9 Overlooked Performances in 2010

In a year marking flashy, buzzed about yet strong performances, we take a look at some of the great ones that might have flown under the radar:

Kerry Washington in Mother and Child Washington is capping off a year filled with three amazing performances in Mother in Child, For Colored Girls, and Night Catches Us. But it was her gut-wrenching performance in Mother in Child that had us all aching with compassion for her portrayal as Lucy, the expectant mother cradling a desire to have a child. Her spot-on delivery, her virtual immersion into Lucy's soul will be one we can't forget.

Kirsten Dunst in All Good Things Before taking a break from acting, some of Dunst's most notable roles were in Interview with the Vampire, Spiderman, and The Virgin Suicides. Upon her return to the big screen this year, she starred opposite Ryan Gosling in the mystery biopic All Good Things. While the movie itself wasn't flattering, Dunst's portrayal of a terrified housewife caught in the middle of her husband's madness was stunning to watch.

Rebecca Hall in Please Give While the indie gem Please Give flew under the radar for many audiences, Hall's trademark mousy yet poignant performance of a clinician whose only fault was her natural desire to be a good person is the heartbeat of the movie.

Anthony Mackie in Night Catches Us It's hard to believe that before his performance in last year's The Hurt Locker, few were on the Anthony Mackie bandwagon. But his performance in this year's Independent Spirit-nominated film Night Catches Us raises the bar in his repertoire of great film performances. His portrayal as Marcus is vulnerable, angst ridden, muted, and poignant when it needs to be. And, perhaps most importantly, it seemed so effortless.

Anika Noni Rose in For Colored Girls In the midst of the tragically adapted film version of Ntozake Shange's stage play comes several breathtaking female lead performances. But it was the stark performance by Tony award winner Anika Noni Rose that stood above the rest. Her transformation from an optimistic, vibrant dancer to a wilted, jaded, and wounded young woman was not to be missed. Her performance may not have been as flashy as some others, but it certainly commanded your attention.

Yaya DaCosta in The Kids Are All Right Many folks have been buzzing about Mark Ruffalo's candid performance in the critically-hailed family drama The Kids Are All Right, but few are noting that his character is most illuminated by the spot-on portrayal by Yaya DaCosta. Her ability to point out Ruffalo's true nature serves as a symbol to his actions and his aggressive, however frivolous, attempt to do better. Her performance as Tanya was the compass of the film and, the personification of what Ruffalo's Paul was trying to break away from.

Ethan Hawke in Brooklyn's Finest We've all seen Hawke play a dejected cop before in the fantastic cop thriller Training Day. But when he reunited with director Antoine Fuqua for this year's ode to the crooked men in blue from the BK, gone was his doe-eyed, rookie cop performance. His portayal as the fed up, down-on-his luck Detective Sal sharpened his already remarkable career filled with characters you want to shrug off, but can't.

Marion Cotillard in Inception Academy Award winner Marion Cotillard's (La Vie En Rose) heartbreaking performance as Leonardo DiCaprio's wife trapped in their own crumbling minds is show-stopping. While the rest of the movie is lavished with special effects, a mind-bending story and fine performances through, it's Cotillard's tragic and critical performance that gives it the edge it needed.

Mark Ruffalo in Shutter Island Sometimes when the characters in a film know something that the audience doesn't, the performances almost seem like they're laughing in our faces, taunting us about it. But Ruffalo's subtle performance as DiCaprio's partner-in-crime Chuck stopped us dead in our tracks. He cleverly tried to give us hints the whole entire film but we were so focused on DiCaprio's Teddy character that we didn't know that Chuck was playing us too the whole time. And we couldn't even be mad at that.

"Night Catches Us"

"Sometimes you can't go on until you go back."

Kerry Washington has had a remarkable year. With her fantastic performances in both For Colored Girls and Mother in Child, the actress is closing the year with another riveting portrayal, this time in the historical fiction drama Night Catches Us.

