Black Sheep Reviews presents the 2011 Mouton d'Or Awards

It is with great pleasure that I announce to you today the nominees for the 2011 Mouton d'Or Awards. This year marks the seventh year the awards have been held and this year's bunch of contenders is a strong bunch indeed. In fact, there were so many memorable performances and films this year, that the acting categories have been expanded to six nominations each. There are also two brand new categories this year. One is for Best Ensemble, which is just one more way to honour the incredible casts that collectively came together to impress right across the board in 2011. The other is for Best First Feature because I am always shocked by people who knock it out hard on their first shot behind the camera. To qualify in this category, you need not to have directed a theatrical feature prior to the nominated film. In fact, the only negative factor with this year's nominations comes from the Animated Feature category, where only two films have been nominated because of the lack of decent selections.

Leading this year's Mouton d'Or Awards is THE ARTIST, with a total of seven nominations, including one for Best Picture and Best Director. The little silent film that could is followed closely in the tally by two of the year's more sumptuously cinematic endeavours, DRIVE and THE TREE OF LIFE, both of which have earned six nods a piece, including Best Picture. The remaining two Best Picture slots go to THE DESCENDANTS and SHAME, both of which follow in third place for most nominations, totalling five each. I have seen all five of these films twice now and it will be a pleasure soaking them each in one last time before making my final decision.

It was incredibly difficult to narrow down the Best Picture nominees to only five choices, but as I ask my readers to narrow to just five, I too had to suck it up and deal. As always, I am very pleased with the selections that rose to the top of the Black Sheep Readers Choice nominees. Like last year, the five films represent a great mix of crowd pleasing offerings and the more obscure. My sincere thanks go out to all who participated by sending me their lists. It is always a great joy to see what other people appreciate and to hear why, so again, thank you for sharing with me.

You can now vote for your favourite in the poll at the top of the right sidebar. Voting will open and close weekly until the day before the Mouton d'Or Award winners are announced. This year, that day will be Saturday, February 25, 2012. Vote as many times as you like but just vote!

And so, without any further delay, ladies and gentleman, I present to you, the 2011 Mouton d'Or Award nominations ...

(Scroll over any film title for the full Black Sheep Review.)

BEST BIG MOVIE

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
BRIDESMAIDS
HANNA
THE HELP
THE MUPPETS

BEST little MOVIE

50/50
BEGINNERS
MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
MELANCHOLIA
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

THE WORST MOVIE I SAW ALL YEAR

FRENCH IMMERSION
GREEN LANTERN
LARRY CROWNE
TRESPASS
YOUR HIGHNESS

THE BLACK SHEEP READERS CHOICE AWARD

THE ARTIST
BRIDESMAIDS
DRIVE
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
THE TREE OF LIFE

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
RANGO

BEST LOOKING MOVIE

THE ARTIST
HUGO
MELANCHOLIA
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
THE TREE OF LIFE

BEST MUSIC

THE ARTIST
DRIVE
HANNA
THE SKIN I LIVE IN
THE TREE OF LIFE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

KENNETH BRANNAGH in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN
ALBERT BROOKS in DRIVE
ARMIE HAMMER in J. EDGAR
BRAD PITT in THE TREE OF LIFE
CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER in BEGINNERS
MAX VON SYDOW in EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

JESSICA CHASTAIN in THE TREE OF LIFE
MELISSA MCCARTHY in BRIDESMAIDS
JANET MCCTEER in ALBERT NOBBS
CAREY MULLIGAN in SHAME
OCTAVIA SPENCER in THE HELP
SHAILENE WOODLEY in THE DESCENDANTS


BEST ACTOR

GEORGE CLOONEY in THE DESCENDANTS
JEAN DUJARDIN in THE ARTIST
MICHAEL FASSBENDER in SHAME
GARY OLDMAN in TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY
BRAD PITT in MONEYBALL
MICHAEL SHANNON in TAKE SHELTER

BEST ACTRESS

GLENN CLOSE in ALBERT NOBBS
VIOLA DAVIS in THE HELP
ELIZABETH OLSEN in MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
MERYL STREEP in THE IRON LADY
TILDA SWINTON in WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN
MICHELLE WILLIAMS in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN

BEST ENSEMBLE

50/50
BRIDESMAIDS
THE HELP
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

50/50 written by Will Reiser
THE ARTIST written by Michel Hazanavicius
BEGINNERS written by Mike Mills
SHAME written by Abi Morgan and Steve McQueen
TAKE SHELTER written by Jeff Nichols

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

THE DESCENDANTS written by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash
DRIVE written by Hossein Amini
MONEYBALL written by Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY written by Bridget O'Connor and Peter Straughan
WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN written by Lynne Ramsay and Rory Kinnear

BEST FIRST FEATURE

BEAUTIFUL BOY
MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE
PARIAH
SUBMARINE
TYRANNOSAUR

BEST DIRECTOR

MICHEL HAZANAVICIUS for THE ARTIST
STEVE MCQUEEN for SHAME
ALEXANDER PAYNE for THE DESCENDANTS
NICOLAS WINDING REFN for DRIVE
LARS VON TRIER for MELANCHOLIA

BEST PICTURE

THE ARTIST
THE DESCENDANTS
DRIVE
SHAME
THE TREE OF LIFE

Thanks so much for taking the time to read through. Now, comes the hard part ... Choosing the winners!