'Inside Llewyn Davis', 'Fruitvale Station' Win Big at Gotham Awards; Brie Larson Takes Top Acting Prize

Our own WAFCA Awards will be handed out next week, but the awards race really kicked off in earnest tonight as the Gotham Awards announced their big winners. Taking the top prize of Best Feature was the Coen Brothers' folk music film Inside Llewyn Davis, beating out expected Oscar-winner 12 Years A Slave. Early year favorite Fruitvale Station won both categories it was nominated in with director Ryan Coogler winning for Breakthrough Director and star Michael B. Jordan taking home Breakthrough Actor. In a bit of a happy surprise, Brie Larson won Best Actress for the acclaimed indie drama Short Term 12, while Matthew McConaughey won Best Actor for Dallas Buyers Club.

So how does all of this change the Oscar race? Some will say this gives the Coens' film some heavy momentum but in truth this won't mean much unless Inside Llewyn Davis continues to rack up wins. However this could be a significant boost for Larson, who was recently nominated for an Indie Spirit Award, while McConaughey has long been considered a top contender.

Check out the full list of winners below....

Best Feature: "Inside Llewyn Davis"

Best Documentary: "The Act of Killing"

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award: Ryan Coogler, "Fruitvale Station"
 
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club"

Best Actress: Brie Larson, "Short Term 12"

Breakthrough Actor: Michael B. Jordan, "Fruitvale Station"

Film Audience Award: "Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings," Tadashi Nakamura

Spotlight on Women Filmmakers ‘Live the Dream’ Grant: Gita Pullapilly, director, "Beneath the Harvest Sky"

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Tops At the Box Office: 'Despicable Me 2' Holds; 'Grown Ups 2' Bests 'Pacific Rim'

1. Despicable Me 2- $44.75M/$229.2M
Those Minions are some deceptively strong little buggers, delivering knock-out blows to Adam Sandler's Grown Ups 2 and Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim. The 3D animated sequel only slipped 46% from last week, while also taking in an additional $55M on the foreign market for a worldwide haul of $472M. At this rate it will surpass Despicable Me's $543M run in just a few more days.
2. Grown Ups 2- $42.5M
Despite being slaughtered by critics, Grown Ups was the biggest live-action hit in Adam Sandler's career, and thus it also gave him his very first sequel. It turns out that roughly the same people who endured the first one turned out for Grown Ups 2. For Sandler this is a big win for him, and if it hangs around for awhile it won't be surprising to see Grown Ups 3 somewhere down the line. *shudder*
3. Pacific Rim- $38.3M
It's not completely surprising that Guillermo Del Toro's big sci-fi action film Pacific Rim was bested by the broad comedy of Grown Ups 2. Despite the fanboy crowd's enthusiasm for the monsters vs. robots spectacle, the genre has traditionally found it tough sledding in America, and total lack of A-list stars didn't help. Given the $200M budget, the $38M debut could be a big problem for Legendary Pictures, who recently split off from longtime partner, Warner Bros, and any hopes of a sequel will depend largely on the foreign box office. Fortunately, Del Toro has wide international recognition, and the film features an ethnically diverse cast in a story largely pulling from Japanese culture, which may explain the strong $53M overseas haul, making for a worldwide total of $91M.
4. The Heat- $14M/$112.4M
5. The Lone Ranger- $11.1M/$71.1M
After a disastrous opening that had everybody questioning Johnny Depp's viability when not dressed up as Jack Sparrow, The Lone Ranger kept the negative streak going by dropping a massive 62% in its second week. Bad word-of-mouth further drove this one into the dust, and with only $119M worldwide, against a budget shooting past $215M (minus marketing), this is looking like the year's most high-profile dud. Not that Disney cares, since they've already got Depp lined up for Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and Alice in Wonderland 2, which are like printing money.....right? Ehhhh.....
6. Monsters University- $10.6M/$237.8M
7. World War Z- $9.4M/$177.1M
8. White House Down- $6.15M/$63M
9. Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain- $5M/$26.4M
10. Man of Steel- $4.8M/$281M

The biggest debut of the week went to Ryan Coogler's Frutivale Station, which stars Michael B. Jordan as Oscar Grant, an African-American unjustly killed by cops in 2009. Opening with a massive $377K at only 7 locations for a $53K per site average, it's probable the film has seen a boost due to the similar Trayvon Martin case and the ongoing trial coverage.

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Three Heartwrenching Clips From 'Fruitvale Station' Starring Michael B. Jordan

Winning a pair of Dramatic awards at Sundance and carrying that momentum through Cannes, Ryan Coogler's heartbreaking Fruitvale Station continues to look like an early Oscar favorite. At the very least it's a window into the talent of star Michael B. Jordan, who plays the real life figure Oscar Grant, who in the early morning of New Year's Day 2009 was shot in the back by BART cops while in their custody at the Fruitvale station. The murder sparked off a fierce debate on race relations, and considering that continues to be a hot button issue, especially with the events of the last few days, the film is going to arrive at a very interesting moment in time.

