AWARDS: LA, NY Online pick “There Will Be Blood”; DC, Boston on the “No Country” bandwagon

Some patterns are slowly emerging for the Oscar race, but Best Picture isn’t one of them…yet. But before we get to that, here are the best of lists announced over the weekend:

LOS ANGELES FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION – WINNERS

PICTURE: "There Will Be Blood"
DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"
ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
ACTRESS: Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en rose"
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Vlad Ivanov, "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
SUPPORTING ACTRESS:Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone" and "Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead"
SCREENPLAY: Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages"
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
DOCUMENTARY: "No End in Sight"
ANIMATION: "Ratatouille" and "Persepolis" (tie)
MUSIC: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, "Once"
PRODUCTION DESIGN: Jack Fisk, "There Will Be Blood"
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Janusz Kaminski, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
NEW GENERATION: Sarah Polley, "Away From Her"
INDEPENDENT/EXPERIMENTAL: Pedro Costa’s "Colossal Youth"

SPECIAL CITATION: New Crowned Hope series commissioned by director Peter Sellars to honor the anniversary of Mozart’s 250th birthday

LEGACY AWARDS: Milestone Film and Video and the Outfest Legacy Project

NEW YORK FILM CRITICS ONLINE – WINNERS

BEST PICTURE
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (tie)
There Will Be Blood (tie)

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTRESS
Julie Christie – Away From Her

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem – No Country for Old Men

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – I’m Not There

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
There Will Be Blood – Robert Elswit

BEST SCREENPLAY
The Darjeeling Limited – Wes Anderson, Jason Schwartzman, Roman Coppola

BEST FOREIGN PICTURE
The Lives of Others (tie)
Persepolis (tie)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Sicko

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Persepolis

BEST MUSIC/SCORE
There Will Be Blood – Jonny Greenwood

BEST BREAKOUT PERFORMANCE
Ellen Page – Juno

BEST DEBUT AS DIRECTOR
Sarah Polley – Away From Her

BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

BEST PICTURES (alphabetical)
Atonement (Focus Features)
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (THINKFilm)
The Darjeeling Limited (Fox Searchlight)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Miramax)
I’m Not There (The Weinstein Company)
Juno (Fox Searchlight)
Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.)
No Country for Old Men (Miramax)
Persepolis (Sony Pictures Classics)
Sweeney Todd (DreamWorks)
There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage)

WASHINGTON DC AREA FILM CRITICS – WINNERS

Best Film: No Country for Old Men/Miramax & Paramount Vantage

Best Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men)

Best Actor: George Clooney (Michael Clayton)

Best Actress: Julie Christie (Away From Her)

Best Ensemble: No Country for Old Men/Miramax & Paramount Vantage

Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men)

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone)

Best Breakthrough Performance: Ellen Page (Juno)

Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin (Charlie Wilson’s War)

Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody (Juno)

Best Animated Feature: Ratatouille/Disney & Pixar

Best Foreign Language Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly/Miramax

Best Documentary: SiCKO/The Weinstein Company

Best Art Direction: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street/Paramount

BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS – WINNERS

Best Picture: "No Country for Old Men"
Best Foreign Language Picture: "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Best Documentary: "Crazy Love"
Best Director: Julian Schnabel ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly")
Best Actor: Frank Langella ("Starting out in the Evening").
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard ("La vie en rose")
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem ("No Country for Old Men")
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan ("Gone Baby Gone")
Best Ensemble: "Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead"
Best Screenplay: Brad Bird ("Ratatouille")
Besty Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski ("The Diving Bell and the Butterfly")
Best New Filmmaker: Ben Affleck ("Gone Baby Gone")

As I noted above, some patterns ARE beginning to emerge, but they don’t appear to be ones that most people thought of ahead of time. Amy Ryan seems to be the favorite over Cate Blanchett with all but one win in the supporting actress catagory for her role in Gone Baby Gone, and while Blanchett DID get the supporting nod from the New York Online critics, it appears her support may be slipping overall.

Julie Christie appears to be moving in front in the lead actress catagory so far, but the two male acting catagories have been all over the road so far, though George Clooney has now picked up two lead awards for his role in Michael Clayton. 

It should also be noted that Los Angeles has favored Daniel Day-Lewis almost every year he has something out, where other critics have usually placed him in the runner-up role in year end lists.

The big surprise so far seems to be the lack of interest in two films thought to be shoo-ins for awards, Sean Penn’s Into The Wild and Tim Burton’s musical Sweeney Todd. Although both films have been awarded at least once so far, neither film seems to be making in-roads in the major catagories, although Wild’s Emile Hirsch has landed a couple of breakthrough awards.

But I think the biggest shocker of the weekend best list announcements was Boston’s stunning decision to award Best Screenplay to the animated hit Ratatouille, over other popular screenplay candidates No Country For Old Men, The Diving Bell And The Butterfly, and Juno, which have been the favorites thus far – leave it to Boston’s critics to buck the trend, they usually do.  And while Ratatouille is winning a lot of the animated film awards, it should be noted that the upcoming Persepolis, an offbeat black and white animated film based on the memoirs of Iranian activist Marjane Satrapi, is starting to emerge (as I predicted a couple of weeks ago) as a possible Oscar spoiler for Remy and company in the animated catatory – it tied with Ratatouille in LA and beat out the rats with the New York Online Critics. And interestingly, it also tied with The Lives Of Others for Best Foreign Film with the same New York Online critics – clearly, critics in New York are big Persepolis fans.

More awards are on the way over the next several weeks. We’ll have them all here for you, along with commentary. Chicago film critics announce later this week, along with a few others i’m sure, and the Golden Globe nominations will be announced on Thursday. Stay tuned to PNR for full awards-season coverage!