Now Presenting... The Presenters!

If the starry nominee troupes marching towards you later this week and beyond are not shiny enough for you, fear not. Even more celebs will be on hand as well wishers and presenters. Here's what we know so far followed by our annual Oscar badgering. They really need help when thinking about "presenting" honors.

BFCA "Critics Choice" This is happening in just two days. Will you be here as we live blog?  Presenters include: Leonardo DiCaprio, Vin Diesel, Kirsten Dunst, Donald Glover, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Kingsley, Diane Kruger, Melissa McCarthy, Elizabeth Olsen, Patton Oswalt, Paul Rudd, Maya Rudolph, Jason Segel and Owen Wilson. 

GLOBES Michelle Pfeiffer & Nicole Kidman (!!!!!!!!! I don't mean to imply together... though wouldn't that be something?), Melissa McCarthy, Jake Gyllenhaal, Clive Owen & Natalie Portman (I don't mean to imply together... though wouldn't that be something?), Antonio Banderas & Salma Hayek (I assume together) and Mark Wahlberg. 

SAG Ed Helms, Julianna Margulies, Natalie Portman, Armie Hammer, and Southland's wonderful headliner Regina King who, as it turns out is also something called "SAG Awards® social network ambassador". Fancy!

OSCARS Nothing has been announced yet but we assume that Natalie Portman, Colin Firth, Christian Bale and Melissa Leo will be on hand to present the acting awards... unless they screw with the format again.

And once again we would like to remind the Oscar producers that no one wants to see the same people presenting Best Picture every year. Step away from the Spielbergs, Nicholsons, Streisands and Hanks. We PROMISE you they are not the only celebrities everyone recognizes.

Instantly Recognizable Faces / Audience Beloveds Who've Never Had "Best Picture" Honor

• Meryl Streep
• Jane Fonda
• Julia Roberts
• Michelle Pfeiffer
• Liza Minnelli
• Angelina Jolie
• Johnny Depp
• Tom Cruise
• Will Smith
• My three favorite Perfect Duo Suggestions for this particular year. None of them have had the honor...
• KATE & LEO  (Consider it. 2012 is the TITANIC centennial. Be a little more creative on Oscar night. Please do not sleepwalk and pull from your standard pool of 5 people.) 
• JODIE & ANTHONY (20th anniversary of Silence of the Lambs big winning ceremony)
  
  Just a couple of Dames 
• DAME MAGGIE SMITH  & DAME JUDI DENCH
  My #1 suggestion. Hear me out. They're friends. They're Oscar titans. They're both getting on in years. Plus, it'd be a sly nod to Harry Potter as it ends and James Bond as it hits its 50th anniversary. You're always worried about being "relevant" to younger audiences. How about covering all your bases at once with senior citizens who are Academy staples but who are also instantly recognizable and beloved by all generations given their key roles in long running über successful franchises that are having major moments right about now. All that plus the Dames have a new film together in 2012 (The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel). It's the best of all possible worlds. Plus it's a honor for actresses and you have to admit that you're very actress-phobic when it comes to Best Picture presentations and Honorary Oscars.
  
  Repent of this great sin and let an actress (or two) have the honor this year. 

BFCA 'Critics Choice' Nominees: It's Hugo vs. The Artist

As you may or may not know, I am a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association. So this weekend, I rushed to turn in my ballot hoping against hope that my tiny voice will save them from their own relentless interest in predicting the Oscars above all else. I hoped, for example, that here is where you'd see a bit of Off Oscar movement for some of the interesting divisive movies such as Melancholia or critical hit only performances like Olivia Colman's in Tyrannosaur or things only critics have seen but that they lovedlovedloved like A Separation (Trust: I'm far from the only one.) While hope springs eternal, this year they held on tight to just what you'd expect: Oscar predictions! There are about 250 members of the BFCA -- you can see a list here --  and remarkably none of us are named Peter Travers though as a group we seem to collectively share his Oscar-hewing choices under the guise of "My opinion - screw Oscar!" (teehee). But what can you do?!

