On Saturday, December 11th, the Houston Film Critics Society announced nominations for the best in film and worst in film for the year. The winners will be announced on December 18th inside the Brown Auditorium at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Clips of the nominated films will be shown, as will montages for the Year in Film; this year’s Humanitarian Award recipient (George Clooney) and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient (Sissy Spacek).
BEST PICTURE:
127 Hours, Fox Searchlight (produced by Christian Colson, John Smithson, Danny Boyle)
Black Swan, Fox Searchlight (produced by Mike Medavoy, Scott Franklin, Arnold Messer, Brian Oliver)
Inception, Warner Bros. (produced by Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas)
Kick Ass, Lionsgate (produced by Matthew Vaughn, Brad Pitt, Kris Thykier, Adam Bohling, Tarquin Pack, David Reid)
The Kids Are All Right, Focus Features (produced by Gary Gilbert, Jordan Horowitz, Celine Rattray, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Philippe Hellmann)
The King’s Speech, The Weinstein Company (produced by Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin)
The Social Network, Columbia Pictures (produced by David Fincher, Scott Rudin, Danna Brunetti, Michael de Luca, Cean Chaffin, Kevin Spacey)
Toy Story 3, Walt Disney Pictures (produced by Darla K. Anderson, John Lasseter, Nicole Paradis)
True Grit, Paramount Pictures (produced by Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin, Steven Spielberg) Winter’s Bone, Roadside Attractions (produced by Anna Rosellini, Alix Madigan)
BEST DIRECTOR:
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit
David Fincher, The Social Network
Christopher Nolan, Inception
BEST ACTOR:
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
Robert Duvall, Get Low
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
BEST ACTRESS:
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Bill Murray, Get Low
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom
BEST SCREENPLAY:
Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini (based on the novel “Winter’s Bone” by Daniel Woodrell), Winter’s Bone
John Lasseter (story) & Andrew Stanton (story) & Lee Unkrich (story) and Michael Arndt (screenplay), Toy Story 3
Christopher Nolan, Inception
Aaron Sorkin (based on the book “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich), The Social Network
BEST ANIMATED FILM:
Despicable Me, Universal Pictures (directed by Pierre Coffin & Chris Renaud, produced by John Cohen, Janet Healy, Chris Meledandri)
How to Train Your Dragon, DreamWorks Animation (directed by Chris Sanders & Dean DeBlois, produced by Bonnie Arnold, Doug Davison, Roy Lee, Michael Connolly, Tim Johnson)
Megamind, Paramount Pictures (directed by Tom McGrath, produced by Lara Breary, Ben Stiller, Denise Nolan Cascino)
Tangled, Walt Disney Pictures (directed by Nathan Greno & Byron Howard, produced by Roy Conli, John Lasseter, Glen Keane)
Toy Story 3, Walt Disney Pictures (directed by Lee Unkrich, produced by Darla K. Anderson, John Lasseter, Nicole Paradis)
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Roger Deakins, BSC, ASC, True Grit
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Anthony Dod Mantle, BSC & Enrique Chediak, 127 Hours
Wally Pfister, ASC, Inception
Eduardo Serra, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow, Part One
BEST DOCUMENTARY:
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, Magnolia Pictures (directed by Alex Gibney, produced by Maiken Baird, Robert DeBitetto, Alex Gibney)
Marwencol, The Cinema Guild (directed by Jeff Malmberg, produced by Jeff Malmberg, Tom Putnam, Matt Radecki, Chris Shellen, Kevin W. Walsh)
Restrepo, National Geographic Entertainment (directed and produced by Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger)
The Tillman Story, The Weinstein Company (directed by Amir Bar-Lev, produced by John Battsek, Robert DeBitetto)
Waiting for “Superman”, Paramount Pictures (directed by Davis Guggenheim, produced by Lesley Chilcott)
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Biutiful, Mexico (directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, produced by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Alfonso Guaron, Guillermo del Toro, Fernando Bovaira, Sandra Hermida, Jon Kilik, Ann Ruark)
Carlos, France/Germany (directed by Olivier Assayas, produced by Jens Meurer, Judy Tossell, Daniel Leconte, Raphael Cohen)
Mother, South Korea (directed by Bong Joon-ho, produced by Choi Jae-won, Seo Woo-sik)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Sweden (directed by Niels Arden Oplev, produced by Soren Staermose)
The Secret in their Eyes, Argentina (directed by Juan Jose Campanella, produced by Juan Jose Campanella, Gerardo Herrero, Mariela Besuiveski, Vanessa Ragone, Axel Kuschevatsky)
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Carter Burwell, True Grit
John Powell, How to Train your Dragon
A.R. Rahman, 127 Hours
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Hans Zimmer, Inception
BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
“If I Rise,” from 127 Hours, music by A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Dido Armstrong & Rollo Armstrong
“Shine,” from Waiting for “Superman”, music & lyrics by John Legend
“The Clap,” from Get Him to the Greek, music & lyrics by Dan Bern & Mike Viola
“We are Sex Bob-Omb!” from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, music & lyrics by Beck
“You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me,” from Burlesque, music & lyrics by Diane Warren
WORST MOVIES OF THE YEAR:
Furry Vengeance, Summit Entertainment (produced by Robert Simonds, Brendan Fraser, Keith Goldberg, Ira Shuman)
Jonah Hex, Warner Bros. (produced by Akiva Goldsman and Andrew Lazar)
Sex and the City 2, Warner Bros. (produced by Michael Patrick King, Sarah Jessica Parker, Darren Star, John Melfi)
Splice, Warner Bros. (produced by Steve Hoban, Guillermo del Toro)
The Last Airbender, Paramount Pictures (produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Frank Marshall, Kathleen Kennedy, Sam Mercer, Scott Aversano)
