George on possibly being nominated alongside Brad Pitt: “Brad is my pal, and we’re a long way from that discussion anyway. But I’d like living in a world where Brad Pitt has an Academy Award. I watched Moneyball and I couldn’t do what Brad does.”

Read more. Thanks Danielle.

The National Society of Film Critics on Saturday, January 7th, 2012, chose “Melancholia”
as Best Picture of the Year 2011. Kristin Dunst was named best actress for her performance in Lars von Trier’s film, and Brad Pitt was named best actor for his work in “Moneyball” and “The Tree of Life.” Albert Brooks (or his evil twin) won best supporting actor for his appearance in “Drive,” and Jessica Chastain was named best supporting actress for her work in three films: “The Tree of Life,” “Take Shelter” and “The Help.”

Read more. Thanks Anu.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama
Brad Pitt – Moneyball

Best Motion Picture – Drama
Moneyball

Best Performance by an Actor In A Supporting Role in a Motion Picture
Jonah Hill – Moneyball

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture
Aaron Sorkin, Steven Zaillian – Moneyball

And Angie’s film ‘In the Land of Blood and Honey’ is up for Best Foreign Language Film.

Read more. Thanks Danielle.

Brad is nominated in the lead actor category:

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
DEMIÁN BICHIR / Carlos Galindo – “A BETTER LIFE”
GEORGE CLOONEY / Matt King – “THE DESCENDANTS”
LEONARDO DiCAPRIO / J. Edgar Hoover – “J. EDGAR”
JEAN DUJARDIN / George – “THE ARTIST”
BRAD PITT / Billy Beane – “MONEYBALL”

Also, Jonah Hill is nominated for Moneyball in supporting actor category.

Read more. Thanks Danielle & Gabriella.

Academy Award nominee Brad Pitt will be honored at the 23rd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala.

Pitt will receive the Desert Palm Achievement Actor Award for his lead role in Moneyball and his supporting role in The Tree of Life.

Hosted by Mary Hart, the Gala will also present awards to previously announced honorees George Clooney, Glenn Close, Michel Hazanavicius, Octavia Spencer and Michelle Williams.

The Awards Gala will be held Saturday, January 7, at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Read more. Gosh did the critics wake up finally? Recognition!

The Top 10 Everything of 2011

In 54 wide-ranging lists, TIME surveys the highs and lows, the good and the bad, of the past 12 months

1. Brad Pitt for The Tree of Life, Moneyball and Happy Feet Two

Wednesday, Dec. 07, 2011

Forty-eight on Dec. 18, he still hears the music of dreamboat squeals from his fans. Now an alto chorus of critical approval has joined the Brad Pitt symphony. The New York Film Critics Circle gave him its Best Actor award for two exceptional performances. In The Tree of Life he plays Mr. O’Brien, a demanding father of three boys; he loves them but is unable to express it, barking out commands, because that’s what a father does, when he wants nothing more than to hold them and be held in their esteem. In Moneyball, Pitt plays the sort of man Mr. O’Brien might wish he could be: Billy Beane, the real-life general manager of the Oakland As, who has a vision (of reviving his team with the smart application of statistics), knows how to communicate it and gets instant results. While Pitt poured his considerable star quality into playing Beane, he also got results as the film’s producer, spending years coaxing the adaptation of Michael Lewis’s best seller through many rewrites and three directors (finally settling on Bennett Miller). We’ll add a third Pitt accolade: he does deliciously comic voice work as Will the Krill in Happy Feet Two. What actor this year could equal the man who has everything?

Read more. Thanks Danielle.

Gosh so many, here’s a small update and overlook of the nominations. For the fellow nominees just follow the appropriate links. There we will also post the results when available. Thanks Gabriella, Mickey and Danielle. So yea, sign up for the forum, just email me (see info on the right).

Critics’ Choice Movie Awards
BEST ACTOR
Brad Pitt – “Moneyball”

BEST PICTURE
“Moneyball”
“The Tree of Life”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“Moneyball” – Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Tree of Life” – Emmanuel Lubezki

BEST ART DIRECTION
“The Tree of Life” – Production Designer: Jack Fisk, Art Director: David Crank

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Tree of Life”

BEST SOUND
“The Tree of Life”

Read more.