Movieloving duo The Artist and Hugo led the nominations with 11 nods apiece. Let's look at each category. The "Critics Choice" Awards will be held on January 12th, 2012 and broadcast on VH1 as per usual. This year's hosts will be Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer.

BEST PICTURE

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Drive
• Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• The Help
• Hugo
• Midnight in Paris
• Moneyball
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse 

(SOLE) SURPRISE / BAD NEWS FOR: I really thought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 would place her given that so many media types (many of them BFCA members) are obsessed with those massive franchises - especially when/because they're ending. Otherwise this is just what you'd expect for an Oscar prediction + DRIVE which, yes, I voted for. Duh!
THREAT TO WIN: I think you're looking at Hugo vs. The Artist and not just due to the nomination count. 

It's HUGO vs. THE ARTIST, each with 11 nominations

BEST DIRECTOR

• Stephen Daldry, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
• Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist
• Alexander Payne, The Descendants
• Nicolas Winding Refn, Drive
• Martin Scorsese, Hugo
• Steven Spielberg, War Horse

SURPRISE: Refn's genre effort paid off. And Spielberg's schmaltz-a-thon? That's not a surprise but: Yikes. I guess the BFCA really thinks War Horse will score big with Oscar. Perhaps it shall. Otherwise, it's exactly as you'd expect though I'm pleased to see Refn squeeze in to the Oscar predictions.
BAD NEWS FOR: Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris. He hasn't been nominated for Best Director at the Oscars in a very long time. One wonders if they'll want to welcome him back this year given the "comeback" story with his film's surprise hit status. 
THREAT TO WIN: I'm assuming the BFCA members will swerve towards Scorsese with a combo of hero worship and genuine love for his new film. 

BEST ACTRESS 

• Viola Davis, The Help
• Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
• Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
• Tilda Swinton, We Need To Talk About Kevin
• Charlize Theron, Young Adult
• Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

SURPRISE: This is good news for Olsen and Swinton who are both still in the fight for an Oscar nod despite films that are more alienating than Oscar goes for. 
BAD NEWS FOR: From an Oscary standpoint this is another nail in Glenn Close's Albert Nobbs coffin. From the needed a boost file, this is a tough blow for Olivia Colman and Kirsten Dunst.

THREAT TO WIN: The BFCA likes to give Meryl Streep best actresses wins and, extraordinarily, they like to do it with ties. It keeps happening (tied with Anne Hathaway in 2008, tied with Sandra Bullock for 2009). so expect her to win her third in 4 years in January... but...

poll by twiigs.com

COMPLETE NOMINATIONS AND MORE COMMENTARY AFTER THE JUMP.

Click to read more ...

Congratulations to the Critics Choice TV Winners

In progress now but I'm about to leave for a Cars 2 screening -- Vroom Vroom (and wish me luck) -- so I won't know the rest of the winners till later. John Noble (Fringe) won Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Margo Martindale (Justified) and Christina Hendricks (Mad Men) tied for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series and Jon Hamm won Best Actor in a Drama (Mad Men)

The reporters ask Margo about Paris Je T'Aime and it was clear from both the question and the response that that particular gig (courtesy of Alexander Payne) has been fruitful and meaningful for fans and the actress herself.

you can follow a live stream backstage here. My friend Roberta of Basket of Kisses / Mad Men fandom fame, just asked Christina a question!

UPDATE: Here are the winners

• BEST DRAMA Mad Men
• BEST COMEDY Modern Family
• BEST ACTRESS, DRAMA Juliana Marguiles, The Good Wife
• BEST ACTOR, DRAMA Jon Hamm, Mad Men
• BEST ACTRESS, COMEDY Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• BEST ACTOR, COMEDY Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, DRAMA (tie) Christina Hendricks, Mad Men & Margo Martindale, Justified
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, DRAMA John Noble, Fringe
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS, COMEDY Busy Phillips, Cougar Town
• BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, COMEDY Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother
• BEST TALK SHOW The Daily Show
• BEST REALITY SHOW Hoarders
• BEST REALITY SHOW HOST Mike Rowe, Dirty Jobs
  

This list of winners tells us that the new offshoot of the BFCA is much less concerned about "predicting" the Emmys than the film branch is to predicting the Oscars. Nice to see, don't you think?

