As the precursor awards continue unabated through the month of December, I’m going to be providing a weekly update highlighting the films that have won and lost momentum through the precursor awards (this will be in place of my prior weekly article “Oscar Preview”. Today, we look back at the results of the New York Film Critics Circle, National Board of Review, Satellite Awards nominations, Spirit Awards nominations and the Producers Guild of America nominations. This is a healthy spread of award bodies from indie to big budget, and a nice broad spectrum of critics groups.

But, before we get into this week’s winners and losers, let’s take a look at what’s coming up this week:

Week 11

Feb. 7 – Visual Effects Society Awards
Feb. 11 – The Academy’s Scientific and Technical Awards
Feb. 12 – British Academy Awards
Feb. 12 – American Society of Cinematographers
Feb. 12 – Grammy Awards

Big Winners

Rango was one of a small handful of films that benefited from the light slate of precursors this past week. The film won the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature even after losing the Best Director prize to Jennifer Yuh Nelson who directed Kung Fu Panda 2 (and may well be the first woman ever to win the Best Director prize at the Annie Awards, a factoid I haven’t yet investigated). This means Rango’s support wasn’t across the board (or it could mean they didn’t want to give Gore Verbinski, a live-action director, an award for a one-time foray into animation). While the Annies haven’t always been the best precursor, you can bet they’ll be a solid reflection of this year’s Animated Feature winner, though Animated Short Film will not carry over (mostly because the winner wasn’t an Oscar nominee).
Hugo won the Period Art Direction award from the ADG. Although Harry Potter, also an Oscar nominee, won the Fantasy Art Direction award, Hugo is considered the frontrunner for the Oscar. And having a guild bolster your chances is certainly a win.
Christopher Plummer may have reason to celebrate his OFTA Film Award for Best Supporting Actor. The OFTA have correctly predict Best Supporting Actor the last five years running and considering Plummer’s current lead in that derby, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see another year chalked up for the OFTA.
Annie Awards Live Webcast was probably the most fun I’ve had watching an awards show all year. Although the USC Scripters will be the last telecast film-only awards program until the Academy Awards, I doubt I’ll see a more exciting show this year. First, Patton Oswalt proved to be an affable and entertaining host. And when he wasn’t hamming it up for the camera, even in spite of the lame banter during several award presentations, the cake was taken when three actors showed up to present three television program awards. Brittany Snow was the first to the podium (after a clever fight over who would present the first award) and after announcing the nominees through a short clip package, she opened the envelope and read off a winner that wasn’t among the nominees. She had opened the envelope for a different category. After fifteen minutes of confusion between the three and bringing in host Oswalt to help sort out the mess, they finally revealed the correct winner, along with presenting the trophy to the winner of the first envelope and then finished the presentation with the bang. Another interesting highlight of the night was when Bill Nighy won a surprise victory for voice-over work and then disappeared through a side door on his way to the stage unable to find his way up to accept the prize. I don’t know if it was intentional, but it was certainly hilarious. None of this would have happened with the tightly scripted Oscars, so it was nice to see such a raucously foul mouthed and devil may care program at least once in the awards season.

Big Losers

None

Individual Analyses

Annie Awards

As mentioned above, Rango took home the Best Animated Feature prize along with a handful of others while Kung Fu Panda 2 and The Adventures of Tintin took two prizes each, one for John Williams’ score. There were no surprise, but having no surprises in a program where you aren’t sure who will win doesn’t really speak highly of your group. At least their awards were fun.

Art Directors Guild Awards

After winning a special achievement award for the franchise, I was a bit surprised that Harry Potter managed to eke out a win in the Fantasy Art Direction category, bringing Stuart Craig his first competitive win. Hugo was completely expected as was the winner of Best Contemporary Art Direction: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

OFTA Film Awards

Once upon a time, the OFTA might have been accused of simply trying to mirror the Oscars. Like the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the OFTA had the tendency to foreshadow much of what the Academy did. This year, however, with three of the four acting prizes going to performances not even nominated by the Oscars, no one can say they are trying to ape or influence them. This is rather refreshing in a year so filled with prognosticators masquerading as awards-givers. Although several of the winners were given to Oscar frontrunners, it was clear the OFTA wasn’t interested in rubber-stamping every precursor that came before it.