Las Vegas critics spring for 'The Artist,' Melissa McCarthy
Meanwhile, Nicolas Winding Refn gets his first critics award of the year
Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
Are you a fan of In Contention?
Sign up to get the latest updates instantly.
The Las Vegas Film Critics Society dished out their kudos today, and they fell right in line. "We'll take 'The Artist,' please."
More interesting is their choice for Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn for "Drive." As noted in today's Off the Carpet column, it's intriguing how much staying power the film has this season. Maybe it can parlay some of these notices into more serious Academy consideration, but it'll take some more campaign wind in the sails.
Elsewhere, Melissa McCarthy nabbed yet another Best Supporting Actress prize for "Bridesmaids," and I just don't get it. But congratulations to her. It's a real coming out this year and maybe -- given how rocky the category is -- she can manage an Oscar nomination when all is said and done. I'm sure Zach Galifianakis is wondering if he was chopped liver two years ago.
Related
-
Interview: Albert Brooks on 'Drive' as a chance to prove something
The actor plays against type in Nicolas Winding Refn's neo-noir outing
Related Videos
-
The Artist - Trailer
A romance during the time of silent film.
Check out the full list of winners from Vegas below. (And always bet on black.)
Best Picture: "The Artist"
Best Director: Nicolas Winding Refn, "Drive"
Best Actor: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist"
Best Actress: Michelle Williams, "My Week with Marilyn"
Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, "Drive"
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa McCarthy, "Bridesmaids"
Best Screenplay: "Moneyball"
Best Cinematography: "The Tree of Life"
Best Costume Design: "The Artist"
Best Film Editing: "Hugo"
Best Score: "The Artist"
Best Visual Effects: "Rise of the Planet of the Apes"
Best Animated Film: "Rango"
Best Documentary: "Project Nim"
Best Foreign Film: "13 Assassins"
Best Family Film: "Hugo"
Youth in Film: Asa Butterfield, "Hugo"
Best DVD (Packaging, Design and Content): "Jurassic Park" Ultimate Trilogy
William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award: Albert Brooks
Top 10 films (in order): "The Artist," "Hugo," "Moneyball," "The Descendants," "Drive," "The Help," "50/50," "Midnight in Paris," "Shame" and "Warrior"
For year-round entertainment news and awards season commentary follow @kristapley on Twitter.
Sign up for Instant Alerts from In Contention!
Related Events
-
movies -
movies
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
Latest Posts
-
Continuing our cheat sheet for the Cannes CompetitionWednesday, May 15, 2013
-
Get ready for Gosling, Damon, Timberlake, Cotillard, Swinton and moreWednesday, May 15, 2013
-
Continuing our cheat sheet for the Cannes CompetitionWednesday, May 15, 2013
-
Is it a bad idea or is Peckinpah no longer off limits?Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Comments
Option 1
Comment instantly as a guest GuestOption 2
Option 3
Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupLaura Stewart
December 13, 2011 at 8:47PM EST Reply to CommentAt this point, Michelle Williams has nabbed the most wins and (I think) is tied with Meryl for most nominations. We may have a new frontrunner.
JJ1 I don't know what to think of Williams and a possible win. Meryl is apparently towering in the film. Davis has been the frontrunner. But Williams is winning quite a bit. She's well-liked by the Academy. And hers is a very Academy-friendly film (perhaps unlike Young Adult or WNTTAKevin). It's a hard one to figure; her potential for a win.
December 13, 2011 at 9:59PM ESTGuy Lodge Frontrunners aren't determined by the number of minor critics' awards they win.
December 13, 2011 at 11:14PM ESTS How do you determine a win?
