The BBC have revealed that despite 2010′s U.K. cinema admissions being down by 2% on the previous year, the overall box office takings came in at £988 million; a whole 5% more than 2009.

With this growth being ascribed to the premium prices attributed to 3D tickets, BFI chief executive Anita Nevill is hopeful for the future of cinema in the U.K.

“The outlook for film is still generally positive with much to be optimistic about. There are still challenges to address and the BFI looks forward to working closely with the industry and with government to address these.”

Any celebration may be a little premature, however, with a number of sources noting that the 3D medium seems to be falling out of favour with the general public.

Whereas Toy Story and Alice in Wonderland might have constituted a hefty percentage of the U.K. box office, this year’s crop of 3D movies have been slightly less successful in theatres.

According to The Observer, Disney’s Mars Needs Moms grossed only $7 million on its opening weekend in the U.S., barely recouping any of its $175 million budget. Cinemablend, meanwhile, note that this year’s Kung Fu Panda constituted another considerable shift in consumer behaviour, with only 45% of the film’s opening weekend gross came from 3D sales (against 60% of Toy Story 3′s). This is even reflected in the stock market, with shares in RealD falling 12%.

Not that this is at all surprising. Opening hot on the heels of Avatar, a deeply immersive and genuinely jaw-dropping example of what the format can do, 2009  featured a steady stream of 3D features that effectively cashed in on James Cameron’s success with Avatar. It’s now 2011, however, and it is becoming increasingly apparent that the honeymoon period is over. Taken with a growing number of detractors and escalating cost of 3D tickets, a decrease in quality product has only served to propagate audience dissatisfaction.

As films continue to charge premium prices for a format that rarely delivers on the format’s full potential, the ineffective product of a hasty post-production conversion, there is less and less motivation to stump up the additional charge.

While this 5% rise in box office takings is of course good news for the U.K. film industry, such that it is, it is inevitably masking a decline that might not always have the safety net of 3D to fall back on.

In an interview with Tom Hanks on the BBC Breakfast Show this morning, he told the BBC that not only is Toy Story 4 going ahead, but that it’s being worked on right now, Ain’t It Cool News report.

A decade had lapsed in between the releases of the second and third films, which left a lot of fans in doubt as to how good Toy Story 3 would be, but when it was released last year, it was received with rapturous applause from all over, being the first animated film to clear the $1bn. mark.

So whilst some people may take news of Toy Story 4’s announcement with a bit of a small sigh, just remember how good Toy Story 3 was, and have faith in Pixar that they’ll be bringing back Woody and co. in another brilliant film in the Toy Story series. Lee Unkrich didn’t miss a beat in his direction of the third film, and having worked on the series since the beginning (as an editor on the first film, and co-director on the second), he clearly loves these toys as much as we all do.

It was Toy Story 3 that was the first of the series to win an Academy Award, winning both Best Animated Feature Film (for Unkrich) and Best Original Song (for Randy Newman’s We Belong Together), so clearly the series is still doing tremendously well. And though a lot of people felt the third film did have quite a nice feel at its close to finish off the Toy Story films, I think Pixar will make sure that this coming fourth film will stay true to the series and give the fans something we’ll all love.

Since it was Unkrich who delivered such a brilliant film with Toy Story 3 as director, there’s every chance that he’ll be coming back to direct the fourth film. It was first time directing a feature solo, and he won an Academy Award for it, so he’s already proven in my mind that he’d be the perfect choice for the next film. Having said that, there is of course a good chance that he’d return to co-direct the film with John Lasseter, director of the first two and chief creative officer at Pixar.

Being such a big franchise, I don’t think any of us need to worry about the original cast reprising their roles; that’s pretty much a given. Everyone knows that Tom Hanks is the voice of Woody and Tim Allen is the only one who can do Buzz Lightyear, and I’m definitely already looking forward to hearing them and everyone else bring those characters back to life.

No news yet as to a potential release date, but given that work is already underway on the film, hopefully we can look forward to seeing this released in a few years’ time. Monsters University, the Monsters, Inc. sequel, has a summer 2013 release date currently scheduled, so maybe we’ll be seeing Toy Story 4 in the summer of 2014, or with any luck, even before then. I don’t think anyone will begrudge them wanting to take their time to make sure they get it right.

I’m also hoping that Hayao Miyazaki’s Totoro will be returning in CGI form for the fourth film after his cameo in Toy Story 3, but I’ll have to wait a few years to see whether or not that happens. Until then, I’ll leave you with this brilliant line from the third film to spark a little nostalgia into the start of your week:

“The thing that makes Woody special is: he’ll never give up on you. Ever.”

Toy Story 3 was a crowning achievement for the most famous CG animation franchise of them all, and while Lee Unkrich’s film wrapped things up very tidily it did leave us wanting more.

A chorus of hurrahs met the news that Pixar’s next film, Cars 2, would be fronted by an all new Toy Story short entitled Hawaiian Vacation, and Disney Pixar have just released a new look at the highly anticipated new short.

Synopsis faces on,

Set in new owner Bonnie’s bedroom, “Hawaiian Vacation” features Woody (voice of Tom Hanks ) and Buzz (voice of Tim Allen) and the rest of the favorite “Toy Story 3” toys as they create the ultimate Hawaiian vacation for Ken (voice of Michael Keaton ) and Barbie (voice of Jodi Benson ).  It seems Ken badly miscalculated their travel arrangements, so the gang has to create a dream getaway in Bonnie’s Midwestern bedroom—in the middle of winter.  “Hawaiian Vacation” also features the voices of Joan Cusack , Wallace Shawn , Don Rickles , Estelle Harris , Blake Clark , Bonnie Hunt , Timothy Dalton , Kristen Schaal , Jeff Garlin and John Ratzenberger .

Here’s the image, and everything else we know about Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation is here.

UPDATED -  Click for Hi-Res image:

Source: Pixar Times

FirstShowing.net is showing off a set of eight great fan-made posters for some of the establishments in the Pixar films, made by Brazilian art student, Mario Graciotti, a.k.a. Mr. Bluebird on deviantART.

