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Music icon Ray Charles was not only important for his contributions to the history of soul and R&b, but he also played a memorable role on the popular sitcom The Nanny. First airing in 1993, The Nanny starred Fran Drescher as a lovable former cosmetics saleswoman who becomes the nanny to a wealthy widower's children. Over its six-season run, the show introduced a host of memorable characters and featured many guest stars ranging from modern-day celebrities to timeless figures like Ray Charles. Ultimately, The Nanny elevated itself above other sitcoms at the time for its progressive attitudes and inclusive casting choices.

As a towering figure in the world of music, Ray Charles had already entered the twilight years of his career by the 1990s, but his role on The Nanny was no less powerful. Charles was no stranger to making cameos in film and TV, and he had famously appeared...

Bill Macy, the actor who made an indelible imprint on 1970s sitcoms with his portrayal on Norman Lear’s Maude of the loving if always up-for-an-argument Walter Findlay, died last night in Los Angeles. He was 97.

Macy’s death was announced by his producer and manager Matt Beckoff, writing on Facebook “My buddy Bill Macy passed away at 7:13pm tonight. He was a spitfire right up to the end…My condolences to his beautiful wife Samantha Harper Macy.” (See the post below.)

Macy costarred in the 1972-78 All in the Family spin-off series opposite Bea Arthur, who played the outspoken liberal Maude Findlay, a cousin of Family‘s Edith Bunker.

Macy’s post-Maude credits include 1979’s Steve Martin vehicle The Jerk, 1982’s My Favorite Year, Movers & Shakers (1985), Tales from the Darkside (1986), Me, Myself and I (1992), Analyze This (1999), Surviving Christmas (2004), The Holiday (2006), and Mr. Woodcock (2007), among many others.

Numerous TV...

Ann Morgan Guilbert, perhaps best known for her role as 'Grandma Yetta Rosenberg' on ABC's The Nanny, died of cancer on Tuesday, June 14th in Los Angeles, California at the age of 87.

The world has sadly lost another star.  Ann Morgan Guilbert, the character actress synonymous with beloved sitcoms like The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Nanny, died Tuesday after battling cancer. Her daughter Nora Eckstein confirmed her death, as reported by Variety (via AP). The longtime actress was 87 years old.  A Minnesota native, she left her hometown and headed for California to study theater and begin working as a performer. By the time she was in her early 30s, Gilbert had scored the role of Millie Helper, the signature next door neighbor on The Dick Van Dyke Show.  In addition to subsequent guest roles on shows like I Dream of Jeannie, The Partridge...

[caption id="attachment_50934" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Life In Pieces TV show on CBS. Ann Morgan Guilbert guest stars as Gigi (as Ann Guilbert Guyer). Photo: CBS ©2016 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved./caption]

Actress Ann Morgan Guilbert died of cancer on Tuesday, June 14, 2016. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed her passing with daughter Nora Eckstein. She most recently guest starred as Gigi on two 2016 episodes of the CBS series, Life in Pieces (credited as Ann Guilbert Guyer), as pictured above. She also played Birdy Lamb on 15 episodes of HBO's Getting On TV show, which ended after three season totaling 18 episodes, in December 2015.

Best known to fans of classic television as Petrie neighbor Millie Helper on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961 to 1966, CBS), Guilbert reached a whole new CBS audience between 1993 and 1999, as Yetta Rosenberg on The Nanny, starring Fran Drescher.

Ann Morgan Guilbert, whose TV credits spanned from The Dick Van Dyke Show to The Nanny and most recently Getting On, died on Tuesday after battling cancer. She was 87.

Guilbert’s first major TV role was on The Dick Van Dyke Show, as Millie Helper, wife of the Petries’ dentist neighbor Jerry. Following that run, her myriad TV credits included The New Andy Griffith Show, The Fanelli Boys, Pickett Fences and The Nanny (as the titular Fran’s Grandma Yetta).

In more recent years, Guilbert guested on shows such as Modern Family and Life in Pieces, as well as recurred...

Actress Ann Morgan Guilbert died on Tuesday in Los Angeles her daughter confirmed to the Associated Press. She was 87. The Dick Van Dyke Show star - who played Millie, the friend and neighbor of Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) - reportedly lost her life to cancer. Guilbert also had a reoccurring role in nineties sitcom The Nanny, and recently appeared on the CBS comedy Life in Pieces. Over her 40 years in Hollywood, Guilbert starred in a number of television shows and films, including Grey's Anatomy, Getting On and Nicole Holofcener's 2010 Sundance selection Please Give. Guilbert also had credits on Broadway,...

