La Guerre est Declare Review

Based on a true story, "La Guerre est Declaree" ("Declaration of War") presents the story of two young parents who must come to terms with the fact that their infant has a brain tumor. Despite the tragic and exposed nature of the material, Director Valerie Donzelli has no quams about presenting her own story (she acts in the film as well) with a lightness and joviality of a fairy tale that while never undercutting the tragedy, certainly makes for a more uplifting journey.

Valerie Donzelli plays Juliet alongside true life husband (also screenwriter of the film) Jeremie Elkaim as... Romeo (the film makes an explicit joke about this early on). The two meet and become instantly drawn to each other. They quickly elope and soon thereafter find themselves as young parents of Adam who seems to be abnormal. The problems slowly creep up on them and the viewer and create an anxiety as one ponders what could be wrong with Adam. Finally, Juliet finds out that her son has a brain tumor and the rest of the film is devoted to Romeo and Juliet's attempts to save their son.

W.E unexpectedly takes tops honors at the Costume Designers Guild

Having been the surprise nominee, W.E has become the front runner for the Oscar in the Costume Design Category. Yesterday the Costume Designers handed out their awards.

Here are the winners.

• Period: W.E.,  Arianne Phillips
• Fantasy: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Jany Temime
• Contemporary: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Trish Summerville

Hugo, Tintin and War Horse top the Sound Editors Guild

Last Night the Sound Editors gave out their coveted awards. War Horse topped the awards last night as well as Hugo, Tintin and Super 8.

Below are the winners:

• BEST SOUND EFFECTS AND FOLEY IN A FEATURE FILM: War Horse
• BEST MUSIC IN A FEATURE FILM: Hugo
• BEST SOUND EDITING IN AN ANIMATION FEATURE FILM: Tintin
• BEST MUSIC IN A MUSICAL FEATURE FILM: The Muppets
• BEST SOUND EDITING IN A FEATURE FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: The Flowers of War
• BEST SOUND EDITING IN A FEATURE DOCUMENTARY: George Harrison: Living in the Material World
• BEST DIALOGUE AND ADR IN A FEATURE FILM: Super 8

The Descendants and Midnight in Paris win big at the WGA

The Writers Guild announced their winners tonight. Midnight in Paris won Original Screenplay while The Descendants won the Adapted Screenplay award. The Artist, the front runner for the Oscars was not nominated because the screenplay was not written under WGA guidelines.  

The winners:

• Original Screenplay: Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics
• Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants, Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings; Fox Searchlight
• Documentary Screenplay: Better This World, Written by Katie Galloway & Kelly Duane de la Vega; Loteria Films

CAS, USC Scripter and EDDIE Awards

Tonight three awards were given out. The Cinema audio society, USC Scripter and  Editors society awarded the best films of 2011.

Here are the winners:
Cinema Audio Society
Outstanding Sound in a Motion Picture: Hugo


USC Scripter 
The Descendants

Outstanding editing in film 
Drama – The Descendants
Editing musical/Comedy – The Artist
Animated Feature: Rango

The Tree of Life wins the American Cinematographers association

Emanuel Lubeski won the American Cinematographers Associations from his amazing work in The Tree of Life becoming the front runner to win Cinematography at the Oscars.

The Artist wins the BAFTA

The Artist is now  sure bet Best Picture winner at the  Oscars. Jean Dujardin has clinched the Best Actor award also as well as Christopher Plummer and Octavia Spencer. The actress award is still a bit up in air although you can definitely say that Meryl Streep is now ahead of Viola Davis. The Artist won seven awards at the BAFTAs tonight including Best Film while Hugo won 2 and Senna won 2. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy won Best British Film and The Skin I Live In surprised as it beat out Oscar favorite A Separation. 

From my predictions that I made this afternoon I was wrong on 7 winners out of 18 awards I predicted. 

BEST FILM
THE ARTIST Thomas Langmann
THE DESCENDANTS Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor 
DRIVE Marc Platt, Adam Siegel
THE HELP Brunson Green, Chris Columbus, Michael Barnathan 
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Simon Curtis, David Parfitt, Harvey Weinstein, Adrian Hodges
SENNA Asif Kapadia, James Gay-Rees, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Manish Pandey
SHAME Steve McQueen, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Abi Morgan
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Robyn Slovo,
Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN Lynne Ramsay, Luc Roeg, Jennifer Fox, Robert Salerno,
Rory Stewart Kinnear

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
ATTACK THE BLOCK Joe Cornish (Director/Writer)
BLACK POND Will Sharpe (Director/Writer), Tom Kingsley (Director), Sarah Brocklehurst (Producer)
CORIOLANUS Ralph Fiennes (Director)
SUBMARINE Richard Ayoade (Director/Writer)
TYRANNOSAUR Paddy Considine (Director), Diarmid Scrimshaw (Producer)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
INCENDIES Denis Villeneuve, Luc Déry, Kim McGraw
PINA Wim Wenders, Gian-Piero Ringel
POTICHE François Ozon, Eric Altmayer, Nicolas Altmayer
A SEPARATION Asghar Farhadi
THE SKIN I LIVE IN Pedro Almodóvar, Agustin Almodóvar

