thinkgreenthursday

The death of Pete Postlethwaite yesterday at 64 of cancer will undoubtedly be felt at the movies. He's been a regular key ensemble player for a solid two decades now. 2010 was another big year for him: He played the corpse in Inception -- the one causing all those daddy issues -- and he also appeared in Clash of the Titans. One more film is coming in 2011 (the British comedy Killing Bono) but for many moviegoers his last showcase on the screen will be as the flower shop owner in Ben Affleck's The Town (pictured left). The starry cast of that movie, Postlethwaite included, won the NBR Best Ensemble prize and a BFCA Ensemble nomination.

His odd but memorable features probably insured that he'd play his fare share of criminals. But despite his recent bloody role in The Town, Postlethwaite being the thorns in the rose bush, I personally associate him with more noble turns.  I first became aware of Who He Was when he was Oscar nominated as the title character in the Daniel Day-Lewis drama In the Name of the Father (1993) though I then realized I had already enjoyed him in Alien3 and Hamlet (the one with Mel Gibson); it's hard to forget that face. I was so in love with Baz Luhrmann's dizzyingly erratic Romeo + Juliet (1996) that Father Laurence, who sets all the fake death in motion to unfortunately disastrous effect, is still my favorite of his roles.

Shakespearean drug pusher.

Other key roles include: Amistad, The Usual Suspects and Brassed Off. What's your favorite Postlethwaite performance or movie?
*

Every year I dutifully make up a wish list for Christmas, filled with things that I need (cozy socks, a blogging muumuu). But here is a wishlist of things to satisfy my filmic flights of fancy this year. In fact, I may have already bought one of these for myself. Merry shopping everyone!

If you care about the Golden Satellite Awards -- and you'd probably care more if they had a televised ceremony. Television is magic -- you should know that they went for The Social Network for 3 big prizes (Pic, Dir, Screenplay) and Inception for 3 important craft citations (Art Direction, Cinematography, Score) indicating that they liked it. They really did.

What would Mark Zuckerberg's totem look like? Would he notice the kick?

Which makes their decision to snub it for the visual effects prize in favor of Eyesore in Wonderland all the more confusing.

Complete list of winners after the jump

Best Picture (Drama) The Social Network
Best Picture (Comedy) Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Best Picture (Foreign) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Best Picture (Animated) Toy Story 3
Best Picture (Documentary) Restrepo
Best Director David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Screenplay (Original) The King's Speech
Best Screenplay (Adapted) The Social Network

Best Actress (Drama) Noomi Rapace, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Actress (Comedy) Anne Hathaway, Love and Other Drugs
Best Supporting Actress Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Actor (Drama) Colin Firth, The King's Speech

Best Actor (Comedy) Michael Cera, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Score  Hans Zimmer, Inception

Best Song Dianne Warren and Cher "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me", Burlesque
Best Sound Mixing and Editing Unstoppable

Best Cinematography Wally Pfister, Inception

Best Visual Effects Alice in Wonderland

Best Film Editing Robert Frazen, Please Give
Best Production Design Guy Dyas, Inception

Best Costume Design Colleen Atwood, Alice in Wonderland
Best Cinematography Wally Pfister, Inception


Oh and... TV Prizes
Series (Drama) Breaking Bad
Series (Comedy) The Big C

Miniseries  Sherlock Holmes
Made for TV Movie Temple Grandin


Best Actress (Series, Drama) Connie Britton, Friday Night Lights

Best Actress (Series, Comedy) Laura Linney, The Big C
Best Actress (Miniseries or Movie) Claire Danes, Temple Grandin
Supporting Actress Brenda Vaccaro, You Don't Know Jack

Best Actor (Series, Drama) Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad

Best Actor (Series, Comedy) Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Best Actor (Miniseries or Movie) Al Pacino, You Don't Know Jack
Supporting Actor David Strathairn, Temple Grandin