WARCRAFT movie gets greenlight

Yeah, it's happening. Somewhat unexpectedly, since Sam Raimi jumping ship seemed to sink the project, but Legendary Pictures are now pushing ahead with an adaptation of the venerable RTS (and, more recently, life-destroying online RPG) series.

This news may attract a lot "Meh," from the audience, but there are two interesting things about the announcement. The first is that their director of choice is Duncan Jones, who previously helmed Moon and Source Code. Jones is noted as a more thoughtful, minimalist director than what you'd expect for this kind of project. The Hollywood Reporter is also reporting a budget of over $100 million: impressive, but nothing like the $200 million + you'd normally expect of a film of this magnitude.

At this point there is no word on casting or storyline, although Blizzard are going to be heavily involved. Blizzard lore-master Chris Metzen is consulting and advising on the script, so something faithful to the mythos is to be expected.

At this stage there is no word if an ironically Jack Black-voiced Pandaren will feature as comic relief.

The Shape of Things to Come: 2013

I decided to roll all of my normal 'looking ahead' posts into one this year. It's a bit late, so January is missing from these lists and thus it's a list looking forwards to the next eleven months, rather than twelve.

Books

2013 looks set to be an interesting year. At the more literary end of the spectrum we have new novels by Graham Joyce and Christopher Priest (two novels in three years is, by his standards, astonishingly productive). At the diametric opposite end of the scale we have Raymond E. Feist's last-ever Riftwar novel, which is being published to a reception of stone-cold indifference by most SFF readers. Inbetween we have the ongoing re-release of David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series (set to expand by four volumes this year) and the resumption of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series, which reaches its ninth and penultimate volume. Neil Gaiman also presents us with his first adult-oriented, full-length novel in eight years, which should be worth a look.

Sadly, we have to bid farewell to Chris Wooding's splendid Tales of the Ketty Jay series, which is wrapping up after four volumes. Peter Brett's Daylight War has some hard work to do to make up for the deficiencies of the second volume, whilst Daniel Abraham hits us with another fantasy/SF double-whammy with The Tyrant's Law and Abaddon's Gate. Richard Morgan's divisive Land Fit For Heroes trilogy (no word yet on if it is indeed expanding to four books) also reaches its third volume with The Dark Defiles.

In the area of SF, Alastair Reynolds has the sequel to his Blue Remembered Earth coming out, whilst Stephen Baxter returns to interstellar exploration and colonisation with Proxima.


Undated, but pretty certain to hit in 2013, is Ian Cameron Esslemont's Assail (working title). Easily the most eagerly-awaited of Esslemont's novels, this book takes us to the much-dreaded continent of Assail. Expect to see a showdown involving the T'lan Imass, Silverfox, the Crimson Guard and much more besides. Less certain for 2013 is Fall of Light, Steven Erikson's middle volume in his Kharkanas Trilogy, which might still just sneak out before the end of the year The ever-fecund. Brandon Sanderson, meanwhile, has several dozen novels due out, with his second Stormlight novel being the most eagerly-awaited (but also one of the most likely to slip to 2014). Stephen Donaldson is also tentatively scheduled to publish the tenth and final Thomas Covenant novel (thirty-six years after the first), The Last Dark, before the end of the year.

That's about it for the epic fantasy big-hitters. No Rothfuss, and Lynch's Republic of Thieves remains MIA. Martin fans will get some more Song of Ice and Fire morsels in the form of a narrative history of the Dance of Dragons, which will appear in Dangerous Women, and then a big coffee-table guidebook to the world with The World of Ice and Fire, which is tentatively scheduled for November (but again delays are possible).
At this stage my most eagerly-awaited novel of the year is River of Stars, a semi-follow-up to Guy Gavriel Kay's excellent Under Heaven.

February

The Daylight War by Peter Brett

Jimmy and the Crawler by Raymond E. Feist

Dreams and Shadows by Robert Cargill

March

The Art of War by David Wingrove

The High Kingdom by Pierre Pevel

April

The God Tattoo by Tom Lloyd

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill

Abominable by Dan Simmons

River of Stars by Guy Gavriel Kay

Son of the Morning by Mark Alder (MD Lachlan)

May

The Tyrant's Law by Daniel Abraham

Magician's End by Raymond E. Feist

Dangerous Women by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois (ed.)

The Year of the Ladybird by Graham Joyce

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

June

Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey (aka Daniel Abraham & Ty Franck)

The City by Stella Gemmell

On the Steel Breeze by Alastair Reynolds

The Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski

Cold Steel by Kate Elliott

The Dragon Queen by Stephen Deas

Broken Homes by Ben Aaronovitch

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

A Discourse in Steel by Paul S. Kemp

An Inch of Ashes by David Wingrove

Requiem by Ken Scholes

July

Twenty Trillion Leagues Under the Sea by Adam Roberts

The Glass God by Kate Griffin

Gallow: The Crimson Shield by Nathan Hawke (Stephen Deas)

August

Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honour of Gene Wolfe by Bill Fawcett (ed)

The Adjacent by Christopher Priest

Emperor of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

War Master's Gate by Adrian Tchaikovsky

The Dark Defiles by Richard Morgan

The Ace of Skulls by Chris Wooding

Blood of Tyrants by Naomi Novik

Gallow: Cold Redemption by Nathan Hawke (Stephen Deas)

September

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

The Broken Wheel by David Wingrove

Shaman: A Novel of the Ice Age by Kim Stanley Robinson

Gallow: The Last Bastion by Nathan Hawke (Stephen Deas)

Proxima by Stephen Baxter

October

Drakenfield by Mark Charan Newton

November

The World of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, Elio Garcia and Linda Antonsson

Moon's Artifice by Tom Lloyd

December

The White Mountain by David Wingrove

Undated

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

The Last Dark by Stephen Donaldson

Happy Hour in Hell by Tad Williams

Assail by Ian Cameron Esslemont

New Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett

King of Cobwebs by David Keck

Possible For 2013 But Uncertain

Fall of Light by Steven Erikson

The Free by Brian Ruckley

Seal of the Worm by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Spellbreaker by Blake Charlton

Stormlight Archive #2 by Brandon Sanderson

Next Gaunt's Ghosts novel by Dan Abnett

Dresden Files #15 by Jim Butcher

The Unholy Consult by R. Scott Bakker

The Sea Beggars by Paul Kearney

The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch

Endlords by J.V. Jones

Triumff: The Double Falsehood by Dan Abnett

The Wheel of Time Encyclopedia by Harriet McDougal

Games

In terms of games, 2013 is looking reasonably good at this point, though (thankfully for my wallet) not as jam-packed as last year. There's a lot of much-delayed games coming out in 2013, such as Aliens: Colonial Marines (which somehow looks less interesting with every trailer that appears) and StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, which is arriving a full two years behind schedule. I expect both will be playable, but will be surprised if either is outstanding (in particular, Blizzard really need to hire some new writers).

