The 2011 Critics Consensus Award Nominations
For only the second time since 1990, and for the last time to date, the Critics Consensus Award nominees for Best Picture and Director were the same in 2011. Top overall was The Artist, which made the critics' top five across eight of the 16 counted categories, but it's those categories that are the biggest story for '11, or one in particular: Best Animated Feature. The rules of the CCAs governing what verifies a category for inclusion are too arcane to bother mentioning here, but they've kept the cartoons at bay for much too long now, so it's good to see them complete what remains the CCA lineup. That said, this will prove to be, imo, the poorest category for quality in these awards, and not because the animation industry isn't making good enough movies, but because the critics that recognize their movies in year-end awards aren't seeing the good ones. Anyway, in other news... Drive notches up six nominations in categories where Oscar ignored it, making the Best Picture top five despite failing to make the Academy's top nine. Only nine acting nominees match Oscar's slates across those four categories - the fewest in the CCA's history - and a Harry Potter movie receives a nomination for the first time. Check back later for award winners, and check below for the nominees in full.
Best Picture
The Artist (Jean Dujardin, Michel Hazanavicius and Thomas Langmann)
The Descendants (Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor)
Drive (Michel Litvak, John Palermo, Marc Platt, Gigi Pritzker, Adam Siegel and Nicolas Winding Refn)
Hugo (Johnny Depp, Tim Headington, Graham King and Martin Scorsese)
The Tree of Life (Dede Gardner, Sarah Green, Grant Hill, Terrence Malick, Brad Pitt and Bill Pohlad)
Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Terrence Malick (The Tree of Life)
Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia)
Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)
Michelle Williams (My Week with Marilyn)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
George Clooney (The Descendants)
Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
Michael Fassbender (Shame)
Brad Pitt (Moneyball)
Michael Shannon (Take Shelter)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life)
Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
Carey Mulligan (Shame)
Octavia Spencer (The Help)
Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Kenneth Branagh (My Week with Marilyn)
Albert Brooks (Drive)
John Hawkes (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
Patton Oswalt (Young Adult)
Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
Best Original Screenplay
Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris)
Asghar Farhadi (A Separation)
Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
Tom McCarthy and Joe Tiboni (Win Win)
Will Reiser (50/50)
Best Adapted Screenplay
Hossein Amini (Drive)
Nat Faxon, Alexander Payne and Jim Rash (The Descendants)
John Logan (Hugo)
Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian (Moneyball)
Best Cinematography
Manuel Alberto Claro (Melancholia)
Janusz Kaminski (War Horse)
Emmanuel Lubezki (The Tree of Life)
Robert Richardson (Hugo)
Guillaume Schiffman (The Artist)
Best Editing
Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicus (The Artist)
Hank Corwin, Jay Rabinowitz, Daniel Rezende, Billy Weber and Mark Yoshikawa (The Tree of Life)
Matthew Newman (Drive)
Thelma Schoonmaker (Hugo)
Best Production Design
Laurence Bennett (The Artist)
Stuart Craig (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2)
Maria Djurkovic (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Dante Ferretti (Hugo)
Jack Fisk (The Tree of Life)
Best Music
Ludovic Bource (The Artist)
Eric Craig, Cliff Martinez and Brian McNelis (Drive)
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo)
Howard Shore (Hugo)
John Williams (War Horse)
Best Ensemble Cast
Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Aasif Mandvi, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, Zachary Quinto, Kevin Spacey and Stanley Tucci (Margin Call)
Beau Bridges, George Clooney, Robert Forster, Judy Greer, Matthew Lillard and Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)
Kathy Burke, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Dencik, Colin Firth, Stephen Graham, William Haddock, Tom Hardy, Ciaran Hinds, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Simon McBurney, Gary Oldman and Mark Strong (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)
Rose Byrne, Jill Clayburgh, Ellie Kemper, Matt Lucas, Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Chris O'Dowd, Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids)
Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Chris Lowell, Ahna O'Reilly, Sissy Spacek, Octavia Spencer, Mary Steenburgen, Emma Stone, Cicely Tyson and Mike Vogel (The Help)
Best Animated Feature
The Adventures of Tintin (Peter Jackson, Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg)
Arthur Christmas (Barry Cook, Peter Lord, Steve Pegram, Carla Shelley, Sarah Smith and David Sproxton)
Puss in Boots (Joe M. Aguilar, Chris Miller and Latifa Ouaou)
Rango (John B. Carls, Graham King and Gore Verbinski)
Winnie the Pooh (Stephen J. Anderson, Peter del Vecho, Don Hall and Clark Spencer)
Best Documentary
Buck (Julie Goldman and Cindy Meehl)
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Adrienne Ciuffo, Werner Herzog and Erik Nelson)
The Interrupters (Steve James and Alex Kotlowitz)
Into the Abyss (Werner Herzog and Erik Nelson)
Project Nim (Simon Chinn and James Marsh)
Best Foreign Language Film
13 Assassins (Ichikawa Minami, Maeda Shigeji, Miike Takashi, Ohno Takahiro, Shiraishi Toichiro and Yoshida Koji)
Certified Copy (Angelo Barbagallo, Charles Gillibert, Marin Karmitz, Nathanael Karmitz and Abbas Kiarostami)
Le Havre (Aki Kaurismaki)
A Separation (Asghar Farhadi)
The Skin I Live In (Agustin Almodovar, Pedro Almodovar and Esther Garcia)
Image Credit: MovieStillsDB