Penelope Cruz Named Best Actress by National Society of Film Critics 

Penelope Cruz is the Society’s choice…

The National Society of Film Critics has announced the winners of its 2021 film awards, with the 47-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actress among the honorees.

Penelope Cruz, Pedro Almodovar, Madres ParalelasCruz was named Best Actress for her performance in Pedro Almodovar’s Spanish-language film Parallel Mothers, with 55 points.

The NSFC features elected and eligible members from major media outlets. The annual awards honors the best in acting, direction, writing, cinematography and more across onscreen and streaming releases in the US.

Any film that opened in the US on a screen or streaming platform during the year is eligible for consideration.

The 60-members NSFC include critics from major papers and outlets in Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Chicago including from outlets Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, the New Yorker, the Christian Science Monitor and NPR.

Here’s the full list of winners:

Best Picture:

WINNER: DRIVE MY CAR (48 points)

RUNNERS-UP:
PETITE MAMAN (25 points)
THE POWER OF THE DOG (23 points)

Director:

WINNER: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, DRIVE MY CAR and WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY (46 points)

RUNNERS-UP:
Jane Campion, THE POWER OF THE DOG (36 points)
Céline Sciamma, PETITE MAMAN (28 points)

Actress:

WINNER: Penélope Cruz, PARALLEL MOTHERS (55 points)

RUNNERS-UP:
Renate Reinsve, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (42 points)
Alana Haim, LICORICE PIZZA (32 points)

Actor:

WINNER: Hidetoshi Nishijima, DRIVE MY CAR (63 points)

RUNNERS-UP:
Benedict Cumberbatch, THE POWER OF THE DOG (44 points)
Simon Rex, RED ROCKET (30 points)

Supporting Actress:

WINNER: Ruth Negga, PASSING (46 points)

RUNNERS-UP:
Ariana DeBose, WEST SIDE STORY (22 points)
Jessie Buckley, THE LOST DAUGHTER (21 points)

Supporting Actor:

WINNER: Anders Danielsen Lie, THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (54 points)

RUNNER-UPS:
Vincent Lindon, TITANE (33 points)
Mike Faist, WEST SIDE STORY, and Kodi Smit-McPhee, THE POWER OF THE DOG (26 points)

Screenplay:

WINNER: Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe, DRIVE MY CAR (46 points)

RUNNERS-UP:
Pedro Almodóvar, PARALLEL MOTHERS (22 points)
Paul Thomas Anderson, LICORICE PIZZA (20 points)

Cinematography:

WINNER: Andrew Droz Palermo, THE GREEN KNIGHT (52 points)

RUNNERS-UP:
Ari Wegner, THE POWER OF THE DOG (40 points)
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom, MEMORIA (35 points)

Nonfiction Film:

WINNER: FLEE (41 points)

RUNNERS-UP:
PROCESSION and THE VELVET UNDERGROUND (28 points)

Film Heritage Award:

The late Bertrand Tavernier and Peter Bogdanovich, distinguished critic-filmmakers who never lost their passion for other people’s movies and film history. Both crowned their careers with invaluable chronicles of their engagement with the cinema: Tavernier with the books “50 Years of American Cinema and American Friends,” and Bogdanovich with the books “Who the Devil Made It” and “Who the Hell’s In It?”

Maya Cade for the Black Film Archive, which expands knowledge of and access to Black films made between 1915 and 1979, and includes her critical essays that define the project and consider the films in relation to each other and to the cinema overall.

Special Citation for a Film Awaiting U.S. Distribution: Jean-Gabriel Périot’s documentary “Returning to Reims,” which draws on Didier Eribon’s 2009 memoir about his French hometown and the inequities of class and education that shaped him and his family.

Romo to Attend This Year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner

Mr. Romo goes to Washington…

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is among the Hispanic celebrities expected to attend this year’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the final dinner of President Barack Obama’s administration.

Tony Romo

Romo will attend the event as a guest of Fox News Channel, alongside the WWE and Total Divas star Nikki Bella, who will soon be appearing opposite her twin sister Brie in E!’s Total Bellas reality series.

