AFTERTHOUGHTS (55)
55.1 THAT’S THE SPIRIT! 2008
Juno took home three awards at Saturday night’s Independent Spirit Awards, winning for Best Feature, Best Female Lead (Ellen Page), and Best First Screenplay (Diablo Cody).
And while that’s certainly good news, the win that really got me jazzed was that Once took Best Foreign Film. Brilliant!
For a complete list of the winners, go here.

55.2 SOUND OFF 2008
Meanwhile, at the 55th Golden Reel Awards (also held last Saturday night), Juan Antonio Bayona‘s El Orfanato (The Orphanage) won Best Sound Editing in Feature Film: Foreign, Lost won Best Sound Editing in Television: Short Form – Sound Effects and Foley, for the episode “Left Behind,” and Superman: Doomsday won Best Sound Editing: Direct to Video (actually a tie with Return to House on Haunted Hill).
Michael Bay was also honoured with the 2008 MPSE Filmmaker’s Award. (Whatever you may think of his films, they do sound good, don’t they?)
For a complete list of the winners, go here.

Congratulations to all the nominees and winners at this year’s Independent Spirit and Golden Reel Awards.

Parting shot: Reviews of Juno, Once, and Superman: Doomsday can be found in the Archive, along with episodic recaps/reactions to Lost.

(OS’s and Lost Season 4 ad courtesy of impawards.com; Superman: Doomsday DVD cover art courtesy of amazon.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (54)
HEY, IF IT ISN’T OSCAR! 2008 (3)

So Oscar’s 80th has come and gone, and first off, here are the wins that had me cheering…

No Country For Old Men:
Best Picture
Best Director (Joel & Ethan Coen)
Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Joel & Ethan Coen)

Once:
Best Song (“Falling Slowly”)

The Golden Compass:
Best Visual Effects (Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, and Trevor Wood)

Juno:
Best Original Screenplay (Diablo Cody)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Best Art Direction (Dante Ferretti, Art Direction; Francesca Lo Schiavo, Set Decoration)

So, yeah, it’s still a sad thing that Zodiac didn’t get any love, and yes, it’s another sad thing that both Away From Her and Eastern Promises went home statue-less, but the night had some great surprises too.
Firstly, though I haven’t seen Michael Clayton, I’ve been a big fan of Tilda Swinton for ages, so I’m jazzed that she got Best Supporting Actress.
And while I’m happy The Golden Compass took Best Visual Effects (I was concerned either of the two box office juggernaut nominees would steal the award), and No Country For Old Men got a goodly amount of statues, the best bit of the night for me was “Falling Slowly” standing triumphant in the Best Original Song dust-up.
And when Jon Stewart brought Marketa back so she could speak her piece, well, that made the win and the moment even more precious.

Congratulations, one and all. (You can find a complete list of the night’s winners here.)

Parting shot: Was it just that I blinked and missed it, or were Roy Scheider and Brad Renfro really absent from the In Memoriam montage? (‘Cause if they were, shame on you, Oscar…)

Parting shot 2: Reviews of Away From Her, Eastern Promises, The Golden Compass, Juno, No Country For Old Men, Once, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Zodiac can be found in the Archive.

(The Golden Compass OS courtesy of aintitcool.com; all other OS’s courtesy of impawards.com.)

SWEENEY TODD:
THE DEMON BARBER
OF FLEET STREET
(Review)

“For what’s the sound of the world out there?”
“What, Mr. Todd? What, Mr. Todd? What is that sound?”
“Those crunching noises pervading the air!”
“Yes, Mr. Todd! Yes, Mr. Todd! Yes, all around!”
“It’s man devouring man, my dear!”
“And who are we to deny it in here?”
-- “A Little Priest”

It’s odd that for a master of mainstream macabre, the film that turns out to be Tim Burton’s darkest and bloodiest, is a musical. That’s rated R.