With the backdrop of the Black Panther movement of the 60s and 70s, writer/director Tanya Hamilton creates a compelling drama following Marcus (played by Anthony Mackie), an ex Black Panther who fled his hometown of Philadelphia to escape his deep roots in the movement after serving a stint in jail on account of it. But word on the street has always been that he ratted out one of his cohorts, which automatically puts a target on his back and subjects him to numerous "snitching" remarks and cold stares from his once friends. Coming back to his old stomping ground has also made bad memories come flying back, which yields many sleepless nights. He wants to move forward, but he's there and can't. Nothing has changed except him. The Black Panther Party is still very much in effect, and it's even bred a whole new generation of believers.

Marcus has to decide whether to stick around in the town he once loved, or leave because it doesn't love him back. Nothing has changed, but he has. Even his old crush, Patricia (Washington), is not his "Patty" anymore. She tries to move on from a tragedy that still circles her, but doesn't realize that she too is immobile. The love they both have for the lives they once led has been shattered.

In between stunning performances from both Washington and Mackie, we see first hand black-and-white video footage of The Black Panther party, the movement, the "incidents," and the casualties (metaphorically and literally). These visuals punctuate an griping interwoven story that has become humanizes the backdrop like we have not seen much of in the past. Also worth mentioning are the fine performances also from Wendell Pierce and Jamie Hector (both from HBO's The Wire) who play a crooked cop on the wrong side, and a steadfast Black Panther, respectively; and Amari Cheatom and Jamara Griffin who play Patricia's misguided cousin and brave daughter.

Night Catches Us shouldn't be confused for something as blanket as "that black panther movie" or even a political movie, but more like a story about what it really takes to move on when you're so stuck on here.

Night Catches Us is in theaters now. Check out the trailer below:



Rating: A

DVD Review: "Knight and Day"

"I've been trained to dismantle a bomb in the pitch black with nothing but a safety pin and a Junior Mint, I think I can get you in and out of some clothes without... looking. I'm not saying that's what I did."

Blockbuster magnet Tom Cruise invades screens once again along with his best friends--explosions, car chases, and special effects--in this year's action flick Knight and Day. Reuniting with his Vanilla Sky co-star Cameron Diaz, Cruise stars as secret agent Roy Miller who finds out the hard way that his latest assignment is supposed to be his last.

When he meets everyday girl June Havens (Diaz) by chance, Roy takes the damsel in distress for a wild ride dodging bullets, armored vans, and bad guys. Those bad guys being other rival agents and some shady ones in the process, led by Oscar nominee Viola Davis (Doubt) and Peter Sarsgaard. June starts off as a bumbling valley girl-type who is terrified of guns and cars speeding down the road with no drivers, but by the end of the movie--and with the help of her exciting new beau--she turns into a quick-draw, seasoned assassin. Diaz is clearly recycling her stale shallow blonde performance she's been using ever since 1994's The Mask. And Cruise has been in better, more clever, action flicks.

Yeah, it's mindless. But it was fun watching Diaz and Cruise share the spotlight again, even for this empty yet fun film. You can't deny those two have great chemistry onscreen together. Knight and Day is a bit too long (one too many plot twists that made you just not care by the end) but it's fun though predictable thrill ride.


Rating: C-

First Look: "The Other Woman"

Natalie Portman's career is on overdrive these days. It seems like every week we're seeing a trailer for a new film with her in it. This week? The drama The Other Woman, co-starring Lisa Kudrow, Lauren Ambrose and Scott Cohen. The movie stars Portman as Emilia, the other woman to Cohen's character Jack, who's married to Carolyne (Kudrow). After a sultry affair, Emilia discovers she's pregnant, virtually destroying her lover's marriage, she marries Jack, and takes on the responsibility of stepmom to his 5-year-old son William. Things get even more dramatic when she loses the baby. If the trailer's any indication, it looks like we come in for all the aftermath. Check out the new trailer below. The Other Woman is scheduled for a limited release on February 4, 2011? Valentine's Day flick?

'Other Woman' Theatrical Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

DVD Review: "Devil"

"So no, I don't believe in the Devil. You don't need him, people are bad enough by themselves."

So perhaps we've been a bit harsh on M. Night Shyamalan's projects in the past. Actually no, we haven't been. Remember The Happening, Lady in The Water, The Village? Shall I go on? As we struggle to recover from our post traumatic stress from some of his previous movies, the serially panned filmmaker presented us with Devil, another amateur "horror" flick earlier this year. And, it's not half bad.

