Picture: No Country For Old Men
Director: Joel & Ethan Coen - No Country for Old Men
Actor: Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Actress: Julie Christie - Away From Her
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Original Screenplay: Juno
Adapted Screenplay: No Country For Old Men
Cinematography: No Country for Old Men
Editing: No Country For Old Men
Original Score: There Will Be Blood
Documentary: The King of Kong
Foreign Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Animated Film: Ratatouile
Breakthrough Filmmaker: Sarah Polley - Away From Her
Breakthrough Performer: Nikki Blonsky -Hairspray

*Same old, same old, but I think that’s because the awards are going to the deserved contenders, what do you think?

Best Picture:
No Country For Old Men
Alternates: There Will Be Blood or Into The Wild

*If not Into The Wild, Atonement. No Country has an edge, but There Will Be Blood has huge support right now.

Best Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Alternates: George Clooney (Michael Clayton) or Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd)

*The three most consistent players this season, with Daniel being the most raved.

Best Actress:
Julie Christie - Away From Her
Alternates: Ellen Page (Juno) or Marion Cottilard (La Vie En Rose)

*Very likely that Ellen Page could surprise, but the vet Christie would be an easy choice, and Marion and Julie are toss ups, so Ellen Page could just slip in and grab it.

Best Supporting Actor:
Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men
Alternates: Casey Affleck (Assassination of Jesse James) or Hal Holbrook (Into The Wild)

Best Supporting Actress:
Cate Blanchett - I’m Not There
Alternates: Amy Ryan (Gone, Baby, Gone) or Catherine Keener (Into The Wild)

Best Ensemble:
Juno
Alternates: No Country For Old Men or Hairspray

Best Director:
Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country For Old Men
Alternates: Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) or Sean Penn (Into The Wild)

Best Writer:
Diablo Cody - Juno
Alternates: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) or Sean Penn (Into The Wild)

Best Animated Feature:
Ratatouille
Alternate: Persepolis

Best Young Actor:
Michael Cera - Juno
Alternate: Edward Sanders (Sweeney Todd) or Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada (The Kite Runner)

Best Young Actress:
Saoirse Ronan - Atonement
Alternate: Nikki Blonsky (Hairspray)

Best Comedy Movie:
Juno
Alternates: Knocked Up or Superbad

Best Family Film:
Enchanted
Alternate:Hairspray

Best Foreign Language Film:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Alternate: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days

Best Song:
Once - Falling Slowly
Alternate: Into the Wild (Guaranteed)

Best Composer:
Dario Marianelli-Atonement
Alternate: Jonny Greenwood-There Will Be Blood

Best Documentary:
No End In Sight
Alternates: Sicko or In The Shadow of The Moon

Best Made For Television Movie:
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Alternate: The War

*With the Awards announced tonight, I eager to see how my predictions match them. I am not the best predictor by any means, I haven’t even seen all the contenders but my guess is as good as any one else’s, so I though I would give it a shot.

The Houston Film Critics Society 2007 Winners:
Best Picture - No Country for Old Men
Best Director of a Motion Picture - Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role - Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role - Julie Christie, Away From Her
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role - Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role - Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone
Best Performance by an Ensemble Cast - Hairspray
Best Screenplay - Diablo Cody, Juno
Best Animated Film - Ratatouille
Best Cinematography - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Best Documentary - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
Best Foreign Language Film - The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Best Original Score - Dario Marianelli, Atonement
Best Original Song - “Falling Slowly” from Once
Honorary Texan Award - Joel and Ethan Coen
Outstanding Achievement in Cinema - Philip Seymour Hoffman
Outstanding Achievement in Cinema - The Greenway Three Theatre for over thirty years of service to Houston’s art-house film community.