Burton’s adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is yet another triumph for the 49-year old director who made a name for himself with his Gothic (and highly visual) romanticism for all things shadowy and decayed.
It’s his sixth collaboration with his cinematic alter-ego, Johnny Depp, and his fifth with his lady love, Helena Bonham Carter, both of whom acquit themselves admirably as the obsessed, single-minded barber out for revenge, and Mrs. Lovett, owner of a decrepit meat pie shop and adorer of all things Todd.
And not only do they have to act, Depp and Bonham Carter (and the rest of the film’s delectable cast) have to sing too. And these musical numbers sound tricky, in all probability a challenge to professionals, and certainly not a cake walk for untrained vocal chords. But they pull it off with skill and talent to spare.

Burton meanwhile, paints the multiplex canvas with yet another darkly gorgeous portrait of the outsider coming up against “normal” society, though admittedly, it’s been awhile since said outsider was homicidal (the last time we had one of those from Burton was Batman Returns).
The director’s assembled band of creative cohorts are, as always, impeccable. Colleen Atwood’s costumes (BAFTA and Oscar nominations; her 7th collaboration with Burton), Dante Ferretti’s production design (Oscar nomination), Dariusz Wolski‘s camerawork (Wolski also shot Alex Proyas’ The Crow and Dark City), all bolster performances by an excellent cast that includes Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen, and Timothy Spall, giving us a film that not only moves, but looks good while doing it.

Having never been exposed to Sweeney Todd in any of its previous incarnations before, what came as perhaps the biggest surprise for me, was the music. By turns sweeping, infectious, sobering, and chilling, Sondheim’s musical landscape for this tale of tragic tale of obsession and revenge, is astounding.
Consider: one of the musical’s cheeriest numbers is entitled “The Worst Pies In London.” No mean feat, that. Then, to have that triumph and the audacious cannibal anthem, “A Little Priest,” all in one musical. Sheer bloody genius!
Getting Burton as appointed cinematic translator was a match made in Grand Guignol Heaven. When you can expertly juxtapose a beautiful number like “Johanna” with shots of throat-slitting and body dumping, well, surely you understand the material, right? (The pastoral idyll of “By The Sea”—in the midst of the pervasive ash grey palette of the film—was another masterstroke as well.)

With Sweeney Todd, Once, and Across The Universe (Julie Taymor’s Beatles-inspired work may be uneven, but no one can deny its daring), 2007 should go down in cinema history as the year the movie musical proved it could be so much more than just fat-suited A-listers in drag.
It no longer has to be just about people busting out into boisterous song and energetic, jazz hands-inflected dance. Like Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge before them, these musicals obliterate the common perception of the genre.
With Sweeney Todd, Burton and Sondheim give testament to the fact that you can have blood and cannibalism—with the R rating to go along with all that wholesome family entertainment—and still have an emotionally involving narrative that utilizes the grammar of brilliant songwriting as its alluring language.
And let’s face it, if asked which was the more disturbing thought, Johnny Depp as a fright-haired, murderous barber, or John Travolta in drag and a fat suit, I know what my answer would be.
What about you?

“We’ll take the customers that we can get!”
“High-born and low, my love!”
“We’ll not discriminate great from small! No, we’ll serve anyone, meaning anyone…”
“And to anyone at all!”
-- “A Little Priest”

Parting shot: After Javier Bardem’s killer ‘cut in No Country For Old Men, Sacha Baron Cohen’s coif as Signor Adolfo Pirelli, takes runner-up as Dodgiest Cinematic ‘Do for 2007.

Parting shot 2: Reviews of Once, Across The Universe, and No Country For Old Men can be found in the Archive, along with a Tim Burton retrospective (“In The Shadows of Mainstream Cinema”).

(Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street OS courtesy of impawards.com; images courtesy of bloody-disgusting.com.)

