Awards Tour: Directors Guild Announces Winners

Joel Brito

Toss up between The Hurt Locker and Inglourious Basterds. Both movies were directed beautifully, and I wish the best of luck to all nominees, of course :)

Jan 7 - 10:54 AM

Michael Fortner

I think precious is the odd man out here. Hurt Locker, Basterds and Up in the Air were all extremely well directed, but Avatar is the wild card. Will it be dismissed as popular entertainment or will the direction be considered on its merits? Cameron the director delivered a film experience like we've never seen. You can argue about his writing skills, but as a director he nailed it.

It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Jan 7 - 11:06 AM

Himanshu Malik

Its showing 30% for Up in the air,RT.
Great nominees,anyways.

Jan 7 - 11:22 AM

Laurence Houle-Collin

Although I kind of wish it were the case, I don't think Up in the Air currently scores a 30 percent on the Tomatometer. RT, fix this, please.

My vote goes to Bigelow.

Jan 7 - 11:23 AM

Kellen Frost

Man,

They need to separate what it means to have a best picture and a best director. I think Cameron should clearly win best director, sheerly on the fact that he has created something that no one has ever seen before. Many films have been about the Iraq war, just because one of them does it very well, doesn't mean she should be considered the best director.

That being said, I haven't seen Hurt Locker (I really have to), so my vote doesn't hold as much weight. However, Avatar was the best theater going experience I've ever had, and it seems to be that way for many, all around the world, and appears as though it could surpass Titanic at the box office. To me, a movie that garners that much critical and financial success, able to attract a mass worldly audience, means something was done very right. That's a best director and for that matter, a best picture.

Think about it, the top two highest grousing movies of all time at the moment, Titanic and LOTR: return of the king, both won best picture and director. My votes for the other return of the king: James Cameron.

Jan 7 - 11:45 AM

David Chung

fixed! thanks for the heads up, guys.

Jan 7 - 11:53 AM

Jeremiah Brewer

Has to be Tarantino, with a close second to Bigelow. That James Cameron is even listed for his movie "Blue Star Wars" is laughable and an insult to the other directors in this category.

Jan 7 - 12:13 PM

James Bousema

I love Avatar and James Cameron. But I still think the award should either go to Bigelow or Tarantino

Jan 7 - 12:17 PM

BLaCKWoLF .

Although this is a great list of Directorial nominees, I still feel disappointed that Neil Bloomkamp isnt up there.

Anyway, Bigelow FTW.

Jan 7 - 12:42 PM

Nathan Donarum

I think Neill Blomkamp should have been nominated for District 9 in place of Lee Daniels for Precious.

I mean, I don%u2019t wanna bash Precious. I thought it was a good movie. But its weakest point was by far its directing. It was in so many ways what you%u2019d expect to see from a low-budget indie film concerning the issues it deals with.

District 9 was very tightly directed, with a lot of originality. Fake documentary setups have been used many times in movies, but outside of certain comedies, mostly the works of Christopher Guest, they%u2019ve never been done quite as effectively. I mean, that%u2019s not the only thing that stands out, but it%u2019s certainly one of the major points.

That said, I think Kathryn Bigelow should win. All the other four nominees are about equal for me. I absolutely loved every single one of them. But I think the edge goes to Bigelow. The Hurt Locker was such a taut, tense, visceral experience, and absolutely brilliantly executed.

Jan 7 - 12:51 PM

Thomas Grady

Looking at her filmography, I highly doubt that Kathryn Bigelow probably won't direct anything as great as The Hurt Locker, so give it to her. It is the best film of the year. Her ex James Cameron needs a screenwriting partner to write better dialogue and for all the detail he put into it he should have redubbed Worthington's battle speech. Tarantino may direct another classic. Jason Reitman and Lee Daniels are growing as great filmmakers.

Jan 7 - 01:27 PM

Thomas Grady

Looking at her filmography, I highly doubt that Kathryn Bigelow will direct anything as great as The Hurt Locker, so give it to her. It is the best film of the year. Her ex James Cameron needs a screenwriting partner to write better dialogue and for all the detail he put into it he should have redubbed Worthington's battle speech. Tarantino may direct another classic. Jason Reitman and Lee Daniels are growing as great filmmakers.