For anyone interested, he’s also done a great set of posters for Paul Thomas Anderson’s feature films, which you can see here, as well as a few posters for some of the Pixar films themselves, which can be seen here.

The Pixar establishments posters are his takes on some of the great places to eat, sleep, or work in the likes of Toy Story (1, 2, and 3), Ratatouille, Cars, Monsters, Inc., A Bug’s Life, and The Incredibles. Of all of them, I think the Insuricare poster from The Incredibles is my favourite. Graciotti says himself of the poster,

“The idea was to capture the cold, hostile, opressive feeling of working day and night at Insuricare.”

And I think he captured that idea of a cold, corporate company perfectly. See what you make of them. If you’re a fan of Pixar films, you’ll no doubt enjoy them all too. As usual, click to enlarge.

Unconfirmed reports are coming out of Emeryville that Pixar has chosen the director for their recently announced and highly anticipated prequel to Monsters, Inc.

Monsters University was revealed to the world a few days ago and will go back to the college days of Mike and Sully where they are rumoured to begin as rivals. No official synopsis was given, neither were  details of the cast and crew. Until now it seems.

A group of blogs, the majority I’m guessing are solely dedicated to Pixar, are out at the studios, again I’m guessing, for Cars 2 where about an hour ago a flurry of tweets came through announcing Dan Scanlon as the man Pixar want to direct their fourteenth film.

Normally Twitter is an unpredictable source, but the arrival of multiple tweets followed, crucially, by this tweet from Scanlon himself: Thanks Everybody! suggest that it’s a done deal.

Scanlon wrote and directed the Cars short Mater and the Ghostlight as well as the live action mockumentary Tracy. If confirmed this represents a huge step up for Scanlon in whose hands Pixar are placing one of their most beloved worlds.

Hopefully Pixar will confirm shortly, in the meantime here are a few of the tweets which started this ball rolling: 1 2 3

Disney Pixar have just released this brand new clip from the new Toy Story short which is set to sit in front of Cars 2 when it’s released 22nd July.

This timing couldn’t be more perfect after Lee Unkrich and his team walked away with the Best Animation Oscar for Toy Story 3 at this years academy awards.

Love this new clip, especially the Lego men who I think have their debut in the Toy Story franchise. So great to see the Toy Story cast back. I wonder if this means that we could expect more Toy Story following this short. Lets hope so!

Check out the clip below and have a read of what we can expect in the synopsis below.

DISNEY•PIXAR’S “HAWAIIAN VACATION” TAKES “TOY STORY” CHARACTERS ON BRAND-NEW ADVENTURE

Appearing Exclusively with “Cars 2” Theatrical Release, New Short Film Features Buzz, Woody and Favorites from “Toy Story 3”

BURBANK, Calif. (February 28, 2011) — In celebration of their recent Oscar® win for Best Animated Feature, Woody, Buzz and the rest of the “Toy Story 3” gang head to the big screen again this summer in “Hawaiian Vacation,” a 3D animated short directed by seven-time Academy Award®-winner Gary Rydstrom. “Hawaiian Vacation” will appear exclusively with the upcoming “Cars 2” theatrical release, which races into U.K. cinemas on July 22, 2011, and will be presented in Disney Digital 3D™ and IMAX® 3D in select cinemas.  John Lasseter returns to the driver’s seat to direct the follow-up to his 2006 Golden-Globe®-winning “Cars.”

Set in new owner Bonnie’s bedroom, “Hawaiian Vacation” features Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) and Buzz (voice of Tim Allen) and the rest of the favorite “Toy Story 3” toys as they create the ultimate Hawaiian vacation for Ken (voice of Michael Keaton) and Barbie (voice of Jodi Benson).  It seems Ken badly miscalculated their travel arrangements, so the gang has to create a dream getaway in Bonnie’s Midwestern bedroom—in the middle of winter.  “Hawaiian Vacation” also features the voices of Joan Cusack, Wallace Shawn, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, Blake Clark, Bonnie Hunt, Timothy Dalton, Kristen Schaal, Jeff Garlin and John Ratzenberger.

Rydstrom is a 25-year veteran of Pixar Animation Studios, contributing to the sound design of the studio’s groundbreaking short film “Luxo Jr.” His credits include a variety of Pixar shorts—“Lifted,” “Red’s Dream” and “Tin Toy”—and feature films, including “Toy Story,” “Monsters, Inc.” and the Academy Award®-winning “Finding Nemo,” among others.

“Toy Story 3” won the Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature Sunday night, February 27, 2011. Randy Newman earned an Oscar® for Best Original Song for the film’s “We Belong Together.”  Pixar, which has earned 29 Academy Awards® and seven Golden Globes®, celebrates its 25th Anniversary in 2011.

Internal industry politics and sentiment are always a decisive factor in the Oscar beauty contest, and must always be accounted for (despite the assertions by many that Mickey Rourke would win for The Wrestler a few years ago, I was certain he wouldn’t as he pissed a lot of people off in the early years of his stardom). After a stretch of some years in which darker films have received a lot of accolades (The Hurt Locker, No Country For Old Men, and The Departed), my guess is that the AMPAS voters will go lighter, making for a more predictable Academy Awards shows.

With no further blather then (keeping my speech SHORT!), here’s how I think it will play out on Sunday evening for the top awards (note that these are my predictions, not a consensus of the HeyUGuys contributors):

Writing (Original Screenplay): One would hope the Academy voters would be generous enough to give it to Christopher Nolan’s challenging and demanding script for Inception, but I think that the film is too cerebral (and thus confusing) for many of them. I admire Inception, and what it represents (a studio spending a huge amount of money on an art house heist movie), but don’t love it as it felt it was too coldly mechanical much of the time. I think this is one of several major awards that are going to go to The King’s Speech.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Aaron Sorkin’s superb script for The Social Network, an adaptation of Ben Mezzrich’s ‘The Accidental Billionaires’, is a shoe in; if it wasn’t in the running I would think the Coen’s sublime adaptation of Charles Portis’ ‘True Grit’ would grab the brass ring (‘Fill your hand you son-of-a-bitch!’).

