Kathryn Bigelow Wins Director's Guild Award for Hurt Locker

Kathryn Bigelow [AP photo above], ex-wife of director James Cameron, won the Director's Guild of America's best director award for The Hurt Locker. The winner has won the Academy Award all but six times since 1948. Bigelow is the first woman to win the award. Previously, only Lena Wertmuller (Seven Beauties) and Barbra Streisand (The Prince of Tides) have been female Oscar® nominees for directing. Louie Psychohos won for documentary directing for The Cove. Ross Katz won the award for tv miniseries or movie for Taking Chance. Here is the official site for the Directors Guild of America The six exceptions of DGA winners not winning the Academy Award are:

• 1968: Anthony Harvey won the DGA Award for The Lion in Winter while Carol Reed took home the Oscar® for Oliver!
• 1972: Francis Ford Coppola received the DGA's nod for The Godfather while the Academy selected Bob Fosse for Cabaret.
• 1985: Steven Spielberg received his first DGA Award for The Color Purple while the Oscar® went to Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa.
• 1995: Ron Howard was chosen by the DGA for his direction of Apollo 13 while Academy voters selected Mel Gibson for Braveheart.
• 2000: Ang Lee won the DGA Award for his direction of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon while Steven Soderbergh won the Academy Award for Traffic.
• 2002: Rob Marshall won the DGA Award for Chicago at the 55th Annual DGA Awards while Roman Polanski received the Academy Award for The Pianist.

Jean Simmons (1929-2010)

Jan 31, 1929 - Jan 22, 2010 Jean Simmons was born in England, and was once touted as the "British Elizabeth Taylor". She made her big film break at 17 as the ravishing and arrogant young Estella in David Lean's version of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations (1946). She was then cast as an exotic dancer by Michael Powell in Black Narcissus (1947). She came to the U.S. after Howard Hughes bought her film contract from Arthur Rank. Though nominated twice (Hamlet, The Happy Ending) she never won an Oscar®, but did win Golden Globe awards for Guys and Dolls, and a special award for "Most Versatile Actress". She became known for a mischievious smile as if harboring a devilish thought. My favorite roles of hers were as Sister Sharon in the searing indictment of evangelism, Sinclair Lewis' Elmer Gantry, in which she was directed by future husband Richard Brooks and starred opposite Burt Lancaster in his Oscar®-winning title role; and in her Oscar®-nominated role as a melancholy housewife opposite John Forsythe in The Happy Ending, an ironic title. Her 96th and last film was in 2009, in the British film Shadows in the Sun. She died in Santa Monica, Ca, at the age of 80. Here is her obituary from UK's The Guardian Notable Films: Great Expectations (1946), Black Narcissus (1947), Hamlet (1948), Blue Lagoon (1949), Androcles and the Lion (1952), The Robe (1953), Desiree (1954), Guys and Dolls (1955), The Big Country (1958), Elmer Gantry (1960), Spartacus (1960), Life at the Top (1965), The Happy Ending (1969), Valley of the Dolls (1981, tv), North and South (1985, tv). She played Miss Habersham in a tv miniseries version of Great Expectations in 1989. Here is her complete filmography at IMDB

2010 Screen Actors Guild Awards

Presented Jan. 23rd for 2009 Film and Television Voted by members of the actors guild The award is called "The Actor" (a little unimaginative, don't you think? also redundant if you say "The Actor for Male actor goes to actor.. ")

Motion Pictures Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture: Inglourious Basterds Male Actor, Leading Role: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) Female Actor, Leading Role: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side) Male Actor, Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds) Female Actor, Supporting Role: Mo'Nique (Precious) Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture: Star Trek [Jeff Bridges also won the Golden Globe so he likely has a good chance for an Oscar; the same for Sandra Bullock, Christoph Waltz, and Mo'Nique] Television Ensemble Cast in Television, Drama: Mad Man Ensemble Cast in Television, Comedy: Glee Male Actor in a Drama Series: Michael C. Hall (Dexter) Female Actor in a Drama Series: Juliana Margulies (The Good Wife) Male Actor in a Comedy Series: Alec Baldwin (30 Rock) Female Actor in a Comedy Series: Tina Fey (30 Rock) Male Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries: Kevin Bacon (Taking Chance) Female Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries: Drew Barrymore (Grey Gardens) Stunt Ensemble in a TV Series: 24 [Michael C. Hall's award for Dexter was long overdue, in my opinion. Has Alec Baldwin lost any award for his hilarious comedic role in 30 Rock? Tina Fey doesn't really act, so I think her award is more for writing and creating the show. Drew Barrymore said "ummm" about 20 times and should have been better prepared, as she also won the Golden Globe.