Well, I should add that it's not good either. Consider it the best of the worst. The worst of any of the bad films he's had anything to do with in the past. While Shyamalan only co-wrote Devil, his usual silly "gotcha" stamp is still very evident in the movie. This is unfortunate for someone who's been in the business for nearly two decades. But gone are his signatures--sloppiness, random self-cameos, and blatant laziness with the script. Rather Devil is put together pretty seamlessly in that you actually want to know how it all wraps up in the end. In other words, it holds your interest.

Devil traps five seemingly random people in an elevator of an office building who think they have nothing to do with each other. The longer they're held in the close quarters, the more their skeletons fly out the closets. As they struggle to keep calm, they can't help thinking that one of their elevator mates may be up to no good. Suspicions flare and body counts rise in the compact holding cell that's sadly become their stomping ground. And, for once, the twist is actually less predictable than we may think. Blending the uncertainty of religion and the fear of claustrophobia, Devil presents itself to at least the level of such horrible horror flicks as The Unborn and Drag Me to Hell.

Is Shyamalan out of the doghouse? Not so fast. It's a promising beginning, but not necessarily a gateway to improved films later down the line. Devil isn't really scary, the acting stinks, and it's not that clever, but you can rest knowing that the culprit isn't a hand puppet. At least now we could be interested to see what Shyamalan may come up with next.

Reel Talk rating: C-

"Little Fockers"

In the first installment of the wildly successful Meet the Parents franchise, Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro kept us doubled over in laughter as future in-laws Greg Focker and Jack Byrnes vying for the heart of Pam. In the second installment Meet the Fockers, we meet Greg's parents Mr. and Mrs. Focker (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand) who had us in stitches with their wacky ways. But in the latest franchise Little Fockers, even with the addition of Jessica Alba as a pushy pharmaceutical , the return of Owen Wilson as Pam's obsessive ex and a brief cameo by Harvey Keitel, the laughs were few and far between.

When Jack (DeNiro) finally realizes he may not be able to able to handle the daunting role of patriarch of the family anymore, he appoints Greg (Stiller)--his son-in-law and father of his twin grandkids--as his successor. But as usual the pressure of impressing Jack has sent Greg into a tailspin which leads to a comedy of errors.

Wait, did I just say "comedy?" With the exception of a few laughs provided mostly by Alba, the film is filled with recycled jokes and lackluster comedic routines. The film focused too much on the kids and not enough on the usually hysterical in-laws. When we were meeting each of the parents in the previous installments, they were funny, but when we meet the kids--who we're just meeting in this movie--they're not funny at all. It seems like the old formula is dying a slow death. Recommendation--skip this one and revisit the previous movies. Those will bring more holiday cheer than this one.

Reel Talk rating: D+

First Look: "Hanna"

Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, The Lovely Bones) shows no signs of slowing down. After starring in last year's heartbreaking chiller The Lovely Bones, Ronan is headlining next year's action thriller Hanna, co-starring Cate Blanchett and Eric Bana. The 16-year-old plays a teen trained to be a cold-blooded assassin by her father (Bana), an ex-CIA agent. Her latest mission sends her across Europe where she smoothly dodges agents and others in her path (including one shady intelligence operative played by Blanchett) until she encounters a French family who introduce her to a conventional life, which also opens Hanna's eyes to a startling fact about herself. Hanna heads to theaters April 8, 2011.

DVD Review: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

Love her or hate her, one thing's for sure: Joan Rivers ain't going nowhere soon. At seventy-seven years young, the wise-crackin' comedic legend will work until she drops, and still laugh about it afterwards. In her deeply personal documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, audiences get a rare peak into her world--from her relationship with her daughter Melissa to the nostalgia of her rise to fame, the hustle of booking gigs and the moments when they're few and far between.

Even though the tough times, Rivers battles a male and youth-dominated industry with a thick sheet of armor and a quick, sharp tongue. Shattering the stereotype of the dainty female, Rivers takes us back to the 60s and 70s when it took folks a long time to embrace her brand of humor, especially in the 70s when she was considered crass and unladylike (and she still sometimes challenges that opinion today). Cracking jokes about such controversial topics as abortion, suicide and sex drove many people away, but also gained a fierce respect from her audience, as well as her peers. She paved the way for similar comediennes today, like Kathy Griffin. Though she hates when people say "paved;" it implies that she's no longer doing any more paving, which is clearly inaccurate. But even more than that, Rivers also pays homage to those comediennes she looked up to who came before her Phyllis Diller, those who didn't get their due.