Actress in a Supporting Role: It’s Melissa Leo’s to lose. She is nominated for her turn as a vile matriarch in The Fighter, but Leo’s statuette will also be the Academy’s acknowledgment of all great work she has done previously (including her Best Actress nominated turn in 2009′s Frozen River). Jacki Weaver delivers a performance of almost Shakespearean majesty as another evil mutha in Animal Kingdom, and I’d vote for her, but I don’t think many actual voters will have watched this very downbeat Australian crime drama; if they have cued up their screeners she could be a dark horse surprise however, as she is truly amazing.

Actor in a Supporting Role: I would absolutely love to see John Hawkes win for his hillbilly hard-ass Teardrop in Winter’s Bone; his chilling roadside standoff with lawman Garrett Dillahunt, conducted entirely via a wing mirror, is one of the most heart-stoppingly intense scenes I watched in the past year. However, I think sentimentality will rule the day here as well, and Geoffrey Rush will win for The King’s Speech. And I think Andrew Garfield should have been nominated for The Social Network rather than Mark Ruffalo for the lightweight The Kids Are All Right.

Actress in a Leading Role: Natalie Portman for The Black Swan. The Academy often favors performances that involve a lot of overt heavy lifting, and her fragile ballerina who suffers a mental breakdown is the heaviest by far of the nominated performances in this category. My vote is for Jennifer Lawrence as the determined teenage detective Bree in Winter’s Bone, but alas, it’s not to be.

Actor in a Leading Role: Colin Firth for The King’s Speech, of course; Firth’s emotionally strangled upper class Englishman, his stock in trade, is unstoppable this year. I wish Jesse Eisenberg would nab it for his riveting portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg in the best American film of 2010, but he won’t. Javier Bardem was tremendous and heartbreaking in Biutiful, but this isn’t a heartbreaking and downbeat year for Oscar.

Directing: David Fincher for The Social Network. The Academy will acknowledge Fincher, arguably the greatest director of his generation, for his work on this masterful film and his influential earlier works like Seven, Fight Club and Zodiac.

Foreign Language Film: Bardem’s excellent work will be acknowledged here: Biutiful will take it.

Documentary Feature: Banksy’s the man: Exit Through the Gift Shop. The lefties could surprise me though; Matt Damon may rally the troops and Inside Job could take it, but I’m doubtful.

Animated Feature Film: Three words (ok, two words and a number): Toy Story 3.

Best Picture: The King’s Speech. I enjoyed this film as much as anyone else, but never shook off the feeling that I was watching a BBC drama that had been elevated to the level of a theatrical feature. There’s really nothing much that’s cinematic about it, unlike Inception orThe Black Swan or The Social Network or the lovely to look at True Grit (here’s hoping Roger Deakins nabs the Cinematography award).  But, as America struggles to find its way forward and out of its social, political and economic morass, a film about overcoming severe personal adversity, starring a stuttering royal and his eccentric ‘advisor’ set in the quaint England of the not too distant past, is just the sort of feel good fare that voters will embrace as an escapist antidote.

Feel free to return to this article on Monday and thumb your nose at me for every one I got wrong…if I do get any wrong. As for me, the Oscars are on far too late but I’ll be up early Monday morning with my tea and toast to watch a recording of the show before I look at email or any broadcast television.

You those of you who are in need of another Toy Story fix already, not one but two shorts are on the way.

Variety has posted an article about Disney’s future plans for its various franchises. It’s revealed in the piece that Woody and Co. will be receiving their own cinematic short features alongside the studio’s big releases.

Toy Story Hawaiian Vacation will be shown in front of this summer’s Pixar sequel Cars 2, with the second short due to be attached to the upcoming Muppets reboot.

From a brand awareness and business point of view, this is an excellent opportunity for Disney and Pixar to keep there properties alive and fresh in cinemagoer’s minds, especially if a third sequel was in planning stage somewhere along the line  (remember, Toy Story 3 made over $400m domestically).

Tonight saw the fall of the 31st Critics’ Circle Film Awards, which was held for the first time at London’s BFI Southbank. Our full report will be online later today with all the red carpet gossip and winner’s reactions. Want to see Danny Boyle advertising Moët, hear about Aaron Sorkin’s upcoming HBO series, or find out whether Colin Firth has a favourite party trick? Then don’t miss out!

To whet your appetite in the meantime, though, we can now give you a full list of all the night’s winners. It was The Social Network and The King’s Speech which came out on top, grabbing four and three awards respectively, with Another Year, NEDs and Monsters also scooping rewards for their British talents.

The list below shows winners in red whilst blue text indicates the “Runners Up” as ruled by the critics board, so you can know who came close.

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER

• Banksy- Exit Through the Gift Shop
• Clio Barnard – The Arbor **Runner Up**
• J Blakeson – The Disappearance of Alice Creed
• Gareth Edwards – Monsters **Winner**
• Chris Morris – Four Lions

YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR

• Jessica Barden – Tamara Drewe **Runner Up**
• Conor McCarron – NEDs **Winner**
• Will Poulter – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Saoirse Ronan – The Way Back
• Thomas Turgoose – The Scouting Book For Boys

BRITISH ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Helena Bonham Carter – Alice in Wonderland
• Christine Bottomley – The Arbor
• Minnie Driver – Barney’s Version
• Rosamund Pike – Made in Dagenham **Runner Up**
• Olivia Williams – The Ghost **Winner**

BRITISH ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• David Bradley – Another Year **Runner Up**
• Pierce Brosnan – The Ghost
• Andrew Garfield – The Social Network **Winner**
• Tom Hardy – Inception
• Peter Wight – Another Year

BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

• Helena Bonham Carter – The King’s Speech
• Lesley Manville – Another Year **Winner**
• Rosamund Pike – Barney’s Version
• Ruth Sheen – Another Year
• Tilda Swinton – I Am Love **Runner Up**

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR

• Riz Ahmed – Four Lions
• Christian Bale – The Fighter **Winner**
• Jim Broadbent – Another Year **Runner Up**
• Colin Firth – The King’s Speech
• Andrew Garfield – Never Let Me Go

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

• Annette Bening – The Kids Are All Right **Winner**
• Jennifer Lawrence – Winter’s Bone
• Natalie Portman – Black Swan **Runner Up**
• Noomi Rapace – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
• Hailee Steinfeld – True Grit

