarologist. We’ll find out in a few months.
With that, the train continues on. The next big stops are the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations, Dec. 14 and 16, respectively. Get onboard and enjoy the fun.
“Come on it’s the choo choo, woo woo/Come on it’s the choo choo train.”
Toledo Free Press Star Lead Designer James A. Molnar blogs about all things Oscar at thegold knight.blogspot.com. His column will appear online and in print periodically.
Tags: Academy Awards, Black Swan, Oscars, The Gold Knight, The Kids Are All Right, The King's Speech, The Social Network, The Town, Toy Story 3, Waiting for Superman, Winter's Bone