Aside from her often manic approach to her work, taking any and every offer for face-time (including her victorious stint on Celebrity Apprentice), we get the softer side of Joan Rivers. We follow her as she does her annual charity bringing gifts to the needy every Thanksgiving (with grandson Cooper in tow). We're with her when she fights back tears as she reads more harsh reviews, this time about her stage play "The Joan Rivers Theatre Project." We're with her as she nervously prepares for her 2009 roast, bracing herself for the inevitable jabs at her obsessive plastic surgery and her age. But through all the jokes, Rivers has gone through her toughest times with laughs, even when she was grieving over the suicide of her husband producer Edgar Rosenberg. Because, as she would say, you've got to at least laugh about it. You can't let the tears take over all the time.

A Piece of Work is a refreshing look at a reluctant legend, one who's still using all her might to break barriers for the rest of us to get a real kick out of. With this piece of work, she may finally get the respect she deserves.

Reel Talk: B+

DVD Review: "Mother and Child"

"Do you always tell the truth?"
--"The truth is easier to remember."

The relationship between a mother and her child is a complex one, to say the least. It can be really lovely, or it can be strained, estranged or, in some cases, stringent. In Mother and Child, it's a beautiful conglomerate of each explored in three compelling vignettes.

Golden Globe nominee Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right) is Karen, a woman emotionally crippled by both the guilt she feels from giving her child up for adoption when she was only fourteen and the love her mother never showed her. Her biological daughter Elizabeth (played by Naomi Watts), now 37, has spent most her life escaping love until she winds up in a position that offers her no way out. Then there's Lucy (Kerry Washington), whose unwavering passion for becoming a mother will rip your heart out with each failed attempt. These heartbreaking stories are carefully intertwined to bring us a charming look at motherhood in four various colors: frustration, rage, love and, eventually, hope.

Washington, in a career-best performance, is breathtaking as Lucy. Her yearning is so palpable you're forced to root for her until the very end. Bening has clearly found her niche playing a painfully bitter woman you want to dislike but feel too sorry for her to do so. Watts will surprise you in her emotionally-devoid performance that gives way to a softer, sweeter ending that brings the entire story full circle. Mother and Child isn't a hard-hitting drama, but rather a precious, soulful look at family, love, and loss.

Reel Talk rating: A

The 2011 Screen Actors Guild Award Nominations

And here are the film nominees for the Screen Actors Guild Award. Predictable much? At least Jeff Bridges, Hilary Swank and Jeremy Renner get some recognition for their outstanding work in True Grit, Conviction and The Town, respectively. Too bad the ladies from For Colored Girls are overlooked again.

Actor

* Jeff Bridges, True Grit
* Robert Duvall, Get Low
* Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
* Colin Firth, The King's Speech
* James Franco, 127 Hours

Actress

* Annette Bening, The Kids are All Right
* Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
* Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
* Natalie Portman, Black Swan
* Hilary Swank, Conviction

Supporting Actor

* Christian Bale, The Fighter
* John Hawkes, Winter's Bone
* Jeremy Renner, The Town
* Mark Ruffalo, The Kids are All Right
* Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

Supporting Actress

* Amy Adams, The Fighter
* Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
* Mila Kunis, Black Swan
* Melissa Leo, The Fighter
* Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Ensemble Cast

* Black Swan
* The Fighter
* The Kids are All Right
* The King's Speech
* The Social Network

Awards will be handed out live on TNT and TBS on January 30, 2011 at 8pm EST.

First Look: "The Tree of Life"

Since the trailer won't spoil too many details about the elusive premise, here's a couple of things you should know about the upcoming drama The Tree of Life, starring Sean Penn, Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain:

1) It's VERY eagerly-anticipated and touted as a "beautiful" look at life and the world around us.
2) It's written and directed by Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line, Badlands).
3) It's set in the 1950s, in the Midwest.
4) In short, Sean Penn plays a grown-up Jack, the wonder-filled child of Mr. and Mrs. O'Brien (Pitt and Chastain, respectively) who, after witnessing suffering, sickness, and death, his views harden and he becomes a disillusioned adult looking for meaning in a modern world. Being raised by two very opposite parents (The mother is more gentle and father is eager to teach him the stringent way of life), Jack has to later teach himself how to regain hope.
5) It hits theaters May 27, 2011.