ACTOR OF THE YEAR

• Jeff Bridges – True Grit
• Jesse Eisenberg – The Social Network
• Colin Firth – The King’s Speech **Winner**
• Ryan Gosling – Blue Valentine
• Edgar Ramirez – Carlos **Runner Up**

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

• Dogtooth
• I Am Love **Runner Up**
• Of Gods and Men **Winner**
• The Secret in Their Eyes
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR

• Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg – The Kids Are All Right
• Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – True Grit
• Chris Morris, Sam Bain, Simon Blackwell & Jesse Armstrong – Four Lions
• David Seidler – The King’s Speech **Runner Up**
• Aaron Sorkin – The Social Network **Winner**

BRITISH DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

• Clio Barnard – The Arbor
• Danny Boyle – 127 Hours
• Tom Hooper – The King’s Speech **Winner**
• Mike Leigh – Another Year **Runner Up**
• Christopher Nolan – Inception

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

• Darren Aronofsky – Black Swan **Runner Up*
• Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – True Grit
• David Fincher – The Social Network **Winner**
• Christopher Nolan – Inception
• Apichatpong Weerasethakul – Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR (THE ATTENBOROUGH AWARD)

• 127 Hours
• The Arbor
• Another Year **Runner Up**
• The King’s Speech **Winner**
• Monsters

FILM OF THE YEAR

• Black Swan
• The Kids Are All Right
• The King’s Speech **Runner Up**
• The Social Network **Winner**
• Toy Story 3

And finally, the Critics’ Circle named their TOP 10 FILMS OF 2010 as follows:

1. The Social Network
2. The King’s Speech
3. Black Swan
4. Toy Story 3
5. The Kids Are All Right
6. Another Year
7. True Grit
8. Inception
9. I Am Love
10. Winter’s Bone

And that just about wraps it up for the night’s accolades. Let us know what you think of the winners and don’t forget to check back later on for our full report of the evening’s event, complete with pictures and words from the guests themselves.

By now, you’ll have heard about the successful Toy Story 3 Oscar nomination campaign, and seen some of the fantastic posters. If not, you can read about it here. It is certainly hard to argue with the strength of the campaign. If any film can claim to be 2010′s big success story, it is easily Toy Story 3.

Last year, Toy Story 3 became the highest grossing animated movie of all time. Not really a massive surprise, considering it was based on one of the best loved animated film series in cinematic history. Pixar scored big with the first two installments, and in the last few years have raised the bar for animated movies with the critically acclaimed Wall*E and Up.

In fact, it was just last year that Up transcended its genre and became the first computer animated movie to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It was perhaps a fortunate beneficiary of the decision to expand the number of nominees for Best Picture from 5 to 10. With the Oscar nominations recently announced, maybe Toy Story 3 will go one better and win the Gold statue. After all, it received almost unanimous reviews across the board. Why stop there though? If an animated movie can be considered for Best Picture, surely it’s possible that an animated character could be nominated for Best Actor?

This would have sounded crazy to me a couple of years ago. I was never a huge fan of animated films, and though I appreciated the brilliant mix of child-friendly action and adult humour inherent in animated films nowadays, and the Toy Story series particularly, I still wasn’t able to take them seriously enough. This past year however I have watched both Up and Wall*E as part of the HeyUGuys IMDb250 Project, and my eyes have been opened to just how poignant and affecting an animated story can be.

It was because of my experiences with these two movies that I found myself for the first time since childhood actually looking forward to going to see an animated film, and went along to watch Toy Story 3 in a theatre. Whilst the storyline isn’t necessarily anything groundbreaking or original in comparison to the previous two movies, the themes explored and the way they are written are beautiful, provoking a genuine emotional response. I found the journey of these fictional, animated characters truly affecting, and must now finally concede that an animated movie can be just effective, if not more so, than a live action picture.

So far this year, we have seen very few obvious Oscar contenders. The traditional season for the Academy Award hopefuls has been and gone, and it was hard to pick many movies other than Toy Story 3 from the first three quarters of the year as definites for the shortlist. As for the Best Actor category, I have not really seen any performances yet that I think are good enough to be recognised by the Academy either, and I honestly feel that so far the best performance I have seen could be that of an animated character – Buzz Lightyear. Over the course of a 90 minute movie, Buzz plays hero, villain, amnesiac, Spaniard, soldier and, most importantly, family man. Lightyear shows fantastic range, and versatility, and is perfectly believable throughout. He displays a vulnerability, and an inner strength, that show as much humanity as any man or woman has managed on screen so far in 2010. He makes you love him and, in one particular scene at the movie’s climax, touches your soul with just one simple look. I felt an emotional connection to the character possibly greater than i have felt in any other film I’ve seen this year.

I got to thinking seriously about this because it was in stark contrast to the feeling that i got watching Leonardo Di Caprio in Inception. I loved Inception, and Di Caprio is undoubtedly one of the best actors around right now. He is certainly no stranger to awards season. In Inception, however, I just did not feel the same emotional connection to his character as I did with Buzz Lightyear, a fictional toy. I’m a big fan of Di Caprio, and realise that I’m being a little unfair. He wasn’t given as much to work with as he has had in his previous roles, and that I bought his character’s motivations and relationships at all are testament to his ability.

As much as anything this situation pays tribute to how far the animators in the industry have come. The biggest stumbling block to an animated character like Buzz Lightyear winning an actors award is that it could not be attributed to one man. Tim Allen voices Buzz, but as a voice actor Allen is only half of the story, if that. It is the team of animators behind Lightyear and the other Toy Story characters that give them life and soul, and whilst i am sure they will win some technical awards in March it would be a shame if they did not receive some formal recognition for the way they have enabled a computer graphic to provoke such a tangible emotional response.The director and writers have clearly played their part too, making one of the year’s best performances a real collaborative effort.