December 13, 2011 at 11:27PM ESTjames Let us not forget that critics awards can be meaningless -- umm social network sweeping and kings speech winning the oscar -- anyways, precedent shows that the academy prefers best actress to be young, so I think michelle will win -- she should have won for brokeback mountain. I wish it had been viola davis -- who is so great in the help and also so deserved it for Doubt. Can we finally see Leonardo dicaprio reach front runner status, please! George doesn't need another one and brad wasn't that amazing. I love Drive and hope it gets a load of nominations -- but I don't get albert brooks nomination. If they are finally going for comedy this year, i really wish that they would give charlie day a much deserved nomination for horrible bosses.
December 14, 2011 at 12:46AM ESTAndrew F SAG, BAFTA, Globes, NYFCC and LAFCA are the 'big ones', I would say.
December 14, 2011 at 12:54AM ESTRashad
December 13, 2011 at 8:51PM EST Reply to CommentYouth in Film: Asa Butterfield, "Hugo"
ugh He was one of the worst parts of that movie. I'd much rather Joel Courtney or Elle Fanning have won.
JJ1 I, for one, totally bought Butterfield as Hugo. I think he captured the meek, sad, lonely, wide-eyed confusion that a boy in that situation would have. He felt real to me; and not some "movie" kid - with oodles of faux-charisma and cute looks.
December 13, 2011 at 10:03PM ESTWill
December 13, 2011 at 8:55PM EST Reply to CommentTotally on Team McCarthy this year. I thought she brought A LOT to that role and did a great job of also humanizing a character that really doesn't resemble many other female characters out there. I'm hoping she gets in if, for no other reason, than to inject some life into the race. Great comedy performances so RARELY get their due, and probably less so for women. She could be this year's RDJ in Tropic Thunder, and I'd love it.
Tyler
December 13, 2011 at 9:00PM EST Reply to CommentWow! It's looking like Lubezki's amazing cinematography is VERY popular.
Graysmith
December 13, 2011 at 9:13PM EST Reply to CommentI realize that it's been a horrible year for supporting performances, but was it really so bad that the best several of these groups can come up with is Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids? Granted, I wasn't as big on that film as a whole compared to most but yikes.
Liz What annoys me is that if they wanted to honor a comedy, there are still numerous better options. Amy Ryan in "Win Win," Jessica Chastain in "The Help" (although I guess that's a mix of comedy and drama), Rose Byrne IN THE VERY SAME MOVIE. Hell, at this point, I'd rather see Jennifer Aniston's name pop up for "Horrible Bosses." That's how annoyed I am by the whole McCarthy wave of support.
December 13, 2011 at 9:57PM ESTGuy Lodge What Liz said, times ten. I think McCarthy does precisely what's required of her in Bridesmaids, and with some zeal -- she's fun, she's boisterous, she gets the laughs. But I don't think it's particularly difficult to achieve that with a thin character written entirely as schtick: indeed, the performance's least true note for me comes when the script rather abruptly turns her into a confidante figure. What Byrne is doing in Bridesmaids is, I think, considerably subtler and more difficult: the character gets nasty laughs, sure, but there's an undertow of sadness and want there that makes her a brittle human being rather a snappy punchline dispenser.
December 13, 2011 at 11:07PM ESTMeanwhile, the fact that McCarthy has all this buzz while Kristin Wiig, who completely owns the movie, can't get arrested in the lead category is hardly fair.
Amir What Guy said, times a hundred.
December 13, 2011 at 11:47PM ESTAndrej Indeed, to all of this. I wonder how much of her accolades are attributed mostly (if not only) to her Emmy win for Mike & Molly and the series's success, rather than her contribution to Bridesmaids. Ever since she won there's been talk about her shots here because of the attention and whatnot.
December 14, 2011 at 12:19AM ESTYet, if she gets nominated for Mike & Molly for both SAG and GG - which are likely she'll win them, what's stopping them from nominating her for Bridesmaids as well? "It's her year and she's very funny in this all-girl comedy and etc". And on to Oscar she goes.
