Gotham Awards begin the awards season anew

Elizabeth Olsen (left) as Martha, a young woman who runs away from her cult for a "normal" life, in Durkin's "Martha Marcy May Marlene."

It’s pretty early. The Emmys finished up about a month ago and here we’re back — handing out awards! Or writing about them at least. The Gotham Awards, in this their 21st edition, gave The Descendants, a tragicomic film starring George Clooney by Sideways director Alexander Payne, and first-time director Sean Durkin’s psychological thriller Martha Marcy May Marlene the most nominations at 3. Elizabeth Olsen, the lead in Marlene and younger sister of do-it-all duo Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, scored rave reviews and a “Breakthrough Actor” nomination for her performance as the cult escapee Martha. Oscar nominee John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone) also appears in Durkin’s film, as the charismatic cult leader Patrick. Terrence Malick’s epic The Tree of Life (starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn), about faith in a 1950s Midwestern family, is also nominated in “Best Feature.” Acclaimed acting veteran Vera Farmiga and her directing debut Higher Ground, another faith-questioner on a larger scale (a tight-knit community), face off against Durkin and Marlene in the “Breakthrough Director” category.

Clooney as Matt King, a man dealing with a mid-life crisis and a Hawaiin house sale after his wife's death, in Alexander Payne's "The Descendants."

If you haven’t heard of any of these films (and you’re feeling guilty), no worries. The Gotham Awards, though its parent organization has the largest membership for an organization devoted to independent film, nominates films solely from the U.S.’s Northeastern region (i.e. New York films, with occasional works from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, thrown in there) in only 6 categories. It’s little competition but it can be a telling precursor for more glamorous, future awards; just ask The Hurt Locker, Winter’s Bone, and Melissa Leo.

Review Rewind: The Real Housewives of New York City Season 4

B- /7

Well, there we were again, with the “Real Housewives” back in the Big Apple and ready for a new batch of travels, battles, and breakdowns. Over the off-season, the series lost perhaps its most captivating figure in Bethenny Frankel, but quickly picked up a new castmate, Cindy Barshop, who can only be described as an attempted replacement for Bethenny’s biting, brash, omnipresent brunette. Change was clearly the motto for this season’s women, as they showed off their newfound happiness and attitude adjustments like Jimmy Choos for a night on the town — the very length of that attempted change. The women clearly haven’t forgotten the catty squabblers or the melodramatic thespians they were last year, but their journey to do so this season makes for both compelling introspection and boring viewing.  

Winners!! 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards

With nominee-host Jane Lynch, an odd choice on the Academy’s part, at the helm of this year’s awards, the show took some unusual turns that were either pleasantly surprising or critically panned. As both ABC’s Modern Family and Downton Abbey (PBS’s Masterpiece Theater) can attest — with 5 and 4 wins, respectively, the most for all nominated programs — the 63rd edition of the Primetime Emmy Awards saw an unusual mix of expected shoo-ins and widely praised hopefuls leave with a statuette. I won’t spoil anymore of the excitement for you; check out the winners (in bold) and not-so-winners below.