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Monday Roundup: Oscar predictions; 250 acclaimed films of 21st century

With the nominations for the 82nd Academy Awards less than 24 hours away, we thought it might be helpful (for your betting purposes and otherwise) to see how the online critical community is placing their bets. A casual stroll through the sites yields no radical decisions (unless you consider my oscarpredictions.com's choice of "Amelia" for best picture radical, though I think there's a more appropriate term for it), but a few interesting inclusions amid the volley of votes for "Avatar," "The Hurt Locker," "Precious" and "Inglourious Basterds."

Dave Karger at EW.com resurrects his biggest surprises post from 2009, with some impressively feasible selections. Chief among them: "Invictus" gets shut out of the nominations entirely, and "Avatar's" Zoe Saldana trumps Helen Mirren in the best actress category. I wouldn't be slack-jawed to see at least one of these come true Tuesday, though his pick of "Stu's Song" from "The Hangover" for best original song seems the least likely.

Jeff Sneider has a few surprises of his own at his blog, The InSneider. Jeff has "Where the Wild Things Are" among his 10 in the best picture category (as did I), and he's favoring Lone ("An Education") Scherfig over Lee Daniels as best director. Biggest deviation from the accepted Oscar picks: his selection of Javier Bardem from Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "Biutiful" for best actor; he's given the film, which has yet to be released in the States, a nod in the original screenplay department.

There's quite a bit of pull for J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" to make its way into the best picture race; Peter Keogh at the Boston Phoenix makes an imaginative argument for its political relevancy a la "Avatar" by comparing Kirk and Spock to George W. Bush and Barack Obama (!). Same goes for Disney/Pixar's "Up," which many hope to see in the best picture category rather than best animated feature, including the voters polled at The Daily Beast.

The Oscar predicts also seem to be the final chance for many critics and bloggers to put in a good word for favorites that flew under the radar this year. Case in point: Peter Knegt's Lost Boy blog, which favors Ang Lee's "Taking Woodstock" for best picture and best director, and Michelle Pfeiffer in "Cheri" as the lock for best actress. Sweet but unlikely in the face of the "Avatar" juggernaut.

Anyway, it's all moot come the dawn Tuesday, but it's interesting to play "What if ...?"

Meanwhile, the movie list tabulators over at They Shoot Pictures, Don't They (TSPDT) have updated their ongoing list of the 21st century's most acclaimed films. The list, based on critical year-end lists from 2000 to 2009 and some mathematical computations that I won't even try to explain to you, now includes a number of 2009 releases and a few Oscar hopefuls among them, including "The Hurt Locker" (the best reviewed film of last year, according to TSPDT), "The Fantastic Mr. Fox," "A Serious Man" and "Up in the Air." And the most acclaimed film of the 21st century? Wong Kar-Wai's "In the Mood for Love," followed by David Lynch's "Mulholland Dr.," which topped most critics' best-of-the-decade lists.

-- Paul Gaita
Photo: Image from "Avatar." Credit: 20th Century Fox.

Wednesday Roundup: Ricky Gervais chats on Globes; DGA documentary noms; Tobey Maguire

Admit it: You're dying to know what Ricky Gervais is going to say when he hosts the 67th Golden Globes. Well, if you'd like to ask him in advance, your chance has arrived: The video broadcast platform uStream, which has partnered with the Globes to provide exclusive content, is offering an interactive chat with the writer-comedian at 5 p.m. Friday. You can submit your burning questions to Gervais via Facebook or by downloading the uStream app to your iPhone. And lest you forget, Gervais hosts the Globes on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Directors Guild of America (DGA) announced its nominations for outstanding directorial achievement in documentary. The quintet of pictures includes three on the Oscar documentary shortlist — Agnes Varda's "The Beaches of Agnes," Robert Kenner's "Food, Inc." and Mai Iskander's "Garbage Dreams" — along with the year's underdog, Sacha Gervasi's "Anvil! The Story of Anvil." Geoffrey Smith's "The English Surgeon," about a British neurosurgeon who travels yearly to the Ukraine to help patients in need, rounds out the group; all five are first-time DGA Award nominees. The winners will be announced at the 62nd DGA Awards Dinner on Jan. 30.

It's been a tough week for Tobey Maguire. Not only is he out of his gig as Spider-Man following Sony's decision to shelve the fourth film in the Sam Raimi-directed series in favor of a complete revamp of the franchise, but he's fairly sure that he's out of the Oscar race as well in regard to his acclaimed performance in "Brothers." Though Maguire received a Golden Globe nomination for his turn as a shellshocked veteran of Afghanistan, he was passed over for a nod from the Screen Actors Guild and expects that he'll fare the same come Oscar time. "I'm OK with that," he said in an Associated Press interview. I'm just really excited about the attention that the film has gotten. It's been a thrill to get a Golden Globe nomination and get some of the attention personally, but I'm honestly more excited that the film's gotten the attention." Such modesty in the face of unemployment ...

— Paul Gaita

Photo: Ricky Gervais. Credit: Getty Images.

Wednesday roundup: Online Film Critics Society winners; SXSW Film Fest; Cormac McCarthy; Mariah at PSIFF

"The Hurt Locker" continued its winning ways in this award season by capturing four of the top honors from the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS).
Kathryn Bigelow's war drama was named best picture, with star Jeremy Renner and Bigelow taking the best actor and best director laurels; editors Chris Innis and Bob Murawski were also named best in their category.
Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" also earned four from the society; Tarantino took home the best original screenplay, while on-screen antagonists Melanie Laurent and Christoph Waltz walked off with best actress and best supporting actor. "Basterds" cinematographer completed the WWII meta-actioner's quartet. Few surprises were found in the remaining awards; Mo'Nique was the expected winner of the best supporting actress race, while "Up" and Michael Haneke's Palm d'Or-winning "White Ribbon" swept the animation and foreign film (or as the OFCS calls it, "Best Film Not in the English Language") categories. Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach's script for "Fantastic Mr. Fox" won best adapted screenplay, while the underdogs of "Anvil!" got one more affirmation by landing best documentary. For the full list of winners and nominees, visit the OFCS blog.

