[PoppyAzura]

My favorite time of the year!

The International Press Academy announced their nominations for the 14th Annual Satellite Awards on Sunday. Leading the pack with 10 nominations was "Nine," while "An Education," "Precious," "Up in the Air," and "The Hurt Locker" scored five each. Here's a list of nominations in the major categories:

Motion Picture, Drama
The Hurt Locker
Bright Star
An Education
The Messenger
Precious
The Stoning of Soraya M.

Motion Picture, Comedy/Musical
Julie & Julia
The Informant!
A Serious Man
It’s Complicated
Up in the Air
Nine

Actress, Drama
Emily Blunt, The Young Victoria
Abbie Cornish, Bright Star
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Shohreh Aghdashloo, The Stoning of Soraya M.
Catalina Saavedra, The Maid
Penélope Cruz, Broken Embraces

Actor, Drama
Johnny Depp, Public Enemies
Hugh Dancy, Adam
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Michael Sheen, The Damned United
Colin Firth, A Single Man

Actress, Comedy/Musical
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Zooey Deschanel, (500) Days of Summer
Katherine Heigl, The Ugly Truth (LMFAO!!!!)
Sandra Bullock, The Proposal
Marion Cotillard, Nine

Actor, Comedy/Musical
Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine
Bradley Cooper, The Hangover
Matt Damon, The Informant!
Michael Stuhlbarg, A Serious Man
George Clooney, Up in the Air

Supporting Actress
Emily Blunt, Sunshine Cleaning
Mozhan Marno, The Stoning of Soraya M.
Mo’Nique, Precious
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Penélope Cruz, Nine

Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Alfred Molina, An Education
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
James McAvoy, The Last Station
Timothy Spall, The Damned United

Director
Neill Blonkamp, District 9
Rob Marshall, Nine
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Lee Daniels, Precious
Jane Campion, Bright Star
Lone Scherfig, An Education

Original Screenplay
Jane Campion, Bright Star
Mark Boal, The Hurt Locker
Bob Peterson & Pete Docter, Up
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber, (500) Days of Summer
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man

Adapted Screenplay
Nora Ephron, Julie & Julia
Nick Hornby, An Education
Geoffrey Fletcher, Precious
Neill Blonkamp & Terri Tatchell, District 9
Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air

Foreign Language Film
Red Cliff
The Maid
The White Ribbon
Broken Embraces
I Killed My Mother
Winter in Wartime

Animated or Mixed Media Film
Up
Where the Wild Things Are
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The Princess and the Frog
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Score
Elliot Goldenthal, Public Enemies
Rolfe Kent, Up in the Air
Michael Giacchino, Up
Carter Burwell & Karen O, Where the Wild Things Are
Marvin Hamlisch, The Informant!
Gabriel Yared, Amelia

Song
“Almost There,” Randy Newman, The Princess and the Frog
“I Can See In Color,” Mary J. Blige, Precious
“Down in New Orleans,” Randy Newman, The Princess and the Frog
“Cinema Italiano,” Maury Yeston, Nine
“The Weary Kind,” Ryan Bingham & T-Bone Burnett, Crazy Heart
“We Are the Children of the World,” Terry Gilliam, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

10 best films of 2009
(500) Days of Summer
A Serious Man
An Education
Bright Star
Inglourious Basterds
Nine
Precious
The Hurt Lucker
The Stoning of Soraya M.
Up in the Air


The awards will be presented Dec. 20 at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City.

[Flashbang]

Definitely loving the award season!
500 Days of Summer

ETA: sadly I haven't seen most of the movies. But I heard The Blindside is good. Where is it?

[*Bianca*]

Here's the 15 documentaries that the Academy have shortlisted:

The Beaches of Agnes
Burma VJ
The Cove
Every Little Step
Facing Ali
Food, Inc.
Garbage Dreams
Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers
Mugabe and the White African
Sergio
Soundtrack for a Revolution
Under Our Skin
Valentino The Last Emperor
Which Way Home

The list will be cut down to 5.

[MyNameIs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flashbang ETA: sadly I haven't seen most of the movies. But I heard The Blindside is good. Where is it?

This award group is pretty nutz (albeit kinda fun), so don't take their nominations too seriously. They probably didn't care for The Blind Side since it's such an 'American' movie and this group are foreign journalists of sorts (as I understand it).

[Miss Dalloway]

It will be interesting to see which ones get the acutal Oscar nods, but seriously what a weak year, pfft!

[xerq]

^ exactly! none of these movies seem like worthy Oscar contenders.

[Northern Star]

An Education is receiving a lot of buzz right now, so I'm expecting that to feature come Oscar time. I haven't seen it yet though.

[Tinetush]

^Yeah I'm dying to see that one..
And yeah It really doesn't seem like there are any real heavy lifters this year.. Maybe that's a good thing.

