The American Film Institute jury has chosen their top ten films for 2012. I have to say I can’t disagree with any of their picks. It’s a good group, and it  accurately represents the year. I do think they missed on “The Master,” but they may not have wanted to give one film company–TWC– three spots on the top 10. I know from sources that the group also really liked Dustin Hoffman’s “Quartet,” which I think is going to be the sleeper hit of the season. Also not on the list are “Hitchcock,” “The Sessions,” and “Cloud Atlas.” The AFI included “The Dark Knight Rises,” which I’m not sure will make it to the Oscars. It’s nice also to see “The Life of Pi,” which has a 50/50 shot at an Oscar vote.

As for the TV winners: they’re all the same. It’s all the same as it is all the time. In TV, once your show is chosen for one batch of awards it just continues until it’s almost over. I don’t like or understand “Modern Family,” but it just goes on and on. No love for “Episodes,” the wittiest show on TV. And the AFI can’t pick “Downton Abbey,” because it’s British. ZZzzzzzz……

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
ARGO
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LES MISÉRABLES
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
MOONRISE KINGDOM
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
ZERO DARK THIRTY

AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
AMERICAN HORROR STORY
BREAKING BAD
GAME CHANGE
GAME OF THRONES
GIRLS
HOMELAND
LOUIE
MAD MEN
MODERN FAMILY
THE WALKING DEAD

“Zero Dark Thirty” continued the pattern of “The Social network” this morning. It was chosen Best Film by the Washington DC area movie critics. They picked its director, Kathryn Bigelow, and star Jessica Chastain as Best Director and Actress. Daniel Day Lewis is Best Actor and Philip Seymour Hoffman, from “The Master,” is Best Supporting Actor. (These people are smart.) “Zero Dark” is crackling along as the critics’ choice, but it’s unclear if it can win the Oscar.

The 2012 WAFCA Award Winners:

Best Film:
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director:
Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

Best Actress:
Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Supporting Actor:
Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

Best Supporting Actress:
Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)

Best Acting Ensemble:
Les Miserables

Best Adapted Screenplay:
David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Original Screenplay:
Rian Johnson (Looper)

Best Animated Feature:
ParaNorman

Best Documentary:
Bully

Best Foreign Language Film:
Amour

Best Art Direction:
Uli Hanisch, Hugh Bateup – Production Designers; Peter Walpole, Rebecca Alleway – Set Decorators (Cloud Atlas)

Best Cinematography:
Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi)

Best Score:
Jonny Greenwood (The Master)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Youth Performance:
Quvenzhane Wallis
(Beasts of the Southern Wild)

The 2012 WAFCA Award Nominees Were:

by PAULA SCHWARTZ, Special to Showbiz411-– A group of film critics each on the West and East coasts cast their award picks during the weekend and for the most part they don’t agree. But the two groups, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, spread their love around to enough different movies to make this year shape up for the rest of us as a particularly interesting awards race to Oscar gold.

The LAFCA, an iconoclastic group that often makes surprising and unpredictable choices, has given top prize to Sony Classics Release “Amour” by Austrian director Michael Haneke. The movie, starring Emmanuelle Riva and Jean-Louis Trintignant, is about an octogenarian Parisian couple struggling with illness and death. Although it’s a frontrunner for best foreign film, it hasn’t been mentioned as a possible top10 movie pick. The Oscar voters tend to be an older and more conservative group and many awards prognosticators think the Academy will find this movie too depressing.

In one decision in which both groups agreed, best actress honors went to Riva although the LA critics have her share that prize with Jennifer Lawrence for “Silver Linings Playbook.”

The bean town critics named “Zero Dark Thirty” as best film of the year and gave Kathryn Bigelow the best directing nod. Bigelow is on a winning streak; last week she received kudos from the New York Film Critics Circle and the National Board of Review. With the LAFCA wins Bigelow’s movie continues to gain awards momentum.

The Boston critics chose Daniel Day-Lewis as best actor for “Lincoln,” while the West Coast cast their vote for Joaquin Phoenix, who stars in “The Master,” as an alcoholic World War II veteran who is drawn to the charismatic leader of a cult. This is Phoenix’s first movie role in two years since being the subject of Casey Affleck’s mock documentary “I’m Still Here” where Phoenix supposedly dropped acting to become a rapper. The LAFCA also gave the best directing prize to Paul Thomas Anderson for “The Master,” and Amy Adams received the award for best supporting actress.

The Boston critics awarded best supporting actor honors to Sally Field – who has topped many lists – for “Lincoln’ and to Ezra Miller for “Perks of Being a Wallflower.”

The LAFCA gave lots of love to Fox Searchlight’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” which picked up three prizes, including a best supporting actor prize for Dwight Henry, who has never acted before and whose day job is chef and owner of a bakery in Louisiana, where he was discovered by director Benh Zeitlin.

