At 5:30 AM Pacific Time on Tuesday, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed their nominations for this year’s Oscars.

Hugo leads with 11 total nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. The Artist scored 10 nods.

Some of the nominations were a big surprise, especially in the Best Picture catagory. While films like The Artist and The Descendants were a shoe-in, especially after their performance in the Golden Globes, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Help were also recognized. Also curiously, there were only nine pictures nominated as opposed to ten, which we’ve seen the past two years.

Best Director is chock full of veteran Oscar nominees. Woody Allen, Terrance Malick, Alexander Payne, and Martin Scorsese have earned almost 40 nominations all together. Michel Hazanivicus, however, is up for his first nomination.

Most notably absent from several catagories was Drive, for Best Picture, Best Actor for Ryan Gosling’s spectacular performance and Best Supporting Actor for Albert Brooks. It dig snag a nomination for Sound Editing, but I would have liked to see it recognized a bit more.

The Oscar buzz continues until the Academy Awards ceremony airs on Sunday February 26th. You can see the full listing of nominees after the jump, and let us know what you think of the nominations!

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W.E. is the last of our Golden Globe nominated scores, perfect timing as the show airs this Sunday, and by far the most unexpected. In fact before this nomination I didn’t even know this movie existed. The film is actually directed by Madonna, which is interesting but not all together important for a review of it’s score.

The composer is Abel Korzeniowski and I can see why his excellent work was recognized by the Hollywood Foreign Press. The score is very well put together with an emphasis on large, sweeping strings in a few very choice places. Listening to the music gives me the sense that it probably dominates much of the movie. While I appreciate that sort of heavy handed musical touch, I can also see where it might have played a role in the films less than stellar critical reception.

I am happy to see it nominated though, as there has been a recent trend of nominating more subtle and subdued scores in the last few years. This is far from it, and it plays very nicely to my personal film musical tastes. Strong string work always has a tendency to grip me, and this score delivers that in spades.

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Even though this website could technically be called a “Blog” and those of us who contribute to it are known as “Bloggers,” we like to think of ourselves as writers. So, when other writers get recognized, as they have by the Writer’s Guild of America’s nominations for it’s awards today, we take notice.

We also take notice when movies that seem an odd choice for awards get nominated anyway. We will leave it to you, good readers, to decide which of the following nominees for Writers Guild awards seems a bit out of place.

Winners will be announced at the 2012 Writers Guild Awards on Sunday, February 19, 2012, during simultaneous ceremonies in Hollywood and New York. Check out all the nominees (and more) from the official press release:

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

50/50, Written by Will Reiser; Summit Entertainment

Bridesmaids, Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig; Universal Studios

Midnight in Paris, Written by Woody Allen; Sony Pictures Classics

Win Win, Screenplay by Tom McCarthy; Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni; Fox Searchlight

Young Adult, Written by Diablo Cody; Paramount Pictures

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In case you didn’t realize it, there’s a lot of groups in Hollywood that like to give awards. From the Screen Actors Guild to the Writers Guild to the big one, the Academy Awards, it often seems that Hollywod loves awards as much as it likes making movies.

Besides the ones mentioned above, there’s another group that gives awards each year: film and TV producers. That group, collectively known as the Producers Guild of America or PGA, has released its nominations today and we’ve got them for you, and the rest of their press release, below. Check it out.

LOS ANGELES, CA (January 3, 2012) – The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the motion picture and long-form television nominations for the 23rd Annual Producers Guild Awards. The categories include: The Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures; The Producers Guild of America Producer of the Year Award in Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures; and The David L. Wolper Producer of the Year Award in Long-Form Television. The documentary film category and other television category nominations were already announced by the Guild in December 2011.

All 2012 Producers Guild Award winners will be announced on January 21, 2012 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. This year, the Producers Guild will also award special honors to Leslie Moonves (Milestone Award), Steven Spielberg (David O. Selznick Achievement Award in Theatrical Motion Pictures), Don Mischer (Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television), Stan Lee (Vanguard Award), and IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY (The Stanley Kramer Award). The 2012 Producers Guild Awards co-chairs are Paula Wagner and Michael Manheim.

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The Video Game Awards are an interesting thing. Like most basic cable award shows it often plays like a two- hour long advertisement for next year rather than a celebration of the current one. On the other hand, the Video Game industry does warrant a night to honor it’s very best, and the people who run the show clearly are interested putting forth the industry’s best foot in prime time.

This year’s show is going to have one huge advantage to keep the show credible and enjoyable. Zachary Levi, the geeky lead in Chuck and video game voice actor, has just been announced as the host for this year’s show.

