Tonight I’ll be live-blogging the 2011 Golden Globe Awards.  The Golden Globes continue to receive attention because they used to be seen as a reliable indicator of what films would be receiving Orscar love.  However, due to shifting deadlines, Oscar ballots are already due and there’s no way that the Globes can affect the Oscar nominees.  Also, the Globes, which are hosted by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, are known for being delightfully carefree with their integrity and will nominate you if you show them enough love.  They’re basically like the MTV Movie Awards except they serve food and there aren’t any sketches.

However, I think host Ricky Gervais will do a fine job tonight and I’m curious to see if the Globes will follow through on their clearly bought-and-paid-for-love of films like Burlesque and The Tourist.  Click here for a list of the nominees and hit the jump for my on-going live-blog and be sure to keep refreshing the page for my comments.  The 2011 Golden Globe Awards air at 8pm (EST) on NBC.

The Directors Guild of America has announced its nominees for 2011.  The nominees are Darren Aronofsky for Black Swan, David Fincher for The Social Network, Tom Hooper for The King’s Speech, Christopher Nolan for Inception, and David O. Russell for The Fighter.  It is highly likely that at least four of these five directors will receive Oscar nominations and it’s also likely that one of these five films is going to win Best Picture.  The last time the Directors Guild winner didn’t match up with Best Picture was in 2005 when the DGA gave Ang Lee Best Director for Brokeback Mountain but the Oscar for Best Picture went to Crash.

The DGA will announce the winner on Saturday, January 29th.  Previous winners include

On my way home from taking my dad to see The Fighter yesterday (which marked my third time seeing the film in case you were wondering), we had a conversation regarding the authenticity of David O. Russell’s flick. Turns out Rope of Silicon’s Brad Brevet shared a similar curiosity and scoured the internet for facts. His findings, particularly in regards to the boxing matches themselves, are pretty cool and further increase my respect for the-sure-to-be-nominated boxing film. While naturally some dramatic liberties were taken, most of the fight sequences, namely the final bout with Shea Neary are quite accurately recreated – even down to the play-by-play commentaries. Those of you who are interested can check out the article here, and the Shea fight here. Also of interest (thanks to some snooping of my own) is the match between Ward and Sanchez, and Dicky Eklund’s much touted go with Sugar Ray Leonard.  Oh the power of YouTube. Hit the jump for more.

The longlists for the British Academy Film Awards have been released, and The King’s Speech and Black Swan lead with 15 entries each. Inception and Made in Dagenham garnered 14 entries apiece, while The Social Network conjured up 13. While this is not the list of nominees for the BAFTA’s, the longlists narrow each field down to 15 entries and provide a peek into what the academy members are thinking by unveiling which five entries in each category obtained the most votes.

The BAFTA’s, which are often considered the “British Oscars”, will unveil their list of nominees on January 18^th, with the award ceremony set to take place on February 13^th. Hit the jump to see who made the cut in the longlists of each category.

The Writers Guild of America has announced their nominations for the best screenplays of 2010.  Most of the usual suspects scored noms, including The Social Network and Black Swan. A couple of nice surprise nominations for Please Give and I Love You Philip Morris shake up what’s mostly a list of more of the same. Oscar favorite The Kings Speech failed to meet eligibility requirements to be considered, and was therefore disqualified (as were a number of other high-profile scripts).  Usually a reliable predictor for Oscar gold, the winner of the WGA award has gone on to win the Oscar in the same category 11 of the last 16 years.

Don’t let the lack of a Kings Speech nom fool you, as that film and The Social Network have been racking up awards in the original and adapted screenplay categories respectively over the past month. Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominations in the Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Documentary Screenplay categories.

The Producers Guild of America have announced their nominees for the 2011 Producers Guild Awards.  The nominees for Best Motion Picture are 127 Hours, Black Swan, Inception, The Fighter, The Kids Are All Right, The King’s Speech, The Social Network, Toy Story 3, The Town, and True Grit. Notably absent from their selections is Winter’s Bone.  With the exception of The Town, I think you’re looking at the ten Oscar nominees for Best Picture (I think Winter’s Bone will ultimately nab the 10th slot).

Hit the jump for the full press release, which also includes nominees for Best Animated Film, Best Documentary (no Exit Through the Gift Shop—boo), and various television categories.  Winners will be announced January 22nd.  Judd Apatow will host the awards ceremony.

The Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) have named David Fincher’s The Social Network as the best film of 2010.  This brings the total number of critics’ society awards the film has won to somewhere around “A lot.”  The film also picked up Best Director for Fincher and Best Adapted Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin.  OFCS also agreed with me when it came to picking the best performances of the years, giving awards to Colin Firth (Best Actor, The King’s Speech), Natalie Portman (Best Actress, Black Swan), Christian Bale (Best Supporting Actor, The Fighter), and Hailee Steinfeld (Best Supporting Actress, True Grit).

Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

As we enter 2011, Quentin Tarantino has revealed his top ten films of 2010.  The list includes the usual suspects (Toy Story 3, The Social Network) along with some fun surprises like Tangled and, shall we say “peculiar” surprises like Robin Hood.  Tarantino didn’t provide any comment on his choices, but said of his number ten pick, Enter the Void,

“Hands down best credit scene of the year? Maybe best credit scene of the decade. One of the greatest in cinema history.”

Hit the jump for Tarantino’s list along with a look at the opening credits for Enter the Void.

I won’t deny the vanity of year-end lists.  Most professional critics will sit through over 100 new films per year and the year-end list is a badge of honor that says, “These are the films I appreciated the most.  Behold.”  Despite the vanity, I continue to think that the year-end Top 10 provides a valuable service to the average moviegoer.  Most folks don’t have the time, cash, or inclination to see every movie released in a given year and a Top 10 list says, “Here are the must-see films from the past 365 days.  Netflix them or something.”  I didn’t get to see every film that could have potentially made this list, but I feel confident in my choices.  So forgive my indulgence and hit the jump for my Top 10 films of 2010.

In my profession, there are two very important things you must do: watch movies and keep notes.  I did an alright job with the first one, but admittedly fell short on the latter.  While last year I was able to confidently provide what I thought were the best kills and quotes, this year I didn’t do a good job with record keeping and so I’ve omitted those categories.  Next year I’ll be more meticulous and make it a point to see movie where people get destroyed while saying witty things.

However, I did see enough movies to confidently make a list of the folks I thought were the best actors, directors, and other miscellaneous greats.  Hit the jump to check out my picks.

Around awards season, I’m always interested by the nominations of guilds or other groups with a specific technical focus.  Of course, the Society of Camera Operators found a way to honor The Social Network like everyone else.  But Hereafter and Salt, which won’t contend for many awards as complete works, also earned nominations alongside The Town and The Fighter for feature film camera operator of the year.

The nominees in television are similarly eclectic.  The final season of 24 missed out on a swan song at the Emmys and the Golden Globes, but is recognized here with House, Bones, Sons of Anarchy, and Raising Hope.  Hit the jump for the full list.

Bad news if you’re a Clint Mansell fan. The composer’s exceptional work for Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan has been deemed ineligible for Oscar consideration due to its usage of music from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. While not exactly a surprise, it’s still a shame considering the score’s unique, even complicated structure.

According to Variety, Carter Burwell’s scores for True Grit and The Kids Are All Right (which he composed alongside Nathan Larson and Craig Wedren) and Michael Brook’s work on The Fighter have also been disqualified. Alexandre Desplat’s score for The King’s Speech, however, which recently received a Golden Globe-nomination, has been deemed eligible despite its usage of classical works. Hit the jump for more.

If you’ve seen The Fighter, then you know that Christian Bale gives the performance of his career as boxer Micky Ward’s drug-addled older brother/trainer Dicky Eklund. Well, now the 1995 HBO Documentary High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell, which features Dicky Eklund’s struggle with crack cocaine (and also figures into The Fighter as well) is available to watch online for free thanks to SnagFilms.  Bale is phenomenal in the film, and after seeing the real Dickie Eklund in this documentary his performance is all the more impressive. Even if you haven’t seen The Fighter, this doc is still highly intriguing (though if you plan on seeing The Fighter 100% spoiler-free, I’d recommend watching this doc after seeing the flick). Hit the jump to check out High on Crack Street: Lost Lives in Lowell. The Fighter is currently playing in theaters everywhere.

Five, count ‘em, five releases went wide this weekend, including the much anticipated Tron Legacy from Disney.  The 3D spectacle ran circles around the competition – bringing in an estimated $43.6 million in first place, or 62% more than Yogi Bear managed in second.  Meanwhile, How Do You Know could not even live up to the very modest expectations of Sony Pictures, placing eighth for the weekend with just $7.6 million.

‘Tis the weekend before Christmas, and the estimates are in.  Disney’s Tron Legacy was way out in front with $18 million from its 3,451 locations.  The 3D re-launch of the studio’s legendary 1982 film is now projected to take in $45 million through Sunday.  Competing for Tron’s 3D screen space is Warner’s Yogi Bear, which opened to an estimated $4.7 million in 3,515 locations (though with fewer overall screens than Tron).  The Fighter saw its screen count rise from 4 to 2,503 on Friday. The Oscar contender punched its way into third place with an estimate of $3.9 million. Black Swan closed out the top five $2.7 million. The new Sony release How Do You Know didn’t feel the love, tying for sixth place with The Tourist at an estimated $2.5 million from its 2,483 locations.  Full details on this weekend’s box office – aka Avatar one year later – when you come back tomorrow.