Come on. Don't fail me now, season.
forg
December 13, 2011 at 9:15PM EST Reply to CommentRango is winning everything, woot! I wonder if the Annies would follow suit
Daniel Crooke
December 13, 2011 at 10:01PM EST Reply to CommentThe Galifianakis comparison really just doesn't fly. While they both serve as their ensemble's wild card, their purposes in the films are dramatically different. Galifianakis (brilliantly) played a man-child in a comedy with nothing more to say than "Shit Happens When You're Drunk!" while McCarthy played the most human character in her film, helping the protagonist achieve her goals, literally and thematically, rather than simply acting as a funny sideshow. The marketing for the film was clearly trying to highlight her as the Female Galifianakis, but the film does not. I'm a big fan of both performances but painting them in the same stroke is a bit like comparing apples to half-consumed apples.
Will I agree with this. I think the Galifianakis role is one that was well-played, but has been done many times in different iterations. I think McCarthy's character and her performance are a lot deeper and trickier than they might first have seemed. It's a character that doesn't necessarily have a lot of contemporaries. She's the off the wall goofball character, but you also need her as an example of complete and believable self-possession in a cast of neurotic, frazzled screwball women.
December 13, 2011 at 11:00PM ESTGeesh ... I guess I will stop spamming this wall with my McCarthy love. I'm starting to look ridiculous. :)
JJ1
December 13, 2011 at 10:06PM EST Reply to Comment"Always bet on black" -- one of my favorite corny quotes from any movie ever. Me and my buddy always say it at random times or in awkward silences. Good times.
Huh?
December 13, 2011 at 10:50PM EST Reply to CommentYes! A win for 13 ASSASSINS! I wish all these awards lists had a best action scene category or something; then this film would be recognized for its amazing 40 minute climactic battle, which also does a wonderful job of deepening its characters amid the bloody chaos.
Sebastian
December 13, 2011 at 11:03PM EST Reply to CommentIt disgusts me SO much that McCarthy is winning these awards. Bridesmaids is one of the best comedies this decade and has a lot of depth into the story, and Kristen Wiig delivered one of the strongest performances in a leading role this year, comedy or not, she deserves recognition...and instead McCarthy who was far and away the weakest link in the film gets all the attention, and for what? I didn't find her funny, her dramatic monologue towards the end wasn't that great, and she felt completely distant from EVERYONE in the film. All the girls seemed like actual friends and McCarthy was just...there, and she shouldn't have been given the charisma her character was supposed to have.
JJ1 Agreed. I definitely "enjoyed" McCarthy in the role in the film. Defintely. And I've seen worse performances nominated before. But the fact that she's WINNING all these critic awards and destined for Oscar nom/potential win reallllly grates.
December 13, 2011 at 11:35PM ESTm1 The weakest link in the film was that poorly developed Jon Hamm subplot. McCarthy was great.
December 14, 2011 at 9:03AM ESTjames
December 14, 2011 at 12:41AM EST Reply to Commenti don't understand the love for albert brooks -- i love drive -- the coolest movie possibly ever but ryan gosling and the movie should be nominated and if they are finally going with comedic performances this year, I really wish they would go with scene stealer Charlie day in the great Horrible bosses.
Paul Outlaw
December 14, 2011 at 2:59AM EST Reply to CommentEvery McCarthy win is a stab in the heart of this Mulligan fan (and I thought McCarthy was great, although not as great as Byrne, Rudolph or McLendon-Covey).
Anita
December 14, 2011 at 10:56AM EST Reply to CommentYes! Finally, a win for Jean Dujardin! If Michael Shannon does not get a nomination, he's my pick for the win. Glad he's at last been singled out. Also, that Refn win is phenomenal. If Drive does as well on nomination morning as it's been doing so far, I'll be overjoyed. The one pick I do not get is Asa Butterfield. It may be their attempt to further honour Hugo, but whatever you may think of the film, Thomas Horn was incredible in ELIC. I feel like at least some of these young/newcomer awards should acknowledge his performance.