2008 Spirit Award Nominations!!! Gotham Winners!!!

Here's the nominees for the Independent Spirit Awards:

As usual, these are a mix of deserving, infuriating, lots of strang snubbing, and familiar names.

Best Feature:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
I'm Not There
Juno
A Mighty Heart
Paranoid Park

Best Director:
Todd Haynes - I'm Not There
Tamara Jenkins - The Savages
Jason Reitman - Juno
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Gus Van Sant - Paranoid Park

Best First Feature:
2 Days in Paris - Julie Delpy
Great World of Sount - Craig Zobel
The Lookout - Scott Frank
Rocket Science - Jeffrey Blitz
Vanaja - Rajnesh Domalpalli

John Cassavetes Award
August Evening
Owl and the Sparrow
The Pool
Quiet City
Shotgun Stories

Best Screenplay:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Savages
Starting Out in the Evening
Waitress
Year of the Dog

Best First Screenplay:
Rocket Science
Broken English
Juno
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
A Mighty Heart

Best Female Lead:
Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart
Sienna Miller - Interview
Ellen Page - Juno
Parker Posey - Broken English
Tang Wei - Lust, Caution

Best Male Lead:
Pedro Castaneda - August Evening
Don Cheadle - Talk to Me
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Savages
Frank Langella - Starting Out in the Evening
Tony Leung - Lust, Caution

Best Supporting Female
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Anna Kendrick - Rocket Science
Jennifer Jason Leigh - Margot at the Wedding
Tamara Podemski - Four Sheets to the Wind
Marisa Tomei - Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

Best Supporting Male:
Chiwetel Ejiofor - Talk To Me
Marcus Carl Franklin - I'm Not There
Kene Holliday - Great World of Sound
Irrfan Khan - The Namesake
Steve Zahn - Rescue Dawn

Best Cinematography:
The Savages
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Vanaja
Youth Without Youth
Lust, Caution

Best Documentary:
Crazy Love
Lake of Fire
Manufactured Landscapes
The Monastery
The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair

Best Foreign Film:
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
The Band's Visit
Lady Chatterley
Once
Persepolis

ROBERT ALTMAN AWARD
(Given to a film's director, casting director, and its ensemble cast)

I'm Not There
Director: Todd Haynes
Casting Director: Laura Rosenthal
Ensemble Cast: Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Richard Gere, Heath Ledger, Ben Whishaw, Marcus Carl Franklin, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Bruce Greenwood




17TH ANNAUL GOTHAM AWARDS:

Breakthrough Actor:
Emile Hirsch - Into the Wild
Kene Holliday - Great World of Sound
Ellen Page - Juno (WINNER)
Jess Weixler - Teeth
Luisa Williams - Day Night Day Night

Best Feature:
Great World of Sound
I'm Not There
Into the Wild (WINNER)
Margot at the Wedding
The Namesake

Best Ensemble Cast:
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (WINNER - TIE)
The Last Winter
Margot at the Wedding
The Savages
Talk to Me (WINNER - TIE)

Best Documentary:
The Devil Came on Horseback
Jimmy Carter: Man from Plains
My Kid Could Paint That
Sicko (WINNER)
Taxi to the Dark Side

Again....

Okay, so I've just left this sit here for a few months with little updating. Well, I definitely need a creative outlet for my take on award season. It's late November and the season is here. So, till the end of February, I'll be posting my thoughts on the award winners, predictions, reviews, blah blah blah, and of course RED CARPET PICS!!!!! Anywho, I have yet to make a formal list of predictions for the Oscars because the season seems just so crazy. In each category, there seems to be 2-3 films destined to be nominated, followed by a dozen (if not more) names vying for the remaining slots. My fellow Oscarwatchers seem to have made this a year in which everything is being overly dissected, torn down. It's all about a film/person not being nominated because the film is too divisive, won't appeal to older audiences, won't appeal to hipsters, won't have enough support, is too mainstream, is too different, is too light, is too heavy, isn't a big enough hit, came out too early, is coming out too late, is a name no one knows, is a man in drag, is a woman with too much botox, didn't get good responses during Academy screenings (I mean, this major producer sat in front of me and look pissed so it's SERIOUSLY not getting nominated), is always snubbed, is always nominated, has too small screentime, is in the wrong category, is from a studio that doesn't know how to campaign, is from a studio that is campaigning for other films..... You get the picture. Come an early January morning, no matter these hindrences, there will be 5 Best Picture nominees and around 25 names in the acting and directing categories.

I'll just toss out 5 Best Picture predictions just for fun:

Atonement - Into the Wild - Juno - No Country for Old Men - There Will Be Blood

And regarding the actors, I think you'll hear most of these names:

Javier Bardem
Cate Blanchett
Marion Cottilard
Daniel Day Lewis
Saoirese Ronan

I'll post Globe predictions before the nominations are announced, and I'll probably only make 2 formal Oscar Predictions lists - one post-Globes, one pre-Oscar nominations.