"Don't you dare loose another arrow..."

I forbid it!"

Psssst. How great is the new Brave trailer? I wish all movies were confident enough to lead with an early scene instead of the traditional 'here are all the story beats' trailer. It was just the thing I needed this week to get me excited about moving on to 2012 once we wrap up with Oscar and Oscar post mortem this week.

Will this be a Pixar bullseye at the 85th Oscars on February...?

                               No, Nathaniel, No. I forbid it. No Oscar 2012/13 talk until April Fool's Day!

Leigh, Farhadi, Jake & Jury Name Berlinale Winners

Remember a couple of days ago when we shared the video of Jake Gyllenhaal handing Meryl Streep her Honoary Golden Bear in Berlin for a stellar career? Apparently he's making a habit of handing over Best Actress prizes. Here he is at the closing night ceremony with Best Actress winner Rachel Mwanza.

This 14 year old Congolese actress played a child soldier in a brutal sounding movie called War Witch.

MAIN PRIZES
The jury this year was headed by the brilliant Mike Leigh. The jury included Jake Gyllenhaal, Anton Corbijn, Charlotte Gainsbourg, François Ozon, Boualem Sansal, Barbara Sukowa and last year's Golden Bear recipient Asghar Farhadi (A Separation) who will now presumably have to jump on a Berlin to Los Angeles flight to prepare for the Oscars.

Prizes, Gay Films and a Possible Danish Oscar Submissions after the jump

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You Better Werk... And Link

Yahoo Movies! I talk Best Actress with a bunch of other internet peeps.
FourFour & The Daily "The Tao of Ru" and outtakes from Rich's week (!!!) with RuPaul, the world's most famous drag queen of all time. 
EW Gary Ross gets ahead of himself saying Jennifer Lawrence should be Oscar nominated for Hunger Games. Er... shouldn't we see even one of her competitors first, let alone dozens. It's... February! 
THR on Brad Pitt's Daily Show proposal for a new Oscar competition system "Hands on Oscar." This was fun last night. I ♥ Brad. I don't know if you know that about me. [Yes, I know you know that about me.]

You know what I think they should do? We should just put a trophy on the table, like one of those car contests, we should all just put our hands on it and see who can hold it the longest. And the last man standing takes the trophy! Hands on the Oscar”

Rope of Silicon Russell Crowe wanted for Noah in Darren Aronofsky's Noah's Ark. What's with Crowe being suddenly in demand again? He must have recently expressed interest in getting back to it.
Coming Soon reports that Viola Davis has signed on for two new roles, both book adaptations, Ender's Game and Beautiful Creatures. Strangely the latter is listed as a lead role but given the book description it sounds very much like a small role. Have any of you read the book?

IndieWire speaks up for "7 films you must see this February" 
Playbill You'd think Broadway would eventually get tired of adapting hit films into stage musicals. I mean, many of them flop so it's nothing like a guarantee. But they won't quit. Next up: Back to the Future.
Kenneth in the (212) has an interesting reaction to Madonna's Superbowl interview 
In Contention Kodak taking its name off the Theater O' Oscar? 
Awards Daily reports on the Martin Scorsese tribute at Santa Barbara 
Liz Smith is so right about how the Oscar nominees play the "no, no, I can't" game after their nominations 

The Link Experience

Towleroad Revisiting Drive on DVD. Ryan Gosling's scorpion jacket is at auction. One more day to bid! (I suspect this is a good investment as movie memorabilia goes.)
Carpetbagger Author Jeffrey Eugenides on his Oscar ballot. He loves The Tree of Life and all things Woody Allen. Has issues with Bridesmaids. 
In Contention breaking Oscar's biopic addiction. Halleloo. 
Movie|Line today is The Artist day in LA. Officially! Harvey Weinstein continues to be a god amongst mortals when it comes to Oscar campaigns.

 

My New Plaid Pants JA has gone totes l'amour fou for Jean Dujardin. Pervy animated gifsm, dancing in boxer shorts, gratuitous photo spreads. But can you blame him?
Empire another new role for Jennifer Lawrence in the adaptation of the novel Serena about an ruthless ambitious married couple running a timber empire in 1929. This role was once earmarked for Angelina Jolie so clearly Hollywood has faith in Jennifer Lawrence.
IndieWire for your consideration at next year's Oscars. The Sundance crop.
Towleroad Director Stephan Elliott (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) is out of the closet. I didn't realize he was in. 

The TV Experience?
Brief somewhat random thoughts on Glee vs. Smash and more small screen after the jump...

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Australia and Park City Dole Out "Best" Prizes

Nicole says "Hi!"DGA and SAG (tonight!) awards just aren't enough prize-giving for one weekend so let's talk two more.

AUSTRALIA via WEST HOLLYWOOD
Have you ever heard of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts International Awards? Neither have I. It's okay because they're newborn babes in the awards woods. Apparently they eyed an empty clearing in the great forest of movie awards and voila! (Seriously why are there so few awards shows? Magical unicorns they are.)

The great unsolved mystery of all of these organizations that have been popping up (I'd like to see a study but it does seem like each year brings at least one new organization along with it) is this: how do they get the celebrities to show? Even brand new ventures like this one bring out the stars. When you can convince Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep to attend your inaugural awards maybe there will be a second year for your prizes!  Then again the AFI Awards had one televised ceremony (early 2002) and the stars came out for it en masse and there was never a second year of prizes, so we'll see. 

Meryl looked gorgeous at the Australian International ceremony held in Beverly Hills AACTA Winners

• Screenplay (tie) The Ides of March (George Clooney, Grant Henslove and Beau Willimon) and Margin Call (JC Chandor). A rare occurence: Midnight in Paris losing a screenplay nomination.
• Director Michel Hazanavicius The Artist
• Actor Jean Dujardin The Artist
• Actress Meryl Streep The Iron Lady
• Film The Artist 

I can't tell you why their press release lists only film winners when they have television right there in the title.

They'll show this intimate ceremony (held in West Hollywood with Australian Academy president Geoffrey Rush naming the winners) or at least clips of it on Australia television on the 31st. 

And now [drumroll] the first awards for the 2012 Movie Year (!!!)

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