I’m really hoping for some surprises on Oscar night if only to make things interesting, but it’s looking less likely every day. Last night The Artist nearly swept the British Academy Film Awards (essentially the British Oscars), taking home the prizes for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Music, Best Cinematography, and Best Costume Design. Meryl Streep was named Best Actress for The Iron Lady, while Octavia Spencer and Christopher Plummer won Best Supporting Actress and Actor. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy wasn’t sent home empty-handed, as the spy thriller won Best British Film and Best Adapted Screenplay. I was happy to see Senna get some well-deserved recognition, as the Formula 1 doc chronicling the life of driver Ayrton Senna was named Best Documentary.

While George Clooney seemed the favorite in the Best Actor Oscar race for his magnificent turn in The Descendants, The Artist’s Jean Dujardin could easily prove the spoiler. With the SAG Award in hand and now the BAFTA, the French comedian may very well step up to the podium come Oscar night. Hit the jump to see the full list of BAFTA winners. The Academy Awards will be handed out on February 26th.

Another awards ceremony, another The Artist triumph. Michel Hazanavicius’ silent film continues its near sweep of awards season as it took home the Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor prize from the London Film Critics Circle Awards. Surprisingly, the other film to tie The Artist with three awards was the Iranian drama A Separation. The foreign film has been riding a wave of immense positive word of mouth, and the London Film Critics awarded the pic with Foreign Language Film of the Year, Best Screenwriter, and Best Actress.

Nearly shut out of the awards was Britain’s own Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The espionage drama failed to pick up any major prizes and was sent home with a win for Best Production Design. Elsewhere, We Need to Talk About Kevin was named Best British Film, Anna Paquin shared the Best Actress prize with Meryl Streep for her work in Margaret (quickly becoming the little engine that could), and Michael Fassbender won British Actor of the Year for his stellar work in Shame and A Dangerous Method. Full list of winners after the jump, which includes the critics’ top 10 films of 2011.

The 14th Annual British Independent Film Awards were held tonight and the brutal drama Tyrannosaur took home trophies for Best Film, Best Debut Director (Paddy Considine), and Best Actress (Olivia Colman).  Other BIFA winners included Senna for Best Documentary, Lynne Ramsay for Best Director (We Need to Talk about Kevin), Michael Fassbender for Best Actor (Shame), and Richard Ayoade for Best Screenplay (Submarine).

I thought Tyrannosaur failed to derive honest drama from its ugliness and violence, but I can understand why the movie struck a chord with most viewers.  As for the other winners, I think Ramsay is still an outsider in the Oscar race, but Fassbender, Ayoade, and Colman may have boosted their chances, although Colman will probably compete in the Best Supporting Actress category since that’s where she has a better chance for a nomination.  Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

The nominations for the 27th Annual Independent Spirit Awards were announced this morning with The Artist and Take Shelter each nabbing five nominations. In addition to The Artist and Take Shelter, Drive, 50/50, The Descendants, and Beginners will duke it out for the top prize. Absent from the Best Feature list is Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, though the film was recognized in Best Supporting Male (Corey Stoll) and Best Cinematography. Also of note, Elizabeth Olsen and John Hawkes landed nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Male for Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Ryan Gosling and Woody Harrelson were both singled out in Best Actor for Drive and Rampart respectively.

Hit the jump to check out the full list of nominations. Recognizing the best in independent film, the awards will be handed out on February 25th, the day before the Oscars.

Nominations have been announced for the 2011 British Independent Film Awards.  Steven McQueen‘s Shame, Paddy Considine‘s directorial debut Tyrannosaur, and Tomas Alfredson‘s adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy lead the pack with seven nominations each, and Ben Wheatley‘s Kill List and Lynne Ramsay‘s We Need to Talk about Kevin followed close behind with six nominations a piece.  Other noteworthy nominations include the two for Attack the Block (Best Debut Director for Joe Cornish and Most Promising Newcomer for John Boyega), and Drive picking up a nod for Best Foreign Independent Film.

Hit the jump for the full list of nominees.  Winners will be announced on December 4th.

A trailer has gone online for Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur and unless the movie has been drastically recut, it’s not an accurate representation.  As I said in my Sundance review, the film is grim, brutal, and pointless.  It is rarely uplifting and if there’s drama between Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman’s characters, it’s because of the actors’ tremendous performances and the tension of two people who are unable to trust anyone and yet want to rely on each other.  I know other critics who were mesmerized and deeply moved by the film, and it picked up multiple awards at Sundance, but I felt it was mainly one-note.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  Tyrannosaur currently has no release date but it will likely open sometime before the end of the year.

In my article yesterday about the Venice Film Festival, I made some predictions on which films would make their world premiere at this year’s Toronto Film Festival and not Venice.  It turns out a few of my guesses were only the tip of the iceberg.  Moneyball, 50/50, and The Descendants are all going to premiere at TIFF.  But my lord, does Toronto have an incredible line-up this year.  I’m praying my application gets approved because when you hit the jump and check out this line-up, you’ll understand my agony if I’m stuck in Atlanta while these films are premiering.

Hit the jump for the line-up of Galas and Premieres for this year’s festival.  The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival runs from September 8th – 18th.

With the holiday weekend behind us it’s time to give up the multinational obsession with fireworks and blowing things up so that we all finally can get back to obsessing over pop culture minutia. Fortunately that transition was made a little easier today with the release of four posters for upcoming movies that will soon be plastered all over multiplex lobbies. Today the internet has been graced with pics of the Sundance award-winner Tyrannosaur, as well as the upcoming thrillers Dream House, The Iceman, and Final Destination 5 (yes, shockingly The Final Destination didn’t end up being the final chapter in the franchise after it became a hit. Who could have seen that coming?). Hit the jump to get your required daily dose of teaser poster jollies.

The Sundance Film Festival Juries have selected the winners of the 2011 awards.  The big winner is Like Crazy, which won both the Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) and a Special Jury Prize for actress Felicity Jones.  Naturally, Like Crazy already has a distribution deal in place with Paramount.  Circumstance, Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Pariah are a few of the other winners in the dramatic competition.Notable documentary winners include How to Die in Oregon, Buck, and Project Nim. 

Click here for all of our coverage of Sundance, including reviews and distribution reports for these films and more.  Hit the jump for the full list of winners and the juries who handed out the awards.

If you’re going to make a grim and brutal film, please make sure the grimness and brutality have a point.  Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur is nothing more than a collection of cheap dramatic shots combined with the hope that the visible pain of two characters will be enough to carry a belabored narrative that suffers from pacing and predictability.  While lead actors Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman deliver strong performances, they’re stuck playing flat characters that are defined by their suffering and almost nothing else.  Tyrannosaur wants to shock you into believing it has a powerful tale to tell, but at the end you’re not electrified as much as you’re annoyed.