Actress Ann Morgan Guilbert died on Tuesday in Los Angeles her daughter confirmed to the Associated Press. She was 87. The Dick Van Dyke Show star reportedly lost her life to cancer. Guilbert also had a reoccurring role in nineties sitcom The Nanny, and recently appeared on the CBS comedy Life in Pieces. Over her 40 years in Hollywood, Guilbert starred in a number of television shows and films, including Grey's Anatomy, Getting on and Nicole Holofcener's 2010 Sundance selection Please Give. Guilbert also had credits on Broadway, acting in A Naked Girl, Waiting for Godot and To Kill a Mockingbird. She...

Actress Ann Morgan Guilbert died on Tuesday in Los Angeles her daughter confirmed to the Associated Press. She was 87.

The Dick Van Dyke Show star – who played Millie, the friend and neighbor of Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) – reportedly lost her life to cancer.

Guilbert also had a reoccurring role in nineties sitcom The Nanny, and recently appeared on the CBS comedy Life in Pieces.

Over her 40 years in Hollywood, Guilbert starred in a number of television shows and films, including Grey's Anatomy, Getting On and Nicole Holofcener's 2010 Sundance selection Please Give.

Guilbert also had credits on Broadway, acting in A Naked Girl,...

Veteran TV and film actress Ann Morgan Guilbert, known as the spirited neighbor on 1960s sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show and who most recently appeared on the CBS comedy Life In Pieces, died of cancer Tuesday in Los Angeles. Her daughter Nora Eckstein confirmed her mother’s death to the Associated Press. Guilbert was 87. Guilbert’s decades-long career began in the 1950s as a featured performer and singer in the Billy Barnes Revues. She went on to television, landing her…...

Ann Morgan Guilbert, an actress best known for her role on “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” has died at age 87, TheWrap has learned. An individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap that Guilbert died at her Los Angeles home on Tuesday, with both of her children by her side, after battling cancer. In the 1960s, Guilbert played Millie Helper, the Petries’ neighbor and Laura’s (Mary Tyler Moore) best friend, on the “Dick Van Dyke Show” for its entire five-season run. Three decades later, she gained fame with a new generation, playing Fran Drescher‘s grandmother on ‘The Nanny.

Chicago – It was a cold Chicago day in May, typical of the endless winter. The coffee shop was warm and inviting, as I waited to interview the comedy icon, Cindy Caponera. She had written a book – “I Triggered Her Bully” – but as she walked in I was more interested in what she was wearing.

Her pullover was resplendent with an inlayed collar design, a thread embroidery that took me back to the court of Marie Antoinette. She paired that with one of the latest and hottest styles, the casual stretch pant, which she pulled off like a young Audrey Hepburn brought back to life for a chocolate ad. Her manicure, which she described as “mediocre,” glowed under the halogen lamps of the shop like Michael Jackson brought back to life as a sequined corpse. She said she had spent 45 minutes to make her eyebrows less purple, and as I looked more closely,...

“Closetcon ‘13” marks a rare occasion where a Modern Family episode succeeds in concept and execution without relying on a big family get-together. Although the title comes from the name of the convention that Jay and Claire are attending this week, each story deals with a closet-related crisis, two of which are inspired and one that is handled surprisingly well, despite a predictable set-up.

The first proverbial closet, of course, has to do with acceptance of one’s homosexuality. Mitch, Cam and Lily head up to Cam’s pig farm in Missouri. A tornado warning has forced them in the basement with Cam’s grandmother (Ann Guilbert), lovingly referred to as “Gram Gram,” although she is not far from her deathbed. Out of touch with the ‘progressive’ nature of sociopolitical American life, the grandmother disdains gay people – which makes it tough for Cam to explain Mitch’s presence (as well as Lily,...

In last night’s episode of Modern Family, Cam and Mitch have to pretend to be unaffectionate toward each other. Big stretch. Also, Jay and Claire visit Closet-Con, and Phil and the rest have their hands full with a pizza boy and module model.

Favorite Moments:

Lily talks country, y’all!

It was great seeing sitcom pros Randee Heller (Jodie’s lesbian roommate on Soap), Celia Weston (Alice), and Ann Guilbert (Dick Van Dyke, The Nanny).

“And what if I told you the love of my life was this man standing right here?” “Then I’d know why God sent us this tornado.”

“After the initial shock, Grams softened a bit. She even agreed to attend the wedding.” “Standing outside with a sign.” “Baby steps.”

I didn’t think this was one of the stronger episodes. And I’m a little irked with the scene of Mitch asking Cam for a kiss,...

With all the "Black Swan" hoopla, am I the only one who thinks that the film, while well-made, is not deserving of all these hyper-crazed adulations? Portman was good, but I prefer Annette Bening's understated performance in "The Kids Are All Right." Or heck, Jennifer Lawrence's "Winter's Bone" performance could easily outdance Portman's delusional ballerina portrayal any day.