Also long-awaited is SimCity 5: A Truckload of DRM (or just SimCity as we now have to call it). Long-term fans of the venerable city management series have seen increasing disappointment as they learned of the always-on internet connection and the fact that the biggest cities you can build in the game are disappointingly small.

Looking much more interesting is BioShock Infinite. Whilst I was somewhat underwhelmed by the original BioShock's gameplay, certainly the art direction and visuals were striking and the sequel is following up on that end of things in spades. Hopefully the gameplay will match up this time.

Unfortunately, the dissolution of THQ has left the release dates for Company of Heroes 2, Metro: Last Light and South Park: The Stick of Truth all up in the air. Though the three games have all been rescued (by Sega, Deep Silver and Ubisoft respectively), their transition has left final release dates in some doubt. In particular, there is a legal tussle over South Park that could delay it indefinitely, which is a shame as it was looking like a particularly interesting take on the RPG genre.

Also suffering a delay is Grand Theft Auto V, which slips back four months to September, but only with the console versions confirmed. We all know there will be a PC version - given they released GTA4 on PC at a time when PC sales were rock-bottom and still sold shedloads, they'd be completely idiotic not to now the PC format is back on top of its game - so Rockstar's refusal to confirm it is just tiresome.

Arriving at the end of the year will be the new consoles, and with them the first 'next-gen' titles, such as Star Wars 1313 (likely a launch title for them). However, potentially more interesting is the arrival of the first batch of bigger games funded through Kickstarter (a few, like FTL, have already come out). Wasteland 2, Double Fine Adventure and Carmageddon: Reincarnation should prove whether the concept has legs. 2014 promises even more Kickstarted goodness, with Project: Eternity, Star Citizen and Elite 4 (hopefully) all arriving in force.

For me, the most promising game of the year is easily Rome II: Total War (or Total War: Rome II under Creative Assembly's new naming scheme). There hasn't been a really good Total War game for me since 2006's Medieval II, but Rome II looks like being both more epic and more fun than the last few games in the series.

February

Dead Space 3

Aliens: Colonial Marines

Crysis 3

March

SimCity

Tomb Raider

StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm

BioShock Infinite

Spring/Summer

Company of Heroes 2

ARMA 3

Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse

Metro: Last Light

South Park: The Stick of Truth

September

Grand Theft Auto V

Late 2013

Rome 2: Total War

Uncheduled

The Elder Scrolls Online

Star Wars 1313

Wasteland 2

X: Rebirth

Carmageddon: Reincarnation

Double Fine Adventure 

Films

 

Film-wise, 2013 looks a bit same-old, with a strong focus on superhero movies (even if these are some of the more interesting ones). We'll have to wait and see if Zack Snyder can resurrect the Superman movies (I'm not holding my breath), but Thor, Iron Man and a Japanese-influenced Wolverine should at least be fun.

The trailers are also suggesting that Into Darkness will be a more interesting, larger-scaled movie than J.J. Abrams's first Star Trek movie (which I was underwhelmed by: all the right ingredients, but not mixed together quite well). Benedict Cumberbatch certainly looks like a far more compelling villain than Eric Bana, at any rate. Also packed full of CGI and large explosions is Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim, which initially looks like a Michael Bay Transformers movie with added Idris Elba (which is in itself quite a good idea, actually). However, Del Toro's trademark weirdness could make this a bit more interesting than it appears.

Later in the year we have sequel city, with the second Hunger Games movie hoping to repeat the better-than-the-book trick of the first one. There's also the second Hobbit movie. I'm hoping against hope that Peter Jackson learns the art of editing so we can get a lean 90-minute (okay, two hours max) action movie, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. What is likely to be a lot shorter and a lot funnier is The World's End, Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's long-awaited conclusion to their thematic Three Colours of Cornetto trilogy (following Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz).

For me, the movie I'm most interested in is, perhaps unexpectedly, Riddick. The third film to feature Vin Diesel's titular character, we've been promised a picture that jettisons most of the excesses of the second film in favour of a tighter scope and more condensed storytelling. With Katee Sackhoff on board to provide support and Karl Urban resuming his role from the second film, this could be a bit of a dark horse.

April

Oblivion

May

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Iron Man 3

June

Man of Steel

World War Z

Kick-Ass 2

July

Pacific Rim

The Wolverine

September

Riddick

October

The World's End

November

Thor: The Dark World

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

December

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

TV

Crimson Nuptials. Does more need to be said?

Community Season 4

Game of Thrones: Season 3

Doctor Who: Season 33.5

Doctor Who: 50th Anniversary Special

The Walking Dead Season 3.5/4.0

2nd AACTA Awards Winners

As expected -by me- The Sapphires won the most awards: Best Film, Best Director, Best Lead Actress, Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay, bringing the tally to a total of 11 awards including the five previously announced. Believe that all honors are well-deserved as is good movie with a better story. To learn winners in all categories go here.

Winners are in *BLUE.

1/27/13
In the second year the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) celebrates Australian cinema -as a substitution of the previous Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards that run since 1958- we find expected nominations and some films that seem to be worth to watch.

Awards ceremony will be on January 30 at The Star Event Centre in Sydney, will be hosted by Russell Crowe and expect to see Geoffrey Rush (AACTA President), Cate Blanchett and many more. Ceremony will be broadcast live on Network Ten.

