TRASH IN MY EYE Reviews

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Alliance of Women Film Journalists' 2012 EDA Nominations

According the organization’s website, The Alliance of Women Film Journalists, Inc. (AWFJ), was founded in 2006. The membership is made up of “highly qualified professional female movie critics, reporters and feature writers working in print, broadcast and online media.” Its state purpose is to “support work by and about women - both in front of and behind the cameras - through intra-group promotional activities, outreach programs and by presenting the annual EDA Awards in recognition of outstanding accomplishments (the best and worst) by and about women in the movies.”

2012 EDA Award Nominees
In December, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists announced the nominees for the 2012 AWFJ EDA Awards. The winners will be announced on January 7, 2013.

Listed by category and in alphabetical order, the nominees are:

AWFJ BEST OF AWARDS

Best Film
Argo
Lincoln
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director
Ben Affleck - Argo
Kathryn Bigelow - Zero Dark Thirty
Steven Speilberg - Lincoln

Best Screenplay, Original
Amour - Michael Haneke.
Moonrise Kingdom - Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty - Mark Boal

Best Screenplay, Adapted
Argo - Chris Terrio
Lincoln - Tony Kushner,
Silver Linings Playbook - David O. Russell

Best Documentary
The Gatekeepers - Dror Moreh
The Imposter - Bart Layton
The Invisible War - Kirby Dick
Searching For Sugar Man - Malik Bendjelloul

Best Animated Film
Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman

Best Actress
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams - The Master
Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables

Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln
John Hawkes - The Sessions
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin - Argo
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

Best Ensemble Cast
Argo
Lincoln
Silver Linings Notebook

Best Editing
Argo - William Goldenberg
Cloud Atlas - Alexander Berner
Zero Dark Thirty - William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor

Best Cinematography
The Life of Pi - Claudio Miranda
The Master - Mihai Malaimare, Jr.
Skyfall - Roger Deakins

Best Film Music Or Score
Argo - Alexandre Desplat
Beasts of the Southern Wild - Dan Romer, Benh Zeitlin
Zero Dark Thirty - Alexandre Desplat

Best Non-English-Language Film
Amour (Austria)
A Royal Affair
Rust and Bone (Belgium/France)

EDA FEMALE FOCUS AWARDS – These awards honor WOMEN only.

Best Woman Director
Andrea Arnold - Wuthering Heights
Kathryn Bigelow - Zero Dark Thirty
Sarah Polley - Take This Waltz

Best Woman Screenwriter
Lucy Alibar (and Benh Zeitlin) - Beasts of the Southern Wild
Zoe Kazan - Ruby Sparks
Ava DuVernay - Middle of Nowhere
Sarah Polley - Take This Waltz

Kick Ass Award For Best Female Action Star
Gina Carano - Haywire
Anne Hathaway - The Dark Knight Rises
Jennifer Lawrence - The Hunger Games

Best Animated Female
Brave - Merida - Kelly Macdonald
Rise of the Guardians - Tooth - Isla Fisher
Wreck-It Ralph - Vanellope - Sarah Silverman

Best Breakthrough Performance
Samantha Barks - Les Miserables
Ann Dowd - Compliance
Alicia Vikander - A Royal Affair
Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild

Actress Defying Age and Ageism
Judi Dench - Skyfall
Helen Mirren - Hitchcock
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour

AWFJ Award For Humanitarian Activism - Female Icon Award
(Presented to an actress for the portrayal of the most positive female role model, or for a role in which she takes personal and/or career risks to plumb the female psyche and therefore gives us courage to plumb our own, and/or for putting forth the image of a woman who is heroic, accomplished, persistent, demands her rights and/or the rights of others.)

Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Judi Dench - Skyfall

This Year’s Outstanding Achievement By A Woman In The Film Industry
(Presented only when warranted to a female who has had a banner-making, record-breaking, industry-changing achievement during any given year — such as Kathryn Bigelow’s Best Director Oscar win, or for an actress having multiple outstanding films released during one year.)

Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence for The Hunger Games and Silver Linings Playbook
Women Documentary Filmmakers, including Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Detropia), Lauren Greenfield (Queen of Versailles), Alison Klayman (Ai Weiwei Never Sorry) and Sarah Burns (The Central Park Five).

EDA SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

AWFJ Hall Of Shame Award
Sean Anders for That’s My Boy
Sacha Baron Cohen for The Dictator
Gabriele Muccino for Playing For Keeps

Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent
Katherine Heigl - One For The Money
Nicole Kidman - The Paperboy
Reese Witherspoon - This Means War

Movie You Wanted To Love But Just Couldn’t
Anna Karenina
Cloud Atlas
Les Miserables

Unforgettable Moment Award
Argo - The runway chase.
Flight - Crash sequence
Les Miserables - Anne Hathaway as Fantine sings I Dreamed A Dream
Rust and Bone - Marion Cotillard as Stephanie dances in the wheelchair.
Zero Dark Thirty - Jessica Chastain as Maya says, “I’m the mother…”

Best Depiction Of Nudity, Sexuality, or Seduction
Anna Karenina - Keira Knightly and Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Rust and Bone - Marion Cotilliard
The Sessions - Helen Hunt and John Hawkes

Sequel or Remake That Shouldn’t Have Been Made Award
Amazing Spiderman
Red Dawn
Total Recall

Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Leading Man and The Love Interest Award
Flight - Denzel Washington and Kelly Reilly,..and Nadine Velazquez
Seeking a Friend For the End of the World - Steve Carell and Keira Knightly
Silver Linings Notebook - Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence

http://awfj.org/

Saturday, January 5, 2013

2012 Satellite Awards Honor "Silver Linings Playbook"

The International Press Academy (IPA) chose Silver Linings Playbook as the "Best Film of 2012." The IPA is an entertainment media association with voting members worldwide who represent domestic and foreign markets via print, television, radio, blogs, and other content platforms for virtually every notable outlet.

Each year the IPA honors artistic excellence in the areas of Motion Pictures, Television, Radio, and New Media via the Satellite® Awards.

Complete List of 2012 Satellite Award Winners and Nominees (Announced December 16, 2012):

MOTION PICTURES CATEGORIES

Motion Picture
Silver Linings Playbook, The Weinstein Co. WINNER

Argo, Warner Bros.
Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Les Miserables, Universal
Skyfall, Columbia Pictures
Moonrise Kingdom, Focus Features
The Sessions, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Lincoln, DreamWorks/Touchstone
Life of Pi, Twentieth Century Fox
Zero Dark Thirty, Columbia Pictures

Director
David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook, The Weinstein Co. WINNER

Ben Affleck for Argo, Warner Bros.
Kim Ki-Duk for Pieta, Drafthouse Films
Ben Lewin for The Sessions, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Steven Spielberg for Lincoln, DreamWorks/Touchstone
Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty, Columbia Pictures

Actress in a Motion Picture
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook, The Weinstein Co. WINNER

Emilie Dequenne, Our Children, Versus Production
Keira Knightley, Anna Karenina, Focus Features
Emmanuelle, Riva Amour, Sony Pictures Classics
Laura Birn, Purge, Solar Films
Laura Linney, Hyde Park on Hudson, Focus Features
Jessica Chastain Zero Dark Thirty, Columbia Pictures

Actor in a Motion Picture
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook, The Weinstein Co. WINNER

John Hawkes, The Sessions, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Omar Sy, The Intouchables, The Weinstein Co.
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables, Universal
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master, The Weinstein Co.
Denzel Washington, Flight, Paramount Pictures
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln, DreamWorks/Touchstone

Actress in a Supporting Role
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables, Universal WINNER

Amy Adams, The Master, The Weinstein Co.
Helene Florent, Cafe De Flore, Adopt Films
Helen Hunt, The Sessions, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Judi Dench, Skyfall, Columbia Pictures
Samantha Barks, Les Miserables, Universal