I realise that it is highly unlikely that Buzz, Woody or any other animated creations are going to be honoured at the Academy Awards. I do feel, however, that at this rate, with the fantastic work by Pixar and the lifelike creations of James Cameron and his team on Avatar, we are fast reaching a point where some kind of recognition is going to be required to reward the increasingly great work that is being done in the field of artificial character creation. Technology is advancing, the ambitions of those that use it are growing, and it must surely be only a matter of time before the performance of a computer generated character is held up as being comparable to that of some human actors. I now find myself looking forward to that day. Of course, when it does happen, we are one step closer to Judgement Day…

Bazmann – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann

I woke up very late this today after staying up most the night to watch the Golden Globe Awards 2011. Overall it was a good show but not too many surprises but I thought I’d do a little post detailing my favourite parts of the evening which I’ll list below for your viewing pleasure!

If you missed the winners of the awards, you can check out the post here which I updated live as they were announced from Beverly Hills.

These come in no particular order:

Ricky Gervais

Not much more to say other than Ricky does it again. I love it that today’s headlines in many papers are ‘Gervais causes more controversy’ or words to that effect but isnt that why he was hired in the first place?! Have a watch of the intro speech in the first video and then a montage of ‘best bits’ courtesy of Vulture in the second.

Click to Play | View Details

Olivia Wilde’s Dress

I know absolutely nothing about fashion but this dress is immense! When she stood on stage with Robert Pattinson to present an award she took up most of it! After some scouring of the internet, sources tell me that the ensemble included:

Gold Christian Louboutin shoes, jewels by Tiffany’s and clutch by Judith Leiber. Interesting stuff!

Thor and Captain America on Stage Together

What more do I need to say? Two of the brightest new action heroes, Chris Hemsworth (Thor) & Chris Evans (Captain America) on stage at the same time. Love it!

Toy Story 3′s Big Baby at the Awards Ceremony

Toy Story 3 walked the award for Best Animation at the 2011 awards and director Lee Unkrich walked up on stage to collect the award but soon after tweeted this picture of Big Baby at the awards ceremony complete with the statue he helped to win!

Robert De Niro’s Speech

Doing his best to rival Ricky Gervais at this year’s awards, winner of the Cecil B. DeMille Life Time Achievement Award, Robert De Niro got up and performed an awesome speech. He poked fun at Little Fockers, as well as telling us that many of the foreign press were deported before the awards ceremony and that full body searches of Megan Fox will take place after the ceremony!

Have a watch of the video below….

This evening saw the 68th Annual Golden Globe Awards was hosted by Ricky Gervais and take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles and we were rather excited about it!

The Golden Globes are a big indicator at where the big awards, The Oscars may go when they are announced on 27th February.

Below are all the winners from this evening’s award ceremony. Congrats to The Social Network for winning four awards out of their six nominations and also the big TV winner was Glee taking three awards.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

• Christian Bale, The Fighter
• Jeremy Renner, The Town
• Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
• Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
• Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama

• Katie Segal, Sons of Anarchy
• Jullianna Marguiles, The Good Wife
• Elizabeth Moss, Mad Men
• Piper Perabo, Covert Affairs
• Kyra Sedgewick, The Closer

Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Carlos
• The Pacific
• You Don’t Know Jack
• Pillars of the Earth
• Temple Grandin
• 
  

Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Chris Colfer, Glee
• Scott Caan, Hawaii 5-0
• Chris Noth, The Good Wife
• Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
• David Strathern, Temple Grandin

Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama

• Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empir
• Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
• Michael C. Hall, Dexter
• Hugh Laurie, House
• Jon Hamm, Mad Men

Best Television Series – Drama

• Boardwalk Empire
• Mad Men
• The Walking Dead
• Dexter
• The Good Wife

Best Original Song – Motion Picture

• You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me Yet, Burlesque
• I See the Light, Tangled
• Bound to You, Burlesque
• There’s a Place for Us, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Coming Home, Country Strong

Best Original Score – Motion Picture

• The Social Network, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
• The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
• Alice in Wonderland, Danny Elfman
• 127 Hours
• Inception, Hans Zimmer

Best Animated Feature Film

• Toy Story 3
  
• How to Train Your Dragon
• The Illusionist
• Tangled
• 
  
• Despicable Me

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
• Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
• Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
• Emma Stone, Easy A
• Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs

Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Al Pacino, You Don’t Know Jack
• Idris Elba, Luther
• Ian McShane, Pillars of the Earth
• Dennis Quaid, The Special Relationship
• Edgar Ramirez, Carlos

Best Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Claire Danes, Temple Grandin
• Judi Dench, Return to Cranford
• Romola Garai, Emma
• Jennifer Love Hewitt, The Client List
• Hayley Atwell, Pillars of the Earth

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

• The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin
• 127 Hours, Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
• The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Chodolenko & Stuart Blumberg
• Inception, Christopher Nolan
• The King’s Speech, David Seidler

Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Jane Lynch, Glee
• Hope Davis, The Special Relationship
• Kelly MacDonald, Boardwalk Empire
• Julia Stiles, Dexter
• Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Best Foreign Language Film

• In a Better World (Denmark)
  
• The Concert
• The Edge
• Biutiful
• I Am Love

Best Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical

• Laura Linney, The Big C
• Toni Collette, United States of Tara
• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Lea Michele, Glee

Best Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical

• Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory
• Matthew Morrison, Glee
• Steve Carrell, The Office
• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Thomas Jane, Hung

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

• Melissa Leo, The Fighter
• Amy Adams, The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
• Mila Kunis, Black Swan
• Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Cecil B. DeMille Life Time Achievement Award

• Robert De Niro

Best Director – Motion Picture

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

Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical

• Glee
• 30 Rock
• The Big C
• Modern Family
• Nurse Jackie
• The Big Bang Theory

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version
• Johnny Depp, The Tourist
• Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs
• Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack
• Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

• Natalie Portman, Black Swan
• Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
• Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
• Halle Berry, Frankie & Alice
• Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• The Kids Are All Right
• Burlesque
• Red
• Alice in Wonderland
• The Tourist

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama

• Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
• Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
• James Franco, 127 Hours
• Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
• Mark Wahlberg, The Fighter

Best Motion Picture – Drama

• The Social Network
• Inception
• The Fighter
• The King’s Speech
• Black Swan

The Producers Guild of America announced the nominations for the 2011 Producers Guild Awards.

Highly acclaimed films The Social Network, True Grit, 127 Hours and Black Swan are all nominated in the Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures category, with Toy Story 3, Despicable Me and How to Train Your Dragon competing for the Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures.