Jan 7 - 01:28 PM

Ben Wellick

blue star wars ? seriously? how many more comparisons are goin to be made?

blue ninja turtles?
blue karata kid?
blue jerk?
blue battlestar pocahontas?.....

lol, give me a break, everything gets its source material from something now a days and can be compared to another film, people just love blowing up the avatar comparisons bc its the biggest movie of the decade...at least financially and special effects wise.......avatar was a great movie going experience..........bottom line

either cameron or tarantino deserve this.........obviously........

Jan 7 - 01:40 PM

kyle T

I don't know. I haven't seen Precious or The Hurt Locker. But of the other three, Up in the Air was my least favorite of Reitman's three movies so far (but he's doing quite well for himself), and while I know that it is very easy to screw up a huge budget (Transformers 2) I'm not sure if Cameron deserves it. And, while I do think that Inglorious Basterds was Tarantino's best movie (or at least as good as his other best, Reservoir Dogs), I don't really find him to be that great of a director.

I'll nominate Marc Webb for 500 days of Summer.

But I'm guessing that Hurt Locker will probably win, and I'm sure it deserves it, looking at that 98 %. But I need to see it first.

Jan 7 - 01:41 PM

Matthew Burge

Dunno about Hurt Locker, but Precious had terrible directing. The acting in it was so strong, it made up for a lot of its technical and aesthetic misgivings.

Reitman's directing was no stronger here than his previous two efforts. There's still time for him to grow, and should he, he can be rewarded later on. This is all about Cameron and Tarantino. I'll be happy if either of them wins.

Jan 7 - 02:03 PM

D Dark

Just saw that Avatar has hit the #2 spot for all-time worldwide box office gross after Titanic (that's not adjusted for inflation, of course). Also just read that Cameron said, yes, there will be a sequel. So, those that loved the film will have something to look forward to and the haters will have something to complain about for the next two or three years. Everyone should be happy. Of course, Cameron has said a lot of projects were going to happen that never did (like when he was "absolutely" going to do Spider-Man), so who knows.

As for the DGA... hard to say. I still haven't seen the Hurt Locker but everything I've read says it's the one to beat. Precious seems unlikely. Up in the Air could pull a surprise victory, I suppose, but it also seems unlikely. Inglorious Basterds seems like the obvious contender to challenge the Hurt Locker and although I don't think it's Tarantino's masterpiece as some contend, the directing is still very, very assured. Avatar... well, who knows. It's so great in some areas and so obviously lacking in others (and this is coming from someone that really, really enjoyed the film) that I just don't see it winning much of anything beyond technical awards (when such categories are available, that is). If anyone was going to give Avatar the top prize I imagine it would be the Globes. A small group of foreign journalists giving top honors to a movie that has done extremely well abroad? Yah, I can see that. I don't even think that's likely, but I think it has better odds than with any of the other award shows. Guess we'll see.

From a historical perpective, it would be kind of cool to see Hurt Locker win. I believe it would be the first time a woman had won the DGA's top honor. The same would be true if she took Best Director at the Oscars.

Jan 7 - 02:08 PM

Joel Brito

I guess the general consensus is pointing to either Tarantino or Bigelow, just like my 1st comment =D

However, after much thought.....I think it might go to Bigelow. The tension and grittiness that she used for The Hurt Locker was just spectacular....overall awesome directing, hope she wins! :P

Jan 7 - 02:30 PM

Dave J

"Avatar" doesn't need to win any awards at this point already making more than a billion dollars at the BO for I feel that it doesn't really need anymore recognition than what it's getting right now, I feel that honor should go to the movies that haven't made enough!!!
And I quite enjoyed "Avatar" by the way which is what this movie manages to do is that it shows Camerons love of other films?

Jan 7 - 02:37 PM

Derek Meadors

I'd give it to Bigelow. Tarantino is always more of a writer than a director to me, what I mean is his writing is what makes his movies, not the directing. The Hurt Locker was just an extremely well directed movie, something I've not said about any other Bigelow film.

Avatar was well directed, but it's like when the Yankees win the World Series, it would just feel like he bought his way there.

I really didn't like Up In the Air, so it's not really fair for me to judge that one since I have a bias against it winning any awards.

I agree with previous posters about Precious. District 9 should be in its place.

Jan 7 - 03:12 PM

larry mcmichael

Hurt Locker or Avatar please. The ex-spouses.

Jan 7 - 03:33 PM