As expected crowd-pleaser The Sapphires leads with 12 nominations followed by Burning Man, Lore, Wish You Were Here and Mental each with 8 nominations. Here are the nominations for top film categories.

Best Film
Burning Man
Lore
*The Sapphires
Wish You Were Here

Best Direction
Jonathan Teplitzky for Burning Man
Cate Shortland for Lore
*Wayne Blair for The Sapphires
Kieran Darcy-Smith for Wish You Were Here

Best Lead Actress
Toni Collette in Mental
*Deborah Mailman in The Sapphires
Felicity Price in Wish You Were Here
Sarah Snook in Not Suitable For Children

Best Lead Actor
Joel Edgerton in Wish You Were Here
Matthew Goode in Burning Man
*Chirs O'Dowd in The Sapphires
Guy Pearce in 33 Postcards

To check nominees in all film plus television categories go here. International awards already have been announced and Silver Linings Playbook took almost all the awards if you wish to check the nominations as well as the award winners please go here.

The Walking Dead: Season 1 (adventure game)

The dead have risen and the world has been thrown into ruin. A band of survivors gathers together to try to escape the chaos, but find that their greatest enemy may not be the walking dead, but themselves.

Much has been written about Telltale's computer game adaptation of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic series, usually involving such words as 'amazing', 'intense', 'emotional' and 'cried like a three-year-old'. They are not far off. With The Walking Dead, Telltale have achieved what may be the finest computer game adaptation of a pre-existing franchise in gaming's history, something that supports the original story whilst also standing completely on its own two feet.

The Walking Dead takes place in the same world as the comics (but not the TV series, which is an alternate reality) and is canon to them. The developers - working alongside Kirkman - take advantage of this to show off the backstory of comic characters Hershel and Glen, but for the most part the focus is firmly on the original characters created for the game. Chief amongst these is the player-controlled protagonist, Lee Everett. Lee is a criminal who was on his way to prison when the zombie apocalypse broke out, and some of the game's tension comes from whether he is honest or not about his background to his new-found friends.

The core relationship of the game is between Lee and eight-year-old Clementine, a young girl he rescues from a zombie attack on a house. A long-term goal of the game is to reunite Clementine with her parents (if they are still alive) in Savannah, Georgia, but as the game continues Lee becomes convinced that the chances of her parents still being alive are very slim and takes on a father-figure role himself. The relationship is well-portrayed by the writers and actors, with the apparent oddness of an unrelated non-parent (who is also a convicted felon) caring for a young girl he just met being addressed. The characterisation is extremely strong, though to so more of it may risk spoilers (a problem for any review of the game).

The game has echoes of events from other incarnations of The Walking Dead, such as whether it's a good idea to teach young children how to use firearms against zombies or not, but Telltale puts their fresh spin on each idea as it comes up. Particularly well-handled is the way that the same major worldbuilding bits of information from the graphic novels are discovered by this group of characters, but in a rather different manner to the comics. For example, the knowledge that everyone will become a zombie when they die (regardless of whether they are bitten or not) - a major revelation in the comics and TV series - comes up almost immediately in the game, whilst a more minor piece of info about the zombies that the comic series threw in almost immediately takes a long time to come up in the game, and is much more decisive (and horrible).

The Walking Dead's storyline is impressive, with the zombies acting as a catalyst for how the characters interact with one another and deal with the pressure of a crumbling civilisation. The game hits many of the same beats as the TV series and the comics, but in a much more immersive way due to the way your decisions have lasting consequences, and some events can be changed. The dialogue is well-written, with each of the five episodes having its own self-contained plot and thematic arc as well as contributing to the overall storyline of the game. Given the lack of time (even at 15 hours, there a lot of characters to get through), Telltale achieve an impressive amount of depth for each character in the game as well. In terms of writing, structure and pacing, The Walking Dead is excellent.

Where the game comes off the rails a bit is the gameplay. Simply put, you spend the majority of your time watching The Walking Dead, rather than playing it, and most of your controls are based around choosing dialogue options. The sections where you get to take control of Lee, talk to other characters at leisure, explore areas and solve puzzles are the most fun in the game, but also the rarest (roughly boiling down to one or two such sections per episode). There's also a significant number of irritating Quick Time Events as well. It's a tribute to the writing skills of the team behind the game that these issues are not the total game-killers they'd be in other titles, but it does make The Walking Dead less of a game and more of an interactive comic (though still a very good interactive comic).

More problematic is the fact that the game is sold as one where your choices matter, but the truth of that is up for debate. At one stage you choose to save one character or another and this leads to some different character scenes and dialogue for a while, but ultimately has no long-term ramifications. The major beats of the plot and most character deaths also happen regardless of your dialogue and choices, with what you do more impacting on other characters' reactions to you and what they do rather than anything substantive in the storyline. Oddly this doesn't seem to matter: moreso than in most games, it's the journey that matters much more than the resolution.

The Walking Dead (****½) is an intense, well-written and extremely atmospheric adventure game, but one where you do not have as much control over what is going on as what is promised or written. How much of an issue this is will be up to the player, but I found it easily ignored in favour of the smart writing and the fascinating character relationships. The Walking Dead: Season 1 is available now on PC, X-Box 360 (UK, USA), PlayStation 3 (UK, USA) and iPad/iPhone. A second 'season' will be released later in 2013.

63rd Berlin International Film Festival - Official Program Lineup

In this morning press conference the festival full program was announced and was going to do one post for all sections, but this year each section will have their own post. We start with the Official Program that this year has 24 films.

Films in main competition include 19 movies with a few well-known directors and some of the most extraordinary actresses: Juliette Binoche, Isabelle Huppert, Catherine Deneuve and Nina Hoss. Obviously those films have instantly become must be seen for me.

Also as expected the last installment in the Ulrich Seidl's Paradise trilogy, Paradise: Hope, will premier in competition; but perhaps the film that many of us have been anxiously waiting for -since more than a year- is what makes this fest edition most interesting. I'm talking about the film by this year festival Jury President, master extraordinaire Wong Kar Wai, The Grandmaster starring none other than his regular most admired by me, Tony Leung.

