As those who are my friends on Facebook, or follow me on Twitter know, in December I am gearing up for my annual film awards (The BAM Awards), and that only partially explains my recent reposting of all past winners.
Since these are picks made by one person, the nominating process is even more important. Aside from the the past years, the full slate of nominees from all years past was not public knowledge.
This is because essentially the first time I did them, in 1996, I created them by myself for myself. At the time, I knew a lot less about how these decisions are made, campaigning, the year-end barrage of contenders and the like, such that the releasing of the Academy Award nominees was even more frustrating. Rather than just bemoan it I decided to create an award slate based on what I had seen.
Back then I was ticket stub pack rat, at the time it was the only way to track anything. So I created the list, picked winners and printed it out. The fact that I stuck with hard copies and no back-up created issues, however, it was just for me at the time.
I called them the BAM Awards because I needed a name. I suppose I came up with Bernardo Academy of Movies because I was being reactionary to The Academy. How one man by himself can be an Academy I didn’t fully consider. I thought it was kind of a silly name even at the time so eventually it just became BAM.
Slowly, the awards widened: soon I emailed a select group of friends (that created eventual storage issues), a few years ago when I was on the Site That Must Not Be Named I decided to really take it public. I didn’t think about it ahead of time, it just occurred to me roundabout late November of ’09 that I could.
The publication was an exciting and unnerving process regardless of how many or how few people would actually care to see them. While there are a two categories (which I now and again consider ending, and have skipped on occasion) which are negative, it is a positive emotion that brings me to these announcements. I want to at the end of this period of time share what I thought an why, and all winner announcements come with some explanation, and I do belabor them and struggle with them.
So it is heartening that last year, for the first time, the actual honorees, be they nominees or winners, on occasion acknowledged it. Now that may seem like a self-aggrandizing statement, but what I liked was knowing the news reached them and other people and they were pleased to hear it. The design of these awards are to cement what performances, works and films most affected me, I make no bones about that, and sharing that felt like a gamble, but it’s been rewarding for that and many other reason.
Of course, if you see a film missing from any year you may inquire, and there is room for intelligent discourse, but the above statements are true: trolling or disrespectful comments aimed at who was chosen won’t be tolerated. Your own awards are just a blog post away.
I apologize for even needing to insert that statement but I did have cause to make similar points last year. Anyway, with how much I enjoyed last year’s and how much I’m looking forward to this year’s awards, I thought it’d be a good idea to put all I have out there in a “reverse” countdown.
So here goes…
2010
Here again I include my original pre-amble with stats later. Also, I will separate nominees and winners here as I began adding explications.
The following are the BAM Award nominations. They reflect only the opinion of this critic and are based solely on the films he was able to see during the course of the past calendar year. Due to the fact that year end releases are difficult, at times impossible, to see before the New Year comes there will be some older titles in the list. For a full explanation of this policy against the tyranny of release dates please click here. A statement about the year in film will follow with the winners of both these and the special awards listed at the bottom along with a little more info. The winners will be published on January 3rd, 2011.
City Island
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Ghost Writer
Inception
Kick-Ass
Machete
My Soul to Take
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Waiting for ‘Superman’
The White Ribbon
Michael Apted The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Raymond De Felitta City Island
Michael Haneke The White Ribbon
Christopher Nolan Inception
Roman Polanski The Ghost Writer
Leonie Benesch The White Ribbon
Paola Mendoza Entre Nos
Catalina Saavedra The Maid
Emma Stone Easy A
Tilda Swinton I Am Love
Patrick Fabian The Last Exorcism
Christian Friedle The White Ribbon
Andy Garcia City Island
Bill Nighy Wild Target
Kodi Smit-McPhee Let Me In
Annette Bening The Kids Are All Right
Helena Bonham Carter Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Ursina Lardi The White Ribbon
Susanne Lothar The White Ribbon
Barbara Hershey Black Swan
Rainer Bock The White Ribbon
Andrew Garfield The Social Network
Burghart Klaussner The White Ribbon
Will Poulter The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Paul Reubens Life During Wartime
Christian Berger The White Ribbon
Christopher Doyle Ondine
Pawel Edelman The Ghost Writer
Greig Frasier Let Me In
Wally Pfister Inception
Alex Berecca, et al. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Sabrina Beaufort-Langridge, et al. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Krystal Kershaw, et al. The Last Exorcism
Jennifer McDaniel, et al. Let Me In
Waldemar Pokromski The White Ribbon
The Social Network
The Kids Are All Right
Black Swan
Toy Story 3
Tron: Legacy
Legion
Step-Up 3D
Alice in Wonderland
Resident Evil: Afterlife
Paranormal Activity 2