And "Winter's Bone," celebrating its true independent spirit, was virtually snubbed at last night's Independent Spirit Awards. Sure, the excellent supporting cast was honored with Dale Dickey winning Best Supporting Female and John Hawkes for Best Supporting Male, but the engaging and deeply haunting Debra Granik movie (with the most nominations totaling to seven nods) lost out to...you guessed it, Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan." (Check out my "Winter's Bone" movie review right here)

And yes, I do admire Aronofsky, I thought "The Wrestler" was one of his personal...

Film Independent, the non-profit arts organization that produces the Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival, handed out top honors to Black Swan, Winter's Bone, 127 Hours, and The Kids Are All Right at this afternoon's 26th Film Independent Spirit Awards. The King's Speech, Exit Through the Gift Shop, Get Low, Tiny Furniture, and Daddy Longlegs also received awards at the ceremony, held in a tent on the beach in Santa Monica.

The Spirit Awards was the first event to exclusively honor independent film, and over the past 26 years, has become the premier awards show for the independent film community, celebrating films made by filmmakers who embody independence and originality. Artists receiving industry recognition first at the Spirit Awards include Joel & Ethan Coen, Spike Lee, Oliver Stone, Ashley Judd, Robert Rodriguez, David O. Russell, Edward Burns, Aaron Eckhart, Neil Labute, Darren Aronofsky, Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman, Hilary Swank, Marc Forster,...

Well, every year the Independent Spirit Awards are handed out the night before the Oscars, and every year, it seems that they are honouring a completely different set of films, despite having a number of overlapping nominees. At this point, it almost seems like you don't want to win a Spirit Award because if you do, it means you won't end up winning the Oscar. Assuming history repeats itself, James Franco's chances of winning Best Actor for 127 Hours just got a little worse (not that he really had a shot in the first place), and Natalie Portman might not be the lock that everyone thinks she is. Black Swan also ended up taking home Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Cinematography, while John Hawkes and Dale Dickey took home Supporting Actor and Actress awards for Winter's Bone. The Kids Are All Right ended up getting Best Screenplay, while Exit Through the Gift Shop...

Black Swan, James Franco, and the other winners of the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards have been announced. The 26th Annual Spirit Awards ceremony was held on February 26, 2011. “Black Swan dominated the evening by winning Best Feature, Best Director (Darren Aronofsky), Best Female Lead (Natalie Portman), and Best Cimenatography (Matthew Libatique). It won all four categories for which it was nominated.” The full listing of the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards is below.

Best Feature

Black Swan

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Best Screenplay

Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Best First Feature

Get Low

Best First Screenplay

Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture

John Cassavetes Award

Daddy Longlegs

Best Female Lead

Natalie Portman, Black Swan

Best Male Lead

James Franco, 127 Hours

Best Supporting Female

Dale Dickey, Winter’s Bone

Best Supporting Male

John Hawkes, Winter’s Bone

Best Cinematography

Matthew Libatique, Black Swan

Best Documentary

Exit Through the Gift Shop...

Christopher Hitchens once courted controversy by penning an article entitled "Why Women Aren't Funny" in Vanity Fair, to which this year's Spirit Awards almost seem intended as a pointed rebuke. The funny business was good for both sexes in 2010, but extraordinary for those without the Y chromosome, resulting a group of pictures that heralds what's new and next for comedy.

Of course, one of the most nominated films of the evening is "The Kids Are All Right," Lisa Cholodenko's comedy about the children of lesbian parents (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) who seek out their biological father (Mark Ruffalo). Cholodenko, who had been best known for drama, took a turn towards comedy with her latest, with the help of longtime comedy screenwriter Stuart Blumberg ("The Girl Next Door," "Keeping the Faith"), and as it turns out, the sun-dappled San Fernando Valley that seemed so foreboding in her music biz...

I went 10/13 with my predictions of the Indie Spirits today -- my misfires came in the Best Picture and Best Actress categories thinking that Winter's Bone had the edge over Black Swan. Not that Winter's Bone didn't have a good night (it won in the Best Supporting categories - I thought that Bill Murray had the edge over John Hawkes is where I flubbed as well) but it was indeed a Black Swan event -- with additional wins for Directing (Darren Aronofsky) and Cinematography (Matthew Libatique). You can find the winners in bold below. Best Feature 127 Hours Black Swan Greenberg The Kids Are All Right Winter's Bone Best Director Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan Danny Boyle, 127 Hours Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right Debra Granik, Winter's Bone John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole Best Screenplay Stuart Blumberg, Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini, Winter's Bone Nicole Holofcener,...

Tune in to IFC tonight at 10:00 p.m. Et/Pt to catch all the action at the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards, with actor and comedian Joel McHale hosting.

