Oscar Watch: Golden Globe Nominees

Jean Dujardin in The Artist, which led the way with 6 nominations.

List of nominees, with my comments at the end:

Oscar Watch: Screen Actors Guild Awards

 Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis lead The Help to 4 total nominations.

List of nominees, with my comments at the end:

Oscar Watch: LA Film Critics Awards

Picture: "The Descendants"
Director: Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"
Actor: Michael Fassbender, "A Dangerous Method," "Jane Eyre," "Shame" and "X-Men: First Class"
Actress: Yun Jung-hee, "Poetry"
Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"
Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, "Coriolanus," "The Debt," "The Help," "Take Shelter," "Texas Killing Fields," "The Tree of Life"
Screenplay: Asghar Farhadi, "A Separation"
Foreign-language Film: "City of Life and Death"
Animation: "Rango"
Documentary / Non-fiction Film: "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"
Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, "The Tree of Life"
Music/score: The Chemical Brothers, "Hanna"
Production Design: Dante Ferretti, "Hugo"
Independent/Experimental Film/Video: "Spark of Being"
New Generation: Antonio Campos, Sean Durkin, Josh Mond and Elizabeth Olsen, "Martha Marcy May Marlene


The La Film Critics doesn't seem to affect the awards race too much. The Descendants and Tree of Life are already sure things for Oscar nominations. Plummer and Chastain have both won elsewhere and seem to be in good spots. They list 4 movies here for Fassbender and I love that X-Men: First Class is included, but make no mistake. This nomination was for his daring performance in Shame. The biggest surprise is Yun Jung-Hee for Poetry, who entered the awards season without a ton of buzz. This doesn't necessarily vault her into the Oscar race as the three previous LA Film Critics winners for Best Actress didn't snag a nomination.