Remarkably after reading about each of the following films became absolutely impressed by the quality of some of them as some of the few images available are really breathtaking.

Official Program

In Competition

Camille Claudel 1915, Bruno Dumont, France (photo)
Долгая счастливая жизнь Dolgaya schastlivaya zhizn (A Long and Happy Life), Boris Khlebnikov, Russia (photo)
Elle s'en va (On my Way), Emmanuelle Bercot, France
Epizoda u životu berača željeza (An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker), Danis Tanović, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France and Slovenia
Gloria, Sebastián Lelio, Chile and Spain
Gold, Thomas Arslan, Germany
Layla Fourie, Pia Marais, Germany, South Africa, France and Netherlands
The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman, Fredrik Bond, USA
누구의 딸도 아닌 해원 Nugu-ui Ttal-do Anin Haewon (Nobody's Daughter Haewon), Hong Sangsoo, South Korea
Paradies: Hoffnung (Paradise: Hope), Ulrich Seidl, Austria, France and Germany
Pardé (Closed Curtain), Jafar Panahi and Kamboziya Partovi, Iran
Poziţia Copilului (Child's Pose), Călin Peter Netzer, Romania
Prince Avalanche, David Gordon Green, USA
Promised Land, Gus Van Sant, USA
La Religieuse (The Nun), Guillaume Nicloux, France, Germany and Belgium
Side Effects, Steven Soderbergh, USA
Уроки гармонии Uroki Garmonii (Harmony Lessons), Emir Baigazin, Kazakhstan and Germany
Vic+Flo ont vu un ours (Vic+Flo Saw a Bear), Denis Côté, Canada
W imię… (In the Name of), Małgośka Szumowska, Poland

Out of Competition
Opening Film: Yi dai zong shi (The Grandmaster), Wong Kar Wai, Hong Kong and China
Before Midnight, Richard Linklater, USA and Greece
The Croods, Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders, USA (Animation)
Dark Blood, George Sluizer, Netherlands
Night Train to Lisbon, Bille August, Germany, Switzerland and Portugal

International Jury
President: Wong Kar Wai, director, China
Susanne Bier, director, Denmark
Athina Rachel Tsangari, director and producer, Greece
Adreas Dresen, director, Germany
Ellen Kuras, director and cinematographer, USA
Shirin Neshat, artist and director, Iran and USA
Tim Robbins, actor, USA

Again I'm impressed with the quality of the international jury, especially for the first three. Besides the actresses already mentioned, there are many more international and American actors/actresses that definitively call my attention. Perhaps I'm a bit award season burnt but find that many of this year films are especially worth watching, hope I'm right.

Among the films out of competition and besides the festival opening film the most intriguing movie absolutely is George Sluizer's Dark Blood as has a great cast but the leading actor is none other than River Phoenix. Yes, is Joaquin Phoenix brother, a great young actor that passed away in 1993. As took so many years for film to be released, here is a brief film story.

"When Dark Blood’s leading actor River Phoenix died suddenly ten days before the end of the shoot in 1993, the film’s insurance company became the owner of the unfinished material. Years later, director George Sluizer managed to save his footage from being destroyed. In January 2012 he decided to finish the film by reading aloud off-screen the missing scenes from the screenplay. The resulting work is an existentialist latter-day Western which derives much of its evocative power from the presence of its leading man, who was himself teetering on the brink of death."

Can't help to comment that from the American films there is one that is the remake of an Icelandic comedy, Á annan veg (Either Way) by Hafsteinn Gunnar; what pop-up is one of the stars, Paul Rudd, that usually does the kind of comedy I really dislike. Festival praises movie to have "visual poetry" of early David Gordon Green movies so perhaps movie can be different to regular Paul Rudd's fare. But have to admit that I highly enjoy Emile Hirch performances, so probably will end up watching film for sure. The name of the movie: Prince Avalanche.

I'm looking forward to see many of these films hopefully in the very near future.

Cheers!!!

Watch some trailers, all synopsis/images @MOC

36th Göteborg International Film Festival Line-up

Since January 25th and until February 4th one of the most famous Swedish film festivals has been running and as soon, on Saturday February 2 will be the awards ceremony, I'm sharing with you all some of the great films that are in the two main competitions.


Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film

8-Pallo (8-Ball), Aku Louhimies, Finland
Djúpið (The Deep), Baltasar Kormákur, Iceland
Faro, Fredrik Edfeldt, Sweden
Før snøen faller (Before Snowfall), Hisham Zaman, Norway
Kapringen (A Hijacking), Tobias Lindholm, Denmark
Nordvest (Northwest), Michael Noer, Denmark
Som du ser meg (I Belong), Dag Johan Haugerud, Norway
Uskyld (All that matters is past), Sara Johnsen, Norway

The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award

36, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Thailand
Carne de Perro (Dog Flesh), Fernando Guzzoni, Chile, Germany and France
Crawl, Hervé Lasgouttes, France
Gözetleme Kulesi (Watchtower), Pelin Esmer, Turkey
It Felt Like Love, Eliza Hittman, USA
Lemale et ha'halal (Fill the Void), Rama Burshtein, Israel
Wadjda, Haifaa al-Mansour, Saudi Arabia and Germany
Zwei Leben (Two Lives), Georg Maas, Germany and Norway

To watch trailers for the above and more movies go here. This year the fest is larger than ever as the program includes almost 500 films from 84 countries and to check films in the many sections please go here.

19th Screen Actors Guild Awards Winners

Last night the guild had their award ceremony and to be honest was not much entertaining and waiting for top film awards was impossible for me as went to sleep like a baby while the television awards were given. Still today was able to watch videos of the awards I missed.

The show opened with film supporting roles with the first award going to Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln which was very unexpected and now opens Oscar supporting actor race even more plus makes guessing winner harder. Many were already speculating that Lincoln was the top contender to win Oscar Best Picture but with tonight's results is obvious that Argo is still a top contender; for me race is still between Argo and Lincoln.