Highlights include: Joel getting caught in a 127 Hours situation with only Dale Dickey, “Banksy” and John Waters to help him out; See how this year’s best feature nominees stack up against porn and the big studios; Catch the Spirit Awards’ version of a dead people montage; and more! The show was produced by Film Independent in association with Dick Clark productions, Inc.

The Spirit Awards was the first event to exclusively honor independent film, and over the past 26 years, has become the premier awards show for the independent film community, celebrating films made by filmmakers who embody independence and originality.

The following is a complete list of the winners:

Winners List

Best Feature: 'Black Swan'

Best Director: Darren Aronofsky,...

The 2011 Independent Spirit Awards were handed out a few hours ago and Black Swan won in all four categories it was nominated in including Best Picture, Best Director (Darren Aronofsky), Best Actress (Natalie Portman) and Best Cinematography (Matthew Libatique). Winter's Bone earned the most nominations at seven and dominated the supporting categories with wins for both Dale Dickey and John Hawkes, of the two only Hawkes earned an Oscar nomination, but he'll be facing off against both Christian Bale and Geoffrey Rush tomorrow night so I'm not counting on two awards in two days, though his performance in that film is one to remember.

Elsewhere, James Franco won Best Actor for 127 Hours, though he wasn't facing the stiffest of competition when it comes to most talked about performances of the year as he is the only one of the five nominees to also be nominated for an Oscar. Exit Through the Gift Shop...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: The day before the annual Academy Awards ceremony belongs to the Spirit Awards, when Hollywood’s independent film community – which currently reflects the Oscar community thanks to double-dipping films like “Black Swan,” “Winter’s Bone” and “The Kids Are All Right” – takes to the sands in Santa Monica for what host Joel McHale calls “the coolest awards show, because it’s casual, in a tent on a beach, and people are drinking, and vomiting.”

Let’s hope there isn’t as much throw up as McHale predicts. We wouldn’t want 2011 Spirit Awards nominees Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Natalie Portman, James Franco, Ben Stiller or John C. Reilly slipping in someone else’s vomit on the way to the stage.

All kidding aside, the Spirit Awards are a laid-back affair, a lighter appetizer to the glamorous Oscars. The ceremony will be televised in IFC beginning at 10 p.

This is the last of my lists of the best films of 2010, and the hardest to name. Call it the Best Art Films. I can't precisely define an Art Film, but I knew I was seeing one when I saw these. I could also call them Adult Films, if that term hadn't been devalued by the porn industry. These are films based on the close observation of behavior. They are not mechanical constructions of infinitesimal thrills. They depend on intelligence and empathy to be appreciated.

They also require acting of a precision not necessary in many mass entertainments. They require directors with a clear idea of complex purposes. They require subtleties of lighting and sound that create a self-contained world. Most of all, they require sympathy. The directors care for their characters, and ask us to see them as individuals, not genre emblems. That requires us to see ourselves as individual viewers,...

The Writers Guild of America, West (Wgaw) and the Writers Guild of America, East (Wgae) tonight announced the winners of the 2011 Writers Guild Awards for outstanding achievement in writing for screen, television, radio, news, promotional, videogame, and new media writing at simultaneous ceremonies at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel-Grand Ballroom in Los Angeles and the Axa Equitable Center in New York City.

Screen Winners

Original Screenplay

Inception, Written by Christopher Nolan; Warner Bros.

Black Swan, Screenplay by Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John J. McLaughlin; Story by Andres Heinz; Fox Searchlight

The Fighter, Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Paramount Pictures

The Kids Are All Right, Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg; Focus Features

Please Give, Written by Nicole Holofcener; Sony Pictures Classics

Adapted Screenplay

The Social Network, Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin; Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires...

I'm so tardy with my own awards. I generally get all the major stuff up before Oscar nominations but no such luck this year. I'll try to throw up at least one category per day now so we can finish this month. The actress categories were Torture this year because there were definitely more than 5 award-worthy performances per. In fact, the performances were so good this year that it's really too bad they couldn't have been spread out over the past few years when the pickings were slimmer. I'm not finished with lead actress but Supporting Actress was easier. As is the tradition, I only list 12 women as nominees, finalists, and semi-finalists. I could've gone to 20. These are the dozen best in my estimation for the Film Bitch Awards...

Amy & Melissa, Acting Heavyweights for "The Fighter"

Amy Adams, The Fighter Dale Dickey, Winter's Bone Anne Marie Duff, Nowhere Boy Kirsten Dunst,...

Best Documentary "Exit Through the Gift Shop" It's hard to know whether street artist Banksy's feature documentary is what it claims to be—a doc about an obsessive man who falls in love with the world of street art (where artists place their work in public, risking arrest for vandalism), fashioning himself as the most financially successful street artist in history—or is Banksy's best prank to date. The film follows the life of buffoonish French expatriate Thierry Guetta, a happy-go-lucky proprietor of an overpriced hipster-wear store in West Hollywood with the curious habit of videotaping everything that happens to him. Guetta persuades his cousin, a street artist known as Space Invader, to become the subject of a "documentary," which leads Guetta to other street artists like Obama icon-maker Shepard Fairey and ultimately to the white whale of street artists: the ultra-secretive Banksy (interviewed in silhouette, of course...