(Thanx to Bianca, for springing for the ticket.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (44)
HEY, IF IT ISN’T OSCAR! 2008 (2)

So after last night’s post, I searched for a complete complete Oscar nominations list, and was successful at both aintitcool.com and variety.com.
For the sake of completion, here’s a list of all the Oscar nominations I’m excited about this year…

Across The Universe:
Best Costume Design (Albert Wolsky)

Eastern Promises:
Best Actor (Viggo Mortensen)

No Country For Old Men:
Best Picture
Best Director (Joel & Ethan Coen)
Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Joel & Ethan Coen)
Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins)
Best Film Editing (Joel &Ethan Coen)
Best Sound Editing (Skip Lievsay)
Best Sound Mixing (Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, and Peter Kurland)

Once:
Best Song (“Falling Slowly”)

Transformers:
Best Sound Editing (Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins)
Best Sound Mixing (Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell, and Peter J. Devlin)
Best Visual Effects (Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, and John Frazier)

And the nominations from films I’ve mentioned here at the Iguana, but have yet to see are…

Away From Her:
Best Actress (Julie Christie)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Sarah Polley)

The Golden Compass:
Best Art Direction (Dennis Gassner, Art Direction; Anna Pinnock, Set Decoration)
Best Visual Effects (Michael Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, and Trevor Wood)

Juno:
Best Picture
Best Director (Jason Reitman)
Best Actress (Ellen Page)
Best Original Screenplay (Diablo Cody)

Lars and the Real Girl:
Best Original Screenplay (Nancy Oliver)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Best Actor (Johnny Depp)
Best Art Direction (Dante Ferretti, Art Direction; Francesca Lo Schiavo, Set Decoration)
Best Costume Design (Colleen Atwood)

I’m still bummed by Eastern Promises’ lack of Oscar presence, and concerned about the chances of “Falling Slowly,” though one must recall last year, when Dreamgirls had three songs up for the award, and Melissa Etheridge swooped in for the kill.
You never know, really.
Having mentioned “Falling Slowly,” though, here’s what Glen Hansard had to say about the nomination:

"It's insane. God, what a day it's been! I'd like to say I was out having a walk and wasn't bothered and took it all in stride but the truth is I didn't sleep last night and we just killed time until it came on TV, but then they only announced the major categories. We're in the Czech Republic so my friend in the States called me and we couldn't believe it. We were jumping up and down. It was hugely melodramatic and Irish. We cracked a bottle of champagne and got drunk before 3:00. It was only in the shower I realized what a riot this has been. We made the film in January 2006. We went to Sundance and won an award in January 2007 and now we have an Oscar nomination so I'm thinking January is my lucky month.”

Good on you, Glen!
Now if only the WGA strike gets resolved—fairly—within a month, so we can actually have an Oscar night, instead of an unattended event people won’t cross picket lines for…

Again, congratulations, one and all. (You can check out the now complete list here.)
Awards will be presented on February 24, 2008.

Parting shot: Reviews of Across The Universe, Eastern Promises, No Country For Old Men, Once, and Transformers can be found in the Archive.

(Oscar OS courtesy of hollywoodreporter.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (43)

43.1 HEY, IF IT ISN’T OSCAR! 2008
As per my usual Oscar routine, I watched the live announcement of the major nominations (on BBC). I then quickly scuttled over to oscar.com, for the rest of the nominations.
Apparently though, what’s up at the site at the moment may not be a complete complete list (only one of the three Best Animated Feature Films is listed; Best Cinematography has four nominees listed), so if there are any nominations I’m unable to mention below, well, that’s the reason.
At any rate, the nominations I’m excited about are…

Across The Universe:
Best Costume Design (Albert Wolsky)

Eastern Promises:
Best Actor (Viggo Mortensen)

No Country For Old Men:
Best Picture
Best Director (Joel & Ethan Coen)
Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Joel & Ethan Coen)
Best Cinematography (Roger Deakins)
Best Film Editing (Joel &Ethan Coen)
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing

Once:
Best Song (“Falling Slowly”)

Transformers:
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects

Nominations from other films I’ve mentioned here at the Iguana, but have yet to see are…

Away From Her:
Best Actress (Julie Christie)
Best Adapted Screenplay (Sarah Polley)