Mad Men has won every single award it could in it's two years on the air. "Mad Men" is the slang for "Madison Ave admen", and is about the lush post-war era in the U.S. when everything was large and glamourous, and everyone drank and smoke, even on the job. The show perfectly captures a long gone era when we seemed to have few problems other than romantic ones.] The official SAG website list of nominations and winners

My Critical Mass Interview at Only Good Movies

Shane Rivers has interviewed me for his weekly feature called Critical Mass at his film blog Only Good Movies.. click here for the interview at his blog I hope you'll find it interesting at least..

I'd like to thank Shane for another 15 minutes of near-fame!

[Left: Solarized photo of me by Dean Abramson, professional photographer in Maine whose work has been in Time Magazine and many others]

2010 Golden Globe Awards

Golden Globe Awards, Sunday January 17 - for 2009 films and television Golden Globe Award Winners presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Best Motion Picture - Drama Winner: Avatar Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama Winner: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart [Bridges also sang the winning song, see below] Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy Winner: Robert Downey Jr. for Sherlock Holmes Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama Winner: Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy Winner: The Hangover Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy Winner: "Glee" Best Director - Motion Picture Winner: James Cameron for Avatar [Cameron said "I didn't prepare a speech because I thought Kathryn would win" - Kathryn Bigelow has won 24 awards so far for The Hurt Locker] Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Winner: Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Winner: Chloë Sevigny for "Big Love" [Good one - I was beginning to think that this show was facing the same religious persecution that the characters on the show are dealing with, in a land that touts "freedom of religion"] Best Television Series - Drama Winner: "Mad Men" [Mad Men has never lost an Emmy or Golden Globe since it began, two in a row for each] Best Foreign Language Film Winner: Das weisse Band - Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy Winner: Alec Baldwin for "30 Rock" Best Screenplay - Motion Picture Winner: Up in the Air - Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television Winner: Drew Barrymore for Grey Gardens (TV) Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television Winner: Kevin Bacon for Taking Chance (TV) [Incredible Irish actor Brendan Gleeson won the Emmy for this and should have won the Golden Globe as well] Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy Winner: Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia [Meryl recently said, "I love food and I love sex so this wasn't a stretch for me] Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Winner: Grey Gardens (TV) Best Original Score - Motion Picture Winner: Up - Michael Giacchino Best Original Song - Motion Picture Winner: Crazy Heart - T-Bone Burnett, Ryan Bingham ("The Weary Kind") Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Drama Winner: Julianna Margulies for "The Good Wife" Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama Winner: Michael C. Hall for "Dexter" [Finally! about time for Michael, who was wearing a cap due to chemotherapy treatments] Best Animated Film Winner: Up Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television Winner: John Lithgow for "Dexter" Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy Winner: Toni Collette for "United States of Tara" Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture Winner: Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire [is "Less'Nique" next? Can we please get an end to musicians using just one name? What's gonna happen when about 100 are named "Bill" or "Joe" or "Sue"? Will I get sued if I legally change my name to "Wall-E"? how about "Beaver"?]

Top Ranked Films of the Decade (Post 2000)

The top ranked films of the decade (2000-2009) based on our compendium of internet surveys.
AA = Academy Awards for best picture
(winners missing are Chicago, A Beautiful Mind, and Crash, with 2009's winner yet to be awarded)

