Berlinale 2013: Best of the Best

Another great festival ended, another year will pass before the next round. This causes a certain sensation in your stomach when you know you have to wait 12 long moths for something great. There will be other festivals, of course, but Berlinale is my very special place with this very special ambience worth waiting for. There were great surprises, there were misunderstandings, there were great meetings, and lots of "firsts". Here is the last list of the things I like a lot.

Golden Globe Winners

There were no real surprises, the winners had to win, the loosers will lose as it was meant to be. For the 100th time it seems that the people with most friends in Hollywood were bound to win. And that's okay. That's how it always looked like in the ultimate Dream Factory. And the viewers all around the world had a great opportunity to see all the latest fashions on the red carpet, something that we all will be re-living for the next couple of weeks, when we'll see all of them again on another red carpet watching the Oscars.
Nevertheless, Mel Gibson is out and running again, Tommy Lee Jones has been named the ultimate owner of the grumpy cat that has conquered the net (Jones being the only one in the audience that hasn't laughed once throughout the whole ceremony), Jodie Foster had her coming-out although the whole world already knew what's cookin' in her private life. She looked stunning by the way, getting her lifetime achievement Cecil B. DeMille award. Adele with her Globe high-fived super-cool Daniel Craig and was astonishingly normal. She's a Brit, that's why. The hostesses were really cool. Overall, a nice night to remember.
Oh, and Ben Affleck got awards too! Can't say I'm disappointed, because I liked "Argo", but it means that he will possibly be left out at the Oscars. Too bad.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, hostesses of the ceremony

Golden Globes 2013 Nominees

On December 13th 2012, exactly a month before the award ceremony, the nominees for the 2013 Golden Globes have been announced. The dates are important here, because the final ceremony will take place just two days before the nominees for Academy Awards are revealed.
Who has biggest chances of winning this year?
It seems that over the years the "who-got-the-most-nominations-must-be-likely-to-get-the-most-awards" predictor has lost its impact and importance. Nevertheless, Hollywood loves Steven Spielberg, and Daniel Day-Lewis as well, and when they both tell the story of one of the most beloved yet controversial politicians and presidents in the history of the United States - Abraham Lincoln, these 7 nominations seem like a good score. "Argo" and "Django Unchained" are close behind, with 5 nominations each, but it seems, that "Zero Dark Thirty" with 4 nominations (along "Les Miserables" and "Silver Linings Playbook") might end up as a dark horse of the race.
More from The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and on the official website.

BEST PICTURE: DRAMA 
"Argo" 
"Django Unchained" 
"Life of Pi" 
"Lincoln" 
"Zero Dark Thirty"

National Board of Review Awards

The Board is one the most prominent New York societies that have a say in the movie business. It was established as early as in 1909. The ballots for the awards are distributed among 110 members of the society, and the members are selected from film enthusiasts, academics, filmmakers and students. Of course, it's not the same as the Academy, but surely it mirrors the actual worth of a film more than the Oscars. 

Based on the results, it seems that Kathryn Bigelow is sure to get a few Oscars nominations for her film and a couple more awards on the way. This would be absolutely unprecedented. Never in the history was a female-director so successful. Way to go! Other nods include Ben Affleck - really, serious repertoire does good by him, and "Silver Linings Playbook," so far the biggest mystery, as it only premiered in the US.

More on the Awards here.

This year's winners are:

Best Film: "ZERO DARK THIRTY"

Best Director: Kathryn BIGELOW for "ZERO DARK THIRTY"

New York Film Critics Circle Award

New York Film Critics Circle Award is one of the most prominent awards given by one of the most prominent professional society there is. The Circle was established in 1936 and started giving out its Awards, which is just 7 years after the first Oscars were awarded. That is one of the reasons why is it of such importance to have a look at this year's winners. Obviously, since the Oscars is a commercial party for masses, the Circle Award should celebrate the art of making films, and so it does. In my opinion, most of the motion pictures recognised by the NYCC might not stand a chance of winning an Oscar, which, according to  the popular belief is still (and unjustly) the crown jewel of all awards.
Even for that purpose it is important to list the winners.

New York Film Critics Circle Award 2012:

Best Picture: ZERO DARK THIRTY
"For a decade, an elite team of intelligence and military operatives, working in secret across the globe, devoted themselves to a single goal: to find and eliminate Osama bin Laden. Director-producer Kathryn Bigelow and writer-producer Mark Boal unite for the story of history's greatest manhunt for the world's most dangerous man." (distributor's material)
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, James Gandolfini, Mark Duplass
Review.