Roundup of Recent Award Winners

The last few days before the Oscars are awarded has seen the last of the guild and technical awards being handed out.  Let's see who the winners were.

The Writer's Guild of America Winners

Original Screenplay
Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants

Documentary Screenplay
Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega, Better This World

Paul Selvin Award
Tate Taylor, The Help

Costume Designers Guild Winners


Period Film
W.E., Ariane Phillips

Contemporary Film
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Trish Summerville

Fantasy Film
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, Jany Temime

USC Libraries Scripter Awards
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash, The Descendants

Cinema Audio Society (CAS) Award Winners

Outstanding Sound in a Motion Picture
Hugo

American Cinema Editors (Eddies) Winners

Best Edited Feature Film (Dramatic)

Kevin Tent, The Descendants

Best Edited Feature Film (Comedy or Musical)

Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Best Edited Animated Feature Film

Craig Wood, Rango

Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) Winners - Golden Reel Awards

Best Sound Effects and Foley in a Feature Film
War Horse

Best Music in a Feature Film
Hugo

Best Sound Editing in an Animation Feature Film
The Adventures of Tintin

Best Music in a Musical Feature Film
The Muppets

Best Sound Editing in a Feature Foreign Language Film
The Flowers of War

Best Sound Editing in a Feature Documentary
George Harrison: Living in the Material World

Best Dialogue and ADR in a Feature Film
Super 8

Updated to add:

International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) Award Winners


Film Score of the Year
John Williams, War Horse

Film Composer of the Year
John Williams

Breakout Composer of the Year
Ludovic Bource

Best Original Score for a Drama Film
John Williams, War Horse

Best Original Score for a Comedy Film
Christopher Young, The Rum Diary

Best Original Score for an Action/Adventure/Thriller Film
Cliff Martinez, Drive

Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror Film
Michael Giacchino, Super 8

Best Original Score for an Animated Feature
John Williams, The Adventure of Tintin

Best Original Score for a Documentary Feature
Pinar Toprak, The Wind Gods

Film Music Composition of the Year
War Horse - "The Homecoming" (John Williams)

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Movie Review: The Descendants

Having seen most of Alexander Payne's recent filmography, I thought I knew what kind of film The Descendants would turn out to be.  Most of Payne's lead characters are troubled and usually going through some kind of life crisis.  While this is true of Matt King (George Clooney) in the film, I didn't expect to have that extra emotional depth of the family bond between King and his daughters.

The film opens with King in the hospital and he's been there awhile, his wife Elizabeth has been in a coma after a boating accident.  While their relationship is rocky at best, he can't imagine his life without her.  However, the doctor informs him that there is nothing more they can do for her and since her will stipulates she be taken off life support, that is what they must do.  Matt, initially, is unsure what to do.  He hasn't been alone with his younger daughter, Scottie, 10, since she was three and his eldest is away at school.  But rally he does, bringing back Alexandra and trying to figure out how move forward.

Then he receive another bombshell from Alexandra that changes his life and puts the main characters on a quest across the islands of Hawaii to find a man with a connection to his wife, I won't spoil it here.  Here is where Matt begins his journey into becoming a single father to his daughters and try to instill some values in them, however late.  He also tries to figure out what would his wife want even though they weren't on the best terms when she had her accident.  I do wonder how many men in his position would have actually did what Matt did.  There's also a side plot of an inheritance of land in Hawaii which Matt and his family are considering to sell.  That works in neatly to the story as Matt tries to figure out what exactly is important in life.

The scenes between Clooney and his daughters (Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller) are wonderful, at times funny and at times heartbreaking.  There are lot of goodbyes and things to be accomplished before they say farewell to Elizabeth.  There is no doubt that this will go down as George Clooney's best performance.  There is less of a suave movie star personality than an everyday man aura here (and lot more gray hairs too!).  The scenery and photography of Hawaii is stunning as usual but I do think this story could have worked anywhere.  As Matt King mentions in his opening narration, just because they live in a paradise doesn't mean they don't have their share of the same problems everywhere has.

Alexander Payne's films since Election have these characters who are flawed, yes, but they are just trying to get through life without screwing it up so much.  As a writer-director of this film, he manages to balance the humor with the real center of the film, a very depressing subject of a death of loved one.  But the last scene with the family will bring a smile to your face.   Overall, a worthy nominee for Best Picture of the year, indeed.

Rating: 

Directed by Alexander Payne; Screenplay by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash; Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings; Cinematography by Phedon Papamichael; Editing by Kevin Tent.