Below is a list of the winners from both critics’ groups:

The Boston Society of Film Critics choices:

Best Picture – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor – Daniel Day Lewis for Lincoln.

Best Actress – Emmanuelle Riva for Amour.

Best Supporting Actor – Ezra Miller for Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Best Supporting Actress – Sally Field for Lincoln.

Best Director – Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty.

Best Screenplay – Tony Kushner for Lincoln.

Best Cinematography – Mihai Malaimare Jr for The Master.

Best Documentary – How to Survive a Plague.

Best Foreign-Language Film – Amour.

Best Animated Film – Frankenweenie.

Best Film Editing – William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor for Zero Dark Thirty.

Best New Filmmaker – David France for How to Survive a Plague.

Best Ensemble Cast – Seven Psychopaths.

Best Use of Music in a Film – Moonrise Kingdom.

Los Angeles Film Critics Association:

Best Film: Amour (Runner-Up: The Master).

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, The Master (Runner-up, Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty.)

Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, The Master (Runner-up, Denis Lavant, Holy Motors.).

Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook and Emmanuelle Riva, Amour.

Best Supporting Actor: Dwight Henry, Beasts of the Southern Wild (Runner-up, Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained.)

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Adams, The Master. (Runner-up, Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables and The Dark Knight Rises.)

Best Screenplay: Chris Terrio, Argo (Runner-up, David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook.)

Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins, Skyfall (Runner-up, Mihai Malaimare Jr., The Master.)

Best Production Design: Jack Fisk and David Crank, The Master. (Runner-up, Adam Stockhausen, Moonrise Kingdom.)

Best Editing: Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty (Runner-up, William Goldenberg, Argo.)

Best Music Score: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer (Runner-up, The Master, Jonny Greenwood.)

Best Foreign-Language Film: Holy Motors, directed by Leos Carax (Runner-up, Footnote, directed by Joseph Cedar.)

Best Documentary: The Gatekeepers, Dror Moreh (Runner-up, Searching for Sugar Man, by Malik Bendjelloul.

Best Animation: Frankenweenie, directed by Tim Burton (Runner-up, It’s Such a Beautiful Day, by Don Hertzfeldt.)

New Generation: Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Career Achievement: Frederick Wiseman.

Douglas Edwards Experimental/Independent Film/Video Award: Leviathan.

‘Waterboarding’– a form of torture used by the US military on captured suspects and criminals accused of terrorism–has been much debated here in this space. It’s come up because in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty, about the hunting and killing of Osama bin Laden, a prisoner is waterboarded at the start of the movie by a US agent played by actor Jason Clarke.

There’s been a big debate here over whether waterboarding is effective, and/or actually dangerous. But Clarke told me at a lunch for “Zero Dark Thirty” last week at the 21 Club that it is dangerous and life threatening. He should know: he tried it on set. “Of course, it’s a lot different when you know it can be stopped, and people are there to make sure nothing bad happens.”

It was actually the second time the affable actor and I had discussed this. We’d started the conversation a few days before, at the Governor’s Ball for the Motion Picture Academy. Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal were nearby, and they confirmed it.

This time, actress Jessica Chastain–who plays the real life CIA agent on whom the movie is based– overheard us. “You really tried it?” she said to Clarke. “I did,” the Australian actor replied, ” and I can tell you, it’s not something you ever want to do. But I wanted to understand the experience.”

Waterboarding, in case you’re confusing it with water-skiing or surfboarding it, entails pouring water over the face and into the mouth of a restrained prisoner in order to drown or suffocate them. It can easily kill its victim, or cause permanent kinds of damage involving the brain or lungs.

Sunday night and it’s raining, sleeting, sort of awful out. You’d think most people would be at home. But a ton of celebs braved the inclement weather for a movie premiere with Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin. The hit-man comedy “Stand Up Guys” is directed by Fisher Stevens, who also has a lot of friends much good will in New York acting circles.

So it wasn’t too much of a surprise at the “Stand Up Guys” screening at MoMA and after party at the Oak Room to find Liev Schreiber and Mariska Hargitay chatting up Pacino’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” co-star Bobby Cannavale and Ben Stiller, who’d come over to congratulate Fisher. And through the night I saw Trudie Styler with actress daughter Mickey Sumner (“Frances Ha” comes next May), and pregnant producing partner Celine Rattray– not to mention British import Lucy Punch (who’s on TV’s “Ben and Kate” right now but should be a movie star) plus TV’s Anson Mount, and “The Good Wife” Julianna Margulies, who’s also in the film and plays a nurse (a little riff on her “ER” days), plus another “Good Wife” star, Josh Charles.

