HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 68TH ANNUAL GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS

Aaron Sorkin

For those of you who missed the 68th annual Golden Globes tonight on NBC, here's a recap and some highlights:

-The Social Network executes a full-on assault on the evening, winning most major Awards - Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Director (David Fincher), Best Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin) and Best Score (Trent Reznor)

-The televised broadcast going black as Natalie Portman is announced as a nominee for Best Actress in a Drama Motion Picture for Black Swan.  Of course she won joking, "That Man - Benjamin Millepied - he`s the best Actor ever because in the Film he said he wouldn`t sleep with me and look, he really does want to sleep with me! ". Millepied is now engaged to Portman and the Father of their Child, to be born this Summer.

-Colin Firth winning Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama for The King's Speech and true to character, delivering understated words.  No surprises there.

-A recovering Michael Douglas presenting the Award for Best Motion Picture - Drama to The Social Network Producer Scott Rudin; Douglas received a standing ovation.

17TH ANNUAL SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

Still from The Fighter

Nominees for the Screen Actors Guild Awards have just been announced and perhaps this is a better indication of what's to come for the Oscars than the randomness of Monday's Golden Globe nominees.  Honouring the v. best performances in Television and Film, the SAGs will air Sunday, January 30, 2011 on TBS.

The Fighter ties The King's Speech in leading all nominees with four nods each. Surprisingly, The Social Network only earned two nominations this time - Oustanding Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture and Oustanding Performance by an Actor in Leading Role in a Motion Picture.

Both Robert Duvall for Get Low and Jeff Bridges for True Grit finally get some recognition this Awards season in the category of Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role alongside favourites Jesse Eisenberg for The Social Network, Colin Firth for The King's Speech and James Franco for 127 Hours.

2011 GOLDEN GLOBE NOMINEES ANNOUNCED

Golden Globe Award

Nominees for the 68th annual Golden Globe Awards were announced earlier today and the Hollywood Foreign Press Assocation made some good choices and some odd ones too in honouring the best in both Television and Film.  The King's Speech led all others with a total seven nominations, while The Fighter and The Social Network followed behind closely with six each.

Nominees for Best Motion Picture, Drama include Black Swan, The Fighter, Inception, The King's Speech and The Social Network - all excellent and deserving choices.  The HFPA however, raised a few eyebrows for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy with choices like Alice in Wonderland 3-D, Burlesque, The Tourist and Red, showing signs that perhaps this category has outgrown its name? The clear-cut favourite here would be The Kids Are All Right, looking like a shoe-in for the win against these.

The match for Best Director is a competitive one with finalists which including Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), David Fincher (The Social Network), Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), Christopher Nolan (Inception) and David O. Russell (The Fighter) - all deserving of the win.

NEW YORK FILM CRITICS SOCIETY WINNERS ANNOUNCED - "THE SOCIAL NETWORK" CONTINUES TO DOMINATE

Still from The Social Network

One of the more important precursors to the Oscars is the New York Film Critics’ Circle Awards just held earlier today. In what’s looking more and more like a shoe-in for Best Picture next February is David Fincher’s The Social Network, which won top honour of Best Film; Fincher also nabbed Best Director.  But get this though - The Social Network this weekend was also awarded Best Film unilaterally by the Los Angeles Film Critics Assocation, the Boston Society of Film Critics and New York Film Critics Online. 

Surprisingly, Best Actress was handed to Annette Bening for The Kids are All Right over Natalie Portman in Black Swan, while Best Actor honours went according to plan with Colin Firth, winning in that category for The King’s Speech.  Black Swan won for Best Cinematography possibly due to a local bias seeing that much of the Film was shot in Brooklyn.

Melissa Leo, just in Toronto this past weekend, won Best Supporting Actress for The Fighter, yet another trophy in her cabinet after just receiving an award for that same performance, from the Boston Society of Film Critics too. Mark Ruffalo won for Best Supporting Actor in The Kids are All Right and it would be amazing to see him rewarded with an Oscar nomination next year for the first time.

Click here to read about more of the Winners.

(Photo credit: Sony Pictures)

CAST OF "THE SOCIAL NETWORK" HONOURED AT HOLLYWOOD AWARDS GALA

The Social Network's Rashida Jones, Josh Pence, Jesse Eisenberg,
,Justin Timberlake, Max Minghella and Andrew Garfield

Congratulations to the cast of David Fincher's The Social Network who were honoured at the Beverly Hilton last night for the 14th annual Hollywood Awards Gala.  And Awards season still hasn't begun yet! The Actors won the  Ensemble Acting Award and my guess is that they're likely to win the Screen Actor's Guild Award for Best Ensemble Cast on Sunday, January 30, 2011 too.

Other Actors honoured last night include:

MR. WILL-W.'S EARLY OSCAR PREDICTIONS - OCTOBER 2010

Although not quite as formula-based as my girl Sasha predictions are over at Awards Daily, Mr. Will-W.:Pop Maven is known to have picked an Oscar winner or two in the past.  Even though the big day isn't until Sunday, March 5, 2011, I will break down for you who I feel is in-contention for a nomination in the major categories.   Obviously, there are a few contenders which I have not seen yet, so I have denoted these with an asterisk.  The names in bold are the contenders I feel have the greatest chance of winning the actual Oscar.  Selections are subject to change and I'll probably re-jig this again closer to the end of the year.

Still from Black Swan

BEST PICTURE

• The Town
• Black Swan
• Inception
• The Kids Are All Right
• The Social Network
• 127 Hours
• Rabbit Hole
• Toy Story 3
• Blue Valentine
• The King's Speech

*Hereafter (review to be posted Wednesday), Made in Dagenham, True Grit, Fair Game and Love and Other Drugs

INCEPTION STEALS THE SHOW WITH $60.4 MILLION THIS WEEKEND

It is absolutely no surprise that Inception nabbed the top spot at the Box Office this weekend, surpassing original expectations with a total $60.4 million. Buzz around town in Toronto is that many screenings were sold out Friday and Saturday, so hopefully those of you who got shut-out will get a chance to see it today.

Last week's champion Despicable Me continues to perform strongly in second with $32.7 million which would easily put it on top on another weekend.

Under-performing though is Disney's The Sorcerer's Apprentice which got a jump-start on the competition with a Wednesday opening, taking in only $17.3 million this weekend. The film was made for $150 million. Ouch.

THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT REVIEW

Director/Screenwriter Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right is an actor's dream come true - the type of opportunity that comes rarely with meaty, well-developed stories and multi-layered characters.

Annette Bening (Nic) and Julianne Moore (Jules) are a perfect pairing as a Lesbian couple who raise two children together who were conceived via artificial insemination. Mia Wasikowska (Joni) and Josh Hutcherson (Laser) play the children who go on a search, without their mothers' knowing, successfully locate their biological father, sexy Mark Ruffalo (Paul). Normally the stories end there, and rarely do stories ever touch upon what really happens after the Reunion has passed; Cholodenko goes there totally. What changes are there dynamically when a family which has not had a Father Figure, suddenly has one?