Author Archives: Marya E. Gates
Chicago Film Critics Laud “The Tree of Life”, Michael Shannon
Best Picture – The Tree of Life
Best Director – Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Best Actor – Michael Shannon, Take Shelter
Best Actress – Michelle Williams, My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor – Albert Brooks, Drive
Best Supporting Actress – Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life
Best Original Screenplay – Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
Best Adapted Screenplay – Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball
Best Cinematography – The Tree of Life, Emmanuel Lubezki
Best Original Score – Drive, Cliff Martinez
Best Foreign Film – A Separation
Best Animated Film – Rango
Best Documentary – The Interrupters
Most Promising Performer – Elizabeth Olsen–Martha Marcy May Marlene
Mos Promising Filmmaker – Sean Durkin–Martha Marcy May Marlene
Commitment to the Craft Award – Shirley MacLaine
Oscar Micheaux Award – James Earl Jones
Commedia Extraordaire Award – Jason Segel
Commitment to Chicago – Dennis Farina
Big Shoulders Award – Second City
Movie Quote of the Day – Lolita, 1962 (dir. Stanley Kubrick)
Humbert Humbert: Quilty! Quilty?
Clare Quilty: Ah, wha? Who’s there?
Humbert Humbert: Are you Quilty.
Clare Quilty: No, I’m. . .Spartacus. You come to free the slaves or somethin?
“Drive”, “The Descendants” Top Golden Satellite Awards
Motion Picture: The Descendants
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
Actress: Viola Davis, The Help
Actor: Ryan Gosling, Drive
Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, The Tree of Life
Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, Drive
Foreign Film: Portugal, Mysteries of Lisbon
Animated or Mixed Media: The Adventures of Tin Tin
Documentary: Senna
Original Screenplay: Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Adapted Screenplay: The Descendants, Alexander Payne, Jim Rash, Nat Faxon
Original Score: Marco Beltrami, Soul Surfer
Original Song: Lay Your Head Down, Albert Nobbs
Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski, War Horse
Visual Effects: Robert Legato, Hugo
Film Editing: Chris Gill, The Guard
Sound (Editing & Mixing): Dave Patterson, Lon Bender, Robert Fernandez, Victor Ray Ennis, Drive
Art Direction and Production Design: Gregory S. Hooper, Laurence Bennett, The Artist
Costume Design: Jacqueline West, Water For Elephants
Move Quote of the Day – The Contender, 2000 (dir. Rod Lurie)
Laine Hanson: It seems to me that all you can claim about me. . .claim, is that I had sex.
Shelly Runyon: Deviant sex.
Laine Hanson: Oh, deviant? Who says it was deviant?
Shelly Runyon: I do. What I say the American people will believe. And do you know why? Because I will have a very big microphone in front of me.
Site Update: It’s Our 2nd Anniversary!
Believe it or not, I have been running this site for two years now. It’s gone through three Oscar races since then (2009 aka Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker, 2010 aka The King’s Speech vs. The Social Network) and now we’re in the heat of 2011, which at this point doesn’t seem to have a vs. (maybe The Artist vs. Hugo, but really everything is so jumbled right now it’s several films’ Oscar to lose this year.)
In the last two years I managed to write about all 83 years of Oscar’s history for Oscar Vault Monday and I’ve had a Movie Quote of the Day featuring over 530 different films (gonna see how long I can go without repeating a film). I’ve also started working a bit with The Warner Archive and have written some great things for YAM Magazine (*cough TCM Film Festival *cough*).
On a personal note, I moved back to San Francisco in May and have been attending the Academy of Art University pursuing an MFA in Film Editing, so that’s exciting. I’ve also seen nearly 1100 new-to-me films for the year (which I have been discussing month-to-month here) and contributed the foreword to the book Lew Ayres: A Conscientious Life by Lesley L. Coffin, which is forthcoming from the University Press of Mississippi.