Best DirectorDarren Aronofsky'Black Swan'In many ways, Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" is similar to his previous film, "The Wrestler." Both lead characters are dedicated artists struggling with inner demons. To express themselves, they have only their bodies. Their age, injuries, and mental stability threaten to undermine their art.However, in "Black Swan," Aronofsky masterfully adds another layer. He parallels the journey of Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman) with the tale of "Swan Lake," the tragic ballet in which she performs. The astute viewer will notice his use of black and white in the set pieces of almost every scene, alluding to the contrast between the white and black swans. He adds elements of horror, drama, and paranoia, all of which exist in "Swan Lake." He directs the actors in such a way that you aren't ever sure what is fantasy and what is reality. All of these elements add...

The nominations of 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards have been announced on Tuesday, November 30 in Los Angeles by Jeremy Renner and Eva Mendes. And some movies which have received Oscar buzz such as "127 Hours" and "Black Swan" are touted for Best Feature at the upcoming Spirit Awards.

For this title, the two movies will fight against "Greenberg", "The Kids Are All Right" and "Winter's Bone". The latest mentioned flick, which is fresh from grabbing two kudos at Gotham Independent Film Awards, has a chance to be a big winner at Spirits Awards since it takes the most nods.

The drama leads Debra Granik to be a contender for Best Director prize. She will face a tight competition with Darren Aronofsky, Danny Boyle in addition to Lisa Cholodenko and John Cameron Mitchell for this title.

The cast including Jennifer Lawrence, Dale Dickey and John Hawkes are additionally up for Best Female Lead,...

Natalie Portman is going to get a stiff competition from Jennifer Lawrence at 2011 Independent Spirit Awards. The nominees for the annual awards dedicated to independent filmmakers have been announced on Tuesday, November 30, and both actresses were unraveled to be among those up for Best Female Lead.

29-year-old Natalie received the nomination for her portrayal of a ballet dancer in "Black Swan", while 20-year-old Jennifer got her nod for her role as a teen on a desperate search to find her missing father in "Winter's Bone". Both of them were nominated along with Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Nicole Kidman and Michelle Williams.

In addition to Natalie's acting nom, her psychological thriller "Black Swan" has nabbed three other nods. It is vying for Best Feature along with "Winter's Bone", "127 Hours", "Greenberg" and "The Kids Are All Right". Additionally, it also collected nomination for its director Darren Aronofsky and cinematographer Matthew Libatique.

Jennifer's "Winter's Bone", in the meantime,...

The 2011 Film Independent Spirit Awards nominees have been announced, and there are a lot of great films that are being recognized. Winter's Bone racked up seven nominations after it won Best Feature at the Gotham Awards. Other films on the list include, 127 Hours, Black Swan, Greenberg, and The Kids Are All Right.There's some great competition this year, 127 Hours, Black Swan, and Winter's Bone are three of the best movies I've seen this year, but I think Winter's Bone will take the win on this one.

These nominations are only given to films which were produced for under $20 million. The awards will be handed out on February 26 live on IFC with host Joel McHale.

Check out the nominee list below and let us know what you think! Who would you like to see win?

Best Feature (Award given to the Producer)

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right...

The nominees for the 2011 Independent Spirit Awards were announced this morning from Los Angeles, once again honouring the year's best independent films shot on shoestring budgets (specifically under $20 million). Leading the pack was Debra Granik's Winter's Bone, which picked up seven nods including Best Feature, Best Director, and Best Male and Female Leads. Considering that the film also just won Best Feature at The Gotham Awards [1] this week, could it be gaining momentum as a possible Oscar contender? Other films with multiple nominations include Lisa Cholodenko's The Kids Are All Right, John Cameron Mitchell's Rabbit Hole, and Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan. It was also pretty cool to see The Last Exorcism picking up a few mentions, although Never Let Me Go seems to have been snubbed, getting just one nomination for Best Cinematography. Ouch. We won't find out who wins until Saturday, February 26th, 2011, with a...

Every year after the Gotham Awards choose their winners, the nominees for the Independent Spirit Awards are announced. Leading with nominations this year is Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan and Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone. All three may make my best of the year list and each and every year I wholeheartedly agree with their picks. It is by far my favorite awards show and while I sometimes disagree with the winners I am always excited to see the smaller productions receive recognition for their amazing work.

The nominations are only given to films which were produced for under $20 million and the awards will be handed out on February 26 live on IFC.