And who was there at the MoMA screening, looking fresh as a daisy? Why, Ronnie Wood, of course. It was only last night he’d played the Barclays Center with his group the, uh, Rolling Stones. How was he? “Never better!” Ronnie declared. “Had a good time, did ya?” Frankly, I’m still exhausted from the amazing show.

During the screening, Pacino, Fisher, Arkin, and Walken, plus co-star Mark Margolis, had a big dinner next door to MoMA a the Modern restaurant. Pacino was dumbfounded by how good it was–he’d never been there before. And it was there I got to see my old pal, Pat Kingsley, the great PR legend, looking youthful and rested in semi-retirement. She still  calls the shots for Al.

Hanging at the Oak Room bar: Chuck Zito with Vincent Pastore, aka, “Big Pussy” from “The Sopranos.” (He’s looking forward to seeing David Chase’s new film, “Not Fade Away.”)

And in the party: Matt Dillon, who rarely goes to anything, told me he came to support Fisher. And there was a corner of beautiful women started by Karen Duffy and Frederique van der Wal.

Alan Arkin is blissfully unaware that he’s a like contender for Best Supporting Actor from “Argo.” When I told him people are disappointed when dies in movies, he retorted: “It’s good practice.”

Also at the premiere, Jon Bon Jovi and wife Dorothea. Jon’s got two songs in “Stand Up Guys,” one of which– “Old Habits”– could be up for Best Song at the Oscars and Golden Globes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgfYyGqBgYs

The very entertaining “Stand Up Guys” — with this amazing cast, and crazy great moments for each of them– is getting a qualifying run in New York and L.A. for Golden Globes, and opens February 1st across the country.

Justin Bieber, you are not alone. Madonna was also totally shut out of the 2013 Grammy Awards. The middle aged sexpot’s latest album, “MDNA,” was snubbed by the Grammy committees in all categories. “MDNA” didn’t get any kind of album nomination. And no single from the album managed to elicit a nomination. Madonna didn’t even get a nom in the Dance Music category. “MDNA” was kind of a bust from the beginning. It opened so-so at number 1, then dropped the most of album from the top spot in its second week. Ouch! It also had the strange situation of being included in Madonna’s concert ticket sales– so the first week numbers were pumped by that inclusion. The real sales were very small. At one point vendors couldn’t give it away. It was selling from between 41 cents and $4.99. By the time Madonna’s tour started, “MDNA” was gone from any charts, barely remembered. And apparently the Grammys didn’t remember it either. The Grammys also omitted Bieber’s new album, “Believe,” going for substance this year in a big way over marketing. Very wise.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2012/04/03/madonna-pumps-up-album-sales-artificially-mdna-is-doa

The Rolling Stones hit New York tonight– well, Brooklyn, at the Barclays Center. The place wass jammed with celebs like Martin Scorsese, Katie Couric, Brian Williams, Jimmy Fallon, Mica Ertegun (widow of Ahmet, who signed the Stones in 1971 away from London Records), Her Highness Anna Wintour, and Larry King on the A list. Bette Midler and her husband wandered in just before the show began. It’s unclear whether expected guests like Colin Powell and Matt Lauer ever made it.

Mary J Blige and Gary Clark Jr. did guest spots. Mick Jagger joked about the high price of tickets. He also seemed confused about the set list. But the band is tight. Jagger is a 69 year old wonder of the world. Songs so far include Get off My Cloud, Miss You, Gimme Shelter. The show started with dozens of drummers marching through the crowd on the floor, which is very far away.

It was not a perfect show. The acoustics were shrill for those who paid 500 clams and sat high and to the side. It was almost a blessing when shrill became fuzzy and the sound was more like an old 45 than a digital rendering.

But the band plays on with chunky rhythms only old time blues students would know how to handle. This gang can make a song stand at attention in their sleep. From “Start Me Up” to “Midnight Rambler” to “Gimme Shelter” with Mary J, the Stones never give up. You can joke about their total ages, or whatever, but I dare you to find a band of a quarter their age who can reach so effortlessly to the top rows of a stadium.

Granted, it was almost cruel watching people my age or older struggle to the upper reaches of the Barclay Center clutching those $500 tickets. It was perhaps even crueler to learn that just one row behind us people paid only $285 a seat. (Only: hah!)

The Stones always liked to present themselves as the ‘band of the people.’ But Jagger joked about taking the subway to Brooklyn. He said the first show he could remember playing in New York was Carnegie Hall in 1964, when the subway was a quarter, a hamburger was 50 cents and “the price of a Rolling Stones ticket was—” He cut himself off.

Still, if you can pare away the insult of the ticket prices, they are indeed not only the Greatest Rock and Roll Band, but maybe the last. “Tumbling Dice,” “Brown Sugar,” “Wild Horses,” were all gems. Keith got to do “Happy” and “Before They Make Me Run,” proving that his licks are still tasty and that time is on his side.