Anyway... Ohmygod, I love that scene in Paris Je T'Aime so much and now it's all I can think of so let's watch it again.

Payne, je l'aime.

Linkland: Thelma & Louise, Marion & Melanie, Regina & Shawn

Movie|Line "what the box office skeptics are missing about Super 8"?
In Contention does not like Super 8. "Super h8ted it" Uh oh.
Just Jared Dakota Fanning's High School Graduation. Congrats Dakota!
Mister Hipp "sometimes you can still catch me dancing in it" - just lovely. Still my favorite Tim Burton film.
Kenneth in the (212) Thelma & Louise, 20 years later (in Toronto.) Awwww I ♥. Sadly, Brad Pitt was not there.
Tom Shone loves Melanie Laurent in Beginners. As do I.
The Critical Condition has a really interesting question/thought about Marion Cotillard in Midnight in Paris. NOTE: Don't read it until after you've seen the movie!
Splash Page talks to Chris Evans about working on The Avengers.

X-Men "Born This Way" Parody.

Teehee. Fun lyrics although some may quibble about Magneto not being... that other way.

Finally, Scott Feinberg shares the nominees for the 1st annual BTJA "Critics Choice" Awards. Mad Men cleans up but the interesting part is the Emmy-diversion details: Glee is nominated but Jane Lynch is the only cast member with a nomination; they're absolutely nuts for all AMC shows; and Southland got a nomination for Shawn Hatosy (yes!) but not for Regina King (boo!). If you watch Southland you'll know that Hatosy's role got crazy intense this past season as his screen partner Kevin Alejandro was killed (so that he could sex up Lafayette on True Blood... or was that a post-job-loss career get?) and Hatosy's character broke down hard. But the MVP of this show is still Regina King. Go Regina!

Links. Episode #14,001,382

I apologize for my uncharacteristic absence today. The day is just not really working out for me. Enjoy these links while I try to shake the mood off.

Frankly My Dear... Captain Adama Edward James Olmos honored at the Florida Film Festival. He's still very proud of his contributions to Blade Runner and Stand and Deliver.
My New Plaid Pants signs on to the Saoirse Ronan bandwagon post Hanna. People keep asking me if I have seen this. I have not seen this. I need a reason as I'm so not enjoying this teen assassin pop culture craze. It makes me so queasy.
Slash Film Robert Richardson, one of our favorite DPs will shoot Brad Pitt's World War Z movie.
Sunset Gun on an unusual choice in heartbreaking Woody Allen pictures: Take the Money and Run.
The AV Club looks at the new Mike Leigh Topsy-Turvy DVD.
The Wrap the BFCA has a spin off group now BTCA which will host Emmy style awards. Hopefully they'll use their powers for good and not try to predict the Emmys. The Emmys, way more than the Oscars, need pushes towards quality tv when they are often so content to vote for whatever they voted for the year before, even when shows take quality downturns.
Celebrity Blend Kelly McGillis is working at a Rehab Center. Good for her.
Slate with Arthur in the pop culture air again -- albeit sobered up -- here's a piece that looks on artists before and after sobriety including Stephen King and Martin Scorsese.

One of the things that makes The Shining one of the best books ever written about alcoholism is that it doesn't know what it is about. It was an act of urgent self-diagnosis, conducted in the pitch dark.

Finally...
Tribeca Film asks if movie theaters should think more like Netflix. I L-O-V-E this idea. I really think subscription models are the way to go in many business.

Would you buy admission to your favorite movie theater on a subscription basis?