Believe that with this win Daniel Day-Lewis secured his third Oscar which probably will be a record for the stats book. It is a safe bet to say that Anne Hathaway will win an Oscar in the supporting actress category and still believe that Best Actress race is open with Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain competing for the award.

Can't help but to comment that in the television categories there were some surprises, like great Downton Abbey beating Homeland and Bryan Cranston beating Damian Lewis, so if you wish to check winners go here.

Winners are in *BLUE.

12/12/12
The first industry group to announce their nominations will give us an idea of how close or far away critics' are from those that actually vote for the Academy Awards and represent the largest group in all guilds, so their vote matters.

Award ceremony will be on Sunday, January 27, 2013 and will be simulcast live from Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Centre on TNT and TBS starting at 8pm EST.

These are the nominees announced by Busy Philipps and Taye Diggs a few minutes ago.

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
*Argo (Ben Affleck, Alan Arkin, Kerry Biche, Kyle Chandler, Rory Cochrane, Bryan Cranston, Christopher Denham, Tate Donovan, Clea Duvall, Victor Garber, John Goodman, Scoot McNairy, Chris Messina)
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Judi dench, Celia Imrie, Bill Nighy, Dev Patel, Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton)
Les Misérables (Isabelle Allen, Samantha Barks, Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, Daniel Huttlestone, Hugh Jackman, Eddie Redmayne, Amanda Seyfried, Aaron Tveit, Colm Wilkinson)
Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Hal Holbrook, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, David Strathairn)
Silver Linings Playbook (Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Anupam Kher, Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Tucker, Jacki Weaver)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone
*Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren in Hitchcock
Naomi Watts in The Impossible

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Sally Field in Lincoln
*Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables
Helen Hunt in The Sessions
Nicole Kidman in The Paperboy
Maggie Smith in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook
*Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
John Hawkes in The Sessions
Hugh Jackman in Les Misérables
Denzel Washington in Flight

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin in Argo
Javier Bardem in Skyfall
Robert De Niro in Silver Linnings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master
*Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln

Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture
The Amazing Spider-Man
The Bourne Legacy
The Dark Knight Rises
Les Misérables
*Skyfall

Have to comment that TV nominations were extremely predictable and repetitive from last year, can even predict some winners this moment; but check them anyway right now in the press release as later all nominations will be in the Awards tab.

Now I'm almost certain that Marion Cotillard will get an Oscar nomination again and in my opinion she truly deserves the honor as she was outstanding in Rust and Bone. Do not know if Emmanuelle Riva was eligible (meaning if she's a SAG member) but definitively she is a strong contender for Oscar Best Actress.

Most surprising are Nicole Kidman's two nominations (Paperboy and TV Hemingway & Gellhorn) and definitively this year belongs to Maggie Smith with a whooping four (4) nominations (2 for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and 2 for Downton Abbey).

Cast category has movies that already have strong Oscar buzz with the exception of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; most surprising is Zero Dark Thirty cast not being in this category but will find out the reason why.

There are no surprises in both Male actors categories (was expecting Bardem to get a nod), even if they snubbed Joaquin Phoenix and Robert De Niro got a slot. For those questioning why Beasts of the Southern Wild has no nominations I remind you that film had non-actors and was not eligible.

In general critics and this guild are not that far from each other as films plus actors with more buzz and critics' honors are alike, almost the same.

WHEEL OF TIME game not dead at Obsidian, KotOR 3 a possibility

I missed this when it went up over a month ago, but Kotaku have published a thorough interview with the founder and CEO of Obsidian Entertainment, Feargus Urquhart. The interview is extremely informative and revealing.

First up is the surprising news that the Wheel of Time RPG is not entirely dead. Previously Obsidian had signed a deal with Red Eagle to make a game based on the setting, but then all news on the project dried up. The article reveals that, despite no forwards movement on the project for almost three years, the game is actually still viable, provided that Red Eagle finds a publisher and provides funding. I'm not holding my breath on this realistically ever happening, but it's good to know that Obsidian are still ready to go with the project if it does ever become a reality.

Secondly, Urquhart talks about the success of their Project Eternity Kickstarter appeal, and how it has opened other doors. He reveals that he has been talking to companies like Ubisoft, Bethesda and LucasArts about future projects. Based on comments elsewhere in the article and some things that have happened since, it sounds like Obsidian have - very tentatively - been talking about doing a Might and Magic game with Ubisoft (although that possibly might have been related to Ubisoft picking up the South Park RPG Stick of Truth, which has indeed just happened); to Bethesda about a potential Fallout: New Vegas 2 (or even an Elder Scrolls game); and to LucasArts about a Knights of the Old Republic III for next gen consoles and PC. None of these things are 'go' projects or particularly likely to happen, but they're all potentially mouthwatering prospects.

Finally, Urquhart talks at length about their highest-profile failures, particularly the incomplete Knights of the Old Republic II and the furore surrounding Alpha Protocol. What is particularly intriguing is the fact that Alpha Protocol has been selling very well over a long period of time, enough that Obsidian have hopes of being able to revisit the idea of a sequel with Sega a couple of years down the line (although given the summary cancellation of Obsidian's Aliens RPG - also mentioned in the interview - that may be more wishful thinking than anything else).

Overall, a very interesting look at what might just be my favourite game developers around at the moment.

SINISTER

Dated Released : 12 October 2012
Quality : BRRip 720p
Info : imdb.com/title/tt1922777
IMDB Rating : 7.2 (10,147 users)
Star : Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone
Genre : Horror | Mystery
----------------------------------------

By: icinema3satu.com


Download File
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Found footage helps a true-crime author realize how and why a family was murdered in his new home, though his discoveries put his entire family in the path of a supernatural entity. 

2013 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners

Last night the Sundance Institute announced the award winners in a ceremony hosted by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the following is what the director of the fest, John Cooper, commented:

"The films at our Festival this year truly reflect the unbridled passion, immense talent and diverse stories coming from the independent filmmaking community. I am confident that the awards presented this evening will fuel those films with special promise and that audiences will continue to champion the films they have discovered here.”

These are the winners.