The Golden Compass:
Best Art Direction

Juno:
Best Picture
Best Director (Jason Reitman)
Best Actress (Ellen Page)
Best Original Screenplay (Diablo Cody)

Lars and the Real Girl:
Best Original Screenplay (Nancy Oliver)

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Best Actor (Johnny Depp)

As always there are some disappointments.
One of the most glaring is probably that Eastern Promises is severely under-represented. One nomination, and since all indications point to Daniel Day-Lewis stealing the gold for There Will Be Blood…
But then again, there are some welcome sights, like “Falling Slowly” getting in there for Best Song. It’s up against three songs from Enchanted though, so we’ll just have to see.

Congratulations, one and all. (You can check out the sorta complete list here.)
Oscar Night is on February 24, 2008. Hopefully, the WGA strike will be over by then…

43.2 FOR THE SAKE OF ART 2008
And since we are talking about awards, the Art Directors Guild also recently announced their nominations for the 12th Annual ADG Awards.
And the nominees for Excellence in Production Design in 2007 that got me all pumped are…

300 (Fantasy Feature Film; PD: James Bissell)
Heroes: Episode 1020 “Five Years Gone” (Single Camera Television Series; PD: Ruth Ammon)
Lost: Episode 322 “Through The Looking Glass” (Single Camera Television Series; PD: Zack Grobler)
No Country For Old Men (Contemporary Feature Film; PD: Jess Gonchor)
Pushing Daisies: Episode 101 “Pie Lette” (Single Camera Television Series; PD: Michael Wylie)

Other Feature Film nominees I’ve mentioned ‘round these parts before but have yet to see are…

The Golden Compass (Fantasy Feature Film; PD: Dennis Gassner)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Period Feature Film; PD: Dante Ferretti)

But the high point for me for this year’s ADG awards will most certainly be stop-motion animation grand master Ray Harryhausen receiving the honourary Outstanding Contribution to Cinematic Imagery Award.
Ray Harryhausen is a hero of mine from my grade school days. This is the man who painstakingly brought to life the mythical beasties that threatened the lives of cinematic heroes like Sinbad and Jason, made dinosaurs battle cowboys, and flying saucers and giant octopi and prehistoric monsters leave great swathes of property damage in their wake.
He brought a kid’s dreams to life on screen, and made that kid a lifelong devotee of cinema.
I will be forever indebted, Mr. Harryhausen. Congratulations.

Another honour for the evening is the awarding of the Lifetime Achievement Award to Stuart Craig, who did the production design for Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie, and won awards for his work on David Lynch’s The Elephant Man, Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient, and Stephen Frears’ Dangerous Liaisons.
Craig’s work will best be known to today’s generation of movie-goers though, through the Harry Potter franchise.

Congratulations, one and all. Awards night is on February 16, 2008. (The complete list of nominees can be found here.)

Parting shot: Reviews of 300, Across The Universe, Eastern Promises, No Country For Old Men, Once, and Transformers can be found in the Archive, along with episodic recaps/reactions to Heroes, Lost, and Pushing Daisies.

(Images courtesy of hollywoodreporter.com [Oscar OS], impawards.com [No Country For Old Men OS], and rayharryhausen.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (39)

39.1 PIMP MY BOOK (6)
Chapters 11 and 12 of Pelicula are up at the website, where you’ll meet a former Shake, Rattle and Roll star, and find out what’s the latest iteration of the CSI franchise!
Scoot on over to the website now.
And thanx to all of you who’ve been reading Pelicula, and to Carl, for keeping the website updated.

