winners Tagged Articles at Cinematical

What do you get if you're a winner in the SXSWclick competition? Well, you get your short film screened at one of America's coolest film festivals ... and a bunch of editing software and other little prizes. But playing at the South By Southwest Film Festival? That's every indie filmmaker's "realistic" dream, isn't it? (The unrealistic one would be: Winning an Oscar, sleeping with Scarlett Johansson at Sundance and beating Spielberg out of a directing gig.) And why exactly should you care about short films? I mean, short films rarely feature big stars or talking dogs or giant robots ... so who gives a wet slap?

Good question. Try checking out the SXSWclick award winners and then tell me if you still feel the same way. For the record, the winners are: Don Brown's Pierre (Grand Jury Winner -and- Animate-it), Will Elliott's Peterson's Savings and Loan (Popularity Contest -and- Old School Shorts), David Serota's Ubutu (Really Real Shorts), Andrea Giacomini's Always Near (Sound Checks), and Tipper Newton's The Timebox Twins (What the F*#!?). Congrats to all the winners! And if your short happens to be playing in front of a gory horror movie at SXSW 2008, then I'll probably see it. (Feel free to browse through the winning shorts right here. Dang, you can even watch 'em on your phone. And in the bathroom!) Judges for the SXSWclick competition include filmmakers Bob Odenkirk, Kal Penn, AJ Schnack, Michael Tully, bloggers Agnes Varnum and Violet Blue, and Homestar Runner co-creator Craig Zobel.

Speaking of SXSW '08, consider this the starter's pistol: (Bang!) Filmmakers! Time to get your flicks into the SXSW offices if you want to be considered for next year's slate. True, the admission process runs until (almost) the end of the year, but why not be an early bird? Catch those programmers while they're still bubbly and pleasant! And as far as movie-watchers go, festival master chief Matt Dentler would like to extend a personal invitation to any and all Cinematical readers. Mention this article during SXSW '08 and get a free beer at the Austin bar of your choice! (Offer expires March 6, 2008)

So the gags are all done, the skits are all finished, and the goofiest Movie Award ceremony this side of Razzie-town has drawn to a close for another year. Last night was the first time the MTV Movie Awards had been broadcast live, and general internet chatter seems to indicate that host Sarah Silverman did a fine job overall. We could sit here and talk about the funniest speeches, the ugliest dresses or the corniest comedy sketches, but let's just focus on the movies right now. Here's what MTV (and its viewers) considers the very best in cinema from the last twelve months:

Best Movie -- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (over 300, Borat, Blades of Glory and Little Miss Sunshine) Better than Pan's Labyrinth and Children of Men, too?

Best Villain -- Jack Nicholson in The Departed (over Bill Nighy in Pirates 2, Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prada, Rodrigo Santoro in 300 and Tobin Bell in Saw 3) Yeah, no argument here.

Best Performance -- Johnny Depp in Pirates 2 (over Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness, Gerard Butler in 300, Keira Knightley in Pirates 2 and Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce Knowles in Dreamgirls)

Breakthrough Performance -- Jaden Smith in The Pursuit of Happyness (over Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine, Emily Blunt in The Devil Wears Prada, Justin Timberlake in Alpha Dog, Columbus Short in Stomp the Yard and Lena Headey in 300) I wonder how the kid got the gig in the first place...

Best Comedic Performance -- Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat (over Will Ferrell in Blades of Glory, Emily Blunt in The Devil Wears Prada, Ben Stiller in Night at the Museum and Adam Sandler in Click) As if this award could have possibly gone to anyone else.

Best Kiss -- Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (over Marlon Wayans and Brittany Daniel in Little Man, Mark Wahlberg and Elizabeth Banks in Invincible, Columbus Short and Meagan Good in Stomp the Yard and Cameron Diaz and Jude Law in The Holiday) Funny pick, and certainly better than any of the alternatives.

Best Fight -- Gerard Butler vs. The Uber-Immortal in 300 (over Sacha Baron Cohen vs. Ken Davitian in Borat, Jack Black and Hector Jememez vs. Los Duendes in Nacho Libre, Uma Thurman vs. Anna Faris in My Super Ex-Girlfriend and Will Ferrel vs. Jon Heder in Blades of Glory) And it's not even the best fight in the movie!

Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet -- We'll just skip this one...

SPOILER ALERT: The Fangoria Chainsaw Awards won't be broadcast on television until October 22, but like all reputable award shows, it was taped a week in advance. Do not venture below the jump if you'd prefer to enjoy the awards show while clapping your hands in mild surprise as the winners are announced.

EDITORIALIZATION ALERT: After learning which flick won the biggest award, I was inspired to throw a lot of extra opinion into this report, so be prepared to leave me comments that say either "Dude, you're entirely right," or "Man, you're a freaking idiot." Either way you'll probably be making an accurate statement.

The good news first: Slither, Zombie Honeymoon, Saw 2 and The Hills Have Eyes won some stuff, and that pleases me mightily. On the other hand, it seems that tons of gore-geeks are still convinced that Rob Zombie makes good horror flicks ... and I just can't wrap my head around that sentiment.

We told you earlier that OSS-117: Nest of Spies, The Trials of Darryl Hunt and Full Disclosure won the Golden Space Needle Audience Awards for Feature, Documentary, and Short, respectively, at the 32nd Annual Seattle International Film Festival. For those of you who have been anxiously checking back for the full list of the winners, here they are:

BEST NEW DIRECTOR

Grand Jury Prize: Host & Guest, directed by Shin Dong-il (South Korea)

"For its timely and universal story of two strangers moving towards common ground in an increasingly polarized world, told with great subtlety and emotional honesty."--Jury Statement

Special Jury Prize: Grain in Ear, directed by Zhang Lu (China)

"For its minimal yet exacting portrait of a woman of poverty who chooses to be the agent of her destiny rather than a victim of circumstance, and for its bold juxtaposing of China's harsh realities against the ghosts of Maoist idealism." --Jury Statement

The Jury for the New Directors Showcase Competition was comprised of Scott Foundas (chief film critic and editor for LA Weekly), Caroline Libresco (senior programmer for Sundance Film Festival), and Oscar Torres (actor/writer/producer and winner of SIFF 2005 GSN for Innocent Voices).

Okay, that's it. We're going to bed. Take a look at our collected drivel from tonight's Golden Globes live blog below, and we'll be back to recap the highlights in the morning. In the meantime, the best caption on this picture by tomorrow at noon EST earns a Cinematical T-shirt. And if anyone caught a screencap of Drew Barrymore in that green dress ... um, holla.

Golden Globes: Best Actress - Drama
Golden Globes: Best Actor - Drama
Golden Globes: Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
Golden Globes: Best Actor Musical or Comedy
Golden Globes: Lifetime Achievement
Golden Globes: Best Director
Golden Globes: Best screenplay shocker!
Golden Globes: Foreign film stuff
Golden Globes: Tim Robbins looks like crap
Golden Globes: Mary-Louise Parker wants to make out
Golden Globes: Karina's less kick-ass picks
Golden Globes: Reese Witherspoon wins Best Actress - Comedy
Golden Globes: Patrick Dempsey, not pretty enough
Golden Globes: Put a bra on Drew!
Golden Globes: Sandra Oh, goddess
Golden Globes: Superman is looking a little post-goth
Erik's kick ass Golden Globe picks
Golden Globes: Best Supporting Actor & Actress