“Zac Levi is an avid gamer who is truly a part of gaming culture and understands the fans,” says Casey Patterson, Executive Producer and Executive Vice President, Event Production, Talent & Studio Relations for Viacom Entertainment Group. “He has great ideas about this year’s show. Zac is all about honoring the year in gaming and ushering in the future by showcasing massive world premieres at this year’s event. We’re excited to be working with Zac.”

It is great for the show that it’s host is both a charming, likable guy and some one well versed in gaming culture. As the industry becomes more main stream it will need to rely on people who truly understand it’s culture and not just icons whom geeks decide to love.

The show will premiere live at 8:00 PM EST, Saturday December 10th on Spike TV, MTV 2 and SpikeTV.com

Tonight at Comic-Con in San Diego the Eisner Awards winners were announced. Among the winners were some surprises and some that were pretty expected including Best New Series American Vampire by Scott Snyder, Stephen King and Rafael Albequerque and Best Continuing Series Chew by John Layman and Rob Guillory.

Here’s the full list of winners:

Best Short Story
“Post Mortem,” by Greg Rucka and Michael Lark, in I Am an Avenger #2 (Marvel)

Best Single Issue (or One-Shot)
Hellboy: Double Feature of Evil, by Mike Mignola and Richard Corben (Dark Horse)

Best Continuing Series
Chew, by John Layman and Rob Guillory (Image)

Best Limited Series
Daytripper, by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá (Vertigo/DC)

Best New Series
American Vampire, by Scott Snyder, Stephen King, and Rafael Albuquerque (Vertigo/DC)

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It’s not particularly surprising that Mad Men and Mildred Pierece had the most nominations today when Melissa McCarthy and Joshua Jackson made the 2011 Primetime Emmy announcement. Jane Lynch will be hosting the 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday, September 18.

For the complete list of nominees, head over to the Emmys website. We’ve just got the ones we really care about for you here. (aka The Big Ones).

Of course, the fact that Community isn’t nominated in the Outstanding Comedy category just makes these awards that much less special. Plus, I wouldn’t want to be nominated in a category against Peter Dinklage for Game of Thrones. He’s pretty much got that one in the bag

Check out the nominations below.

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
Johnny Galecki, The Big Bang Theory
Matt LeBlanc, Episodes
Louis C.K., Louie
Steve Carell, The Office
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Michael C. Hall, Dexter
Kyle Chandler, Friday Night Lights
Hugh Laurie, House
Timothy Olyphant, Justified
Jon Hamm, Mad Men

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Trey Parker has always been vocal about his love of musicals. Dating back to his time in college and his first feature film, Parker has shown a consistent appreciation of the musical experience. So it was only a natural that he would parlay that success into an actual Broadway show.

After the mega success of South Park and several feature films, Trey Parker and Matt Stone invaded Broadway with their brand of irreverent humor and sharp social commentary with The Book of Mormon. It premiered to critical acclaim, and sold out shows, igniting a new found passion for musicals amongst fans who would otherwise avoid Broadway.

That success has not gone unnoticed by the theater community, The Book of Mormon has recently received 14 Tony nominations. This puts Trey and Matt that much closer to the elusive “EGOT,”  the quintuple victory that nets the recipient an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.

Trey and Matt have already won multiple Emmy’s and have been nominated for Grammy’s and an Oscar. Of all the current entertainers working today, Matt and Trey hold a unique position  as champions of alternative forms of entertainment.

The Book of Mormon is currently playing on Broadway, and the 15th season of South Park can be seen on Comedy Central Wednesdays at 10/9C.

The 2011 Oscars attempted to differentiate itself from past telecasts by bringing in younger hosts (Anne Hathaway and James Franco) and keeping things fresh. The opening montage featuring the best films nominees was quite funny. Though Franco appeared to be a bit out of it *ahem*, Hathaway was engaging and adorable.

Hathaway was hilarious in a fake musical number.  As for Franco, he randomly appeared in drag. He donned a hot pink satin gown and rocked it like Marilyn Monroe in Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend (or like Madonna in the  Material Girl video if you are of the younger generation).

Hathaway and Franco were oddly absent for most of the show.  They had nice chemistry, but most of the categories kind of took care of themselves.

Here is a list of the winners. These awards are in the order they were presented on the show. Analysis coming later today.

