The Writers Guild announced the people in the running for its screenwriting awards last week; on Wednesday, it added two awards for writers not for the scripts they've penned, but for "their contributions to the entertainment industry and community at large." Recipients of the 2011 WGA West Valentine Davies Awards are Seth Freeman ("Lincoln Heights") and Susannah Grant ("Erin Brockovich"), both of whom have long resumes of charity work and community service. They'll get their awards at the WGA ceremony on February 5. (Writers Guild of America, West)
The Critics Choice Movie Awards, meanwhile, have added a new honor of their own: the Music+Film Award, which will be given to Quentin Tarantino for a career that has put a wicked new spin on songs ranging from Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle with You" (which he used to great effect in "Reservoir Dogs") to David Bowie's "Cat People" (which he reappropriated for "Inglourious Basterds"). The CCMA house band, Maroon 5, will play music from Tarantino's films at the ceremony on Friday, though I hope they add some of Tarantino's visuals to go with the sounds. As long as Michael Madsen's not siting at my table, that is. (VH1)
The polls are now officially closed, and Rotten Tomatoes can crown the best-reviewed films of 2010. And it looks to me as if the Academy will probably agree with the Golden Tomato Awards on as many as eight of 'em, starting with the Number One movie, "Toy Story 3." It took the top spot with 99 percent positive reviews, with "How to Train Your Dragon" finishing second with 98 percent and "The Social Network" third with 97 percent. The rest of the Top 10: "True Grit," "The King's Speech," "The Town," "The Kids Are All Right," "Let Me In," "The Fighter" and "Black Swan." Just out of curiosity, I checked to see how many of the 10 were panned by everybody's favorite contrarian, Armond White – and true to form, he liked two of the best-reviewed movies of the year ("True Grit" and "The Fighter"), didn't see one ("Dragon") and trashed the other seven. (Rotten Tomatoes)
Sasha Stone looks at the weekend's two televised awards shows: Friday's Critics Choice Movie Awards, which are bestowed by about 250 members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and Sunday's Golden Globes, the work of the 80-odd member Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Her conclusions: the CCMAs match up with Oscar results more often than the Globes do, neither group really tries to vote the way the Academy will, and despite their high profile the Globes have "little or no impact on Oscar." She also thinks "The King's Speech" will win at the Globes and "The Social Network" at the CCMAs, which sounds reasonable to me. One error in her account: when discussing the BFCA, she says she personally knows four members. I can testify that she knows at least five. (Awards Daily)