Check out the exclusive new trailer below, courtesy of Indiewire.


Tree Of Life
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First Look: "Fast Five"

The fifth installment to the mindless Fast and the Furious franchise zooms into theaters next spring. This time the adrenaline junkies (Paul Walker, Jordana Brewster, Vin Diesel, Tyrese Gibson, and Ludacris) are joined by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson (or Dwayne Johnson, for those who insist on seeing him as a real actor). The very thin plot goes as follows, in short: after Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker) and Mia Toretto (Jordana Brewster) bust Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) out of custody, they are faced with the challenge of getting out of Rio de Janeiro unnoticed. They then call on their elite team of care racers to help them out of the jam. Hot on their tails is tough-as-nails federal agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) who will stop at nothing to blow their whole plan off course. Looking for some guilty fun? Fast Five races into theaters April 29, 20111.

2011 Golden Globe Nominations

This morning the 2011 Golden Globe nominations were announced, once again proving that comedy was weak this year (with the exception of The Kids are All Right, which could also be a drama). The Tourist, which was panned by critics earlier this month, had a couple of surprise nods including best picture, and each lead getting a nod. Julianne Moore finally gets some love from the foreign press for The Kids Are All Right. And Mila Kunis gets a nod for her star-making role in Black Swan and the mind-bender film Inception is finally getting some recognition. Jeremy Renner also gets his due for his great performance in The Town.

The rest of the nods seem to be pretty standard, with the exception of Halle Berry finally getting some recognition for her labor of love Frankie and Alice. But it's the British drama The King's Speech that's leading the pack with a staggering seven nominations including its cast (led by Colin Firth in the title role) and the film for best picture. The Fighter didn't fare too badly either with an impressive 6 nods, including each lead played by Melissa Leo, Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams, and Christian Bale. The film was also nominated for best picture. The Social Network is also earning tons of accolades this season.

Surprisingly True Grit, the western remake by the Coen Brothers, gets shut out completely after being hailed by critics, even though both the cast (led by Oscar winner Jeff Bridges) and picture is being heralded by critics everywhere. Unfortunately, none of the stellar performances from For Colored Girls received any recognition. The only reason being that they had the misfortune of being in a sub par film adaptation (which hasn't seemed to have affected other folks nominated here...). Take a look at the full list of film nominees below:


BEST PICTURE, DRAMA
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King's Speech
The Social Network

BEST PICTURE, MUSICAL OR COMEDY
Alice in Wonderland
Burlesque
The Kids Are All Right
Red
The Tourist

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
David Fincher, The Social Network
Tom Hooper, The King's Speech
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David O. Russell, The Fighter

BEST ACTOR, DRAMA
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Colin Firth, The King's Speech
James Franco, 127 Hours
Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA
Halle Berry, Frankie and Alice
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

BEST ACTOR, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland
Johnny Depp, The Tourist
Paul Giamatti, Barney's Version
Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs
Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack

BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs
Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
Emma Stone, Easy A

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter
Michael Douglas, Wall Street 2
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
Jeremy Renner, The Town
Geoffrey Rush, The King's Speech

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter, The King's Speech
Mila Kunis, Black Swan
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

BEST SCREENPLAY
Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy, 127 Hours
Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
Christopher Nolan, Inception
David Seidler, The King's Speech
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Despicable Me
How To Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Tangled
Toy Story 3

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Biutiful
The Concert
The Edge
I Am Love
In A Better World

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, The King's Speech
Danny Elfman, Alice in Wonderland
A.R. Rahman, 127 Hours
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network
Hans Zimmer, Inception

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Bound to You," Burlesque
"Coming Home," Country Strong
"I See the Light," Tangled
"There's A Place For Us," Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
"You Haven't Seen The Last of Me," Burlesque

First Look: "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides"

In the fourth installment of the megafranchise Pirates of the Caribbean, Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) finds himself face to face with the ruthless pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and past love Angelica (Penelope Cruz), who lures him aboard Blackbeard's ship Queen Anne's Revenge in search of the fountain of youth. When things start going awry, Captain Sparrow learns that he and the mysterious Angelica aren't the only ones after the fountain of youth and that the only person he can trust is himself. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides hits theaters May 20, 2011 Check out the exclusive new trailer below.