• Art Direction Alice in Wonderland
• Cinematography Inception
• Best Supporting Actress Melissa Leo The Fighter
• Best Animated Short The Lost Thing
• Best Animated Feature Film Toy Story 3
• Best adapted screenplay Aaron Sorkin The Social Network
• Best Original Screenplay David Seidler The King’s Speech
• Best Foreign Film In a Better World
• Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale The Fighter
• Best Original Score Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross The Social Network
• Best Sound Mixing Inception
• Best Sound editing Inception
• Best Makeup The Wolfman
• Best Costume Alice in Wonderland
• Best Documentary Short Strangers No More
• Best Live Action Short Film God of Love
• Best Documentary Feature Inside Job
• Best Visual Effects Inception
• Best Film Editing The Social Network
• Best Original Song Randy Newman “We Belong Together” Toy Story 3
• Best Director Tom Hooper The King’s Speech
• Best Actress Natalie Portman Black Swan
• Best Actor Colin Firth The King’s Speech
• Best Picture The King’s Speech

The Screen Actor’s Guild has announced their nominees for best in film and television for 2110.  Since these awards are voted on by other actors, they usually carry a certain prestige. Rosario Dawson and Angie Harmon announced the guild’s nominees this morning in Los Angeles.

For those keeping score, The King’s Speech leads the film pack with four nominations, along with Black Swan. On the TV side, Modern Family came in with 4 awards, followed by Dexter, Glee, and Mad Men with three nominations each.

The awards will be  given on Sunday, January  30th on TBS. For a complete list of nominees, visit the official SAG website.

FILM

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

JEFF BRIDGES / Rooster Cogburn – TRUE GRIT

ROBERT DUVALL / Felix Bush – GET LOW

JESSE EISENBERG / Mark Zuckerberg -THE SOCIAL NETWORK

COLIN FIRTH / King George VI – THE KING’S SPEECH

JAMES FRANCO / Aron Ralston – 127 HOURS

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role

ANNETTE BENING / Nic - THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

NICOLE KIDMAN / Becca – RABBIT HOLE

JENNIFER LAWRENCE / Ree Dolly – WINTER’S BONE

NATALIE PORTMAN / Nina Sayers – BLACK SWAN

HILARY SWANK / Betty Anne Waters – CONVICTION

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The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announced their nominees for the 2011 Golden Globe Awards, which will be held January 16th, and are hosted once again by comedian Ricky Gervais.   The King’s Speech leads the pack with a total of seven nominations, followed by The Social Network and The Fighter with six noms each.

Glee led the television nominees with five nods. We’ll have some analysis of the nominations later, but at first glance it is a bit shocking to see True Grit completely shut out of the awards.

Best Motion Picture-Drama

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The King’s Speech
• The Social Network

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

• Halle Berry, Frankie & Alice
• Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
• Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
• Natalie Portman, Black Swan
• Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

• Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
• Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
• James Franco, 127 Hours
• Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
• Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

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With Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX coming up in mere weeks, we’re going to be getting more and more info about the fest and the great programming offered during it. We’ve already been bringing you some info and now we’ve got a really cool bit of news to share with you today.

Acclaimed action master and director Yuen Woo-Ping will be honored by the fest with a Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition for his vast achievements in cinematic action and direction.With credits ranging from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Drunken Master, Fist of Legend, Iron Monkey to Kill Bill Vol. 1 and II and The Matrix, Woo-Ping has proven time and again that he is, indeed, a master.

This is a well-deserved award indeed. For the full scoop on the award and all that’s associated with it, check out the full press release from the fine folks at Fantastic Fest.

FANTASTIC FEST HONORS DIRECTOR YUEN WOO-PING WITH
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The Lifetime Achievement Award Will Be Presented at the
Gala Screening of “True Legend”

Austin, TX—Tuesday, August 31, 2010— The 6th annual Fantastic Fest will honor director and master fight choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the world premiere of his new martial arts fantasy True Legend, starring Vincent Zhao (Fong Sai Yuk, Dragon Gets Angry) Zhou Xun (The Emperor and the Assassin, Suzhou River) with Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and the late David Carradine (Kill Bill), on Saturday, September 25, 2010 at The Paramount Theatre in Austin, TX. The film will play as part of a double feature with Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow, Yuen Woo-Ping’s directorial debut and the film that put action legend Jackie Chan on the map. Fantastic Fest will play host to Yuen Woo-Ping’s first U.S. festival appearance.

If you’ve ever walked out of a movie theatre after watching a martial arts film and left your jaw on the floor, your eyes were probably dazzled by the fight choreography of filmmaker, Yuen Woo-Ping. Gods of kung fu — Jackie Chan, Stephen Chow, Jet Li, Donny Yen and Michelle Yeoh — have all had their impressive abilities molded into a cinematic language of fist-pounding aerial artistry at the hands of Yuen Woo-Ping. His work headlines the top fight sequence lists of all time from films like The Matrix trilogy, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Iron Monkey, Drunken Master, Once Upon a Time in China, Fist of Legend and Kung Fu Hustle.

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