U.S. Competition

Dramatic
Grand Jury Award: Frutivale, Tom Rothman
Directing Award: Jill Soloway for Afternoon Delight
Screenwriting Award: Lake Bell for In a World..., Lake Bell
Cinematography Award: Bradford Young for Ain't Them Bodies Saints and Mother of George
Special Jury Award for Acting: Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley in The Spectacular Now, James Ponsoldt
Special Jury Award for Sound Design: Shane Carruth and Johnny Marshall for Upstream Color, Shane Carruth

Documentary
Grand Jury Award: Blood Brother, Steve Hoover
Directing Award: Zachary Heinzerling for Cutie and the Boxer
Editing Award: Matthew Hamacheck for Gideon's Army, Dawn Porter
Cinematography Award: Richard Rowley for Dirty Wars, Richard Rowley
Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking: Inequality for All, Jacob Kronbluth
Special Jury Award for Achievement in Filmmaking: American Promise, Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson

World Cinema Competition

Dramatic
Grand Jury Award: 지슬 Jiseul, Muel O, South Korea
Directing Award: Sebastián Silva for Crystal Fairy, Chile and USA
Screenwriting Award: Barmak Akram for Wajma (An Afghan Love Story), Barmak Akram, Afghanistan
Cinematography Award: Nieulotne (Lasting), Jacek Borcuch, Poland and Spain
Special Jury Award: Krugovi (Circles), Srdan Golubović, Serbia, Germany, France, Croatia and Slovenia

Documentary
Grand Jury Award: ក្បង់ទឹកទន្លេ A River Changes Course, Kayanee Mam, Cambodia and USA
Directing Award: Tinatin Gurchiani for Manqana, romelic kvelafers gaaqrobs (The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear), Georgia and Germany
Editing Award: The Summit, Nick Ryan, Ireland and UK
Cinematography Award: Who is Dayani Cristal?, Marc Silver, UK
Special Jury Award for Punk Spirit: Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer, Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin, Russia and UK

Short Film Competition
Grand Jury Prize: The Whistle, Grzegorz Zariczny, Poland
U.S. Fiction Jury Award: Whiplash, Damien Chazelle, USA
U.S. Non-Fiction Jury Award: Skinningrove, Michael Almereyda
International Fiction Award: The Date, Jenni Toivoniemi, Finland
Animation Jury Award: Irish Folk Furniture, Tony Donoghue, Ireland
Special Jury Award for Acting: Joel Nagle in Palimpsest, Michael Tyburski, USA
Special Jury Award: Until the Quiet Comes, Kahlil Joseph, USA

Audience Awards
US Dramatic: Frutivale, Tom Rothman
US Documentary: Blood Brother, Steve Hoover
World Cinema Dramatic: Metro Manila, Sean Ellis, UK and Philippines
World Cinema Documentary: Al Midan (The Square), Jehane Noujaim, Egypt and USA
Best of NEXT <=>: This is Martin Booner, Chad Hartigan, USA
Short Film: Catnip: Egress to Oblivion?, Jason Willis, USA

Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize: Computer Chess, Andrew Bujalski, USA

To learn other special awards check press release. What somehow surprises me is the many female filmmakers present in different competitions and the very low percentage of them that got an award. In the US Dramatic competition only 2 female directors won awards, one for directing and another for screenwriting. Do not know what this fact really means but just hope that these female directors were not chosen because their gender or to fulfill a festival "quota" as IF their work was NOT award-quality then should not be in competition. Sigh.

2012 Film Critics' Awards - Final

Post has become Final. As we know this year Oscar nominations behaved a bit different to what critics honored, especially in the Best Director category, so wonder if whoever got more critics' honors will win something in Oscar.

Nevertheless, in theory based on the tally, we can assume that Oscar Best Picture race could be between Argo and Zero Dark Thirty, but know our assumption will be wrong as ZD30 got so much negative buzz that there is no race between them and Argo will prevail above Kathryn Bigelow's movie. After seeing all nominated movies my best guess is that the race will be between Argo and Lincoln.

Perhaps the category were critics' and Academy members will agree is Best Actor as Daniel Day-Lewis is the big favorite to win Oscar by far. Still wonder how ZD30 negative buzz will influence Academy members but critics' tally suggests that Best Actress race will be between Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence.

As commented every year critics' are NOT Academy members and main difference could be the average age which makes them differ often. This year seems that again what critics praise will not be similar to what AMPAS could/will honor. Sigh.

Still, I am one that this year agree more with critics than with AMPAS nominations, as believe that Affleck and Bigelow should have gotten a nod as their work deserves recognition.

12/8
As every year this post will begin today when we have the first non-major film critics' group announcing their winners; remember that will be a work in progress until the last group of critics do their announcement around the second week of next January. Most groups are American but also you will find in one post info from some groups in Canada, Ireland and UK.

As last year, will publish the link to read all winners and will list winners in the following categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor and new this year, Best Documentary.

But, before the list and to have ALL in one post, first is the summary for the major film critics' groups.

Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Winners: Post
Best Film: Amour, Michael Haneke
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson for The Master
Best Actress: (tie) Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook and Emmanuelle Riva in Amour
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
Best Documentary: The Gate Keepers

Critics' Choice Movie Awards
Winners: Post
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: Ben Affleck for Argo
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man

International Press Academy
Winners: Post
Best Film: Silver Linings Playbook
Best Director: David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor: Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Documentary: Chasing Ice

National Board of Review
Winners: Post
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Documentary: Searching for Sugarman

New York Film Critics Circle
Winners: Post
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: The Central Park Five

The List

African-American Film Critics Association
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Ben Affleck for Argo
Best Actress: Emayatzy Corinealdi in Middle of Nowhere
Best Actor: Denzel Washington in Flight
Best Documentary: (tie) The House I Live In and Versailles '73

Alliance of Women Film Journalists (EDA Awards)
Nominees: Official Site
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man

Austin Film Critics Association
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson for The Master
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
Best Documentary: The Imposter

Black Film Critics Circle
Winners: News Official Site
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: The Central Park Five