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Entre Nos
The Last Airbender
My Soul to Take
Twelve
Raymond De Felitta City Island
Michael Haneke The White Ribbon
Gloria La Morte and Paola Mendoza Entre Nos
Christopher Nolan Inception
Bert V. Royal Easy A
Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright [Bryan Lee O’Malley] Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Jane Goldman & Matthew Vaughn [Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr.] Kick-Ass
Tony Grisoni [David Peace] Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983
Roman Polanski & Robert Harris [Robert Harris] The Ghost Writer
Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely and Michael Petroni [C.S. Lewis] The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Mark Day Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Robert Duffy & Chris Labenzon Unstoppable
Rick Shaine The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Minka Willi The White Ribbon
Trevor Waite Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983
David Arnold The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Dickon Hinchliffe Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980
Barrington Pheloung Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983
Kjartan Sveinsson Ondine
Hans Zimmer Inception
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
The White Ribbon
My Soul to Take
Inception
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Inception
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Tron: Legacy
Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Ben Barnes, Will Poulter, Anna Popplewell, William Moseley, Simon Pegg and Tilda Swinton in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Ewan MacGregor, Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall, Pierce Brosnan and James Belushi The Ghost Writer
Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Ralph Fiennes, Alan Rickman, Michael Gambon, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Helena Boham Carter, Julie Walters, Jason Isaacs and Brendan Gleeson in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Christian Friedle, Leonie Benesch, Ernst Jacobi, Ulrich Tukur, Ursina Lardi, Fion Mutert, Michael Kranz, Burghart Klaussner, Maria-Victoria Dragus, Leonard Proxauf, Thibault Sérié, Josef Bierbichler, Enno Trebs, Theo Trebs, Janina Fautz, Rainer Bock, Susanne Lothar, Roxane Duran, Miljan Chatelain, Freddy Grahl, Branko Samarovski and Detlev Buck in The White Ribbon
Jennifer Lawrence, Isaiah Stone, Ashlee Thompson, Shelly Waggener, Valerie Richards and John Hawkes in Winter’s Bone
Jean-Carl Boucher, Gabriel Maillé, Dany Bouchard, Léo Caron and Élizabeth Adam in 1981
Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Chloe Grace Moretz, Karan Brar, Grayson Russell, Owen Best and Alex Ferris in Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Oscar Steer, Asa Butterfield, Lil Woods, Eros Vlahos and Rosie-Taylor Ritson in Nanny McPhee Returns
Maxime Godart, Vincent Claude, Charles Vaillant, Victor Carles, Benjamin Averty, Germaine Petit Damico, Damian Ferdel, Virgil Tirard and Elise Heusch in Le Petit Nicolas
Fion Mutert, Maria-Victoria Dragus, Leonard Proxauf, Thibault Sérié, Enno Trebs, Theo Trebs, Miljan Chatelain, Freddy Grahl and Aaron Denkel in The White Ribbon
Best Performance by a Child Actor in a Supporting Role
Billy Unger You Again
Maria-Victoria Dragus The White Ribbon
Thibault Serie The White Ribbon
Janina Fautz The White Ribbon
Will Poulter The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Best Performance by a Child Actor in a Leading Role
Kodi-Smit McPhee Let Me In
Chloe Grace Moretz Let Me In
Zachary Gordon Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Callan McAuliffe Flipped
Leonard Proxauf The White Ribbon
The Ghost Writer
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Inception
Let Me In
The White Ribbon
Let Me In
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
1981
The White Ribbon
Entre Nos
The Maid
Le Petit Nicolas
1981
Prodigal Sons
Killing Kasztner
Waiting for ‘Superman’
Best Worst Movie
The Art of the Steal
“Never Say Never” Justin Bieber (feat. Jaden Smith) from The Karate Kid
“I Remain” Alanis Morissette from Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
”Garbage Truck” Sex Bob-Omb from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
”There’s a Place For Us” Carrie Underwood from The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader
“Despicable Me” Pharrell Williams from Despicable Me
Robert Downey, Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year
TBA
The Ingmar Bergman Lifetime Achievement Award
TBA
Special Jury Prize
TBA
Nominations
The White Ribbon– 21
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader– 15
Inception, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1– 8
Let Me In– 7
The Ghost Writer– 6
City Island, Entre Nos– 4
My Soul to Take, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1983, 1981– 3
Kick-Ass, Waiting for ‘Superman’, The Maid, Easy A, The Last Exorcism, The Kids Are All Right, Black Swan, The Social Network, Ondine, Tron: Legacy, Le Petit Nicolas, Diary of a Wimpy Kid– 2
Machete, I am Love, Wild Target, Toy Story 3, Legion, Step-Up 3D,
Alice in Wonderland, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Paranormal Activity 2, The Last Airbender, Twelve, Unstoppable, Red Riding: In the Year of Our Lord 1980, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Winter’s Bone, Nanny McPhee Returns, Best Worst Movie, The Art of the Steal, Prodigal Sons, Killing Kasztner, The Karate Kid, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Despicable Me, You Again, Flipped -1
The Movie Rat 
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