DOCUMENTARY
GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD Martin Scorsese
PROJECT NIM James Marsh, Simon Chinn
SENNA Asif Kapadia

ANIMATED FILM
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN Steven Spielberg
ARTHUR CHRISTMAS Sarah Smith
RANGO Gore Verbinski

DIRECTOR
THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius
DRIVE Nicolas Winding Refn
HUGO Martin Scorsese
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Tomas Alfredson
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN Lynne Ramsay

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
THE ARTIST Michel Hazanavicius
BRIDESMAIDS Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
THE GUARD John Michael McDonagh
THE IRON LADY Abi Morgan
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS Woody Allen

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
THE DESCENDANTS Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
THE HELP Tate Taylor
THE IDES OF MARCH George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Beau Willimon
MONEYBALL Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan

LEADING ACTOR
BRAD PITT Moneyball
GARY OLDMAN Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
GEORGE CLOONEY The Descendants
JEAN DUJARDIN The Artist
MICHAEL FASSBENDER Shame

LEADING ACTRESS
BÉRÉNICE BEJO The Artist
MERYL STREEP The Iron Lady
MICHELLE WILLIAMS My Week with Marilyn
TILDA SWINTON We Need to Talk About Kevin
VIOLA DAVIS The Help

SUPPORTING ACTOR
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER Beginners
JIM BROADBENT The Iron Lady
JONAH HILL Moneyball
KENNETH BRANAGH My Week with Marilyn
PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN The Ides of March

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
CAREY MULLIGAN Drive
JESSICA CHASTAIN The Help
JUDI DENCH My Week with Marilyn
MELISSA MCCARTHY Bridesmaids
OCTAVIA SPENCER The Help

ORIGINAL MUSIC
THE ARTIST Ludovic Bource
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
HUGO Howard Shore
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Alberto Iglesias
WAR HORSE John Williams

CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE ARTIST Guillaume Schiffman
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Jeff Cronenweth
HUGO Robert Richardson
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Hoyte van Hoytema
WAR HORSE Janusz Kaminski

EDITING
THE ARTIST Anne-Sophie Bion, Michel Hazanavicius
DRIVE Mat Newman
HUGO Thelma Schoonmaker
SENNA Gregers Sall, Chris King
TINKER TAILOR SOLIDER SPY Dino Jonsater

PRODUCTION DESIGN
THE ARTIST Laurence Bennett, Robert Gould
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
HUGO Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Maria Djurkovic, Tatiana MacDonald
WAR HORSE Rick Carter, Lee Sandales

COSTUME DESIGN
THE ARTIST Mark Bridges
HUGO Sandy Powell
JANE EYRE Michael O'Connor
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Jill Taylor
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY Jacqueline Durran

MAKE UP & HAIR
THE ARTIST Julie Hewett, Cydney Cornell
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Amanda Knight, Lisa Tomblin
HUGO Morag Ross, Jan Archibald
THE IRON LADY Marese Langan
MY WEEK WITH MARILYN Jenny Shircore

SOUND
THE ARTIST Nadine Muse, Gérard Lamps, Michael Krikorian
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 James Mather, Stuart Wilson, Stuart Hilliker, Mike Dowson, Adam Scrivener
HUGO Philip Stockton, Eugene Gearty, Tom Fleischman, John Midgley
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY John Casali, Howard Bargroff, Doug Cooper, Stephen Griffiths, Andy Shelley
WAR HORSE Stuart Wilson, Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson, Richard Hymns

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN Joe Letteri
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 2 Tim Burke, John Richardson, Greg Butler, David Vickery
HUGO Rob Legato, Ben Grossman, Joss Williams
RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White
WAR HORSE Ben Morris, Neil Corbould

SHORT ANIMATION
ABUELAS Afarin Eghbal, Kasia Malipan, Francesca Gardiner
BOBBY YEAH Robert Morgan
A MORNING STROLL Grant Orchard, Sue Goffe

SHORT FILM
CHALK Martina Amati, Gavin Emerson, James Bolton, Ilaria Bernardini
MWANSA THE GREAT Rungano Nyoni, Gabriel Gauchet
ONLY SOUND REMAINS Arash Ashtiani, Anshu Poddar
PITCH BLACK HEIST John Maclean, Gerardine O'Flynn
TWO AND TWO Babak Anvari, Kit Fraser, Gavin Cullen

THE ORANGE WEDNESDAYS RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
ADAM DEACON
CHRIS HEMSWORTH
CHRIS O’DOWD
EDDIE REDMAYNE
TOM HIDDLESTON