The winners will be announced by Judd Apatow at the 22nd Annual Producers Guild Awards ceremony on Saturday, January 22 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The nominations in full are below:

The Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures –

• 127 Hours: Producers Danny Boyle and Christian Colson
• Black Swan: Producers Scott Franklin, Mike Medavoy and Brian Oliver
• Inception: Producers Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas
• The Fighter: Producers David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg
• The Kids Are All Right: Producers Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray
• The Social Network: Producers Dana Brunetti, Ceán Chaffin, Michael De Luca and Scott Rudin
• The King’s Speech: Producers Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin
• The Town: Producers Basil Iwanyk and Graham King
• Toy Story 3: Producers Darla K. Anderson
• True Grit: Producers Ethan Coen, Joel Coen and Scott Rudin

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Picture –

• Despicable Me: Produces John Cohen, Janet Healy and Christopher Meledandri
• Toy Story 3: Producer Darla K. Anderson
• How to Train Your Dragon: Producer Bonnie Arnold

The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Theatrical Motion Pictures -

• Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer: Producer(s) TBC
• Earth Made of Glass: Producers Reid Carolin and Deborah Scranton
• Inside Job: Producers Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
• Smash His Camera: Producers Linda Saffire and Adam Schlesinger
• The Tillman Story: Producer John Battsek
• Waiting for Superman: Producer Lesley Chilcott

Recently I’ve been watching more and more Pixar films. I’m happy to do this, as it is on the insistence of my two year old son that Toy Storwee is on as often as possible.

Like most people I love a good Pixar film, and what is particularly impressive is that nearly all of their output are good Pixar films, with only Cars and A Bug’s Life not quite hitting the sweet spot for me, yet their reputation and critical acclaim cannot be doubted.

At the end of the year Toy Story 3 is appearing in many of the ‘Best Of 2010′ lists which are cropping up and there’s an excellent chance Woody and Buzz will have to make a pre-recorded winner’s speech for the 2011 Academy Awards.

A moment ago I came across this video by Leandro Copperfield who has gone through each Pixar film and created a wonderful mash-up which reminds you of the power of Pixar’s creations in that a moment devoid of context will arrive on screen and a rush of emotions follows – there are some truly wonderful moments here and if you’re like me by the time the video ends you’ll want to dig out your Pixar DVDs.

Fortunately for me those DVDs are never far from hand.

Here’s the video – The Beauty of Pixar,

The Beauty of Pixar from Javier on Vimeo.

The success of Toy Story 3 is evident in its appearance in the Top 10 films of 2010 lists which are now popping up all over the internet and while it is sure to gather up many awards next year Pixar are still giving us reasons to love them and their film.

We’ve seen a couple of these custom images before and there’s a new advert out today, pushing the notion that Toy Story 3 was the best reviewed film of 2010, hoping to nudge the Academy to consider the plight of Woody and Buzz when it comes to casting their votes.

Any excuse to see the gang again is worthwhile and this picture comes from a truly memorable moment from Lee Unkrich’s wonderful film. And if you’re not seen our recent find then click here to check out Buzz Lightyear meets TRON!

Awards Daily put this up first.

The nominees for the London Critics’ Circle Awards have been announced.

Another Year and The King’s Speech lead with seven nominations apiece.

The London Critics’ Circle Awards will take place on February 10, 2011 at the BFI Southbank.

Below is the full list of nominees:

Sky 3D Award: Film of the Year:

• Black Swan
• The Kids Are All Right
• Toy Story 3
• The King’s Speech
• The Social Network

The Attenborough Award: British Film of the Year:

• Another Year
• Monsters
• The Arbor
• The King’s Speech
• 127 Hours

Foreign Language Film of the Year:

• I am Love
• Dogtooth
• The Secret in Their Eyes
• Of Gods and Men
• Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

Actor of the Year:

• Edgar Ramirez, Carlos
• Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine
• Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
• Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
• Jeff Bridges, True Grit

Moet Actress of the Year:

• Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
• Natalie Portman, Black Swan
• Noomi Rapace, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
• Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
• Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

British Actor of the Year:

• Riz Ahmed, Four Lions
• Jim Broadbent, Another Year
• Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
• Andrew Garfield, Never Let Me Go
• Christian Bale, The Fighter

British Actress of the Year:

• Lesley Manville, Another Year
• Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
• Ruth Sheen, Another Year
• Tilda Swinton, I am Love
• Rosamund Pike, Barney’s Version

British Actor in a Supporting Role:

• David Bradley, Another Year
• Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
• Tom Hardy, Inception
• Peter Wight, Another Year
• Pierce Brosnan, The Ghost

British Actress of the Year:

• Helena Bonham Carter, Alice in Wonderland
• Minnie Driver, Barney’s Version
• Rosamund Pike, Made in Dagenham
• Olivia Williams, The Ghost
• Christine Bottomley, The Arbor

Young British Performer of the Year:

• Conor McCarron, NEDs
• Will Poulter, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Saoirse Ronan, The Way Back
• Thomas Turgoose, The Scouting Book for Boys
• Jessica Bardem, Tamara Drewe

Director of the Year:

• Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
• David Fincher, The Social Network
• Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit
• Christopher Nolan, Inception
• Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

British Director of the Year:

• Clio Barnard, The Arbor
• Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech
• Mike Leigh, Another Year
• Christopher Nolan, Inception
• Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Screenwriter of the Year:

• Lisa Chodolenko & Stuart Blumberg, The Kids Are All Right
• Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, True Grit
• Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
• David Seidler, The King’s Speech
• Chris Morris & Sam Bain & Simon Blackwell & Jesse Armstrong, Four Lions

Virgin Atlantic Breakthrough British Filmmaker:

• Banksy, Exit Through The Gift Shop
• J Blakeson, The Disappearance of Alice Creed
• Gareth Edwards, Monsters
• Chris Morris, Four Lions
• Clio Barnard, The Arbor

The nominees for the 68th Golden Globe awards have just been announced at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

Hollywood Foreign Press Association President Philip Berk was joined by Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel and Blair Underwood to reveal the list of nominees.