2011 Broadcast Film Critics' Choice Award Nominations

The Oscar precursors are proving to be predictable this year again, but some notable and deserving names this morning were announced as the nominations for next month's Critics' Choice Awards. Then, there are the unfortunate best comedy nominees. Black Swan leads the pack with a whopping 12 nominations. Check out the full list below.

BEST PICTURE
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges - “True Grit”
Robert Duvall - “Get Low”
Jesse Eisenberg - “The Social Network”
Colin Firth - “The King’s Speech”
James Franco - “127 Hours”
Ryan Gosling - “Blue Valentine”

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening - “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman - “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence - “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman - “Black Swan”
Noomi Rapace - “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Michelle Williams - “Blue Valentine”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale - “The Fighter”
Andrew Garfield - “The Social Network”
Jeremy Renner - “The Town”
Sam Rockwell - “Conviction”
Mark Ruffalo - “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush - “The King’s Speech”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams - “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter - “The King’s Speech”
Mila Kunis - “Black Swan”
Melissa Leo - “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld - “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver - “Animal Kingdom”

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Elle Fanning - “Somewhere”
Jennifer Lawrence - “Winter’s Bone”
Chloe Grace Moretz - “Let Me In”
Chloe Grace Moretz - “Kick-Ass”
Kodi Smit-McPhee - “Let Me In”
Hailee Steinfeld - “True Grit”

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
The Fighter
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
The Town

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky - “Black Swan”
Danny Boyle - “127 Hours”
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen - “True Grit”
David Fincher - “The Social Network”
Tom Hooper - “The King’s Speech”
Christopher Nolan - “Inception”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Another Year - Mike Leigh
Black Swan - Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin
The Fighter - Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson (Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson)
Inception - Christopher Nolan
The Kids Are All Right - Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
The King’s Speech - David Seidler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
127 Hours - Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle
The Social Network - Aaron Sorkin
The Town - Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Sheldon Turner
Toy Story 3 - Michael Arndt (Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)
True Grit - Joel & Ethan Coen
Winter’s Bone - Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
127 Hours - Anthony Dod Mantle
Black Swan - Matthew Libatique
Inception - Wally Pfister
The King’s Speech - Danny Cohen
True Grit - Roger Deakins

BEST ART DIRECTION
Alice in Wonderland - Stefan Dechant
Black Swan - Therese DePrez and Tora Peterson
Inception - Guy Hendrix Dyas
The King’s Speech - Netty Chapman
True Grit - Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh

BEST EDITING
127 Hours - Jon Harris
Black Swan - Andrew Weisblum
Inception - Lee Smith
The Social Network - Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Alice in Wonderland - Colleen Atwood
Black Swan - Amy Westcott
The King’s Speech - Jenny Beavan
True Grit - Mary Zophres

BEST MAKEUP
Alice in Wonderland
Black Swan
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
True Grit

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Alice in Wonderland
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
Inception
Tron: Legacy

BEST SOUND
127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
The Social Network
Toy Story 3

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon
The Illusionist
Tangled
Toy Story 3

BEST ACTION MOVIE
Inception
Kick-Ass
Red
The Town
Unstoppable

BEST COMEDY
Cyrus
Date Night
Easy A
Get Him to the Greek
I Love You Phillip Morris
The Other Guys

BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
The Pacific
Temple Grandin
You Don’t Know Jack

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Biutiful
I Am Love
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Inside Job
Restrepo
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
The Tillman Story
Waiting for Superman

BEST SONG
“I See the Light” - performed by Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi/written by Alan Menken & Glenn Slater - Tangled
“If I Rise” - performed by Dido and A.R. Rahman/music by A.R. Rahman/lyrics by Dido Armstrong and Rollo Armstrong - 127 Hours
“Shine” - performed and written by John Legend - Waiting for Superman
“We Belong Together” - performed and written by Randy Newman - Toy Story 3
“You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me Yet” - performed by Cher/written by Diane Warren - Burlesque

BEST SCORE
“Black Swan” - Clint Mansell
“Inception” - Hans Zimmer
“The King’s Speech” - Alexandre Desplat
“The Social Network” - Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
“True Grit” - Carter Burwell

The winners will be announced at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards ceremony on January 14, 2011 at 9:00PM EST on VH1.

