15 Down, 115 To Go...

If anyone out there still doubts that we care more about our entertainment in America than anything else, think again.  Today we heard from three more critics groups handing out their year-end awards for movies, and we're not even half-way through the movie awards season.  The only American cultural entity which hands out more trophies than the film industry is the sports industry, which also falls into the categorgy of "entertainment".  We might like our work, education and church, but what we really care about is our entertainment.  And come on, isn't that the way it should be?  Thank you.

The latest critics to weigh in are the Satellite Awards voters, the San Francisco Film Critics Circle and the Chicago Film Critics Association.  Never heard of The Satellite Awards?... just think Golden Globes, but with a little more respect.  The Satellite Awards are given out by the International Press Academy, a group of foreign journalists who write about the film industry, not to be confused with The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which hands out The Golden Globes.  But you can heap a lot of respect on the critics in Chicago and San Francisco.  These two groups are made up of the critics from the largest cities in the country, along with New York, Boston and Los Angeles, and carry almost as much critical weight as the critics in those larger cities.

Best Picture-

Satellites: Silver Linings Playbook

San Fran: The Master
Chicago: Zero Dark Thirty

(javier bardem in "skyfall")

Best Actor-
Satellites: Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"
San Fran: Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"
Chicago: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"

Best Actress-
Satellites: Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
San Fran: Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"
Chicago: Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"

(helen hunt in "the sessions")

Best Supporting Actor-
Satellites: Javier Bardem, "Skyfall"
San Fran: Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"
Chicago: Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"

Best Supporting Actress-
Satellites: Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"
San Fran: Helen Hunt, "The Sessions"
Chicago: Amy Adams, "The Master"

 

Best Director-
Satellites: David Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
San Fran: Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Chicago: Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"

(amy adams in "the master")

First time winners:  This is "The Master"'s first win for Best Picture, and the first wins for Javier Bardem and Helen Hunt.