Actor in a Supporting Role
Javier Bardem, Skyfall, Columbia Pictures WINNER

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master, The Weinstein Co.
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook, The Weinstein Co.
John Goodman, Flight, Paramount Pictures
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln, DreamWorks/Touchstone
Eddie Redmayne, Les Miserables, Universal

Motion Picture, International Film
The Intouchables, The Weinstein Co. (France) WINNER

Amour, Sony Pictures Classics (Austria)
A Royal Affair, Magnolia Pictures (Denmark)
Our Children, Le Films Du Losange (Belgium)
Kon-Tiki, The Weinstein Co. (Norway)
Pieta, Drafthouse Films (South Korea)
Beyond the Hills, Sundance Selects (Romania)
War Witch, Tribeca Film (Canada)
Caesar Must Die, Adopt Film (Italy)

Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media
Rise of the Guardians, DreamWorks Animation WINNER

ParaNorman, Focus Features
Wreck-It Ralph, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Brave, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Ice Age 4: Continental Drift, Twentieth Century Fox Animation
Frankenweenie, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, DreamWorks Animation

Motion Picture, Documentary
Chasing Ice, National Geographic WINNER

The Central Park Five, Sundance Selects
The Pruitt-Igoe, Myth First Run Features
The Gatekeepers, Sony Pictures Classics
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, Sundance Selects
West of Memphis, Sony Pictures Classics
Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present, Music Box Films
Searching for Sugar Man, Sony Pictures Classics

Original Screenplay
Mark Boal - Zero Dark Thirty, Columbia Pictures WINNER

Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache - The Intouchables, The Weinstein Co.
John Gatins - Flight, Paramount Pictures
Kim Ki-Duk - Pieta, Drafthouse Films
Roman Coppola, Wes Anderson - Moonrise Kingdom, Focus Features
Paul Thomas Anderson - The Master, The Weinstein Co.

Adapted Screenplay
David Magee - Life of Pi; Twentieth Century Fox (Based on the Novel by Yann Martel) WINNER

• Ben Lewin - The Sessions; Fox Searchlight Pictures (Based on documentary Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O’Brien, Directed by Jessica Yu)

• Tony Kushner, John Logan, Paul Webb – Lincoln; DreamWorks/Touchstone (Based on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin)

• Chris Terrio – Argo; Warner Bros. (Based on magazine article “Escape From Tehran” by Joshuah Berman)

• Tom Stoppard - Anna Karenina; Focus Features (Based on the novel by Leo Tolstoy)

• David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook, The Weinstein Co. (Based on the novel by Matthew Quick)

Original Score (Composer, Film)
Alexandre Desplat for Argo, Warner Bros. WINNER

Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina, Focus Features
Thomas Newman for Skyfall, Columbia Pictures
Jonny Greenwood for The Master, The Weinstein Co.
John Williams for Lincoln, DreamWorks/Touchstone
Dan Romer, Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fox Searchlight Pictures

Original Song (Title, Performer, Writer(s), Film)
"Suddenly, " Hugh Jackman, Alain Boubil, Herbert Kretzmer, from Les Miserables WINNER

• "Learn Me Right, " Birdy Birdy & Mumford and Sons, Mumford and Sons, from Brave

• "Still Alive, " Paul Williams, Paul Williams, Paul Williams: from Still Alive

• "Skyfall, " Adele, Adele Adkins, Paul Epworth, from Skyfall

• "Fire in the Blood/Snake Song, " Emmylou Harris, Emmylou Harris, Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, from Lawless

• "Love Always Comes as a Surprise." Peter Asher, Peter Asher & Dave Stewart, from Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted

Cinematography
Claudio Miranda, for Life of Pi, Twentieth Century Fox WINNER

Ben Richardson, for Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Mihai Malaimare Jr., for The Master, The Weinstein Co.
Janusz Kaminski, for Lincoln, DreamWorks/Touchstone
Roger Deakins, for Skyfall, Columbia Pictures
Seamus McGarvey, for Anna Karenina, Focus Features

Visual Effects
Michael Lantieri, Kevin Baillie, Ryan Tudhope, Jim Gibbs, for Flight, Paramount Pictures WINNER

• Steve Begg, Arundi Asregadoo, Andrew Whitehurst, for Skyfall, Columbia Pictures

• Richard Stammers, Charley Henley, Martin Hill, for Prometheus, Twentieth Century Fox

• Bill Westenhofer, for Life of Pi, Twentieth Century Fox

• Dan Glass, Geoffrey Hancock, Stephane Ceretti, for Cloud Atlas, Warner Bros.

• Chris Corbould, Paul Franklin, for The Dark Knight Rises, Warner Bros.

Film Editing
Jay Cassidy, for Silver Linings Playbook, The Weinstein Co. WINNER

Lisa Bromwell, for The Sessions, Fox Searchlight Pictures
Jeremiah O’Driscoll, for Flight, Paramount Pictures
Dylan Tichenor, for Zero Dark Thirty, Columbia Pictures
Alexander Berner, for Cloud Atlas, Warner Bros
Chris Dickens, for Les Miserables, Universal

Sound (Editing and Mixing)
John Warhurst, Lee Walpole, Simon Hayes, for Les Miserables, Universal WINNER

• Dennis Leonard, Randy Thom, for Flight, Paramount Pictures

• Craig Henighan, Chris Munro, for Snow White & The Huntsman, Universal

• Baard H. Ingebretsen, Tormod Ringes, for Kon-Tiki, The Weinstein Co.

• Drew Kunin, Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton, for Life of Pi, Twentieth Century Fox

• Victor Ray Ennis, Ann Scibelli, John Cucci, Mark P. Stoeckinger for Prometheus Twentieth Century Fox

Art Direction & Production Design
Rick Carter, Curt Beech, David Crank, Leslie McDonald, for Lincoln, DreamWorks/Touchstone WINNER

• Nathan Crowley, Kevin Kavanaugh, James Hambidge, Naaman Marshall, for The Dark Knight Rises, Warner Bros.

• Niels Sejer, for A Royal Affair, Magnolia Pictures

• David Crank, Jack Fisk, for The Master, The Weinstein Co.

• Sarah Greenwood, Niall Moroney, Thomas Brown, Nick Gottschalk, Tom Still, for Anna Karenina, Focus Features

• Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson, for Les Miserables, Universal

Costume Design
Manon Rasmussen for A Royal Affair, Magnolia Pictures WINNER

Colleen Atwood for Snow White & The Huntsman, Universal
Christian Gasc, Valerie Ranchoux, for Farewell, My Queen, Cohen Media Group
Jacqueline Durran, for Anna Karenina, Focus Features
Kym Barrett, Pierre-Yves Gayraud, for Cloud Atlas, Warner Bros
Paco Delgado, for Les Miserables, Universal

SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
Mary Pickford Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to the Entertainment Industry: Terence Stamp

Nikola Tesla Award In Recognition of Visionary Achievement in Filmmaking Technology: Walter Murch

Auteur Award: Paul Williams

Honorary Satellite Award: Bruce Davison

Newcomer Award: Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Ensemble, Motion Picture: Les Miserables

Friday, January 4, 2013

Austin Film Critics Name "Zero Dark Thirty" As Best Film of 2012

The Austin Film Critics Association (AFCA) named Zero Dark Thirty as the "Best Film of 2012," but gave "Best Director" to Paul Thomas Andrson for The Master.

The AFCA describes itself as “a group dedicated to supporting the best in film, whether at the international, national, or local level.” The group includes Austin-based members who write for such publications, television media, and websites as Ain't It Cool News, the Austin American-Statesman, the Austin Chronicle, CNN, Fandango, Film.com, Film School Rejects, Fox News, MSN Movies, Movies.com, among others.