Though the official lineup announcement won't be revealed until February, Cinematical has word on additional titles for the 2010 SXSW Film Festival. Among the more highly anticipated screenings is "Kick-Ass," the live-action adaptation of the Marvel Comics series by "Layer Cake" director Matthew Vaughn. The comedy, which stars Nicolas Cage, Aaron Johnson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse, will serve as the fest's opening night feature. Also on the docket: "Lemmy," a documentary about Motorhead's indestructible frontman, Lemmy Kilmister, and "Saturday Night," a documentary by actor James Franco that takes a look behind the scenes on "Saturday Night Live," as well as Sebastian Gutierrez's "Electra Luxx" and Steve James' "No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson," as reported on Monday. The 2010 edition of SXSW takes place in Austin, Texas, from March 12 to 21.

Elsewhere, the Guardian has an amusing essay from playwright Joe Penhall, who wrote the screenplay for "The Road," on meeting author Cormac McCarthy, who penned the Pulitzer Prize-winning source material. Penhall met the notoriously private writer for the purpose of getting his notes on the film. Over burgers and a nice Shiraz, McCarthy ended up giving him a whole lot more. It's a lovely and charmingly off-kilter story, and a rare glimpse into McCarthy's inner circle.

And lastly, whatever Mariah Carey was having shortly before accepting her Breakthrough Artist Award from the Palm Springs International Film Festival, I'd like a few cases of it too.
-- Paul Gaita

Photo: From "The Hurt Locker." Credit: Summit Entertainment.
More from The Envelope:
Seven films remain in the VFX Oscar race, but can any beat "Avatar?"
Podcast: Bryce Dallas Howard on "Loss of a Teadrop Diamond"
Major studios come roaring back in the PGA nominations

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Joss Whedon is PGA's 2010 Vanguard Award recipient

Although his Fox series "Dollhouse" is no more, Joss Whedon has a reason to be happy this year: He will receive the 2010 Vanguard Award from the Producers Guild of America (PGA). The award, which recognizes achievement in new media and technology, will be presented to Whedon on Jan. 24 at the 21st annual PGA Awards.

Emmy nominee Whedon is a smart choice for this year's award; although he's built the core of his fan base with cult favorite television series such as "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Firefly" and "Angel" (as well as feature scripts for "Toy Story," among others), he established himself as one of the few writer-producers in traditional media to have a strong grasp of the potential for entertainment on the Internet with his Emmy-nominated 2008 Web series "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog." The musical project, which poked fun at romantic comedies and superhero tropes, was frequently cited by entertainment and technology publications and sites alike as the most successful working model of how to create independently produced Internet content that also draws a profit (outside of the adult film industry, of course). Whedon's savvy and forward thinking are certainly worthy of such a tribute, which in the past has been paid to such visionary filmmakers as James Cameron, George Lucas and John Lasseter -- the last of whom, by the way, will receive the 2010 David O. Selznick Award in Motion Pictures from the PGA at the same event.

Whedon's response to the honor was typically wry and self-effacing: "This is an honor I didn't expect and probably don't deserve," he wrote - but also acknowledged the path that "Dr. Horrible" was blazing in new media. "This is a time of radical change in media delivery, and I'm honestly proud that the PGA has singled me out as someone who sort of knows what's going on."

-- Paul Gaita

Photo: Joss Whedon. Credit: 42West

Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia top Webby Awards Top 10 Web Moments of the Decade

The Webby Awards, the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, released its list of the Top 10 Most Influential Internet Moments of the Decade. The list, which covers everything from the rise of Craigslist to the 2008 presidential campaign, underscores the Internet's impact on major decisions in the lives of people around the globe.

The list is as follows:

Craigslist's expansion outside of its home turf of San Francisco, which revamped the accepted model of classified advertising. (2000)

The launch of Google AdWords, which, as the Webbys put it, "turned advertising on its head" by opening the marketplace to any business.(2001)

The launch of Wikipedia, which, with its 14 million articles in 271 different languages, unites readers and researchers from around the world to collaborate on educational and informational projects. (2001)

The closure of Napster, which in turn gave rise to a flood of media-sharing sites, from iTunes to Hulu (2001)

Google's IPO, which helped to turn the search engine, which claims Gmail, YouTube, Google Maps, Google Earth and a host of other innovations, into the most dominant and influential company of the decade. (2004).

The online video revolution, led by YouTube, which made amateurs into Web stars and further changed the means of how news, entertainment and advertising reaches the population. (2006)

Facebook opens to non-college students in 2006, the same year that Twitter launches. Both have immediate and lasting effects on both the course of social networking media, but also how people connect and interact with each other. (2006)

The debut of the iPhone, which turned smart phones into items of everyday necessity, and proved that there was indeed an app for every occasion. (2007)

The U.S. presidential campaign utilized the Internet to inspire (and at times, enrage) voters to become a part of the political process through online video, fund-raising and social media. The result was a completely new paradigm for American politics. (2008)

The protests over the Iranian presidential election of 2009 showed that social networking media like Twitter could be used as a force for positive change in a regime that, despite its best efforts, could not censor the will of the people and its technology. (2009)

And in other Webby news, the 14th annual Webby Awards will be announced in April 2010. The awards pay tribute to excellence on the 'Net in a variety of categories, including news, advertising and online film and video.

-- Paul Gaita

Photo: President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama on Jan. 20, 2009, shortly before being sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. Credit: Getty Images.

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