There were pretty much no ballads– no “Angie” or “Ruby Tuesday.” And aside from the two new songs, “Doom and Gloom” and “One More Shot,” there was nothing from the Stones post-1981 souvenir recordings. Jagger knows that the stuff pales beside the classics, so why bother when you’ve got so much more to do? Some oldies but goodies included the Beatles’  “I Wanna Be Your Man” and “The Last Time.” I hope there are even more “Hot Rocks” in Newark next week.

And PS you can look at a set list and say, oh yes, this one, then that one, and so on. But hearing them in full, one after another, remains a kick. From “Sympathy for the Devil” to “Street Fighting Man,” these are the cornerstones of rock history. And they remain as alive as ever.

All photos c2012 Showbiz411

Kathryn Bigelow’s very fine thriller “Zero Dark Thirty” picked up yet another award this morning– from a group really no one’s going to care about too much, the Boston Online Critics. Okay, every city has a critics group and some have several. So far “Zero Dark Thirty” was chosen by both by the New York Film Critics Circle and the New York-oriented (except for their board member who’s a sex therapist in Los Angeles) National Board of Review. The way the critics’ groups roll is sort of a domino effect. If New York thinks “ZD30” is the best, then other cities will likely follow suit. But isn’t this what happened to “The Social Network” two years ago? And did “The Social Network” win the Oscar? Uh, no.

The biggest mistake Oscar prognosticators make is to follow the path of these awards. They’re terrific and no one is saying they’re undeserving. But the Academy is a different animal. They are mostly actors, and then creative people who work in the business. They vote with their hearts. That’s why “The King’s Speech” won. It also beat “The Social Network” at the Screen Actor’s Guild for Best Ensemble. And when that happened, the game was over.

So which film will beat “Zero Dark Thirty”? There’s no consensus yet. But the best ensembles are “Les Miserables, “Lincoln,” “Argo,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” and “Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.” Runners up would be “The Master” and “Quartet.” “ZD30” runs on two levels– Jessica Chastain, Jason Clarke, and Jennifer Ehle; then the guys, with Joel Edgerton, who kill bin Laden from Seal Team Six.

“ZD30” is less about teams than about individuals– specifically the woman who Bigelow and Mark Boal discovered in their reporting and then turned into Jessica Chastain. Unlike “The Hurt Locker,” “ZD30” is not so much an ensemble but a star piece.

Think of the family in “Silver Linings” who have each other’s backs; the group of legislators in “Lincoln”; the team in “Argo” who make the fake film; the rebels of “Les Miz” who march to victory. Which one gives you a lump in the throat at the end of the movie? That’s the one that will win.

Meantime, I just voted my ballot for the Critics Choice Awards. They’re due tomorrow night, December 9th. I’ve listened to 20 score samples. Jonny Greenwood’s for “The Master” was one that really stood out. Also, I really loved Jennifer Ehle in “Zd30.” There are tons of great entries for every section. If you in BFCA email me at roger@showbiz411.com. I can hum the “Argo” music to you!

I almost thought that there was no Oscar campaign for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master.” But today arrived a parody of a Scientology mailing promoting the film, which should be a Best Picture nominee and have three actor nominations as well. The Weinstein Company sent out a folded magazine on newsprint called “The Cause Footpath.” The Cause, of course, is the cult religion started by Lancaster Dodd, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in a performance as good as Daniel Day Lewis’s Lincoln or Denzel Washington’s addicted pilot.

The Footpath is a fictional publication from Dodd– “The Weekly Newspaper for the Enlightened.” It mimics the annoying periodicals published by Scientology or Jehovah’s Witnesses “The Watchtower.” Very clever. Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams are shown on the cover. I’ve reproduced it twice here.

Inside TWC includes mostly the sterling reviews for the movie. The backpage is a long quote from Dodd, from Anderson’s original screenplay. There’s also a very witty fake 1949 article about Dodd and his wife Peggy (Amy Adams, Best Supporting Actress nominee without a doubt).

“The Master,” one of my favorite movies of 2012, is eligible for Best Picture, Best Director (Best Actor (Phoenix and/or Hoffman), Supporting Actress (Adams), Original Screenplay (Anderson) plus cinematography, editing, set design, costumes, art design.

I’m very torn about putting Hoffman into Supporting Actor. He is as much the lead as Phoenix. Lancaster Dodd is one of the greatest character inventions in modern movie history. I do think PSH is an absolute genius, in the league of Daniel Day Lewis and maybe just a couple other actors of this generation. (Don Cheadle and Ralph Fiennes are close.)

If you’re voting with any groups this month, don’t forget “The Master.” And I do believe “The Cause Footpath” will become a collector’s item overnight!