The 68th annual Golden Globe Awards, hosted by comedian Ricky Gervais, will held on January 16, 2011.

68th annual Golden Globe Awards – Nominations:

Best Motion Picture – Drama

• The Social Network
• Inception
• The Fighter
• The King’s Speech
• Black Swan

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama

• Natalie Portman, Black Swan
• Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine
• Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole
• Halle Berry, Frankie & Alice
• Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – 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 Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Burlesque
• Red
• Alice in Wonderland
• The Kids Are All Right
• The Tourist

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right
• Angelina Jolie, The Tourist
• Julianne Moore, The Kids Are All Right
• Emma Stone, Easy A
• Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy

• Johnny Depp, The Tourist
• Jake Gyllenhaal, Love and Other Drugs
• Kevin Spacey, Casino Jack
• Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version
• Johnny Depp, Alice in Wonderland

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

• Amy Adams, The Fighter
• Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech
• Melissa Leo, The Fighter
• Mila Kunis, Black Swan
• Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture

• Jeremy Renner, The Town
• Andrew Garfield, The Social Network
• Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech
• Michael Douglas, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
• Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Animated Feature Film

• How to Train Your Dragon
• The Illusionist
• Tangled
• Toy Story 3
• Despicable Me

Best Foreign Language Film

• The Concert
• The Edge
• Biutiful
• I Am Love
• In a Better World

Best Director – Motion Picture

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

Best Screenplay – Motion Picture

• 127 Hours, Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
• The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Chodolenko & Stuart Blumberg
• Inception, Christopher Nolan
• The King’s Speech, David Seidler
• The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin

Best Original Score – Motion Picture

• The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat
• Alice in Wonderland, Danny Elfman
• 127 Hours
• The Social Network, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
• Inception, Hans Zimmer

Best Original Song – Motion Picture

• I See the Light, Tangled
• You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me Yet, Burlesque
• Bound to You, Burlesque
• There’s a Place for Us, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Coming Home, Country Strong

Best Television Series – Drama

• Mad Men
• The Walking Dead
• Dexter
• The Good Wife
• Boardwalk Empire

Best Actor in a Television Series – Drama

• Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
• Michael C. Hall, Dexter
• Hugh Laurie, House
• Jon Hamm, Mad Men
• Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire

Best Actress in a Television Series – Drama

• Jullianna Marguiles, The Good Wife
• Elizabeth Moss, Mad Men
• Piper Perabo, Covert Affairs
• Katie Segal, Sons of Anarchy
• Kyra Sedgewick, The Closer

Best Television Series – Comedy or Musical

• 30 Rock
• The Big C
• Glee
• Modern Family
• Nurse Jackie
• The Big Bang Theory

Best Actor in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical

• Matthew Morrison, Glee
• Steve Carrell, The Office
• Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
• Thomas Jane, Hung
• Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Best Actress in a Television Series – Comedy or Musical

• Toni Collette, United States of Tara
• Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
• Tina Fey, 30 Rock
• Laura Linney, The Big C
• Lea Michele, Glee

Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

• The Pacific
• You Don’t Know Jack
• Pillars of the Earth
• Temple Grandin
• Carlos

Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Idris Elba, Luther
• Ian McShane, Pillars of the Earth
• Al Pacino, You Don’t Know Jack
• Dennis Quaid, The Special Relationship
• Edgar Ramirez, Carlos

Best Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Claire Danes, Temple Grandin
• Judi Dench, Return to Cranford
• Romola Garai, Emma
• Jennifer Love Hewitt, The Client List
• Hayley Atwell, Pillars of the Earth

Best Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Scott Caan, Hawaii 5-0
• Chris Colfer, Glee
• Chris Noth, The Good Wife
• Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family
• David Strathern, Temple Grandin

Best Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television

• Hope Davis, The Special Relationship
• Jane Lynch, Glee
• Kelly MacDonald, Boardwalk Empire
• Julia Stiles, Dexter
• Sofia Vergara, Modern Family

Black Swan, the forthcoming psychological ballet thriller from acclaimed director Darren Aronofsky, picked up an unprecedented twelve nominations at the annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.

The King’s Speech and True Grit follow closely with eleven nominations each, while The Social Network and Inception each accumulated nine.

The Critics’ Choice Movie Awards will take place on January 14, 2011 at the Hollywood Palladium and will be broadcast on VH1.

The nominations for the 16th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards are listed below in full:

Best Picture

- 127 Hours

- Black Swan

- The Social Network

- True Grit

- Winter’s Bone

- The Town

- Toy Story 3

- The Fighter

- Inception

- The King’s Speech

Best Actor

- James Franco, 127 Hours

- Ryan Gosling, Blue Valentine

- Jeff Bridges, True Grit

- Robert Duvall, Get Low

- Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

- Colin Firth, The King’s Speech

Best Actress

- Natalie Portman, Black Swan

- Annette Bening, The Kids Are All Right

- Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole

- Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

- Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

- Michelle Williams, Blue Valentine

Best Supporting Actor

- Christine Bale, The Fighter

- Jeremy Renner, The Town

- Andrew Garfield, The Social Network

- Sam Rockwell, Conviction

- Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

- Mark Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right

Best Supporting Actress

- Mila Kunis, Black Swan

- Amy Adams, The Fighter

- Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech

- Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

- Melissa Leo, The Fighter

- Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

Best Young Actor/Actress

- Chloe Moretz, Let Me In

- Kodi Smit-McPhee, Let Me In

- Elle Fanning, Somewhere

- Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

- Chloe Moretz, Kick-Ass

- Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Best Acting Ensemble

- The Kids Are All Right

- The King’s Speech

- The Fighter

- The Town

- The Social Network

Best Director

- David Fincher, The Social Network

- Tom Hooper, The King’s Speech

- Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

- Christopher Nolan, Inception

- Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

- Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit

Best Original Screenplay

- Another Year, Mike Leigh

- Inception, Christopher Nolan

- The Fighter, Scott Silver & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson (Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson)

- The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Chodolenko & Stuart Blumberg

- The King’s Speech, David Seidler

- Black Swan, Mark Heyman & Andres Heinz & John McLaughlin

Best Adapted Screenplay

- 127 Hours, Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy

- True Grit, Joel & Ethan Coen

- Winter’s Bone, Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

- Toy Story 3, Michael Arndt (Story by John Lasseter & Andrew Stanton & Lee Unkrich)