Missing in action:

Where is Gareth Edwards’ Monsters? It was his first feature and he produced it for under ten grand.

Honestly Rabbit Hole deserves the nomination for best picture more than The Kids Are Alright.

This morning, Eva Mendes and Jeremy Renner presented the 2011 Film Independent Spirit Award nominations and last night's Gotham Awards big winner, Winter's Bone was this morning's leading nominee with a total of seven nominations including Best Feature, Best Director (Debra Granik), Best Screenplay (Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini), Best Female Lead (Jennifer Lawrence), Best Supporting Female (Dale Dickey), Best Supporting Male (John Hawkes) and Best Cinematography (Michael McDonough).

Coming in second on the nomination list was The Kids are All Right with five, followed by Black Swan, Greenberg and Rabbit Hole, all with four. The only nominee for Best Feature not to have at least four nominations was Danny Boyle's 127 Hours, which earned three noms.

A few things of note when quickly glancing through the list, Winter's Bone is not only making a hard push for a Best Picture nomination, which now appears to be a certainty just as...

I'm so glad that "Winter's Bone" has been receiving all the accolades. I love this film when it was shown in limited release last summer. The backwoods drama won big at the Gothams Awards winning Best Feature and Best Ensemble, and now, it dominated the Independent Spirit Awards with seven nominations including Best Feature, Director for Debra Granik, Screenplay for Granik and Anne Rosellini, Female Lead for Jennifer Lawrence, Supporting Female for Dale Dickey, Supporting Male for John Hawkes, and Cinematography for Michael McDonough. ("Winter's Bone" Movie Review)

"Winter's Bone" will compete against "127 Hours," "Black Swan," "Greenberg" and "The Kids Are All Right" for best picture.

Related Links:

"127 Hours" interviews with James Franco, Danny Boyle, and Simon Beaufoy

"Greenberg" Movie Review and Interviews with Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, and Rhys Ifans

"The Kids Are All Right" Movie Review and Interviews with Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, and...

After Winter's Bone won Best Feature at the first award ceremony of the season [1] Monday, it kept its momentum up Tuesday by getting seven nominations at the Film Independent Spirit Awards [2]. That's more nominations than any other film on the list, beating out fellow Best Feature nominees 127 Hours, Black Swan, Greenberg, and The Kids Are All Right. These nominations are only given to films which were produced for under $20 million, so other big award contenders like Inception, The Social Network and Toy Story 3 don't qualify. The awards will be handed out on February 26 live on IFC with host Joel McHale. Check out the full list of nominations after the jump. Here are all the nominees. Best Feature (Award given to the Producer) 127 Hours Black Swan Greenberg The Kids Are All Right Winter’s Bone Best Director Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan Danny Boyle, 127 Hours Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right Debra Granik,...

The announcements came at 11am Est (watch below). The full list of nominees follows underneath the video player (of note, Tanya Hamilton was nominated for Best First Feature for her directorial debut, Night Catches us, and Samuel L. Jackson in the Best Supporting Male category, for his performance in Mother and Child):

The list of nominations:

Best Feature (Award given to the Producer)

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right

Winter’s Bone

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Debra Granik, Winter’s Bone

John Cameron Mitchell, Rabbit Hole

Best First Feature (Award given to the director and producer)

Everything Strange and New

Get Low

The Last Exorcism

Night Catches Us

Tiny Furniture

John Cassavetes Award

(Given to the best feature made for under $500,000; award given to the writer, director, and producer)

Daddy Longlegs

The Exploding Girl

Lbs.

As award season draws nearer, theaters will be flooded with prestige-seeking dramas, stars will tout their recent turns as arrogant survivalists, stuttering monarchs, or grieving mothers, and audiences will clamor to catch up, seeking those films deemed the very best of 2010.

Are you ready? Because it has begun.

This morning in Hollywood, Eva Mendes and Jeremy Renner announced the nominees for the Spirit Awards, which honors the best of independent cinema. Lots of love was shown to Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone, and Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right, which snagged seven and five nominations respectively, while Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan earned four nods, as did Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg and John Cameron Mitchell’s Rabbit Hole.

Below is the full list of honorees, courtesy of IFC, which will air the awards ceremony on February 26th at 10Pm.

Best Feature

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right...

The Gotham Awards gave their top prize to Debra Granik's Ozark noir "Winter's Bone" last night, and today the film leads the Spirit Award pack with seven nominations. Eva Mendes and Jeremy Renner presented the full list of nominees in West Hollywood this morning, with Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are All Right" pulling in five nominations, and "Black Swan," "Greenberg" and "Rabbit Hole" nabbing four each.

The Spirit Awards, an annual celebration of the best in indie film, will take place Saturday, February 26th and will be hosted by Joel McHale this year. IFC will be broadcasting the event that night at 10pm. You can find out more about the awards and how the nominations and voting process work here.