39.2 WHAT THE BAFTA?! 2008 (1)
So the BAFTA longlists are out.
Now, note that these are lists that will be whittled down from the current 15 entries to the 5 nominees per category for BAFTA night. (That second round of voting to choose the final five nominees for each category closes on January 14.)
Still, given the insane number of films released in any given year, to snag a spot on a BAFTA longlist is still quite the achievement.
So, the possible nominations I’m excited about are:

Control:
Film
Director
Adapted Screenplay
Make Up & Hair
Sound
Editing
Cinematography
Music
Leading Actor (Sam Riley)
Supporting Actress (Samantha Morton)

Eastern Promises:
Film
Director
Original Screenplay
Make Up & Hair
Editing
Leading Actor (Viggo Mortensen)
Leading Actress (Naomi Watts)
Supporting Actor (Armin Mueller-Stahl)
Supporting Actor (Vincent Cassel)

No Country For Old Men:
Film
Director
Adapted Screenplay
Make Up & Hair
Sound
Editing
Production Design
Cinematography
Music
Leading Actor (Josh Brolin)
Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
Supporting Actor (Tommy Lee Jones)
Supporting Actress (Kelly MacDonald)

Once:
Original Screenplay
Music
Leading Actress (Marketa Irglova)

Stardust:
Make Up & Hair
Special Visual Effects
Costume Design
Supporting Actress (Michelle Pfeiffer)

Other longlisted films for Special Visual Effects are Beowulf, Spider-Man 3, Sunshine, Transformers, and 300, which is also longlisted for Sound.

Again, note that the 15 entries in most of the categories will get streamlined down to 5, so each of those entries above has a 33% chance of ending up on the final BAFTA 2008 ballot (if I’ve got my math right).
Congratulations, and best of luck to all of them. (You can check out all the complete longlists here.)

39.3 MORE HONOURS FOR OLD MEN

The Coens’ latest was also honoured by the Online Film Critics Society with six awards, for best Picture, Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem), Cinematography (Roger Deakins), Director, Adapted Screenplay, and Editing, the three latter awards going to the Coen brothers.

The siblings were also acknowledged by the USC with this year’s Scripter Award, “which recognizes the year’s best cinematic translation from page to screen.” Author Cormac McCarthy joins the brothers in the honour.

And to cap this off, No Country For Old Men grabbed the # 2 slot on AICN writer Nordling’s 2007 Top Ten list, where he notes:

“Any other year, this would be # 1. And it's still a masterpiece by the Coens, and I take nothing away from it. Javier Bardem plays a villain as iconic as Hannibal Lecter or Darth Vader. Josh Brolin has had a fantastic year with this performance and American Gangster, and at first Tommy Lee Jones seems like typecasting but he gets to the heart of that character with such skill it's difficult to imagine another actor playing that part. It's a bleak movie but there's humor there and it treats the audience with intelligence that's been sorely lacking in too many studio films today. It defiantly forces you to make up your own mind. I know what the ending means to me, and I admire the Coens for letting me come up with it on my own. A perfect adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel.”

(At Nordling’s # 4 and # 3 spots: Once and Zodiac. His worst? Spider-Man 3. Check out the entire list here.)

Parting shot: Reviews of Control, Eastern Promises, No Country For Old Men, Once, Stardust, Zodiac, Beowulf, Spider-Man 3, Sunshine, Transformers, and 300 can be found in the Archive.

(Control UK quad and Eastern Promises and No Country For Old Men OS’s courtesy of impawards.com; Once image courtesy of Fox Searchlight and indiewire.com; Stardust image courtesy of aintitcool.com.)

ONCE
(Review)

“Take this sinking boat
And point it home;
We’ve still got time.

“Raise your hopeful voice,
You had the choice;
You’ve made it now.”
-- Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
“Falling Slowly”

Once, which follows an Irish busker (Glen Hansard) and his growing relationship with a young Czech immigrant (Marketa Irglova), is one of those little films that catch you by surprise with its earnest depiction of bruised souls reaching for something better in their lives.
It’s also a musical, though I should hasten to qualify, it’s not the sort of musical where gaudily-outfitted people suddenly burst into boisterous song and energetic choreography. As Once’s main characters are both musically-inclined (Hansard’s character plays the guitar, while Irglova’s plays the piano), all the film’s songs arise organically from the on-screen action.

