ScottFeinberg.com

By Sean O’Connell

When the BAFTA’s revealed the long list of nominees for their year-end awards, one film leading the pack with 16 nominations was somewhat expected, while another was a bit of a surprise.

The anticipated picture was Tomas Alfredson’s “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” a British-to-the-core adaptation of John Le Carre’s exquisite novel that has performed admirably at the UK box office and continues to remain in the Oscar hunt for Gary Oldman, possibly a screenplay nod and (deservedly) numerous technical nods. “Tinker” nabbed the most BAFTA nominations with 16, including Best Film.

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By Sean O’Connell

Martin Scorsese filmed the bulk of his latest feature, “Hugo,” in the UK. Now the Brits want to pay him back for that gesture, and years of contribution to contemporary cinema.

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The following list and remarks reflect my personal opinions and do/will not in any way impact my projections or analysis on this site, wherein I strive above all else to correctly forecast what will happen, not what I believe should happen.

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Earlier this morning, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) announced the nominees for the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards — which will take place in Hollywood on Sunday, Jan. 15 — and there were numerous noteworthy surprises and snubs. Here’s my best attempt to make sense of it all.

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By Sean O’Connell

On Sunday, multiple critics groups from New York to L.A. gathered to analyze the year in film and vote on their winners. “The Artist” performed well in Boston and Manhattan, while L.A. went with Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants.” But late in the evening, San Francisco revealed its collective suggestions for year’s best, going with Terrence Malick’s brilliant “The Tree of Life.”

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Just one night after presenting James Earl Jones with an honorary Oscar at the  London theater where he and Vanessa Redgrave are currently starring in a West  End production of Driving Miss Daisy, the Academy tonight honored Redgrave with a  special tribute — the first of its kind to ever be held in Europe, entitled “An Academy  Salute to Vanessa Redgrave” – in celebration of her more than half-century of work  in film.

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If the Academy’s image was a bit dusted up by the Brett Ratner and Eddie Murphy controversies of the past week, it was polished off like a shiny new Oscar by Saturday night’s third annual Governors Awards, at which honorary Oscars were presented to actor James Earl Jones (in absentia) and makeup artist Dick Smith and actress/producer/philanthropist Oprah Winfreyreceived the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

EXCLUSIVE AUDIO: Oprah Winfrey, James Earl Jones and Dick Smith on Governors Awards

I felt truly privileged to be in the room for the ceremony, which several awards show veterans in attendance described to me as one of the most powerful and moving that they can remember.

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Among the things that factored into this week’s projections (which appear further down on the page) …

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50 gala and special presentation screenings for the 36th annual Toronto International Film Festival — the annual awards season kick-off, which will run this year from September 8 through the 18 (and receive full on-the-ground coverage from this site) — were announced earlier today.

As Jeff Wells notes, it’s somewhat surprising that “Carnage” (Sony Pictures Classics, ?/?, ?, ?) and “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy” (Focus Features, ?/?, ?, trailer) — both of which will be playing at the Venice Film Festival, which overlaps with Toronto — are not among them. Still, the list includes plenty of riches, based on everything that I’ve seen and heard, thus far, and I just hope that there are enough hours in each day that I’m at the fest to see all of the films that I’d like to see.

At the moment, I’m most looking forward to these 25…

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If the Academy honors both Christian Bale and Melissa Leo with Oscars for their performances in “The Fighter,” as it is widely expected to do, it will mark only the eighth instance in Oscar history in which the best supporting actor and best supporting actress Oscars have been presented that those categories were won by performances from the same film. (Both categories have been presented for the past 73 years, meaning that it has occurred only 9.6% of the time.) The other seven…

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