The nominees:

Best Feature

127 Hours

Black Swan

Greenberg

The Kids Are All Right

Winter's Bone

Best Director

Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan

Danny Boyle, 127 Hours

Lisa Cholodenko, The Kids Are All Right

Debra Granik,...

What was once a Sundance darling is now a Gothams Award winner! Debra Granik's "Winter's Bone" won big at the 20th Gotham Independent Film Awards taking home the Best Feature and the Best Ensemble Performance awards.

It's safe to say that "Winter's Bone," which earned two Sundance prizes last January including Best Drama Film and Screenwriting, is on its way to the Academy Awards. ("Winter's Bone" Movie Review)

"The Hurt Locker" started its ascend to Oscar victory last year with its two-punch Best Feature and Best Ensemble Gotham Awards.

Here's the complete list of winners and nominees of the 20th Gotham Independent Film Awards: (Winners are highlighted)

Best Feature

Black Swan -- Darren Aronofsky, director; Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Blue Valentine -- Derek Cianfrance, director; Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell, Alex Orlovsky, producers (The Weinstein Company)

The Kids Are All Right -- Lisa Cholodenko,...

If you ask me: this was a fight between an underdog in Winter’s Bone and a favorite in The Kids Are All Right (Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo). The underdog won. With Jennifer Lawrence not winning in Breakthrough Actor award category, this serves as the consolation prize for the actress, but a testament to the cast of almost unknown actors that gave the Ozarks portion of aural America true personality. This goes to Lawrence, John Hawkes, Dale Dickey, Lauren Sweetser, Garret Dillahunt and Kevin BreznahanOther Noms: The Kids Are All Right Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson (Focus Features) Life During Wartime Shirley Henderson, Ciarán Hinds, Allison Janney, Michael Lerner, Chris Marquette, Rich Pecci, Charlotte Rampling, Paul Reubens, Ally Sheedy, Dylan Riley Snyder, Renée Taylor, Michael Kenneth Williams (IFC Films) Please Give Catherine Keener, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Rebecca Hall, Ann Guilbert, Lois Smith,...

We’re only a week away from the Nov. 30 announcement of the Film Independent Spirit Award nominees, which always manage to sneak a few pleasant surprises (like The Vicious Kind’s Adam Scott last year) in with the expected indie hits. So here are three contenders I’m hoping might be recognized along with surefire nominees like The Kids Are All Right, Winter’s Bone, and Blue Valentine.

Best Actor: Dermot Mulroney, Inhale You’ve probably never heard of this drama, which was released last month. The story of an assistant D.A. who travels to dangerous Juarez, Mexico, to...

DVD Playhouse—November 2010

By Allen Gardner

Paths Of Glory (Criterion) Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 antiwar classic put him on the map as a major filmmaker. Kirk Douglas stars in a true story about a French officer in Ww I who locks horns with the military’s top brass after his men are court-martialed for failing to carry out an obvious suicide mission. A perfect film, across the board, with fine support from George Macready as one of the most despicable martinet’s ever captured on film, Ralph Meeker, and Adolphe Menjou, all oily charm as a conniving General. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Audio commentary by critic Gary Giddins; Excerpt from 1966 audio interview with Kubrick; 1979 interview with Douglas; New interviews with Jan Harlan, Christiane Kubrick, and producer James B. Harris; French television documentary on real-life case which inspired the film; Trailer. Widescreen. Dolby 1.0 mono.

Winter’S Bone (Lionsgate) After her deadbeat father disappears,...

Breasts are the first image in Nicole Holofcener’s Please Give. Old breasts, young breasts, perky, and sagging breasts. They all being submitted to the somewhat humiliating but completely necessary procedure which is the mammogram. This opening scene sets the mood for Please Give, a wonderful little New York film that proves a film written, directed, and centered on women does not have to be about romance.

In Please Give, Kate (Catherine Keener) and Alex (Oliver Platt) are partners in marriage and in business. They run a successful vintage furniture shop in the Village where they sell furniture from the recently deceased. Kate pays distraught relatives hundreds of dollars to take the furniture off their hands and then resells it in her shop for thousands, but her profiteering is starting to take a toll on her conscience.

Kate also feels guilty because she and Alex have purchased the apartment next...

Please Give, starring Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt, comes to DVD Oct 19. In celebration of the DVD release, BuzzFocus and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment are teaming up to give away (1) copies of Please Give on DVD. About Please Give Married antique-dealers, Kate and Alex (Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt) plan on gutting the apartment they own next door to expand their own pad once Andra, the cranky, elderly widow (Ann Guilbert) who lives there, finally dies. When Kate, conflicted with her own guilt, befriends Andra’s granddaughters (Rebecca Hall and Amanda Peet), the results are anything but predictable in this devastatingly funny comedy that examines life and death… and everything in between! Three generations of insecure New Yorkers are put under a microscope in Nicole Holofcener’s critically acclaimed, quirky and hilarious comedy, Please Give. You can enter twice daily by: 1) Following us on Twitter @buzzfocus and Rt this : I entered the BuzzFocus.