- The Town, Ben Affleck & Peter Craig & Sheldon Turner

- The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin

Best Cinematography

- 127 Hours, Andrew Dod Mantle

- True Grit, Roger Deakins

- Black Swan, Matthew Libatique

- The King’s Speech, Danny Cohen

- Inception, Wally Pfister

Best Art Direction

- Alice in Wonderland, Stefan Dechant

- Inception, Guy Hendrix Dyas

- True Grit, Jess Gonchor & Nancy Haigh

- Black Swan, Therese DePrez & Tora Peterson

- The King’s Speech, Netty Chapman

Best Editing

- Inception, Lee Smith

- Black Swan, Andrew Weisblum

- 127 Hours, John Harris

- The Social Network, Angus Wall & Kirk Baxter

Best Costume Design

- Black Swan, Amy Westcott

- Alice in Wonderland, Colleen Atwood

- True Grit, Mary Zophres

- The King’s Speech, Jenny Beavan

Best Make-up

- Black Swan

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

- Alice in Wonderland

- True Grit

Best Visual Effects

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1

- Alice in Wonderland

- Tron: Legacy

- Inception

Best Sound

- Inception

- Black Swan

- Toy Story 3

- The Social Network

- 127 Hours

Best Animated Picture

- Toy Story 3

- The Illusionist

- Tangled

- Despicable Me

- How to Train Your Dragon

Best Action Picture

- Kick-Ass

- Red

- The Town

- Inception

- Unstoppable

Best Comedy Picture

- Easy A

- Cyrus

- Date Night

- The Other Guys

- I Love You Phillip Morris

- Get Him to the Greek

Best Picture Made For Television

- You Don’t Know Jack

- The Pacific

- Temple Grandin

Best Foreign Language Picture

- The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

- I Am Love

- Biutiful

Best Documentary

- Restrepo

- Exit Through The Gift Shop

- Waiting For Superman

- Inside Job

- Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

- The Tillman Story

Best Song

- I See the Light, Tangled

- We Belong Together, Toy Story 3

- You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me Yet, Burlesque

- Shine, Waiting for Superman

- If I Rise, 127 Hours

Best Score

- Black Swan, Clint Mansell

- The Social Network, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross

- True Grit, Carter Burwell

- Inception, Hans Zimmer

- The King’s Speech, Alexandre Desplat

The fifth annual Richard Attenborough Film Awards took place in London, UK last night and it was quite an occasion!

The Social Network was named film of the year, with Colin Firth (The King’s Speech) and Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) picking up the awards for actor and actress of the year, respectively.

The full press release is embedded below:

13 December 2010 — – UK regional critics today announce their Film of the year, as a highlight of the fifth annual Richard Attenborough Film Awards (RAFA’s). The prestigious accolade goes to The Social Network, which also wins Screenwriter of the year for Aaron Sorkin.

The RAFA’s – the UK’s regional film awards – comprise fourteen categories. Seven are exclusively for UK regional film critics, while a further seven are decided by public votes. In recognition of their achievement, each winner will receive a RAFA award, remodelled for 2010 and engraved with Lord Attenborough’s signature.

Voting in the seven categories for regional critics took place online between 15 November and 6 December 2010. The voting constituency was staff and freelance arts and entertainment writers, critics and editors in all branches of UK regional media.

UK Regional Critics’ Vote Winners:

Film of the year

- The Social Network.

Filmmaker of the year

- Christopher Nolan (Inception).

Screenwriter of the year

- Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network).

Actor of the year

- Colin Firth (The King’s Speech).

Actress of the year

- Noomi Rapace (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Rising star of the year

- Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Let Me In)

Legend of the year

- Sir Michael Caine CBE.

Meanwhile, the seven people’s choice awards are detailed below. Toy Story 3 picked up three RAFA’s, while Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 was awarded with the British film of the year award.

UK Public Vote Winners:

British film of the year – in association with The Alan Titchmarsh Show (ITV)

- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.

Film star of 2010 – in association with Newsquest Group

- Angelina Jolie (Salt and The Tourist).

Animated film of the year – in association with HMV

- Toy Story 3.

Breakthrough star of the year – in association with HMV

- Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Let Me In).

3D film of the year – in association with Cineworld

- Toy Story 3.

Top film character of the year – in association with MoviePreviewGuide.com

- Edward Cullen (The Twilight Saga: Eclipse).

Family film of the year – in association with The Birmingham Mail

- Toy Story 3.

Lord Attenborough, the curator of the ceremony, was quoted as saying:

“The last year has shown the cinema to be both resilient and innovative, with large audiences eager to enjoy the unique theatrical experience. It has also brought a superb crop of terrific films with compelling performances from both experience and fresh talents. I offer my warmest congratulations to this admirable set of winners.”

The winners for the 2010 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards have been announced.

The Social Network picked up the Best Picture award, while it’s director, David Fincher, tied with Olivier Assayas (Carlos) for the coveted Best Director award.

Colin Firth and Kim Hye-ja received the awards for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively.

The winners in full are listed below:

Best Picture

- The Social Network

Best Director

- Olivier Assayas (Carlos) and David Fincher (The Social Network) (tie).

Best Actor

- Colin Firth, The King’s Speech.

Best Actress

- Kim Hye-ja, Mother.

Best Supporting Actor

- Niels Arestrup, A Prophet.

Best Supporting Actress

- Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom.

Best Screenplay

- Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network.

Best Cinematography

- Black Swan.

New Generation Award

- Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture.

Best Documentary

- Last Train Home.

Best Foreign Language Film

- Carlos.

Best Animated Film

- Toy Story 3.

Best Music/Score

- The Ghost Writer (Alexandre Desplat) and The Social Network (Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross).

Best Production Design

- Inception (Guy Hendrix Dyas).

Douglas E. Edwards Award for Independent/Experimental Film

- Film Socialism.

Legacy of Cinema Award

- Serge Bromberg (Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno).

- The F. W. Murnau Foundation and Fernando Pena for the restoration of Metropolis.

Career Achievement

- Paul Mazursky.