"The Fighter"

You're probably thinking, Not another boxing movie! But, although The Fighter is about '80s local boxing legend Mickey Ward and his rise to fame, rest assured that this is not a boxing movie. At its core, The Fighter is a family drama.

Oscar nominee Mark Wahlberg plays Mickey, a talented boxer from Lowell, Mass. with a crack fiend brother (Dicky, played by Christian Bale) for a trainer, a pushy mother (Melissa Leo), seven nosy sisters and a real big problem--them. All his life Mickey has looked up to his older brother Dicky, a great ex-boxer in his own right who's devoted the rest of his fleeting career to teaching his younger brother how to become the boxer he never could be. But Dicky is trouble--showing up two hours late to training, finding him on top of a garbage pile behind a crackhouse, erratic and irrational. In between his crack haze, he does manage to muster up a few solid pieces of advice.

Their mother Alice is no price either--the red-nailed, spandex-wearing mom of nine turns a blind eye to her son's struggles with addiction to concentrate on how her other son can make money for the entire family as a boxer, even if that means setting him up on a few fights he's not ready for. Then there's Mickey's girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams), the foul-mouthed bar maven who feels there's only room for her in his corner.

Each member tries to take their part in Mickey's life, leaving him with nothing to spare for himself. But it's his brother who ultimately gives him back that victory, when he finally takes a step back himself. Their brotherly bond isn't without its share of fights and turmoil--especially when Mickey for the first time in his life has to face his brother rather than look up to him as he always had, even in his darkest moments. But at the end of the day they're family and, even when they're at their craziest, they somehow find a way lead Mickey to realize his dream.

Those same influences in Mickey's life are played by actors whose performances we'll remember most in this movie. It's not only Bale's corpse-like appearance and sunken eyes whose image we won't be able to get out of our heads. His performance is tour de force, writhing though every scene and snatching it from everyone else. He brilliantly portrayed a man whose emotions were often scattered, yet centered when they needed to be. Leo, whose fashion sense in the film could best be described as a 80s-styled Carmela Soprano, was heartbreaking as a mother who only wants what's best for her children--even if she can't stopped flapping her gums long enough to find out what that is. Adams is impressive in a meaty role she can finally sink her teeth into. Wahlberg takes on an ambitious project (he also produced the film) and clearly had a lot of great actors in his corner. Even thought they each outshined him in their performances, Wahlberg held his own too. Overall The Fighter is a touching, soulful knockout of a movie.

Reel Talk rating: A

Trailer Debut: "Thor"

Natalie Portman is showing no signs of slowing down in the near future. After the wide release of Black Swan at the end of the month, followed by the lackluster comedy No Strings Attached next year, the Oscar buzz magnet will then star in the superhero blockbuster Thor. Based on the comic book series, the big screen adaptation will follow the story of Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) after he's cast down to Earth as punishment for reigniting an old war. Soon after, his nemesis Asgard is sent down to invade the planet. Anthony Hopkins and Idris Elba also co-star in Thor, which is set to open May 6, 2011. Check out the new trailer below.

First Look: "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"

Michael Bay is blessing us with yet another crappy installment of Transformers . In Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Shia Labeouf and Tyrese reprise their roles in the sci-fi action flick following Autobots Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide and Sideswipe led by Optimus Prime as they take on the evil Decepticons. Joining the series is newcomer Rosie Huntington-Whiteley stepping into the role of Labeouf's love inerest Carly (Labeouf's previous love interest was played by Megan Fox, who was reportedly cut from the film), along with a slew of great actors including John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and John Turturro. The trailer looks as though it's leaving the presumably vacant plot a secret wrapped in lots of special effects. Check it out below. You be the judge. Transformers: Dark of the Moon invades theaters July 1, 2011.

"Black Swan"

"I just want to be perfect."

The frilly world of tutus, leotards and plies goes down a dark path in director Darren Aronofsky's twisted psychological thriller Black Swan. One prima ballerina's destructive search for perfection lends to a startling performance of one of ballet's most classic tales.