The Houston Film Critics Society’s Top Ten films for 2007:

1. No Country for Old Men
2. Juno
3. Atonement
4. Michael Clayton
5. Into the Wild
6. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
7. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
8. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
9. Charlie Wilson’s War
10. I’m Not There

Best Movie: There Will Be Blood
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson-There Will Be Blood and Julian Schnabel-The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (tie)
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis-There Will Be Blood
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard-La Vie en Rose
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem-No Country for Old Men
Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton-Michael Clayton
Best Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody-Juno
Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen-No Country for Old Men
Best Animated Film: Ratatouille
Best Documentary: In the Shadow of the Moon
Best Foreign Language Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Outstanding Science Fiction, Fantasy or Horror Film: Sweeney Todd

BEST PICTURE
There Will Be Blood (48 ) – Paul Thomas Anderson
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (28 ) – Julian Schnabel
No Country for Old Men (27) – Joel and Ethan Coen

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (57) – Cristian Mungiu
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (42) – Julian Schnabel
Persepolis (18 ) – Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson (47) – There Will Be Blood
Joel and Ethan Coen (29) – No Country for Old Men
Julian Schnabel (29) – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

BEST NON-FICTION FILM
No End in Sight (43) – Charles Ferguson
Sicko (20) – Michael Moore
Terror’s Advocate (18 ) – Barbet Schroeder

BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis (66) – There Will Be Blood
Frank Langella (34) — Starting Out in the Evening
Philip Seymour Hoffman (21) — The Savages, Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead

BEST ACTRESS
Julie Christie (53) – Away from Her
Marion Cotillard (50) – La Vie en Rose
Anamaria Marinca (28 ) – 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Casey Affleck (37) - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem (30) – No Country for Old Men
Philip Seymour Hoffman (29) – Charlie Wilson’s War

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett (42) – I’m Not There
Amy Ryan (29) – Gone Baby Gone and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
Tilda Swinton (23) – Michael Clayton

BEST SCREENPLAY
Tamara Jenkins (28 ) – The Savages
Paul Thomas Anderson (19) – There Will Be Blood
Ronald Harwood (17) – The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
There Will Be Blood (51) – Robert Elswit
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (40) – Janusz Kaminski
No Country for Old Men (33) – Roger Deakins

BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM to “Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind” by John Gianvito

FILM HERITAGE AWARD “to Ford at Fox, a 21-disc box set from Fox Home Video.”

FILM HERITAGE AWARD “to Ross Lipman of the UCLA Film and Television Archive for the restoration of Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep and other independent films.”

*The numbers in brackets indicate the amount of votes each nominee received, looks like No Country is not a firm favourite everywhere.

The Nominations and Winners for 2007
(Winners are underlined and in bold)

1. BEST FILM
· The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
· Into The Wild
· Juno
· No Country For Old Men
· There Will Be Blood

2. BEST DIRECTOR
· Paul Thomas Anderson – There Will Be Blood
· Tim Burton – Sweeney Todd
· Joel & Ethan Coen – No Country For Old Men
· Sean Penn – Into The Wild
· Jason Reitman – Juno
· Julian Schnabel – The Diving Bell & The Butterfly

3. BEST ACTOR
· Mathieu Amalric– The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
· George Clooney– Michael Clayton
· Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood
· Emile Hirsch – Into The Wild
· Tommy Lee Jones – No Country For Old Men

4. BEST ACTRESS
· Amy Adams – Enchanted
· Julie Christie – Away From Her
· Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose
· Laura Linney – The Savages
· Ellen Page – Juno

5. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
· Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James
· Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men
· Paul Dano – There Will Be Blood
· Hal Holbrook – Into The Wild
· Tom Wilkinson– Michael Clayton

6. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
· Cate Blanchett – I’m Not There
· Catherine Keener – Into The Wild
· Emily Mortimer – Lars & The Real Girl
· Amy Ryan – Gone, Baby, Gone
· Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

7. BEST ENSEMBLE
· Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead
· Juno
· Lars & The Real Girl
· Waitress
· Zodiac

8. BEST NEWCOMER
· Nikki Blonsky – Actor, Hairspray
· Michael Cera – Actor, Juno & Superbad
· Diablo Cody – Screenwriter, Juno
· Sarah Polley- Director, Screenwriter, Away From Her
· Adrienne Shelley- Director, Writer, Actor, Waitress

*No Country, Juno and Michael Clayton continue their respective winning streaks. No Country is the front runner for Best Pic now, in my opinion. Juno may get a Best Picture nomination too, so might Michael Clayton. Juno is a force to be reckoned with, I think it is fast becoming a contender for the Best Picture Oscar, and if who I want to win mattered, Juno would win hands down. But alas, I am not a member of AMPAS, and No Country For Old Men is still the closet film to being a “lock” for the win come Oscar night.