What makes Once even more noteworthy is the fact that the songs written and played and sung by the characters are actually written and played and sung by the stars. And not only can they write and sing, they can also act.
While Irglova’s earnest and straight-forward immigrant is commendable in her certitude and quiet self-possession, the eye-opener here is Hansard. There’s a sense of genuine honesty in his performance that paints a very real portrait of a young man haunted by the ghost of the woman who broke his heart, the woman he never quite got over. The legacy of pain she left in her wake still fuels his artistic drive, even after years have passed. (In one of the film’s songs, Hansard describes his character as a “broken-hearted Hoover-fixer sucker guy,” since he helps his father at a hoover shop, and still wants the girl who cheated on him and, well, broke his heart.)

Then, as if Once wasn’t commendable enough for all that, the principals’ rather realistic performances become even more laudable when you realize that both Hansard and Irglova are not professional actors, but rather, musicians by trade.
Hansard is the lead singer and songwriter for Irish rock band of long-standing, The Frames, while Irglova is a Czech pianist Hansard collaborated with on the album The Swell Season.
Initially, Once’s writer and director John Carney—who had been The Frames’ original bass player—had asked Hansard to write some songs and play busking consultant for the film, which was meant to star Cillian Murphy (from 28 Days Later and Breakfast on Pluto, though perhaps most widely known as Batman Begins’ Scarecrow).
But somewhere along the way, Murphy fell out of the project, and just as it looked like the production would collapse, Carney hit upon the notion of asking Hansard to take the role. Hansard, who had only appeared previously on film in a small role in Alan Parker’s The Commitments, agreed. (Then 17-year old Irglova was already in place by this time, having gotten there through her past collaboration with Hansard; in point of fact, three tracks from The Swell Season found their way onto Once.)

What has emerged from that set of circumstances is a film shot on digital in 17 days for $150,000, that has gone on to capture hearts—and awards—around the world. (Amidst a number of nominations, some of Once’s notable wins were the Audience Award at this year’s Dublin International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival, where it was also nominated for the Grand Jury Prize.)

“I really did think when we made this film that we had made a film that very few people would want to see or maybe only people who are interested in music would want to see, and it turns out to be something quite different, which is great.”
-- John Carney

Now if the track “Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy” isn’t enough of an indication, it should also be noted that Once has its own simmering sense of humour, a rogue twinkle in its eye, amid all the emotional and moving bits.
What’s interesting though about those “emotional and moving bits” are that they’re very quiet and understated. In that sense, Once plays by a set of rules that are diametrically opposed to those of a standard Hollywood musical, where everything is overblown and operatic, where emotions are larger than life, and twice as loud, and always come with an accompanying dance number.
So let’s call Once an anti-musical then, shall we? Or perhaps, a quasi-musical. If it needs a label, then maybe that’s it.

Whatever you call it though, what I am certain of is this: Once is a heart-achingly brilliant piece of cinema about fortuitous accidents and being touched and changed by the strangers who enter our lives.
And ultimately, it’s about needing to mend old wounds, and exorcise old ghosts, with the pure and liberating power of music.

“Falling slowly,
Eyes that know me,
And I can’t go back.
Moods that take me and erase me,
And I’m painted black.

“Well, you have suffered enough
And warred with yourself;
It’s time that you won.”
-- Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
“Falling Slowly”

Parting shot: Once has been nominated at next year’s Independent Spirit Awards for Best Foreign Film. Congratulations to John Carney and company!
Winners will be announced on February 23, 2008.

(Once OS courtesy of impawards.com; The Swell Season and Once soundtrack sleeve art courtesy of amazon.com.)

AFTERTHOUGHTS (35)
BOUNCING OFF THE SATELLITES 2007

The International Press Academy has just conducted the 12th annual Satellite Awards, which honours special achievements in film, television, DVDs and games.
There was a lot to get stoked about here, so without further ado… (Wins are in bold.)