Basically, this was a great year for me both professionally and personally, and I’m glad I was able to share it with y’all on this site. Thanks for all your support and for reading my work and I look forward to supplying you with more Oscar and film history for another two (or more!) years.
Love,
Marya
Movie Quote of the Day – The Crucible, 1996 (dir. Nicholas Hytner)
John Proctor: Tell them Proctor broke to his knees and wept like a woman. But, my. . .my name. . .I cannot sign.
Judge Thomas Danforth: Why? Do you mean to deny this confession when you are free?
John Proctor: I mean to deny nothing.
Judge Thomas Danforth: Then explain to me why you will not —
John Proctor: Because it is my naaaaaaame! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to liiiiiiies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them you have hanged! I have given you my soul; leave me my naaaaaaame!
Movie Quote of the Day – Two For The Road, 1967 (dir. Stanley Donen)
Joanna Wallace: What sort of people sit in a restaurant and don’t even try to talk to each other?
Mark Wallace: Married people.
Dallas-Fort Worth Critics Laud “The Descendants”
Best Film of 2011: THE DESCENDANTS
Top 10 Films of the Year:
01.THE DESCENDANTS
02.THE ARTIST
03.EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
04.MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
05.THE TREE OF LIFE
06.HUGO
07.50/50
08.DRIVE
09.SHAME
10.MONEYBALL
Best Actor: George Clooney – THE DESCENDANTS. Runners-up: Jean Dujardin for THE ARTIST (2), Michael Fassbender for SHAME (3), Brad Pitt for MONEYBALL (4) and Michael Shannon for TAKE SHELTER (5).
Best Actress: Michelle Williams – MY WEEK WITH MARILYN. Runners-up:Tilda Swinton for WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (2), Meryl Streep for THE IRON LADY (3), Charlize Theron for YOUNG ADULT (4) and Kirsten Dunst for MELANCHOLIA (5).
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer – BEGINNERS. Runners-up: Albert Brooks for DRIVE (2), Max von Sydow for EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE (3), Armie Hammer for J. EDGAR (4) and Kenneth Branagh for MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (5).
Best Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley – THE DESCENDANTS. Runners-up: Berenice Bejo for THE ARTIST (2), Octavia Spencer for THE HELP (3), Melissa McCarthy for BRIDESMAIDS (4) and Carey Mulligan for SHAME (5).
Best Director: Alexander Payne – THE DESCENDANTS. Runners-up: Michel Hazanavicius for THE ARTIST (2), Terrence Malick for THE TREE OF LIFE (3), Martin Scorsese for HUGO (4) and Woody Allen for MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (5).
Best Foreign-Language Film: A SEPARATION Runners-up: THE SKIN I LIVE IN (2), INCENDIES (3), 13 ASSASSINS (4) and a tie between OF GODS AND MEN and CERTIFIED COPY (5).
Best Documentary: CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS Runners-up: PROJECT NIM (2), THE INTERRUPTERS (3), PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES (4) and BUCK (5).
Best Animated Film: RANGO Runner-up: THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
Best Screenplay: THE DESCENDANTS Runner-up: MIDNIGHT IN PARIS.
Best Cinematography: THE TREE OF LIFE Runner-up: WAR HORSE.
Russell Smith Award: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
Detroit Film Critics Like “The Artist,” “Shame”
Best Picture
The Artist
Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
Best Actor
Michael Fassbender – Shame
Best Actress
Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer – Beginners
Best Supporting Actress
Carey Mulligan – Shame
Best Breakthrough Performance
Jessica Chastain – Tree of Life, The Help, The Debt, Take Shelter
Best Ensemble
Carnage
Best Screenplay
Moneyball
Best Documentary
Tabloid
Movie Quote of the Day – Night Nurse, 1931 (dir. William A. Wellman)
Maloney: There’s only one guy in the world that can do a nurse any good and that’s a patient with dough! Just catch one of them with a high fever and a low pulse and make him think you saved his life and you’ll be getting somewhere.
the diary of a film history fanatic 