The # shown is rank in the entire 1000.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [#84 - 2001] AA
2. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [#97 - 2003]
3. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers [#144 - 2002]
4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [#152 - 2000]
5. Pan's Labyrinth [#154 - 2006]
6. The Lives of Others [#163 - 2006]
7. No Country for Old Men [#166 - 2007] AA
8. There Will Be Blood [#181 - 2007]
9. Wall-E [#182 - 2008]
10. City of God [#192 - 2002]
11. Pianist, The [#200 - 2002]
12. Yi yi [#223 - 2000]
13. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [#227 - 2004]
14. Donnie Darko [#228 - 2001]
15. Slumdog Millionaire [#234 - 2008] AA
16. Ratatouille [#241 - 2007]
17. Spirited Away [#259 - 2001]
18. Million Dollar Baby [#265 - 2004] AA
19. In the Mood for Love [#272 - 2001]
20. Departed, The [#292 - 2007] AA
21. Finding Nemo [#298 - 2003]
22. Incredibles, The [#300 - 2004]
23. Letters from Iwo Jima [#339 - 2006]
24. Amélie [#345 - 2001]
25. Sideways [#358 - 2004]
26. Memento [#361 - 2000]
27. Bourne Ultimatum, The [#370 - 2007]
28. Oldboy [#378 - 2003]
29. Gladiator [#394 - 2000] AA
30. Lost in Translation [#395 - 2003]
31. Dark Knight, The [#397 - 2008]
32. 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [#429 - 2007]
33. Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The [#442 - 2008]
34. Brokeback Mountain [#453 - 2005]
35. Children of Men [#457 - 2006]


36. Requiem for a Dream [#461 - 2000]
37. Y Tu Mamá También [#469 - 2001]
38. Gran Torino [#473 - 2008]
39. Mulholland Dr. [#476 - 2001]
40. Queen, The [#480 - 2006]
41. Downfall [#483 - 2004]
42. The Prestige [#485 - 2006]
43. Amores perros [#488 - 2000]
44. Talk to Her [#499 - 2002]
45. Sin City [#502 - 2005]
46. Wrestler, The [#506 - 2008]
47. Hotel Rwanda [#512 - 2004]
48. Batman Begins [#516 - 2005]
49. Kill Bill: Vol. 1 [#578 - 2003]
50. Into the Wild [#587 - 2007]
51. Class, The [#596 - 2008]
52. Snatch [#605 - 2000]
53. Mystic River [#611 - 2003]
54. Werckmeister Harmonies [#612 - 2000]
55. Moolaadé [#615 - 2004]
56. The Fast Runner [#618 - 2001]
57. Triplets of Belleville, The [#623 - 2003]
58. Waltz with Bashir [#632 - 2008]

59. V for Vendetta [#642 - 2005] 60. Bloody Sunday [#657 - 2002]
61. Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The [#666 - 2008]
62. Before Sunset [#667 - 2004]
63. Almost Famous [#675 - 2000]
64. Let the Right One In [#679 - 2008]
65. American Splendor [#680 - 2003]
66. Gosford Park [#683 - 2001]
67. United 93 [#686 - 2006]
68. Capturing the Friedmans [#690 - 2003]
69. Persepolis [#694 - 2007]
70. Best of Youth, The [#700 - 2003]
71. In Bruges [#708 - 2008]
72. House of Flying Daggers [#710 - 2004]
73. Man on Wire [#712 - 2008]
74. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan [#713 - 2006]
75. Goodbye Solo [#716 - 2008]
76. Hurt Locker, The [#723 - 2008] AA
77. No End in Sight [#730 - 2007]
78. Changeling [#738 - 2008]
79. Once [#744 - 2006]
80. Crash [#750 - 2004]
81. Ghost World [#753 - 2001]
82. Tulpan [#758 - 2008]
83. Capote [#760 - 2005]
84. Kill Bill: Vol. 2 [#764 - 2004]
85. Time Out [#769 - 2001]