2012 AFCA Awards:

Best Film
"Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, "The Master"

Best Actor
Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"

Best Actress
Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"

Best Supporting Actress
Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"

Best Adapted Screenplay
"Argo"

Best Original Screenplay
"Looper"

Best Cinematography
"The Master"

Best Score
"Cloud Atlas"

Best Animated Film
"Wreck-It Ralph"

Best Foreign Language Film
"Holy Motors" (France/Germany)

Best Documentary
"The Imposter"

Best First Film
"Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Best Austin Film
"Bernie"

Breakthrough Artist Award
Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Special Honorary Award
Matthew McConaughey, "Bernie," "Killer Joe," "Magic Mike" and "The Paperboy"

Top 10:
1. "Zero Dark Thirty"

2. "Argo"

3. "Moonrise Kingdom"

4. "Django Unchained"

5. "Cloud Atlas"

6. "Holy Motors"

7. "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

8. "The Master"

9. "Silver Linings Playbook"

10. "Looper"

Thursday, January 3, 2013

African-American Film Critics Honor "Zero Dark Thirty"

The African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) chose Zero Dark Thirty as the "Best Picture" of 2012, but honored the director of Argo, Ben Affleck, as "Best Director." The AAFCA is a group of African-American film critics that give various awards for excellence in film at the end of each year. The association was founded in 2003 by Gil L. Robertson IV and Shawn Edwards.

2012 African-American Film Critics Association Awards:

Best Picture: "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Director: Ben Affleck, "Argo"

Best Actress: Emayatzy Corinealdi, "Middle of Nowhere"

Best Actor: Denzel Washington, "Flight"

Best Supporting Actress: Sally Field, "Lincoln"

Best Supporting Actor: Nate Parker, "Arbitrage"

Best Screenplay: Ava DuVernay, "Middle of Nowhere"

Best Foreign Language Film: "The Intouchables" (France)

Best Documentary: (tie) "The House I Live In" and "Versailles '73: American Runway Revolution"

Best Animated Feature: "Rise of the Guardians"

Best Independent Film: "Middle of Nowhere"

Best Breakthrough Performer: Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Best Music: Kathryn Bostic and Morgan Rhodes, "Middle of Nowhere"

Special Achievement Awards: Cicely Tyson and Billy Dee Williams

Top 10:
1. "Zero Dark Thirty"

2. "Argo"

3. "Lincoln"

4. "Middle of Nowhere"

5. "Life of Pi"

6. "Les Misérables"

7. "Django Unchained"

8. "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

9. "Moonrise Kingdom"

10. "Think Like a Man"

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Review: "Django Unchained" is Off the Hook

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 1 (of 2013) by Leroy Douresseaux

Django Unchained (2012)
Running time: 165 minutes (2 hours, 45 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong graphic violence throughout, a vicious fight, language and some nudity
WRITER/DIRECTOR: Quentin Tarantino
PRODUCERS: Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Robert Richardson
EDITOR: Fred Raskin

WESTERN/DRAMA/ACTION

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, James Remar, Walton Goggins, Laura Cayouette, and Samuel L. Jackson

Django Unchained is a 2012 American Western film and revenge movie from Oscar-winning screenwriter and director Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction). Like his previous film, Inglourious Basterds, Django Unchained is an alternate-history movie.

Django Unchained focuses on a slave-turned-bounty hunter who, with the help of his mentor, sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner. The name “Django” comes from the 1966 Italian “Spaghetti Western,” Django, which inspired Tarantino’s film. Franco Nero, the actor who portrayed Django in the 1966 movie, also has a cameo in Django Unchained.

The film opens in 1858. Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German dentist turned bounty hunter, buys a slave, Django (Jamie Foxx). Shultz wants Django because the slave can identify the Brittle Brothers, a gang of ruthless killers. Recognizing that the slave’s talents that could make him a good bounty hunter, Schultz offers Django two things: (1) he will free Django and (2) he will help Django find his wife, Broomhilda Von Shaft (Kerry Washington), who is still a slave. In return, Shultz wants Django’s help collecting bounties.