300:
Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media (nominee)
Visual Effects
Sound (Mixing & Editing) (nominee)

Beowulf:
Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media (nominee)
Visual Effects (nominee)

Children of Men:
Best Overall DVD (nominee)

Eastern Promises:
Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama (Viggo Mortensen)
Motion Picture, Drama (nominee)
Director (David Cronenberg: nominee)
Screenplay, Original (Steven Knight: nominee)
Original Score (Howard Shore: nominee)
Film Editing (Ronald Sanders: nominee)

El Laberinto Del Fauno (Pan’s Labyrinth):
Best Overall DVD (nominee)

Little Children:
Best Overall DVD (nominee)

Once:
Original Song (“If You Want Me”/Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova: nominee)

The Prestige:
Best Overall DVD

The Silence of the Lambs:
DVD Extras (Collector’s Edition: nominee)

Zodiac:
Actor in a Supporting Role, Drama (Brian Cox: nominee)
Screenplay, Adapted (James Vanderbilt: nominee)
Cinematography (Harris Savides: nominee)

The next batch are from films I’ve yet to see, though have mentioned ‘round here at the Iguana.

Away From Her:
Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama (Julie Christie: nominee)
Motion Picture, Drama (nominee)
Director (Sarah Polley: nominee)
Screenplay, Adapted (Sarah Polley: nominee)

El Orfanato (The Orphanage):
Motion Picture, Foreign Film (Spain: nominee)

The Golden Compass:
Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media (nominee)
Original Song (“Lyra”/Kate Bush: nominee)
Cinematography (Henry Braham: nominee)
Visual Effects (nominee)
Sound (Mixing & Editing) (nominee)

Juno:
Actress in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (Ellen Page)
Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical
Screenplay, Original (Diablo Cody)

Lars and the Real Girl:
Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (Ryan Gosling)
Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical (nominee)
Screenplay, Original (Nancy Oliver: nominee)

And these are from films whose reviews you’ll find in the Archive.

Sunshine:
Art Direction & Production Design (nominee)

Transformers:
Visual Effects (nominee)
Youth DVD (Two Disc Special Edition: nominee)

And now onto TV…

Chuck:
Television Series, Comedy or Musical (nominee)
Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical (Zachary Levi: nominee)

Dexter:
Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made For Television (David Zayas)
Television Series, Drama
Actor in a Series, Drama (Michael C. Hall)
DVD Release of a TV Show (Season 1)

Heroes:
Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made For Television (Masi Oka: nominee)

Lost:
Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made For Television (Michael Emerson: nominee)
DVD Release of a TV Show (The Complete Third Season: nominee)

Masters of Horror:
DVD Extras (Season 1: tied for the win with Borat)

Nip/Tuck:
DVD Release of a TV Show (Season 4: nominee)

Pushing Daisies:
Television Series, Comedy or Musical
Actress in a Series, Comedy or Musical (Anna Friel: nominee)
Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical (Lee Pace: nominee)

Twin Peaks:
DVD Release of a TV Show (Season 2: nominee)

And then there were the special awards, two of which were the Mary Pickford Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to the Entertainment Industry, which went to Kathy Bates, and the Tesla Award in Recognition of Visionary Achievement in Filmmaking Technology, which went to Dennis Muren.

To one and all, congratulations!
You can find the complete list of nominees and winners here.

Parting shot: Reviews of 300, Eastern Promises, El Laberinto Del Fauno, Sunshine, Transformers, and Zodiac, can be found in the Archive, where episodic recaps and reactions to Chuck, Dexter, Heroes, Lost, and Pushing Daisies also lurk.
And though the Satellite for DVD Extras went to Season 1, the reviews of the 13 episodes of Season 2 of Masters of Horror are just waiting to pounce from the darkness of the Archive as well.
There are also reviews of Beowulf and Once already written and raring to go, but at the time of this posting, have yet to be released into the wilds of the world wide web. (Though if you’re reading this way after I actually posted it, then those reviews should be in the Archive too.)

(Images courtesy of firstshowing.net [Eastern Promises]; amazon.com [The Prestige DVD cover art]; magneticmediafed.com [Dexter]; bloody-disgusting.com [Masters of Horror]; and pushing-daisies.com [Pushing Daisies].)