Boston Society of Film Critics
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva in Amour
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: How To Survive a Plague

Boston Online Film Critics Association
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: How To Survive a Plague

Central Ohio Film Critics Association
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Moonrise Kingdom
Best Director: Wes Anderson for Moonrise Kingdom
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: How to Survive a Plague

Chicago Film Critics Association
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor:Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: The Invisible War

Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association
Winners: News Official Site
Best Film: Lincoln
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis In Lincoln
Best Documentary: Seaching for Sugarman

Denver Film Critics Society
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: Ben Affleck for Argo
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Detroit Film Critics Society
Nominations: News
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Silver Linings Playbook
Best Director: David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Dublin Film Critics Circle (*NOT added to tally)
Winners: News
Best Film: The Artist
Best Director: Michael Haneke for Amour
Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva in Amour
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
Best Documentary: Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present

Florida Film Critics Circle
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: Ben Affleck in Argo
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: The Queen of Versailles

Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (Dorian Awards)
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: Not Awarded
Best Actress: Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: How to Survive a Plague

The Guardian UK Top 10 films
Article with opportunity for audience vote: Official Site
Number 1 Film: The Master

The Houston Film Critics Society
Winners: News Official Site
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: Ben Affleck for Argo
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor:Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: The Imposter

Indiana Film Journalist Association
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Safety Not Guaranteed
Best Director: Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: (tie) Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook and Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man

Indiewire Annual Critics Survey (204 Critics)
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Holy Motors
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Best Performance: Denis Lavant in Holy Motors
Best Documentary: In film nist (This is Not a Film)

Iowa Film Critics Association
Winners: News
Best Film: Lincoln
Best Director: Steven Spielberg for Lincoln
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln

Kansas City Film Critics Circle
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: The Master
Best Director: Ang Lee for Life of Pi
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: The Imposter

Las Vegas Film Critics Society
Winners: News
Best Film: Life of Pi
Best Director: Ang Lee for Life of Pi
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Bully

National Society of Film Critics
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Amour
Best Director: Michael Haneke for Amour
Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva in Amour
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: The Gatekeepers

Nevada Film Critics Society
Winners: Offficial Site
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: (tie) Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty and Ben Affleck for Argo
Best Actress: (tie) Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook and Helen Hunt in The Sessions
Best Actor: John Hawkes in The Sessions
Best Documentary: Not awarded.

New York Film Critics Online
Winners: Official Site or Board
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva in Amour
Best Actor:  Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Central Park Five

North Texas Film Critics Association
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Lincoln
Best Director: Steven Spielberg for Lincoln
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Bully

Oklahoma Film Critics Circle
Winners: News
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: Ben Affleck for Argo
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty.
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man

Online Film Critics Society
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson for The Master
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: In film nist (This is Not a Film)

Phoenix Film Critics Society
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor:Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man

St. Louis Film Critics
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: Ben Affleck for Argo
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man

San Diego Film Critics Society
Nominations: Official Site
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: Ben Affleck for Argo
Best Actress: Michelle Williams in Take This Waltz
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: The Invisible War

San Francisco Film Critics Circle
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: The Master
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress:Emmanuelle Riva in Amour
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
Best Documentary: The Waiting Room

Sight&Sound Film Magazine (90 international critics poll)
Article with Top 11 Films of 2012: Official Site
Number 1 Film: The Master

Southeastern Film Critics Association
Winners: News Official Site
Best Film: Argo
Best Director: Ben Affleck for Argo
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: The Queen of Versailles

Toronto Film Critics Association
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: The Master
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson for The Master
Best Actress: Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea
Best Actor:Denis Lavant in Holy Motors
Best Documentary: Stories We Tell

Utah Film Critics Association
Winners: News
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Wes Anderson for Moonrise Kingdom
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
Best Documentary: Indie Game: The Movie

Vancouver Film Critics Circle
Nominations: Official Site
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
Best Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man

The Washington DC Area Film Critics
Nominations: Official Site
Winners: Official Site
Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
Best Documentary: Bully

Women Film Critics Circle (*NOT added to Tally)
Winners: News Official Site
Best Film by a Woman: Zero Dark Thirty by Kathryn Bigelow
Best Actress: Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln

As we know there are a few exceptions that will get their own post. For reference this is the link to what critics honored last year, which the Best Film winner among them was none other than The Artist that went to win an Oscar.

Please remember that links usually work for a limited time, meaning that if you wish to look for nominations/winners from last year you probably will have to browse site to find them and some sites simply delete previous years.

*Some groups are added for information but due to specialization or including last year movies, will NOT be added to tally.

Tally

The following is a summary with the winners in the five main categories. Tally will be updated from now on when a new group makes their announcement.

Best Film
13 - Zero Dark Thirty (NBR, NYFCC, AAFC, BSFC, BOFCA, NYFCO, WDCAFC, CFCA, AFCA, UFCA, BFCC, EDA, VFCC)
12 - Argo (SDFCS, SLFCA, SEFCA, PFCS, FFCC, OFCC, NFCS, HFCS, OFCS, DFCS, CCMA)
5 - The Master (TGUK, KCFCC, SFCC, S&SFM, TFCA, GALECA)
3 - Lincoln (DFWFCA, NTFCA, IFCA)
2 - Amour (LAFCA, NSFC)
2 - Silver Linings Playbook (IPA, DFCS)
1 - Holy Motors (IW)
1 - Life of Pi (LVFCS)
1 - Moonrise Kingdom (COFCA
1 - Safety Not Guaranteed (IFJA)

Best Director
15 - Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty (NBR, NYFCC, BSFC, BOFCA, NYFCO, SFFCC, WDCAFC, CFCA, DFWFCA, PFCS, IW, BFCC, NFCS, EDA, VFCC)
10 - Ben Affleck for Argo (AAFCA, SDFCS, SLFCA, SEFCA, FFCC, OFCC, NFCS, HFCS, DFCS, CCMA)
4 - Paul Thomas Anderson for The Master (LAFCA, TFCA, AFCA, OFCS)
2 - Wes Anderson for Moonrise Kingdom (UFCA, COFCA)
2 - Ang Lee for Life of Pi (KCFCC, LVFCS)
2 - David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook (IPA, DFCS)
2 - Steven Spielberg for Lincoln (NFTCA, IFCA)
1 - Michael Haneke for Amour (NSFC)
1 - Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained (IFJA)

