The year is approaching its end, and that means only one thing–it’s time to hand out a lot of awards! With Dec. 31 looming, a multitude of organizations are scrambling to enumerate the nominees in their best films of 2007 lists. Golden Globes The 64 th annual Golden Globes will be handed out on Jan. 14. These are voted on by members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Leading the pack is the British romance/war drama Atonement with seven nominations, including Best Motion Picture–Drama. Also named in that top category are American Gangster, Eastern Promises, The Great Debaters, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood (marking the first time seven films have made it into this honored category). The GGs, which wisely separate comedy and drama, named another five flicks for Best Motion Picture–Comedy or Musical. Those honorees include Across the Universe, Charlie Wilson’s War, Hairspray, Juno and Sweeney Todd . Critics Groups Several national film critics groups have weighed in with their opinions, leading to some consensus and some disagreement. The Washington, D.C. Area Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the National Board of Review all named the Coen brothers’ thriller No Country for Old Men as the Best Film of 2007. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association went rogue and named Paul Thomas Anderson’s historical drama There Will Be Blood Best Picture. The San Francisco Film Critics Circle traveled further afield, giving top honors to The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford . The Broadcast Film Critics Association, the world’s largest and most prominent film critics association, hands out its Critics Choice Awards in a ceremony on Jan. 7. The 2007 nominees for Best Picture are a wide lot, including American Gangster, Atonement, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Into the Wild, Juno, The Kite Runner, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, Sweeney Todd and There Will Be Blood . More to Come Still to be announced are the industry-driven awards like the Screen Actors Guild, the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America. Of course, the confusing postscript to all of this is whether or not any of these gala awards ceremonies will actually happen. The Writers Guild is still on strike and has not given approval for any of these telecasts to take place (with the exception of the SAG Awards, for some reason). Not only will this leave shows (including the Oscars) without anyone to write the lame jokes, it will also mean few of the Hollywood unions will be willing to cross picket lines to accept their statues. You know what that means, don’t you? Joan Rivers is out of a job again.
Who Wants An Award?
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