High Society

In my continuing series of posts on the current awards season...

Two more cinema organizations have put forth their picks for the best films of '06:

The Online Film Critics Society (O.F.C.S) is up first...

Stuart Levine of Variety:

The Online Film Critics Society have selected Sept. 11 drama "United 93" as its best picture of the year while awarding Martin Scorsese director honors for his helming of "The Departed."

Forest Whitaker ("The Last King of Scotland") and Helen Mirren ("The Queen") also won in their respective acting categories, as the pair continue to dominate the guild and critics kudo circuit. Jackie Earle Haley won supporting actor for his role in "Little Children" and 10-year-old Abigail Breslin was top supporting actress for "Little Miss Sunshine."

The Mexican film community was well-represented in the screenwritng department as Guillermo del Toro won original screenplay for "Pan's Labyrinth" while Alfonso Cuaron was one of five writers to win for their adapted screenplay of "Children of Men."

The Complete List OFCS Winners...


Dave McNary takes over to give us the Directors Guild of America nominees:

The Directors Guild has selected Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for "Babel," Bill Condon for "Dreamgirls," Martin Scorsese for "The Departed," Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris for "Litte Miss Sunshine" and Stephen Frears for "The Queen" as nominees for its top feature directing award.

With the exception of Scorsese, all directors are first-time nominees. Frears did receive a nomination seven years ago for the telepic "Fail Safe."

DGA president Michael Apted made the announcement Tuesday morning at guild headquarters in Hollywood. The winner, to be decided by voting among the 13,000 DGA members, will be announced Feb. 3 in ceremonies at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.

The winner of the DGA award will be a front-runner for the directing Oscar. The DGA winner and the Oscar winner have matched in 52 of the last 58 years, including last year when Ang Lee won both trophies for "Brokeback Mountain."

The nominees were chosen by DGA members from over 400 eligible films with a theatrical release in 2006.

A complete list of DGA nominees can be found right here...

Once again, Clint Eastwood's The Flags Of Our Fathers is surprisingly absent from the list...Kudos to Little Miss Sunshine for getting a nod.