[MyNameIs]

I don't necessarily understand what you all mean by weak, no good movies competing? I mean there have been a number of movies getting raves from the critics, including films like The Hurt Locker, Up, Up in the Air, An Education, Bright Star, Precious, etc, not to mention the yet unreleased films with great Oscar pedigree like Invictus, Nine, The Lovely Bones etc. Seems like a typical year to me in that regard.

However, I seriously have no interest in seeing most of those movies. That's so weird to me. Usually there are a dozen of 'buzzed' movies that I'm dying to see, not this year. The only ones are Precious (already saw, blah), The Single Man and maybe Avatar. The rest look SOOOOOO BORING to me. For example Up in the Air and An Education, both getting glowing reviews but I fall asleep during previews, and have no interest in watching either of them. Same applies to The Hurt Locker, Crazy Hearts, Bright Star, etc. I don't know what that's all about.

[lottie342]

I prefer the Oscars when it isn't obvious who is going to win, however I'm disappointed by the films that have been out this year, there are not many films which I have watched and thought "That deserves an Oscar".

There is definitely a lot of buzz about An Education - I want to see it but I'm not too sure...

[lizbabe09]

I really hope Mo'nique wins for her role in Precious..she was SOOO good!

[LolaSvelt]

The Hurt Locker won some awards yesterday at the Gotham Awards.

The Independent Spirit Awards' nominations will be revealed today (expect to see Precious!). On Thursday, the NBR Awards will be revealed (they are considered to be one of the most prestigious critic awards during Award Season).

[LUXXX]

Sandra Bullock is looking like the dark horse to take one of the slots in Best Actress for The Blind Side, it would be her first nomination.

[PoppyAzura]

Nominees for the 25th Film Independent Spirit Awards

Best feature: "(500) Days of Summer," "Amreeka," "Precious," "Sin Nombre," "The Last Station"

Best director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, "A Serious Man"; Lee Daniels, "Precious"; Cary Joji Fukunaga, "Sin Nombre"; James Gray, "Two Lovers;" Michael Hoffman, "The Last Station"

Best screenplay: Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman, "The Messenger"; Michael Hoffman, "The Last Station"; Lee Toland Krieger, "The Vicious Kind"; Greg Mottola, "Adventureland"; Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber, "(500) Days of Summer"

Best first feature: "A Single Man," "Crazy Heart," "Easier With Practice," "Paranormal Activity," "The Messenger"

Best first screenplay: Sophie Barthes, "Cold Souls"; Scott Cooper, "Crazy Heart"; Cherien Dabis, "Amreeka"; Geoffrey Fletcher, "Precious"; Tom Ford, David Scearce, "A Single Man"

John Cassavetes Award: "Big Fan," "Humpday," "The New Year Parade," "Treeless Mountain," "Zero Bridge"

Best female lead: Maria Bello, "Downloading Nancy"; Nisreen Faour, "Amreeka"; Helen Mirren, "The Last Station"; Gwyneth Paltrow, "Two Lovers"' Gabourey Sidibe, "Precious"

Best male lead: Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"; Colin Firth, "A Single Man"; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, "(500) Days of Summer"; Souleymane Sy Savane, "Goodbye Solo"; Adam Scott, "The Vicious Kind"

Best supporting female: Dina Korzun, "Cold Souls"; Mo'Nique, "Precious"; Samantha Morton, "The Messenger"; Natalie Press, "Fifty Dead Men Walking"; Mia Wasikowska, "That Evening Sun"

Best supporting male: Jemaine Clement, "Gentlemen Broncos"; Woody Harrelson, "The Messenger"; Christian McKay, "Me and Orson Welles"; Raymond McKinnon, "That Evening Sun"; Christopher Plummer, "The Last Station"

Best cinematography: Roger Deakins, "A Serious Man"; Adriano Goldman, "Sin Nombre"; Anne Misawa, "Treeless Mountain"; Andrij Parekh, "Cold Souls"; Peter Zeitlinger, "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans"

Best documentary: "Anvil! The Story of Anvil," "Food, Inc.," "More Than a Game," "October Country," "Which Way Home"

Best foreign film: "A Prophet," "An Education," "Everlasting Moments," "Mother," "The Maid"

Acura Someone to Watch Award: Kyle Patrick Alvarez, "Easier With Practice"; Asiel Norton, "Redland"; Tariq Tapa, "Zero Bridge"

Truer Than Fiction Award: Natalia Almada, "El General"; Jessica Oreck, "Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo"; Bill Ross, Turner Ross, "45365"

Piaget Producers Award: Karin Chien, ("The Exploding Girl," "Santa Mesa"); Larry Fessenden, ("I Sell the Dead," "The House of the Devil"); Dia Sokol, ("Beeswax," "Nights & Weekends")

[Decalion]

It's been a very weak year indeed. For BP, I myself would only nominate 500 Days of Summer and Inglourious Basterds, and neither of those are quite as good as, say Atonement and No Country For Old Men were in 07. I'd give Tarantino the best director Oscar without hesitation, though.