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Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 11:12 am
by Big Magilla
And it won't be until there are at least three viable candidates, but why are none of the original songs being considered on their own? I don't see any of them in anyone's predictions. Are they ineligible for some obscure reason?

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 7:27 am
by OscarGuy
Tee. The Original Song Score Oscar still exists. It's an optional category now and has not been employed since it was re-created.

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 2:32 am
by The Original BJ
Uri wrote:Edit: it’s probably a Tom Daley/Dustin Lance Black kind of logic.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Nice.

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Mon Dec 09, 2013 2:14 am
by Uri
Mister Tee wrote:I'd say her trek has become more difficult with the emergence of Amy Adams as possibility; if she were the only youngster in the pack, she'd have an easier time.
Sorry for nitpicking, but how come a 19yo and a 39yo are put together as “youngsters”? Exarchopuoulos is an unknown French teenager. Adams is an established, seemingly much respected and very busy Holiwood actress, only 5 years younger than glamour queen Blanchet.

It is really the bare skin factor, isn’t it?

Edit: it’s probably a Tom Daley/Dustin Lance Black kind of logic.

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:28 pm
by Eric
Big Magilla wrote:Her 42, Gravity 41, Nebraska 39, 12 Years a Slave 38
My god, but Nebraska came close to bringing Payne a four-peat with the LAFCA.

Though now it's the Globes and guilds' turn to steer this race back to the middle ground, I think Spike Jonze now has to be considered the strongest contender for the third slot (behind McQueen and Cuaron) in the directors' race. The other two slots are completely up in the air, but I'm getting close to ruling Paul Greengrass out. Payne may be inevitable, as may be Scorsese if the movie takes off when people get to, you know, actually see it. But I'd love to see the final slot go to the Coens.

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:18 pm
by ksrymy
kaytodd wrote:No problem with the how the critic groups have voted in general. But a little disappointed that Hugh Jackman's performance in Prisoners and the performances of Casey Affleck and Christian Bale in Out Of The Furnace have been invisible. I guess we film buffs have had an embarrassment of riches this year.
I'd rather see Affleck show up cited for his work in Ain't Them Bodies Saints.

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:06 pm
by Mister Tee
kaytodd wrote:No problem with the how the critic groups have voted in general. But a little disappointed that Hugh Jackman's performance in Prisoners and the performances of Casey Affleck and Christian Bale in Out Of The Furnace have been invisible. I guess we film buffs have had an embarrassment of riches this year.
Old friend! Can't remember the last time we heard from you. Welcome back!

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 10:04 pm
by kaytodd
No problem with the how the critic groups have voted in general. But a little disappointed that Hugh Jackman's performance in Prisoners and the performances of Casey Affleck and Christian Bale in Out Of The Furnace have been invisible. I guess we film buffs have had an embarrassment of riches this year.

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 9:43 pm
by Mister Tee
Sonic Youth wrote:
Mister Tee wrote:
Inside Llewyn Davis won (deservedly) every music award given out today,

shots like Llewyn hitchhiking in the fog are pretty stunning.
I think we're entitled to a little more on your thoughts on the film than just that :)
Busy weekend -- here following the various critics' groups, and in real life trying to get ready for Christmas. I'd love to write about the film -- I'd love to write about Blue is the Warmest, which I saw just before Thanksgiving -- but the films require extended thought, and I'm too vain as a writer to dash something off without putting full effort into it. The disadvantage of a season full of substantial films.

Maybe sometime later this week. Or maybe I'll have seen something else by then, and feel even further behind.

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 9:11 pm
by Sonic Youth
Big Magilla wrote:Per L.A. Times' Glenn Whipp:

Initial vote to get to the final two for best pic: Her 42, Gravity 41, Nebraska 39, 12 Years a Slave 38. Final vote was 19 critics each for Gravity and Her. Day started out with 45 attendees, but 7 left before the end.

Would an odd number of voters have prevented the ties?
And, had the 7 attendees stayed - or 4 of them, or even just 2 - would it have affected the outcome in some races?
Mister Tee wrote:
Inside Llewyn Davis won (deservedly) every music award given out today,

shots like Llewyn hitchhiking in the fog are pretty stunning.
I think we're entitled to a little more on your thoughts on the film than just that :)

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 8:27 pm
by Sabin
12 Years a Slave had a good morning. It did not have an afternoon.