St. Louis Film Critics Award
Best Film
Tree of Life

Best Director
Terrence Malick for Tree of Life

Best Actor
Brad Pitt for Moneyball

Best Supporting Actor
Jonah Hill for Moneyball

Best Supporting Actress
Jessica Chastain for Tree Of Life

Best Original Screenplay
Terrence Malick for Tree Of Life

Best Adapted Screenplay
Steven Zaillian, Aaron Sorkin, Stan Chervin and Michael Lewis (book) for Moneyball

Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki for Tree Of Life

Best Visual Effects
Tree Of Life

Best Music
Tree of Life

Read more.

Detroit Film critics Society
Best picture
The tree of life

Best director
Terrence malick – the tree of life

Best actor
Brad pitt – moneyball

Breakthrough performance
Jessica chastain – the help/take shelter/the tree of life

Best screenplay
moneyball – aaron sorkin & steven zaillian

Read more.

Houston Film critics
Best Picture
The Tree of Life, Fox Searchlight

Best Director
Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

Best Actor
Brad Pitt, Moneyball

Best Cinematography
Emmanuel Lubezki, The Tree of Life

Read more.

I was invited to a special screening for Moneyball on the Sony lot. If you’ve never been there, or don’t live on the Westside, it’s quite a trek out to Culver City. I’m almost always late, and I can’t find the right driveway, not ever. Once on the lot, I often get lost trying to find the right theater, and then get lost again trying to find my car. It’s never my favorite place to see a movie (that would be the Academy’s theater on Wilshire in Beverly Hills – it’s the place movie lovers call Heaven) because I hate driving those freeways – the 405, the 10, Overland exit, Motor Avenue and then finally, there’s Sony. But it was worth it this time because I was getting to see one of the best films of 2011: Moneyball.

The special screening at Sony meant that Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill were going to be there for a Q&A. It’s hard to get people out to Sony to see Moneyball now, after it’s had its box office run – they didn’t pay to see it so why would they drive all the way out to Culver City to see it? Well, obviously because it was a chance to sit in the same room with one of the most splendid among us. The only catch was that they had to watch Moneyball first.

Read more. Must read. Thanks Anu.

FYI. The BP Press section has also been updated! Thanks Gabriella.

National Board of Review Awards, Jan. 10, will vote George Clooney best actor. Tilda Swinton, best actress. “Hugo,” picture. Scorsese, director. Ensemble, “The Help.” This sparkliest of pre-season Oscar snoozes, where every winner always shows, is at Cipriani.

Clooney buddy Brad Pitt is here the night before grabbing NYC’s Film Critics Circle Award for “Moneyball.” They hope he’ll lay over — pardon the phrase — and be Clooney’s presenter.

Read more. Thanks Gabriella.

Winners will be announced tomorrow december 5. Brad nominated as best actor for MoneyBall, also Moneyball nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Read more/discuss. Thanks to Mickey.

Best Actor:
George Clooney, The Descendants
Leonardo diCaprio, J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender, Shame
Brendan Gleeson, The Guard
Ryan Gosling, Drive
Tom Hardy, Warrior
Woody Harrelson, Rampart
Gary Oldman, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
Brad Pitt, Moneyball
Michael Shannon, Take Shelte

Also nominated Tree of Life and Moneyball in other categories

Read more/discuss. Thanks to Danielle.

The 2011 award recipients were voted on Tuesday and revealed via Twitter.

The New York Film Critics Circle named Roadside Attractions’ Wall Street-set thriller Margin Call best first feature as it gathered on Tuesday to vote its best films of the year.

Announcing its picks via a Twitter feed, the account’s first tweet read, “We are convening now and will be tweeting as the voting progresses,” Tuesday morning.

Margin Call was the first winner, revealed at 10:10 a.m. ET. The film was directed by J.C. Chandor and starred Zachary Quinto, Stanley Tucci and Kevin Spacey.

Merle Streep was awarded the best actress prize for her portrayal of form Britain Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, in The Iron Lady.

The best actor title was given to Brad Pitt for his roles in Moneyball and Tree of Life.

Read more. Thanks Gabriella.