However, Broomhilda is now owned by a charming but brutal slave owner named Calvin J. Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Candie owns the plantation, Candyland, in Greenville, Mississippi. There, male slaves are trained to fight for sport (“Mandingo fighting”) and female slaves are sold into prostitution. Infiltrating Candyland and collecting Broomhilda will be Django and Shultz’s most difficult bounty.

Now that I look back on Inglourious Basterds, I like it now more than I did when I first saw it back in 2009. I gave it a grade of “B” (6 of 10). Tarantino’s screwball take on World War II history in that movie prepared me for the freedom with history that Tarantino takes with Django Unchained. Of the movies released in 2012, Django Unchained is the best one I’ve seen so far.

As in all his works, Tarantino’s imagination, inventiveness, and, of course, his encyclopedic knowledge of films results in a screenplay full of outrageous notions, scandalous scenarios, shocking sequences, and mind-blowing scenes. So we get great cinema. Tarantino makes spellbinding films filled with hypnotic characters, plots twists, and settings. And Django Unchained is no exception; it is simply great

Django Unchained is essentially three movies: a quasi-slave narrative, a gun-slinging Western, and a revenge movie that come together as a Spaghetti Western, more so than as an American Western film, especially the ones made before the 1960s. This film looks and acts like a Western, only, the cowboy hero is a slave-turned-bounty hunter and the Old West town in need of taming is a Mississippi plantation.

The result of Tarantino’s genius screenwriting is that the actors cast in his films have the material to fashion great characters, regardless of the individual actor’s level of talent. When the talent is Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson, magic happens. Foxx reveals the evolution of Django from slave to free man in a way that allows the viewer to share the change; Foxx makes Django passionate, vulnerable, and a true cowboy movie hero.

I initially was not crazy about Christoph Waltz as the Nazi colonel and “Jew hunter,” Hans Landa, in Inglourious Basterds, but I’ve grown to love that performance. Landa was not a fluke; here, Waltz fashions a man of many of colors in Dr. King Shultz, a performance which deserves at least an Oscar nomination. Leonardo DiCaprio is a blazing star as Calvin J. Candie, simply because DiCaprio creates a monster in Candie by not being what people probably expect – over the top and inflammatory. There is some subtlety, grace, and depth in DiCaprio’s performance here.

Sam Jackson won’t get the Oscar he deserves for creating Stephen, the ultimate / major domo “house nigger” and Candie’s right-hand man. As great as Foxx, Waltz, and DiCaprio are, Jackson creates a supporting character that is as good as the best in American cinematic history. Stephen is so reprehensible and is odious to the point of being intolerable, and the character is embarrassingly real in the context of the history of American slavery. Jackson will likely be left out because the Academy that hands out Oscar nominations will likely pay more attention to Waltz and perhaps, DiCaprio than Jackson. Besides, Stephen may be a bit too much for conservative Oscar voters to take.

But that is the magic of what Quentin Tarantino can create. He is the best director of his generation – better than the likes of such stalwarts as Chris Nolan and David Fincher. Django Unchained proves it.

10 of 10

Saturday, December 29, 2012

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Black Film Critics Circle Chooses "Zero Dark Thirty"

The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC) chose Zero Dark Thirty as the best film of 2012. The group was founded in 2010 and is a membership organization comprised of film critics of color from daily newspapers, weekly newspapers, magazines, radio, television and qualifying on-line publications.

2012 Black Film Critics Circle:

Best Film: "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"

Best Adapted Screenplay: "Argo"

Best Original Screenplay: "Django Unchained"

Best Animated Film: "Rise of the Guardians"

Best Foreign Film: "The Intouchables" (from France)

Best Documentary: "The Central Park Five"

Best Ensemble: "Lincoln"