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Broadcast Film Critics Choose Their Nomination Picks For Award Season

The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) has announced the nominees for the 17th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.

The winners will be announced at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards ceremony on Thursday, January 12, 2012 at the Hollywood Palladium.  The show will broadcast live for the fifth year in a row on VH1at 8:00 PM ET/PT.

Broadcast film critics from across the country, including Boston cast their ballots for the current list of nominees this past weekend.

“Hugo” and “The Artist” each received an impressive 11 nominations for the 17th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, one short of the record 12 nominations for “Black Swan” last year.

Martin Scorsese’s “Hugo” garnering nods for Best Picture, Best Young Actor for Asa Butterfield, Best Director for Martin Scorsese, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects, Best Sound and Best Score.

Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Artist” received nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor for Jean Dujardin, Best Supporting Actress for Berenice Bejo, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director for Michel Hazanavicius, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, Best Costume Design, and Best Score.

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Martin Scorsese could have a very big night at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards. In addition to the 11 nominations for his film “Hugo,” he directed the Best Documentary Feature nominee “George Harrison: Living in the Material World.”  Last week it was announced that Scorsese will also be honored with the Critics’ Choice Music / Film Award at this year’s show.

“The Help” and “Drive” earned 8 nominations each, and “The Descendants” and “War Horse” both garnered 7 nominations. “Drive” was honored in the Best Picture and Best Action Movie categories while “Midnight in Paris” was recognized in Best Picture and Best Comedy categories.

“The Tree of Life,” “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” and “My Week With Marilyn” also scored multiple nominations. “The Muppets” received four nominations, three of which came in the Best Song category for “Life’s a Happy Song,” “Man or Muppet,” and “Pictures in My Head,” the fourth for Best Comedy.

George Clooney received three nominations as part of the Best Acting Ensemble nominees for “The Descendants” and “The Ides of March,” along with his Best Actor nomination in “The Descendants.”  This gives Clooney a record 13 Critics’ Choice nominations over the years, having received 10 prior nominations, in addition to winning a special Freedom Award for “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

Meryl Streep will be seeking her third Critics’ Choice Movie Award as a Best Actress nominee for “The Iron Lady” while Charlize Theron will be after her second award in the category. Streep previously won Best Actress for “Doubt” and “Julie & Julia” while Charlize Theron took the prize in 2003 for “Monster.”

Michelle Williams, Critics’ Choice winner for Best Supporting Actress in 2005’s “Brokeback Mountain” will also compete for Best Actress for “My Week With Marilyn.”

Twenty-year-old newcomer Shailene Woodley earned nods in both the Best Supporting Actress and Best Young Actor/Actress categories, among the seven nominations for “The Descendants.” Saoirse Ronan was also nominated for Best Young Actor/Actress for her role in “Hanna,” having previously won the category in 2009 for “The Lovely Bones.”

The Critics’ Choice Movie Awards are bestowed annually by the BFCA to honor the finest in cinematic achievement.

The BFCA is the largest film critics’ organization in the United States and Canada, representing more than 250 television, radio and online critics.  BFCA members are the primary source of information for today's film going public.  Eligible films were released in 2011. The accounting firm of CMM, LLP tallied the written ballots.

Since its inception in 1995, the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards has been a star-studded bellwether event of the movie awards season.  Historically, the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations.

Last year, for example, all four of the acting category winners at the Oscars – Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale and Melissa Leo – first accepted their awards in the same categories at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.  In all, 18 of the 20 actors nominated for Oscars were first Critics’ Choice Movie Awards nominees.

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 17th ANNUAL CRITICS’ CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS

BEST PICTURE

The Artist

The Descendants

Drive

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney – “The Descendants”

Leonardo DiCaprio – “J. Edgar”

Jean Dujardin – “The Artist”

Michael Fassbender – “Shame”

Ryan Gosling – “Drive”

Brad Pitt – “Moneyball”

BEST ACTRESS

Viola Davis – “The Help”

Elizabeth Olsen – “Martha Marcy May Marlene”

Meryl Streep – “The Iron Lady”

Tilda Swinton – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Charlize Theron – “Young Adult”

Michelle Williams – “My Week With Marilyn”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Kenneth Branagh – “My Week With Marilyn”

Albert Brooks – “Drive”

Nick Nolte – “Warrior”

Patton Oswalt – “Young Adult”

Christopher Plummer – “Beginners”

Andrew Serkis – “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo – “The Artist”

Jessica Chastain – “The Help”

Melissa McCarthy – “Bridesmaids”

Carey Mulligan – “Shame”

Octavia Spencer – “The Help”

Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants”

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Asa Butterfield – “Hugo”

Elle Fanning – “Super 8”

Thomas Horn – “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Ezra Miller – “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Saoirse Ronan – “Hanna”

Shailene Woodley – “The Descendants”

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

The Artist

Bridesmaids

The Descendants

The Help

The Ides of March

BEST DIRECTOR

Stephen Daldry – “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close”

Michel Hazanavicius – “The Artist”

Alexander Payne – “The Descendants”

Nicolas Winding Refn – “Drive”

Martin Scorsese – “Hugo”

Steven Spielberg – “War Horse”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

“The Artist” – Michel Hazanavicius

“50/50” – Will Reiser

“Midnight in Paris” – Woody Allen

“Win Win” – Screenplay by Tom McCarthy, Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni

“Young Adult” – Diablo Cody

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

“The Descendants” – Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” – Eric Roth

“The Help” – Tate Taylor

“Hugo” – John Logan

“Moneyball” – Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin

BEST MAKEUP

Albert Nobbs

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The Iron Lady

J. Edgar

My Week With Marilyn

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hugo

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Super 8

The Tree of Life

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

The Adventures of Tintin

Arthur Christmas

Kung Fu Panda 2

Puss in Boots

Rango

BEST ACTION MOVIE

Drive

Fast Five

Hanna

Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Super 8

BEST COMEDY

Bridesmaids

Crazy, Stupid, Love

Horrible Bosses

Midnight in Paris

The Muppets

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

In Darkness

Le Havre

A Separation

The Skin I Live In

Where Do We Go Now

, Boston Movie Examiner

Tim Estiloz is an experienced, Emmy-winning TV journalist / performer with over a decade of covering entertainment news and features. He is also a voting member of the prestigious Broadcast Film Critics Association which awards the annual Critics' Choice Awards in Hollywood. Tim has interviewed...

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