Oscar nominee Natalie Portman (Brothers, Closer) transforms her body and seemingly her soul into her performance as prima ballerina Nina Sayers who's just been offered the lead role in the new production of "Swan Lake." Trouble is, rather than just playing the part of the the white swan, production manager Thomas (played by Vincent Cassel) wants her to take on the roles of both the innocent white swan and the darker, more seductive black swan. Faced with the biggest challenge of her career, Nina goes to drastic measures to outperform not only any performance she's ever done but any performance of those before her and after will do. With an overbearing mother (played by Barbara Hershey) who's also an ex-dancer, Nina feels the pressure from everyone. All of a sudden everyone is a competitor--her mother, the aging former prima ballerina Beth (played by Winona Ryder), and the other company dancers particularly Lily (played by Mila Kunis), who Nina is convinced is trying to sabotage her. All the while the show must go on.

Aronofsky brilliantly gives audiences a peak into Nina's madness with disturbing special effects and sharp sequences that cause you to feel for Nina while also fear for her as she spirals out of control. Portman is excellent as the dainty swan who--with the help of seduction--turns into a fearless black swan. Kunis, Hershey, Ryder, and Cassell are fantastic as the various dimensions of Nina's world. Audiences won't know who to trust and what is real in this terrifyingly great film that will grab hold of you until the final act.

Reel Talk rating: A

"All Good Things"

Oscar nominee Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, The Notebook) takes a haunting turn as a New York real estate heir with a shady streak in All Good Things. Based on the real-life unsolved mystery of Robert Durst who's the prime suspect in the disappearance of his wife Katherine (played by Kirsten Dunst) back in the early 1980s, the movie follows Durst (named David Marks in the movie) from his tragic childhood all the way to his later life in obscurity.

Much to the dismay of his tycoon father Sanford (played by Frank Langella), David meets and falls for a commoner and tries to start a humble life away from the family business in Vermont. But after his father pressured him to come back to the business and give Katherine a more glamorous lifestyle, David reluctantly returns to the Big Apple, where his demons begin to saunter out of the closet. His traumatic childhood has affected him more than he's willing to admit and his behavior becomes more disturbing, which begins to concern his wife and later his own father.

Trouble is, David's behavioral changes are quite gradual and do nothing to engage the audience in the first half of the movie. It drags heavily in the beginning taking us on a roundabout look into his mysterious shroud which stays a mystery for much too long in the movie. There's so much discussion on how the money differences between Katherine and David caused a riff between both families, and how prominent the Marks family was in New York City, that not enough attention is paid on the explanation of the obvious oddity that is David Marks. As more mysterious cases turn up swirling around David Marks, the movie goes on a tangent into another arena right when you were beginning to get engrossed. Though the performances were good (especially Dunst), the storytelling could have been a lot better, especially since they took the effort to fictionalized actual events giving the leeway to create a more suspenseful and cunning movie. The result just falls flat.

Reel Talk rating: C+

"The Warrior's Way"

Korean megastar Dong-gun Jang stars in his first Hollywood feature as Yang, a warrior assassin who dodges his latest mission by hiding out in a random circus town in The Warrior's Way. Before you ask, yes this movie is as foolish as that just sounded.

Starting out with sleek martial arts sequences, Warrior's Way takes a nose dive not fifteen minutes in when our warrior hero takes refuge, along with an infant he picks up at his last conquest, in a small town where he meets a dwarf, a bearded lady, a clown and several other innocent circus misfits plagued by the shadow of Colonel, who's ransacked the town on horseback taking several casualties along with him. Among them he meets Lynne (played by Kate Bosworth), an amateur knife thrower with a wannabe badass streak which never really quite delivers. Together they try to protect their town from the wrath of the Colonel. But just when they devise a grand plan, Yang's past comes back to haunt them.

Perhaps this was a video game or a straight action flick this would have been a better movie. The fact that it was a martial arts movie that was trying to have a plotline really destroyed it. The plot was weak and all over the place, and the performances (including Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush as the drunken man) were abysmal. To top it all off, the goofy narration didn't help things either. Hopefully this doesn't deter Jang from being in other American films. Take him out of this script and he could be really good.

Reel Talk rating: F