Three new clips have been released just a few weeks before it hits theaters, and if they make your eyes well up with tears then just wait until you've seen the whole thing. They show Oscar, just as he's starting to turn his life around, having a pair of really tough conversations with his mother (Octavia Spencer) and girlfriend (Melonie Diaz). But it's the scene between Oscar and his daughter that's the toughest to take, and you can probably figure out by the tone just how important every word he says to her is going to turn out to be.  Just be sure to bring lots of Kleenex when you catch Fruitvale Station on July 12th. And be sure to keep an eye out for my upcoming interview with Coogler.

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'Blue is the Warmest Color' takes Cannes' top prize; check out two clips now

The doors have closed on the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and now that all is said and done, this will go down as one of the strongest years for American filmmakers and American movies.  Films like Ryan Coogler's Fruitvale Station, the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis, Alexander Payne's Nebraska, and Jim Jarmusch's Only Lovers Left Alive all performed well and were greeted warmly by the picky crowd on the Croisette, but when all was said and done it was the French romance Blue is the Warmest Color that took home the festival's top prize.

Steven Spielberg and his jury have selected the French drama Blue is the Warmest Color as the Palm d'Or winner, taking the extraordinary step to grant it not only to Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche, but also to the two lead actresses Lea Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos. It was a historic decision for a couple of reasons, none of which have to do with the lesbian romance at the heart of the story, although the steamy sex scenes are what has garnered the most attention. The win marks the first time that a movie based on a comic book has ever taken the Palm d'Or, as it's based on Julie Maroh's graphic novel Le Bleu est Une Couleur Chaude. The unique circumstances also mean that Jane Campion, who won in 1993 for The Piano, is no longer the only female Palm d'Or winner.

Bruce Dern, who was nominated for an Oscar 35 years ago for Coming Home, took the Best Actor prize for Nebraska, while Berenice Bejo won Best Actress for Asghar Farhadi's Iranian family drama, The Past.  Below you'll find the complete list of honors from the Un Certain Regard, FIPRESCI, and Ecumenical Jury categories, followed by two clips from Blue is the Warmest Color. 

PALME D’OR:
LA VIE D’ADÈLE - CHAPITRE 1 & 2 (Blue Is The Warmest Color) by Abdellatif KECHICHE

GRAND PRIX:
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS by Ethan COEN, Joel COEN

PRIX DE LA MISE EN SCEN (BEST DIRECTOR):
Amat ESCALANTE for "HELI"

PRIX DU SCENARIO (BEST SCREENPLAY):
JIA Zhangke for "TIAN ZHU DING" ("A Touch Of Sin")

CAMERA D’OR (BEST FIRST FEATURE): 
"ILO ILO," Director: Anthony CHEN

PRIX DU JURY (JURY PRIZE):
"LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON" by KORE-EDA Hirokazu


PRIX D’INTERPRETATION FEMININE (BEST ACTRESS):
Berenice Bejo, "THE PAST"

PRIX D’INTERPRETATION MASCULINE (BEST ACTOR): Bruce Dern, "NEBRASKA"

PRIZE OF UN CERTAIN REGARD
THE MISSING PICTURE by Rithy PANH
 
JURY PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD
OMAR by Hany ABU-ASSAD

DIRECTING PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARDAlain GUIRAUDIE for STRANGER BY THE LAKE

A CERTAIN TALENT PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD
For the ensemble cast of LA JAULA DE ORO by Diego QUEMADA-DIEZ

AVENIR PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD
FRUITVALE STATION by Ryan COOGLER

FIPRESCI PRIZE - COMPETITION PRIZE
Blue Is The Warmest Color (La vie d'Adèle — Chapitre 1 & 2) by Abdellatif Kechiche (France, 2013)

FIPRESCI PRIZE - UN CERTAIN REGARD PRIZE
Manuscripts Don't Burn (Dast-Neveshtehaa Nemisvosand) by Mohammad Rasoulof (Iran, 2013)

FIPRESCI PRIZE - PARALLEL SECTION
Blue Ruin by Jeremy Saulnier (USA, 2013), shown in the Directors' Fortnight.

ECUMENICAL JURY PRIZE
LE PASSÉ/The Past de Asghar Farhadi (Compétition Officielle)

ECUMENICAL JURY PRIZE - SPECIAL MENTION
SOSHITE CHICHI NI NARU (TEL PÈRE, TEL FILS)/Like Father Like Son de Hirokazu Kore-eda (Compétition officielle)
MIELE de Valeria Golino (Un Certain Regard)

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