Los Angeles Film Critics Association Names “West Side Story” star Ariana DeBose Best Supporting Actress

Ariana DeBose is the LA critics’ choice…

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association voted Saturday on the best films and performances of 2021, with the 30-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress/singer earning a shout out.

Ariana DeBose, West Side StoryDeBose, who earned her first-ever Golden Globes nod earlier this month, was named Best Supporting Actress for her acclaimed performance as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story.

Penélope Cruz claimed the Best Actress award for her starring role in Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers.

The 47-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actress beat out runner-up Renate Reinsve (The Worst Person in the World) for the honor.

Meanwhile, Alberto Iglesias took home the Best Music/Score honor.

The 66-year-old Spanish composer claimed the award for his score to Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers, a score that already earned him a Hollywood Music in Media Award.

Tatiana Huezo, meantime, tied for the New Generation award with Shatara Michelle Ford.

The 49-year-old Mexican Salvadoran filmmaker earned the recognition for her latest film Prayers for the Stolen.

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association is a group made up of L.A. area print and digital journalists, which today deliberated on winners and runners-up in a total of 14 categories.

Here’s the complete list of winners:

Best Picture
Winner: Drive My Car
Runner-up: The Power of the Dog

Best Director
Winner: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog
Runner-up: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Drive My Car

Best Actress
Winner: Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
Runner-up: Renate Reinsve, The Worst Person in the World

Best Actor
Winner: Simon Rex, Red Rocket
Runner-up: Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power of the Dog

Best Documentary
Winner: Summer of Soul
Runner-up: Procession

Best Screenplay
Winner: Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe
Runner-up: Licorice Pizza, Paul Thomas Anderson

Best Animation
Winner: Flee
Runner-up: Belle

Best Supporting Actress
Winner: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Runner-up: Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard

Best Supporting Actor
Winner (tie): Vincent Lindon, Titane and Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power of the Dog

Editing
Winner: Joshua L. Pearson, Summer of Soul
Runner-up: Andy Jurgensen, Licorice Pizza 

Best Production Design
Winner: Steve Saklad, Barb and Star Go To Vista Del Mar 
Runner-up: Tamara Deverell, Nightmare Alley 

Best Music/Score
Winner: Alberto Iglesias, Parallel Mothers
Runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, The Power of the Dog and Spencer

Best Cinematography
Winner: Ari Wegner, The Power of the Dog
Runner-up: Greig Fraser, Dune

Best Film Not in the English Language
Winner: Petite Maman
Runner-up: Quo Vadis, Aida?

Douglas Edwards Experimental Film Prize
The Works And Days (Of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)

New Generation
Winner (tie): Shatara Michelle Ford, Test Pattern and Tatiana Huezo, Prayers for the Stolen

Career Achievement Award
Mel Brooks

Kid Cudi Teams Up with Ariana Grande for New Single “Just Look Up”

It’s a grande collaboration for Kid Cudi

The 37-year-old part-Mexican American rapper, real name Scott Mescudi, has joined voices with Ariana Grande on the new single “Just Look Up.”

Kid CudiThe track appears on the soundtrack for the new Netflix film Don’t Look Up, a film in which they both appear.

The film, which stars Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio, will be released on December 10.

The song — which was nominated at this week’s Hollywood Music in Media Awards for Song – Onscreen Performance — features Grande’s signature vocals belting out a high note as footage from the film plays.

Kid Cudi and Grande both have writing credits on the song, in addition to Nicholas Britell and Taura Stintson.

The summary of the movie reads, “Kate Dibiasky (Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (DiCaprio) make an astounding discovery of a comet orbiting within the solar system. The problem — it’s on a direct collision course with Earth. The other problem? No one really seems to care. Turns out warning mankind about a planet-killer the size of Mount Everest is an inconvenient fact to navigate.”

The collaboration marks Grande and Kid Cudi’s first time working on a song together.

Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon III: The Chosen was released in December 2020 and charted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Alberto Iglesias Wins Hollywood Music in Media Awards Prize for His “Parallel Mothers” Score

Alberto Iglesias has scored himself a special prize…

The 66-year-old Spanish composer, a three-time Oscar nominee, is one of the winners announced at this year’s Hollywood Music in Media Awards.

Alberto IglesiasIglesias, who frequently works on projects by Pedro Almodovar, took home the award for Score – Independent Film (Foreign Language) for his work on the Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker’s latest project, Parallel Mothers.

Exact comparisons between the Academy Awards and the HMMAs are tricky, because the Oscars present just two music awards — best original song and best original score — while the HHMAs present five awards for film songs and seven for film scores.

But Iglesias is considered to be one of this year’s HMMA winners who could be a serious contender for an Academy Award nominations for best original score.

The Hollywood Music in Media Awards honor composers, songwriters, music supervisors and filmmakers for their work in music for film, television and video games.

Here are the winners in the 12 film categories.