The Los Angeles Film Critic's Association did a good job of reminding voters that certain films exist and are of artistic merit (Gravity, Before Midnight, Spring Breakers) as well as rallying around early favorites (Cate Blanchett, Bruce Dern, Jared Leto Lupita Nyong'o). Nice balance. They also reinforce the excitement around Her, which has yet to be seen by the bulk of the planet but after winning big at The National Board of Review and here, can it possibly be ignored by Academy voters? The last film to win two Best Picture citations from the four major critic's groups and not be nominated was American Splendor. In an expanded slate, American Splendor would probably get nominated.

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 8:22 pm
by Big Magilla
Per L.A. Times' Glenn Whipp:

Initial vote to get to the final two for best pic: Her 42, Gravity 41, Nebraska 39, 12 Years a Slave 38. Final vote was 19 critics each for Gravity and Her. Day started out with 45 attendees, but 7 left before the end.

Would an odd number of voters have prevented the ties?

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 6:50 pm
by Okri
re: Stories We Tell vs The Act of Killing

While both films are acclaimed, the latter's thesis itself seems morally questionable for a few people (see Mike D'Angelo, for example) that I can imagine it losing a few votes that way. Polley's film also has a pretty strong critics-bait hook (I thought LA was a virtual lock, actually)

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 6:26 pm
by The Original BJ
Gravity seems very much of the Star Wars/E.T./WALL-E hometown crowd endorsement winner from this group -- a big studio film with very strong reviews, but which was also a huge popular hit. And Her seems to be performing far more strongly than had been anticipated a week ago.

Clearly 12 Years a Slave is not the board-sweeper the bloggers insisted it would be, but it's worth noting that it continues to make a decent enough showing in these derbies. A Supporting Actress prize and a runner-up in Actor are nothing to shrug off. Still, it would seem odd for a movie of this ilk to win the Best Picture Oscar without a major critics' Best Picture prize, so the NSFC award would be a real get if it can snag it.

I imagine the most surprising thing about the Best Actress prize is simply that there was a tie, given how thoroughly unsurprised anyone would have been by either Blue actress prevailing.

The cineaste acclaim for Spring Breakers got me to rent it, and I thought there were interesting things about it (the arresting images, the fact that it was almost subversively sold to mainstream audiences as a fun college romp when it's more like an art film critique of that movie). But on the whole, I found it didn't add up to all that much, and that there just simply wasn't enough content in the story to keep me engaged. James Franco is certainly doing SOMETHING -- whether his strange performance art is in service of anything worthwhile, I don't know. But I can't even remotely imagine Academy members going anywhere near a movie like this.

I liked Jared Leto a lot in Dallas Buyers, but I do hope Michael Fassbender wins a prize somewhere to keep this race competitive.

This was a nice get for the Before Midnight script, which I assume will replicate its predecessor's success in placing in a similarly thin Adapted Screenplay field.

I haven't seen Stories We Tell yet, but I don't recall it being greeted with Grizzly Man-level enthusiasm that might have predicted such a strong showing in the Documentary awards this year, especially with so many other similarly acclaimed titles available.

Ernest & Celestine played the LA film festival -- is that where all the critics saw it? It doesn't have an LA release scheduled until March. I assume the chance to advocate for an Oscar-eligible title who could use a boost to raise its lower profile proved tempting for this group.

I loved the soundtrack to Inside Llewyn Davis, but it seems like T Bone Burnett's achievement is more in the area of arranging previously written songs, than original music composition, right?

Re: LAFCA Winners

Posted: Sun Dec 08, 2013 6:24 pm
by ITALIANO
Mister Tee wrote: I'd say her trek has become more difficult with the emergence of Amy Adams as possibility; if she were the only youngster in the pack, she'd have an easier time.
True. I just wonder if Adams is a really strong possibility at this point. She will of course be nominated at the Globes, but that couldn't mean much. Only the SAG will tell us something about her real chances.