17th Screen Actors Guild Awards Winners

With a very NOT entertaining television traditional awards ceremony show last night SAG gave not much surprises in the film categories (some in the TV categories) and winners are in *BLUE. To check complete list at official site go here.

I really hope that Oscar becomes more than just a parade of presenters that have difficulties to read prompter like happened in this ceremony; not that we don't enjoy watching actors but we have the Red Carpet to watch them. Inside we need an entertainment show so we don't fall asleep. Sigh.

Win this win The King's Speech becomes a front runner in the Oscar race as well as Natalie Portman, Christian Bale and Melissa Leo. I knew and confirm that this is Colin Firth year and I'm so glad that finally he's being recognized for great performances.

Was hoping Hailee Steinfeld will win, as is more than a well-deserved win for a movie that she "stole" from good actors. But seems that not many are willing to accept that an unknown teenager was able to eclipse celebrated actors; still hope that for the Oscar this category becomes the biggest surprise and Steinfeld wins.

To close one positive note, last night most SAG winners were first time winners which is unusual.

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A few minutes ago the nominations were announced and unfortunately with not many surprises; these are the nominees.

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Black Swan (Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, and Winona Ryder)
The Fighter (Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Jack McGee, and Mark Wahlberg)
The Kids Are All Right (Annette Bening, Josh Hutcherson, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, and Mia Wariskowska)
*The King’s Speech (Anthony Andrews, Helena Bonham Carter, Jennifer Ehle, Colin Firth, Michael Gambon, Derek Jacobi, Guy Pearce, Geoffrey Rush, and Timothy Spall)
The Social Network (Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, Max Minghella, Josh Pence, and Justin Timberlake)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in The Kids Are All Right
Nicole Kidman in Rabbit Hole
Jennifer Lawrence in Winter’s Bone
*Natalie Portman in Black Swan
Hilary Swank in Conviction

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in The Fighter
Helena Bonham Carter in The King’s Speech
Mila Kunis in Black Swan
*Melissa Leo in The Fighter
Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges in True Grit
Robert Duvall in Get Low
Jesse Eisenberg in The Social Network
*Colin Firth in The King’s Speech
James Franco in 127 Hours

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role
*Christian Bale in The Fighter
John Hawkes in Winter’s Bone
Jeremy Renner in The Town
Mark Ruffalo in The Kids Are All Right
Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech

Life Achievement Award: Ernest Borgine

To read the press release at the official site please go here. Most interesting, again, are the nominees in the TV categories. The awards ceremony will be simulcast live on TNT and TBS on Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 8:00 pm EST and I imagine that TNT will broadcast the show to the rest of the world, as happened in previous years.

We have to recall that these nominations are the first we learn from people that actually vote at the Oscar and that this Guild is the largest; meaning, the one that has the most members, i.e. votes. The biggest surprise for me is that SAG filled the last Oscar spot in the Best Actress category with Hilary Swank! I was sure about the other four, but now it becomes possible that Hilary will be against Annette once more and when this happened in the past, Hilary won. Haven’t seen Conviction and of course I’m dying to watch Black Swan; will be only after watching these two films that will dare to do my Oscar predictions for this category.

In the female supporting role category perhaps the surprise is the inclusion of Hailee Steinfeld in True Grit. I don’t particularly like remakes, much less when is from a classic but now I’m becoming curious as Jeff Bridges also got a nod. In the male supporting category the only one unexpected for me is John Hawkes, but he deserves the honor.

Surely the category that became more interesting is the male actor in a leading role as Jeff Bridges and Robert Duvall got honored by their peers. The other three were a given for me. So now is going to be a little bit harder to figure out who will be nominated for Oscar.  But if Bridges and Firth get an Oscar nomination  will be just like last year and only hope that Colin Firth wins this time.

The category that became duller is the cast ensemble as there are no surprises there at all, with actors loving the same performances/movies that critics adore and we already know which movie won almost all critics honors.

In about a month and a half we will learn the winners and then Oscar predictions will become interesting for everyone that plays any of the multiple odds games around Oscar.