The 90th annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner will take place on Saturday. It’ll be hosted by Comedy Central’s Larry Wilmore.

Other Hispanic celebrities on the guest list include Rosario Dawson as a guest of Time magazine, and Christy Turington Burns as a guest of the Wall Street Journal.

Here’s a look at the list so far:

FOX NEWS CHANNEL
Cheryl Boone Isaacs (AMPAS President)
Chris Dodd (MPAA CEO)
Vivica A. Fox (Independence Day: Resurgence)
John Cena and Nikki Bella (WWE)
JC Chasez (N’Sync)
Ryan Kwanten (True Blood)
Sela Ward (Independence Day: Resurgence)
Jeff Goldblum (Independence Day: Resurgence)
Cheryl Ladd (Charlie’s Angels – 40 year anniversary of the show)
Gladys Knight
Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys)
Toks Olagundoye (Castle)

ABC NEWS
Will Smith (Suicide Squad)
Jada Pinkett Smith (Magic Mike XXL)
Shonda Rhimes (Scandal EP, among many other things)
Kerry Washington (Scandal)
Tony Goldwyn (Scandal)
Scott Foley (Scandal)
Anthony Anderson (black-ish)
Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish)
Kenya Barris (black-ish creator/EP)
Whoopi Goldberg (The View)
Joy Behar (The View)
Paula Farris (The View)
Raven-Symone (The View)
Michelle Collins (The View) 

THOMSON REUTERS
Michael Kelly (House of Cards)
Illana Glazer (Broad City)
Abbi Jacobson (Broad City)
Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey)
Von Miller (Denver Broncos, Super Bowl MVP)
Odell Beckham, Jr., (New York Giants) 

CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING NEWORK
Candace Cameron Bure (Fuller House/The View) 

BLOOMBERG
Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Star Wars Episode VIII) 

NBC NEWS
Jaime Alexander (Blindspot) 

TIME
Neve Campbell (House of Cards)
Priyanka Chopra (Quantico)
Alan Cumming (The Good Wife)
Rosario Dawson (Daredevil)
Miles Teller (Divergent franchise)
Kendall Jenner (Keeping Up With The Kardashians)
Wendi McLendon-Covey (The Goldbergs)

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Ed Burns (Public Morals)
Christy Turington Burns

Santos Rules YouTube’s Total Views Chart

Forget Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Katy PerryRomeo Santos is the real YouTube leader.

The 33-year-old Dominican American singer, the undisputed king of bachata, is also leader on YouTube, far outpacing several mainstream artists in terms of total views.

Romeo Santos

With more four billion total views (4,351,032,074, to be exact), Santos towers over Swift (over 3.7 billion), Beyoncé (over 2 billion), Perry (over 2.6 billion), Shakira (over 1.2 billion), and other mainstream pop artists.

YouTube based its total views on both official and fan-uploaded videos from September 2014 to June 30, 2015. Only videos claimed using “Content ID” get counted. The latter is a system used by copyright owners to identify and manage their content on YouTube. When a fan, for instance, uploads content matching a work an artist owns, the copyright owner gets to decide what happens to that video; options include blocking the video, monetizing on its views by running ads against it, and tracking the video’s viewership stats. Only copyright owners who own exclusive rights to a substantial body of original material that is frequently uploaded by the YouTube user community get a Content ID.

The latest YouTube data also shows where Santos’ fanbase views are coming from. Colombia is No. 1, with over 700 million views, followed by Mexico, Argentina, Ecuador and the U.S.

But Santos’ rule is equally impressive in his home state of New York, where, according to the Wall Street Journal’s recent Musical Map of New York City study, which used data from e-jukebox vendor TouchTunes, the Dominican American heartthrob is the most popular artist in over 50 city neighborhoods.

Recently, Santos also made Billboard history on the Hot Latin Songs chart with his smash “Propuesta Indecente,” the first-ever song to reach the 100th week mark on the chart.