Song – feature film
“No Time to Die” from No Time to Die (MGM) – written by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell; performed by Billie Eilish

Song – animated film
“Good Mood” from Paw Patrol (Paramount Pictures) – written by Karl Johan Schuster, Savan Kotecha, Oscar Gorres and Adam Levine; performed by Adam Levine

Song – documentary film
“Secret Sister” from Rebel Hearts (Discovery+) – written and performed by Rufus Wainwright

Song – independent film
“Beyond the Shore” from CODA (Apple TV+) – written by Nick Baxter, Siân Heder, Marius De Vries, Matt Dahan; performed By Emilia Jones

Song – onscreen performance (award to onscreen performer)
Emilia Jones – “Both Sides Now” from CODA (Apple TV+) written by Joni Mitchell.

Score – feature film
Don’t Look Up (Netflix) – Nicholas Britell

Score – independent film
C’mon C’mon (The Searchers) – Bryce Dessner & Aaron Dessner

Score – independent film (foreign language)
Parallel Mothers (Sony Pictures Classics) – Alberto Iglesias

Score – sci-fi/fantasy
Dune (Warner Bros.) – Hans Zimmer

Score – animated film
The Addams Family 2 (MGM) – Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna

Score – horror film
A Quiet Place II (Paramount Pictures) – Marco Beltrami

Score – documentary film
Julia (CNN Films) – Rachel Portman

Rodriguez Earns First-Ever Golden Globe Nomination

Gina Rodriguez is a globe-al sensation…

The 30-year-old Puerto Rican actress has earned her first-ever Golden Globe nomination.

Gina Rodriguez

Rodriguez picked up the nod from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in the Best Actress in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy category for her breakout starring-role on the CW’s Jane the Virgin.

She’s up against GirlsLena Dunham, Nurse Jackie’s Edie Falco, Veep’s Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Orange Is the New Black’s Taylor Schilling.

Additionally, Rodriguez’s Jane the Virgin, which made the American Film Institute’s list of the best televisions shows of the year, was nominated in the Best TV Series, Musical or Comedy category.

But Rodriguez isn’t the only Hispanic Golden Globe nominee…

Louis C.K. has picked up his second career nomination from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

The 47-year-old Mexican American received the nod in the Best Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy category for his starring role in FX’s He’s up against House of LiesDon Cheadle, Derek’s Ricky Gervais, ShamelessWilliam H. Macy and Transparent’s Jeffrey Tambor.

In the motion picture categories, Alejandro González Iñárritu has earned two individual nominations for his dark comedy Birdman.

The Mexican filmmaker is up for Best Director – Motion Picture, as well as Best Screenplay – Motion Picture for co-penning the script for Birdman with Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo.

In addition, González Iñárritu’s Birdman is nominated for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy.

Antonio Sanchez, meantime, has picked up his first-ever Golden Globe nomination.

The 43-year-old Mexican jazz drummer and multiple Grammy winner has been nominated in the Best Original Score – Motion Picture category for his work on Birdman.

Sanchez’s drumming serves as the main musical ingredient in Iñarritu’s film. His work has already won the Sound Stars Award for best Film Score at the 2014 Venice Film Festival and won the Hollywood Music in Media Awards prize for best original film score.

The Guillermo del Toro-produced The Book of Life has received a nod in the Best Animated Feature category. The Day of the Dead-themed film is up against Big Hero 6, The Boxtrolls, How to Train Your Dragon 2 and The Lego Movie.

The 72nd Golden Globe Awards will be held on January 11 with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler returning as the show’s hosts.

Here’s a look at the categories with Latino/a nominees:

MOTION PICTURES

Best Comedy
Birdman,” produced by Alejandro González Iñárritu
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
“Into the Woods”
“Pride”
“St. Vincent”

Best Director
Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Ava Duvernay, “Selma”
David Fincher, “Gone Girl”
Alejandro González Iñárritu, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

Best Screenplay
Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Gillian Flynn, “Gone Girl”
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Armando Bo, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
Graham Moore, “The Imitation Game”

Best Animated Feature
“Big Hero 6”
The Book of Life,” produced by Guillermo del Toro
“The Boxtrolls”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”
“The Lego Movie”

Best Score
“The Imitation Game”
“The Theory of Everything”
“Gone Girl”
Birdman,” composed by Antonio Sanchez
“Interstellar”

TELEVISION

Best TV Comedy or Musical
“Girls”
Jane the Virgin
“Orange Is the New Black”
“Silicon Valley”
“Transparent”

Best Actress in a TV Comedy
Lena Dunham, “Girls”
Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Gina Rodriguez, “Jane the Virgin”
Taylor Schilling, “Orange Is the New Black”

Best Actor in a TV Comedy
Louis CK, “Louie”
Don Cheadle, “House of Lies”
Ricky Gervais, “Derek”
William H. Macy, “Shameless”
Jeffrey Tambor, “Transparent”