86. Big Fish [#771 - 2003]
87. Away from Her [#773 - 2006]
88. Chicken Run [#781 - 2000]
89. Little Miss Sunshine [#783 - 2006]
90. Nobody Knows [#791 - 2004]
91. L'Enfant (The Child) [#793 - 2005]
92. Traffic [#798 - 2000] 93. Gomorra [#805 - 2008]
94. Fog of War, The [#808 - 2003]
95. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit [#815 - 2005]
96. Maria Full of Grace [#820 - 2004]
97. Fateless [#824 - 2005]
98. Tarnation [#834 - 2003]
99. Murderball [#837 - 2005]
100. Grizzly Man [#839 - 2005]
101. Marooned in Iraq [#847 - 2002]
102. To Be and to Have [#872 - 2002]
103. I'm Going Home [#883 - 2001]
104. In the Bedroom [#887 - 2001]
105. Ten [#891 - 2002]
106. Seraphine [#895 - 2008]
107. Russian Ark [#900 - 2002]
108. Deliver Us from Evil [#903 - 2006]
109. Under the Sand [#913 - 2000]
110. This Is England [#922 - 2006]
111. Son, The (Le Fils) [#926 - 2002]
112. Sweet Sixteen [#928 - 2002]
113. Flight of the Red Balloon, The [#944 - 2007]
114. Before Night Falls [#948 - 2000]
115. You Can Count On Me [#954 - 2000]
116. Children Underground [#961 - 2001]
117. Edge of Heaven, The [#964 - 2007]
118. Savages, The [#967 - 2007]
119. Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary Antarctic Expedition, The [#970 - 2000]
120. Offside [#973 - 2006]
121. Los Angeles Plays Itself [#976 - 2003]
122. Knocked Up [#979 - 2007]
123. Turtles Can Fly [#982 - 2004]
124. Festival Express [#987 - 2003]
125. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring [#991 - 2003]
126. Half Nelson [#996 - 2006]
127. Street Fight [#1000 - 2005]
128. About Schmidt [#1002 - 2002]
129. Last Letter, The [#1005 - 2004]
130. Love & Diane [#1008 - 2002]
131. Domestic Violence [#1009 - 2001]
132. Neil Young: Heart of Gold [#1012 - 2006]
133. Hedwig and the Angry Inch [#1022 - 2001]
134. Forbidden Lie$ [#1030 - 2007]
135. Atonement [#1038 - 2007]
136. Alexander [#1040 - 2004]
137. Host, The [#1045 - 2006]
138. 24 Hour Party People [#1062 - 2002]
139. Paragraph 175 [#1065 - 2000]
140. Circle, The (Dayereh) [#1069 - 2000]
141. Sound and Fury [#1072 - 2000]
142. Since Otar Left [#1074 - 2003]
143. Calle 54 [#1086 - 2000]
144. Christmas Tale, A [#1090 - 2008]
145. In the Shadow of the Moon [#1093 - 2007]
146. My Winnipeg [#1098 - 2007]
147. Man Without a Past, The [#1105 - 2002]
148. Royal Tenenbaums, The [#1134 - 2001]
149. Moulin Rouge! [#1186 - 2001]
150. Punch-Drunk Love [#1200 - 2002]

The Rings Trilogy is hard to argue with, certainly of the cinema events of our lifetime.

Interesting that another romantic fantasy of mythic proportions follows that up in rank, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

There are many other foreign films here, but notably missing is Zhang Yimou's Hero (2002) - that's an all-time top 10 for me, and highest grossing film all-time in China . His House of Flying Daggers did make it (#72), an inferior but still enjoyable follow-up in the same style. The script of Hero is a rarity, a surprising and original story with unforeseen twists.

All the recent animated films are here: Wall-E, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Chicken Run - all are terrific, along with the overlooked Cars.

The terrific German intelligence espionage film The Lives of Others is one of just five to win both the U.S. Academy Award and the BAFTA one for best foreign language film. It's similar to the Cannes Palm D'Or winner from Coppola, The Conversation, one of his and Gene Hackman's best ever. I constantly find There Will Be Blood ranked amazingly high for me, which is good but just not that great (to be top 10); also Yi Yi, which I found artistic but so overlong that it became boring.

The excellent Italian mini-series The Best of Youth is here, so since those were eligible the riveting British bio-epic Longitude, with Michael Gambon, in perhaps his best role, and Jeremy Irons, is sorely missing. That's easily a top 20 candidate, notable for an intriguing script making seemingly boring history become an engrossing mystery of science.

Other notable omissions:
Zodiac (#12 on critics poll below from Film Comment), Milk, The Visitor, The Fountain (another Aronofsky's gem, the only one of his missing here), Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (India), A Wednesday (India), Chicago (AA winner), A Beautiful Mind (AA winner, Cinderella Man (much better than Rocky), and if you're gonna include Punch Drunk Love, I thought 50 First Dates was even better, far more touching than you'd expect from any Adam Sandler film.