Hi

Just a small update tonight.

The Vancouver film critics announced their winners today. Natalie was the 3rd best supporting actress for Closer AND Garden State. You can see the full list of winners on Oscarwatch.

Apparently she also placed 3rd in the Dallas Fort Worth awards. Thanks to Amidoll.

Don’t forget that the Academy nominations are on tuesday.

And finally, Sonoyta found this great article in which celebs talk comment on some of the years movies.

As many a nomination morning has demonstrated, what the industry sees as an Oscar-worthy film and what the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chooses often are quite different. That said, though, “Ray,” “The Motorcycle Diaries” and “Fahrenheit 9/11” are emerging as industry favorites among 2004’s feature releases – and many say Zach Braff’s dramedy “Garden State” might have what it takes to earn Academy attention.

“I saw ‘Garden State’ with my daughter, which was wonderful,” Robin Williams says. “It is a very sweet film, and funny and sad, and it reminded me of (1967’s) ‘The Graduate’: It is about a kid coming back for the funeral of his mother and then falling in love with this girl. It was great to see it with my daughter; she is 15. You could see how it affected her, and it was an interesting bit of time travel for me because seeing the boy was like seeing a really young Dustin Hoffman.”

Director Garry Marshall also liked “State.” “It was unique from a new filmmaker, and I went to see it because I knew (Braff),” he says. “It was a young person’s point of view that wasn’t bitter and hostile to the whole world and had good humor. And we all knew from the time Natalie Portman was 10 years old that she was a great actress; we were just waiting until she was old enough to kiss!”

Another Portman vehicle, “Closer,” impressed director Wes Anderson (“The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou”).

“I wasn’t crazy about (Patrick Marber’s) play when I saw it performed on Broadway, but the writing is much stronger than I realized, and it needed the naturalism of the movie to bring that out,” Anderson says. “I also loved Clive Owen in the film; I had never seen him like that before.”

G’night.