Best Actress
16 - Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty (NBR, BOFCA, WDCAFC, IFJA, CFCA, SLFCA, DFWFCA, PFCS, FFCC, BFCC, OFCC, OFCS, EDA, VFCC, IFCA, CCMA)
13 - Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook (LAFCA, IPA, DFCS, KCFCC, LVFCS, SEFCA, AFCA, UFCA, NFCS, HFCS, NTFCA, COFCA, DFCS)
5 - Emmanuel Riva in Amour (LAFCA, BSFC, NYFCO, SFFCC, NSFC)
2 - Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea (NYFCC, TFCA)
1 - Emayatzy Corinealdi in Middle of Nowhere (AAFCA)
1 - Michelle Williams in Take This Waltz (SDFCS)
1 - Helen Hunt in The Sessions (NFCS)
1 - Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables (GALECA)

Best Actor
28 - Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln (NYFCC, BSFC, BOFCA, DFCS, KCFCC, LVFCS, NYFCO, SDFCS, WDCAFC, IFJA, CFCA, SLFCA, SEFCA, DFWFCA, PFCS, FFCC, BFCC, OFCC, NSFC, HFCS, OFCS, NTFCA, EDA, COFCA, IFCA, DFCS, CCMA, GALECA)
5 - Joaquin Phoenix in The Master (LAFCA, SFFCC, AFCA, UFCA, VFCC)
3 - Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook (IPA, NBR, IFJA)
2 - Denis Lavant in Holy Motors (TFCA, IW)
1 - Denzel Washington in Flight (AAFCA)
1 - John Hawkes in The Sessions (NFCS)

Best Documentary
9 - Searching for Sugarman (NBR, IFJA, SLFCA, DFWFCA, PFCS, OFCC, EDA, VFCC, CCMA)
4 - How to Survive a Plague (BSFC, BOFCA, COFCA, GALECA)
3 - Bully (LVFCS, WDCAFC, NTFCA)
3 - The Central Park Five (NYFCC, NYFCO, BFCC)
3 - The Imposter (KCFCC, AFCA, HFCS)
2 - The Gatekeepers (LAFCA, NSFC)
2 - In film nist (This is Not a Film) (IW, OFCS)
2 - The Invisible War (SDFCS, CFCA)
2 - Jiro Dreams of Sushi (DFCS, DFCS-Denver)
2 - The Queen of Versailles (SEFCA, FFCC)
1 - Chasing Ice (IPA)
1 - The House I Live In (AAFCA)
1 - Indie Game: The Movie (UFCA)
1 - Stories We Tell (TFCA)
1 - Versailles '73 (AAFCA)
1 - The Waiting Room (SFFCC)

As we can see Best Actor category is the less dispersed while Best Documentary is the most dispersed; as of today (12/17) Best Director is the category that lists the most probable five Oscar nominees; oops! Indiana ruined the category but Quentin is always welcome.

24th Annual Producers Guild Awards Winners

Last night the guild had their award ceremony and from Twitter winners are in *BLUE. Winners are not yet at official site, but soon they will be; use link at bottom of post to check television categories.

These awards usually predict possible Oscar winners, so in theory Argo has good chances to win Best Picture but since nominations brought us so many unpleasant surprises, I do not dare to guess if Academy members will replicate what happened here. Still, I am hoping that the best documentary that I have seen "ever", Searching for Sugar Man, gets the Oscar as truly deserves it.

1/13/13

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced late yesterday the motion picture and long-form television nominations which complement the documentary film and other television categories previously announced. Now the over 5,000 members will have to vote to define winners in each category.

All 2013 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on January 26th at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. This year, the Producers Guild will also present special honors to Bob and Harvey Weinstein (Milestone Award), Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), J.J. Abrams (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Russell Simmons (Visionary Award) and Bully (Stanley Kramer Award).

These are the nominations for Theatrical Motion Pictures, including documentary.

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures

*Ben Affleck, George Clooney and Grant Heslov for Argo (Warner Bros.)
Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey and Josh Penn for Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
Reginald Hudlin, Pilar Savone and Stacey Sher for Django Unchained (The Weinstein Company)
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh for Les Misérables (Universal Pictures)
Ang Lee, Gil Netter and David Womark for Life of Pi (Fox 2000 Pictures)
Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg for Lincoln (Touchstone Pictures)
Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Jeremy Dawson and Steven Rales for Moonrise Kingdom (Focus Features)
Bruce Cohen, Donna Gigliotti and Jonathan Gordon for Silver Linings Playbook (The Weinstein Company)
Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson Skyfall (MGM/Columbia Pictures)
Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal and Megan Ellison for Zero Dark Thirty (Columbia Pictures)

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures

Katherine Sarafian for Brave (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Allison Abbate and Tim Burton for Frankenweenie (Walt Disney Pictures)
*Travis Knight and Arianne Sutner for ParaNorman (Focus Features)
Nancy Bernstein and Christina Steinberg for Rise of the Guardians (Paramount Pictures)
Clark Spencer for Wreck-It Ralph (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures

Marc Swenker and Aaron Yeger for A People Uncounted (Urbinder Films)
Estelle Fialon, Philippa Kowarsky and Dror Moreh for The Gatekeepers (Sony Pictures Classics)
Richard Berge and Bonni Cohen for The Island President (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
Marius Markevicius and Jon Weinbach for The Other Dream Team (The Film Arcade)
*Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn for Searching For Sugar Man (Sony Pictures Classics)

To check nominations in television categories go here.  As we know these awards gives us an idea of the possible Oscar nominations for the Best Film category; most films have already buzz and maybe the huge surprise is the absence of The Master, however we know that film got great critics reviews but after started to lag in current award season. Now we have the best guess for the Best Film Oscar category IF 10 films get nominated, but if you check last year nods you will notice that NOT all PGA's honored films went to get an Oscar nod.