So how do you define “independent” again?

The nominees for Ifp’s 20th annual Gotham Independent Film Awards (which some refer to as the official start to awards season) were announced moments ago.

The Gotham Awards will be held on November 29th. More here: http://gotham.ifp.org.

Here’s the list of “Independent Film” nominees:

Best Feature

Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky, director; Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)

Blue Valentine

Derek Cianfrance, director; Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell, Alex Orlovsky, producers (The Weinstein Company)

The Kids Are All Right

Lisa Cholodenko, director; Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray, Jordan Horowitz, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Philippe Hellmann, producers (Focus Features)

Let Me In

Matt Reeves, director; Simon Oakes, Alex Brunner, Guy East, Tobin Armbrust, Donna Gigliotti, John Nording, Carl Molinder, producers (Overture Films)

Winter’s Bone

Debra Granik, director; Anne Rosellini, Alix Madigan-Yorkin, producers (Roadside Attractions...

The nominees for the 2010 Gotham Independent Film Awards were announced today by the Independent Filmmaker Project. Twenty-six films were nominated across six categories. The selections were chosen by 20 film critics, journalists, and curators. The awards ceremony will be held on Nov. 29 in Manhattan. Previous winners for Best Feature include "The Hurt Locker" (2009), "Into the Wild" (2007), and "Capote" (2005).In addition to the film awards, career tributes will be given to actors Robert Duvall and Hilary Swank, director Darren Aronofsky, and Focus Features CEO James Schamus. The nominees are as follow:Best Feature "Black Swan"Darren Aronofsky, director; Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Brian Oliver, Scott Franklin, producers (Fox Searchlight Pictures)"Blue Valentine"Derek Cianfrance, director; Jamie Patricof, Lynette Howell, Alex Orlovsky, producers (The Weinstein Company)"The Kids Are All Right"Lisa Cholodenko, director;  Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Celine Rattray, Jordan Horowitz, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Philippe Hellmann, producers (Focus Features)"Let Me In"Matt Reeves,...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: Please Give (** out of 4)

An obsession with death casts a pall over “Please Give,” an Upper East Side slice of naval gazing from Manhattan-born writer-director Nicole Holofcener (“Friends with Money,” “Lovely & Amazing”).

Catherine Keener, who has appeared in all four of Holofcener’s films, wears her guilt on her sleeve as Kate. The financially comfortable Gothamite regrets that she earns her living purchasing boutique furniture from the apartments of the recently deceased and reselling it — at marked up prices — to similar yuppies. To assuage her guilt, Kate hands out money to the homeless that hang around her home but ignores her husband, Alex (Oliver Platt), and petulant teenage daughter, Abby (Sarah Steele).

It’s not all doom and gloom. Kate and Alex purchased the apartment next door with the intention of expanding their modest home. Oh, wait. I take that back. It is morbid,...

Nicole Holofcener's new comedy is a clever, talky film about guilt, compassion and charity, writes Peter Bradshaw

Nicole Holofcener has been praised for her talky metropolitan comedies, but I've found the characters in movies such as Lovely & Amazing from 2001 and 2006's Friends With Money weirdly self-pitying and self-absorbed – and sometimes not all that funny. Please Give is an interesting and refreshing turn for the better. As an ensemble comedy, it has more bounce, more life and more comic oxygen.

Oliver Platt and Catherine Keener play Alex and Kate, a middle-aged couple with a teen daughter; they have shrewdly found a lucrative business in buying up furniture from the apartments of the recently deceased – whose grown-up children are only too eager to be rid of what looks like junk with painful memories – and cherry-picking the best items to sell on at a big profit in their retro-antique store.

With faintly vultureish instincts,...

Catherine Keener stars in Nicole Holofcener's latest, Please Give. Michael's been checking it out...

One of the plotlines of Please Give, writer-director Nicole Holofcener's gentle drama about charity, family and New York life, resolves with a mother (Catherine Keener) buying her daughter (Sarah Steele) a $200 pair of jeans. This is played with tenderness, with the exchange of gratitude ringing out as the credits roll. Such a sense of the upper middle class economic bubble helps complicate Please Give's appeal, as it is, for the most part, an intelligent, witty musing on urban living.

Opening with a peppy montage of mammograms, the film initially focuses on Rebecca (Rebecca Hall), a medical assistant who seems slightly at odds with her colleagues and surroundings. She is awkward around her workmates, who all seem obsessed with watching Autumn encroach on upstate forests, but finds solace in caring for her elderly grandmother,...