'Descendants,' Malick, Clooney and Dunst win with Kansas City critics

'Beginners' pleasantly surprises in Best Original Screenplay

By Kristopher Tapley Sunday, Jan 8, 2012 9:10 PM

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The Kansas City Film Critics Circle held its vote this evening and "The Descendants" was named the year's best. I was somewhat confused that "Hugo" won an award designated for sci-fi/fantasy/horror films, though. How does that perception even happen? Anyway, check out the full list of winners below.

Best Picture: "The Descendants"

Best Director: Terrence Malick, "The Tree of Life"

Best Actor: George Clooney, "The Descendants"

Best Actress: Kirsten Dunst, "Melancholia"

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Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners"

Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, "The Tree of Life"

Best Adapted Screenplay: "Moneyball"

Best Original Screenplay: "Beginners"

Best Animated Film: "Rango"

Best Foreign Language Film: "A Separation"

Best Documentary: "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"

Vince Koehler Award for Best Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror Film: "Hugo"

Remember to keep track of the 2011-2012 film awards season via The Circuit.

For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.

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Kristopher Tapley
Editor-at-Large

Kristopher Tapley has covered the film awards landscape for over a decade. He founded In Contention in 2005. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Times of London and Variety. He begs you not to take any of this too seriously.

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Laura Stewart

Kiki!!
January 8, 2012 at 10:27PM EST Reply to Comment
JLPatt

I guess I'm the only one who considers Chastain a lead performance in "The Tree of Life."

The "Hugo" thing isn't completely bizarre. I mean, it is fairly steampunk/fantasy-ish.
January 8, 2012 at 11:36PM EST Reply to Comment
- Kristopher Tapley There is nothing fantasy about it. At all. It's straight period. Just because there are scenes in a clock tower doesn't mean it's "steampunk" or fantasy.
  January 8, 2012 at 11:54PM EST
- Joel It's not a fantasy. But I would argue that Sasha Baron Cohen's gigantic face looming over the audience in 3-D does border on a horror.
  January 9, 2012 at 12:34AM EST
- Edward L. It is a fantasy that the train station's clocktower is tall enough to look down on the Eiffel Tower! :-)
  January 9, 2012 at 12:46AM EST
- JLPatt Well, Méliès made fantasies, and they have a huge presence in the film. So it makes sense how some would feel it's a fantasy.
  
  And come on... the visuals? They are so stylized and dreamlike it's impossible to take anything in the film as wholly realistic.
  January 9, 2012 at 1:28AM EST
- Kristopher Tapley Heightened, sure. But it's not genre.
  January 9, 2012 at 1:38AM EST
- mayukh Definitely also consider Chastain (and Pitt) lead in ToL.
  January 9, 2012 at 3:05AM EST
- Eric Melin Hunter McCracken was the lead in ToL, but he didn't get too much traction unfortunately...
  January 9, 2012 at 11:24AM EST
- Joe7827 I'd be inclined to agree with Kris. It feels very much like a fantasy (I'd even say it's more like a "fable"). But when you get down to it, there's really nothing fantastical about it.
  January 9, 2012 at 12:23PM EST
Matt

Is Dunst picking up some steam? Or is it too late and or/too crowded?
January 9, 2012 at 12:11AM EST Reply to Comment
It was interesting because a vote was put to the membership about this very issue. The majority felt that the fantastical elements of the film qualified it. Although it was my #3 of the year, I didn't vote for it here because it didn't feel right. Genre qualifications can certainly be tricky.
January 9, 2012 at 12:29AM EST Reply to Comment
GlennAU

Great to see Dunst winning two prizes in as many days. You go Kiki!
January 9, 2012 at 1:49AM EST Reply to Comment

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2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS

UPDATED: FEB 25, 2013

Best Picture

Best Director

Best Actor

Best Actress

Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actress

Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Original Screenplay

Best Cinematography

Best Costume Design

Best Film Editing

Best Makeup And Hairstyling

Best Original Score

Best Original Song

Best Production Design

Best Sound Editing

Best Sound Mixing

Best Visual Effects

Best Animated Feature Film

Best Documentary Feature

Best Foreign Language Film

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'Descendants,' Malick, Clooney and Dunst win with Kansas City critics

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'Descendants,' Malick, Clooney and Dunst win with Kansas City critics

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Oscar Guide 2013 - A new category previewed every day until the big show

Best Picture

Best Director

Best Actor

Best Actress

Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actress

Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Original Screenplay

Best Cinematography

Best Costume Design

Best Film Editing

Best Makeup And Hairstyling

Best Original Score

Best Original Song

Best Production Design

Best Sound Editing

Best Sound Mixing

Best Visual Effects

Best Animated Feature Film

Best Documentary Feature

Best Foreign Language Film

Comments

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Laura Stewart Kiki!!

JLPatt I guess I'm the only one who considers Chastain a lead performance in "The Tree of Life."The "Hugo" thing isn't completely bizarre. I mean, it is fairly steampunk/fantasy-ish.

Kristopher Tapley There is nothing fantasy about it. At all. It's straight period. Just because there are scenes in a clock tower doesn't mean it's "steampunk" or fantasy.

Joel It's not a fantasy. But I would argue that Sasha Baron Cohen's gigantic face looming over the audience in 3-D does border on a horror.

Edward L. It is a fantasy that the train station's clocktower is tall enough to look down on the Eiffel Tower! :-)

JLPatt Well, Méliès made fantasies, and they have a huge presence in the film. So it makes sense how some would feel it's a fantasy. And come on... the visuals? They are so stylized and dreamlike it's impossible to take anything in the film as wholly realistic.

Kristopher Tapley Heightened, sure. But it's not genre.

mayukh Definitely also consider Chastain (and Pitt) lead in ToL.

Eric Melin Hunter McCracken was the lead in ToL, but he didn't get too much traction unfortunately...

Joe7827 I'd be inclined to agree with Kris. It feels very much like a fantasy (I'd even say it's more like a "fable"). But when you get down to it, there's really nothing fantastical about it.

Matt Is Dunst picking up some steam? Or is it too late and or/too crowded?

It was interesting because a vote was put to the membership about this very issue. The majority felt that the fantastical elements of the film qualified it. Although it was my #3 of the year, I didn't vote for it here because it didn't feel right. Genre qualifications can certainly be tricky.

GlennAU Great to see Dunst winning two prizes in as many days. You go Kiki!

Never miss a post - sign up now to get an e-mail alert whenever In Contention is updated

2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS

Best Picture

Best Director

Best Actor

Best Actress

Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actress

Best Adapted Screenplay

Best Original Screenplay

Best Cinematography

Best Costume Design

Best Film Editing

Best Makeup And Hairstyling

Best Original Score

Best Original Song

Best Production Design

Best Sound Editing

Best Sound Mixing

Best Visual Effects

Best Animated Feature Film

Best Documentary Feature

Best Foreign Language Film

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In Contention is updated

Laura Stewart

Kiki!!

JLPatt

I guess I'm the only one who considers Chastain a lead performance in "The Tree of Life."

The "Hugo" thing isn't completely bizarre. I mean, it is fairly steampunk/fantasy-ish.

JLPatt Well, Méliès made fantasies, and they have a huge presence in the film. So it makes sense how some would feel it's a fantasy.

And come on... the visuals? They are so stylized and dreamlike it's impossible to take anything in the film as wholly realistic.

Matt

Is Dunst picking up some steam? Or is it too late and or/too crowded?

GlennAU

Great to see Dunst winning two prizes in as many days. You go Kiki!

Never miss a post - sign up now to get an e-mail alert whenever
In Contention is updated