The Oscars of the H

13 winners and one big loser to be named at Houston Film Critics Society Awards

Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"
Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"
"The Social Network"
"The King's Speech"
James Franco in "127 Hours"
"Black Swan"

Think of it as H-Town’s answer to the Academy Awards, or the Golden Globes. Only without the red carpet and all those annoying celebrities.

The Houston Film Critics Society will present its fourth annual year-end awards program this weekend at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston — festivities begin at 4 p.m. Saturday — and the organization has proudly announced that special tributes to George Clooney (winner of the 2010 HFCS Humanitarian Award) and Texas native Sissy Spacek (winner of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award) will be part of the program. Mind you, neither Clooney nor Spacek actually will be present to accept their accolades, but they’ll be honored nonetheless.

On the other hand, two other honorees, winners of the HFCS Outstanding Achievement in Cinema awards, are expected to be on hand: Hector Luna, founder and editor of C-47 Houston magazine, and Charles Dove, director of the Rice University Media Center.

As for the competitive prizes, Members of the HFCS — an organization representing 22 Houston area film critics for print, broadcast and online outlets — will announce winners in 13 categories (and a loser in the 14th, Worst Picture) during the MFAH program. Once again, none of the winners are expected to be on hand to claim a prize. But, hey, admission to the awards program is free and open to the public, and organizers promise a plethora of film clips to delight all movie buffs in attendance. Better still, after the show there’ll be a free-admission reception where avid discussions and diligent networking will be actively encouraged.

And if you’re in the mood to handicap the various HFCS award races, note that Best Picture hopefuls True Grit, The Social Network and 127 Hours lead the pack this year with six nominations each. The full list of nominees follows:

BEST PICTURE:
 127 Hours
Black Swan
Inception
Kick Ass
The Kids are All Right
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

BEST DIRECTOR:
 Darren Aronofsky, Black Swan
 Danny Boyle, 127 Hours
 Joel & Ethan Coen, True Grit 
David Fincher, The Social Network
 Christopher Nolan, Inception

BEST ACTOR:
Jeff Bridges, True Grit
 Robert Duvall, Get Low
 Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network 
Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
 James Franco, 127 Hours

BEST ACTRESS:
Annette Bening, The Kids are All Right 
Nicole Kidman, Rabbit Hole 
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
 Natalie Portman, Black Swan 
Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: 
Christian Bale, The Fighter 
Andrew Garfield, The Social Network 
Bill Murray, Get Low
 Jeremy Renner, The Town 
Geoffrey Rush, The King’s Speech

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Helena Bonham Carter, The King’s Speech 
Melissa Leo, The Fighter
 Julianne Moore, The Kids are All Right
 Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit 
Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

BEST SCREENPLAY:
The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
Winter’s Bone, Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini (based on the novel Winter’s Bone by Daniel Woodrell)
Toy Story 3, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich (story) and Michael Arndt (screenplay)
Inception, Christopher Nolan
The Social Network, Aaron Sorkin (based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich)

BEST ANIMATED FILM:
 Despicable Me
How to Train Your Dragon
Tangled
Toy Story 3

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Roger Deakins, True Grit 
Matthew Libatique, Black Swan 
Anthony Dod Mantle & Enrique Chediak, 127 Hours 
Wally Pfister, Inception 
Eduardo Serra, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part One

BEST DOCUMENTARY:
Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer
Marwencol
Restrepo
The Tillman Story
Waiting for Superman

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Biutiful, Mexico
Carlos, France/Germany
Mother, South Korea
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Sweden
The Secret in their Eyes, Argentina

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Carter Burwell, True Grit 
John Powell, How to Train your Dragon
 A.R. Rahman, 127 Hours 
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, The Social Network 
Hans Zimmer, Inception

BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
“If I Rise,” from 127 Hours, music by A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Dido Armstrong & Rollo Armstrong
 “Shine,” from Waiting for Superman, music & lyrics by John Legend
 “The Clap,” from Get Him to the Greek, music & lyrics by Dan Bern & Mike Viola 
“We are Sex Bob-Omb!” from Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, music & lyrics by Beck 
“You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me,” from Burlesque, music & lyrics by Diane Warren

WORST MOVIE OF THE YEAR:
 Furry Vengeance
Jonah Hex
Sex and the City 2
Splice
The Last Airbender

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Concert News

Texas country artist Dylan Gossett rambles into Houston on 2027 tour

Photo by Harrison Hargrave

Dylan Gossett will play three shows in Texas on the new leg of his tour.

Singer-songwriter Dylan Gossett, one of Austin's most prominent rising stars in music, is setting out on a U.S. headline tour set with a stop at Houston's Bayou Music Center on May 14, 2027.

The U.S. dates have been added to an existing U.S. and international tour called The Ramblin' Tour. New dates start March 25 in Charleston, South Carolina, and end May 21 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

In addition to Houston, Gossett is playing the Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park in Austin on May 13 and Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth on May 15. Two Texas dates earlier in the tour were already announced, and both are festivals: Farmer's Fest in College Station on October 16 and Silobration in Waco on October 24.

Gossett is known for a gentle country-Americana sound and also works as a producer. His most recent album, a sophomore effort called Ramblin', came out September 25. A press release frames the project as Gossett's return to Austin after touring the world, "with a renewed perspective on love, relationships, and the place that shaped him."

On some of his recent tours, he opened for Mumford & Sons and the Red Clay Strays, and he's currently co-headlining with Charles Wesley Godwin through the end of October.

Tickets to The Ramblin' Tour will be on presale starting Monday, October 5, at 10 am. Then a Citi presale starts at noon the same day. Other presales will lead into the general on-sale Tuesday, October 6, at 10 am.

Newly announced dates on The Ramblin’ Tour:

March 25 - Charleston, SC - Charleston Music Hall ~
March 26 - North Myrtle Beach, SC - House of Blues ~
March 27 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore - Main Hall ~
March 30 - Chattanooga, TN - The Signal ~
March 31 - Chesterfield, MO - The Factory ~
April 2 - Fayetteville, AR - Ozark Music Hall ~
April 3 - Memphis, TN - Satellite Music Hall ~
April 4 - Birmingham, AL - Avondale Brewing Company ~
April 6 - Philadelphia, PA - The Met Philadelphia Presented by Highmark ~
April 7 - Baltimore, MD - The Paramount Baltimore ~
April 8 - Columbus, OH - KEMBA Live! ~
April 10 - Detroit, MI - The Fillmore ~
April 11 - Grand Rapids, MI - GLC Live at 20 Monroe ~
April 23 - Indio, CA - Stagecoach *FESTIVAL
May 4 - Indianapolis, IN - Egyptian Room at Old National Centre -
May 6 - Madison, WI - The Sylvee -
May 7 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater -
May 8 - Omaha, NE - The Astro -
May 13 - Austin, TX - Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park
May 14 - Houston, TX - Bayou Music Center
May 15 - Fort Worth, TX - Billy Bob’s Texas
May 20 - Oklahoma City, OK - The Criterion
May 21 - Tulsa, OK - Cain’s Ballroom
^ with Charles Wesley Godwin
* with Buffalo Traffic Jam and The Jack Wharff Band
+ with Noah Rinker
~ with Leon Majcen
- with Clay Street Unit

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