The Indie Spirits clash with The Razzies

Probably the most useless award

For those who didn't catch the subtle difference, that, above, is a golden raspberry. That award, commonly known as a "Razzie" is designated for the worst of the worst in film releases and is meant to be the antithesis of the Oscars (which air tonight). Traditionally, or it has been so for the last handful of years, both the Film Independent Spirit Awards and the Razzies are held the day prior to the Academy awards. The Razzies honor what everyone hated, and the Indie Spirits honor - as John Waters once prophetically stated - "the movies that come in sixth at the Oscars". Since the expansion of the Academy's Best Picture category to ten nominees, he was apparently exactly right. Not long before they're relegated to honoring what comes in eleventh.

More after the cut --

For a full list of Razzie winners(?), click here. 

The big names being mentioned last night were M. Night Shyamalan and his re-imagining of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Alba, and of course... The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. 

A small rant before we continue - obviously, I get that the Razzie awards are all in good fun. People have been gracious enough, and have gotten the joke well enough, that they have gone to accept their awards and actually give speeches. Notably, both Halle Berry (for the travesty that is Catwoman) and Sandra Bullock (who was actually quite good) for All About Steve. But, even though it's all a joke, and it's meant to deflate the Hollywood ego-machine that boosts the Oscars, it seems unnecessary to point out people again and again and again even when they're work escape the seemingly annual negative criticism. Still, though, it's all a joke. That said, Robert Pattinson had no business being nominated for Remember Me. He was excellent.

Perhaps, though, the best thing to happen with the Razzies last night is the fact that Sex and the City 2 won an award. I thoroughly enjoyed the first one, but the second was abysmal. Hopefully this will keep a threequel from being made. 

Now, onto the good stuff - the Indie Spirit awards. 

Taken from Awards Daily, here is a full list of winners - 

Best Picture: Black Swan
Best Director: Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Best Actor: James Franco, 127 Hours
Best Supporting Actress: Dale Dickey, Winters Bone
Best Supporting Male: John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone
Best Screenplay: The Kids Are All Right
Best Cinematography: Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Best Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop
Best Foreign Film: The King’s Speech
Best First Feature: Get Low
Best First Screenplay: Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture
Truer Than Fiction Award: Marwencol, Jeff Malmberg
Someone to Watch Award: Mike Ott, Littlerock
Producers Award: Anish Savjani, Meek’s Cutoff
Robert Altman Award (ensemble): Please Give
Cassavetes Award: Daddy Longlegs

Excellent, excellent line-up. A little funny that The King's Speech won a Foreign Film award, but... it technically is foreign. But, serious kudos to the Black Swan team for finally earning some much needed due for their work outside of Natalie Portman's transcendent performance. And it was great to see James Franco, tonight's Oscar host, win a Best Actor award. Colin Firth was ineligible, though. So, that might have had something to do with it. 

Last night also gave us a brief glimpse into the Oscar race for next year, as Meek's Cutoff won the Producer's Award. Michelle Williams' performance is already being buzzed for an Actress award. And she's in contention tonight for Blue Valentine. 

God I love awards season. So much to take in, so much could happen that chances the predictions game. 

For a full list of nominees for the Indie Spirits, click here.

Tune into the Oscars on ABC at 7pm Eastern/4pm Pacific for the Red Carpet arrivals, and an hour later for the actual awards show!