LA Critics winners

For the films of 2014
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Precious Doll
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Re: LA Critics winners

Post by Precious Doll »

dws1982 wrote:I'm not usually one to toot my own horn, but four months ago in "The Official Review Thread of 2014", I posted as follows:
Depending on how the year shakes out, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a few critics groups (say LA and National Society) single out Agata Kulesza.
I do think that if they wanted to cite Kulesza (whose film I saw the same day as Boyhood), Lead made more sense.
I suppose I should toot my horn to some degree.

Kulesza was my 'best actress' choice for 2013 since first seeing Ida in November 2013 and I first posted my selections for 'Oscar should havenbeens' back in February.

I really didn't expect her to win anything and my best actress prediction was really just wishful thinking, though dws1982's comments, are very valid.

Also, I suspect her screen time is even less then most of us think. I happened to receive a copy of Ida on blu ray today and noted that she first appears about 12 minutes into the film and her last scene is about 64 minutes into the film. There are also periods between her first appearance and her last scene when she is nowhere to been seen.

I still consider her co-lead but feel some of that may also stem from the sheer power of her performance. I hope to re-watch the film for the first time in coming weeks.

Anyone interested in more work with Kulesza should seek out another Polish film called Roza.
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Okri
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Re: LA Critics winners

Post by Okri »

Definitely a worthwhile podcast about the LA Critics Award

--Boyhood beat The Grand Budapest Hotel by only two points.

--Linklater was more of a favourite than his film

--There are always two ballots.
The Original BJ
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Re: LA Critics winners

Post by The Original BJ »

It's interesting just how much consensus there was between NY & LA this year: Picture, Director, Supporting Actor, Screenplay, Foreign Language Film, and Documentary Feature all matched, and both groups gave one of their female acting prizes to Patricia Arquette. NBR cast a wider net, but it's worth noting just how few movies have been gaining any traction in this first part of the season. It feels like it's a bit harder than usual to get a sense of how some categories might shake out beyond the nominal frontrunner or two.

The Best Actress winner has notably less screen time than BOTH Supporting winners. I wonder if miffed Patricia Arquette fans who couldn't get her the Supporting trophy decided to toss out their initial Best Actress choices and push her there instead.

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is, of course, no threat to the Hollywood behemoths come Oscar time, but this prize could be a help in getting it at least a solidly deserved nomination.

I still have to see Mr. Turner, but as of right now, I agree completely with Mister Tee on production design: The Grand Budapest Hotel and Snowpiercer are tops in that category.

The music prizes made me realize that, of all of the categories that seem a little thin this year, Original Score just might be the emptiest, at least in Oscar terms. Under the Skin and Inherent Vice aren't at all what that branch ever votes for, and neither is the score many of us thought the LA crix might have gone for (Birdman). In fact, the only score I'm reasonably sure will get an Oscar nomination is The Imitation Game -- after that, it's anybody's guess as to what will fill out the remainder of the slots.
dws1982
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Re: LA Critics winners

Post by dws1982 »

I'm not usually one to toot my own horn, but four months ago in "The Official Review Thread of 2014", I posted as follows:
Depending on how the year shakes out, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see a few critics groups (say LA and National Society) single out Agata Kulesza.
I do think that if they wanted to cite Kulesza (whose film I saw the same day as Boyhood), Lead made more sense.
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Re: LA Critics winners

Post by Sabin »

I was going to say the same thing about The Grand Budapest Hotel. Very, very recently, most of us here saw this coming awards season as being all about Birdman and Boyhood. I wouldn't say that Birdman has been doing poorly per se, but the film has managed to do something that Birdman hasn't, and that's position itself for a big critic's sweep of something.
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Mister Tee
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Re: LA Critics winners

Post by Mister Tee »

Overview:

I remember reading in Inside Oscar how Bridge on the River Kwai's dominance in awards-giving had been so thorough that films like Twelve Angry Men were reduced to promoting themselves as "critics' second choice!". Apropos of which, I wonder if this clear second-place-all-around will boost Grand Budapest Hotel, or if the Boyhood steamroller will obliterate everything else.

So: another group that didn't much care for the late-year entries.

Arquette and Kulesza could have switched categories and raised fewer eyebrows.

Julianne Moore has (by report, anyway) finished second at both NY and LA, to different women. You wonder if, with Arquette properly placed, Moore would have won here (something I never saw as likely), or if some voters were determined to block her from winning regardless. Not to say people aren't entitled to dissenting opinions, but the since-Toronto push for Moore, combined with the film's relatively mundane content, make her for some the uncool choice, which can be deadly in critics' voting.

Arquette's win, albeit misplaced, would seem to mark her a stronger candidate than I opined earlier this afternoon, but I still think supporting actress is way more muddled than supporting actor -- though not, probably, as much an anybody's-guess as best actor.
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Re: LA Critics winners

Post by Mister Tee »

Not meant as editorial comment: LA critics are now out to lunch. So, anyone refreshing -- and mad refresher me -- should take a break.
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LA Critics winners

Post by Mister Tee »

...and, wrapping it up:

Film: Boyhood
(ru: The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Actor: Tom Hardy (Locke)
(ru: Michael Keaton (Birdman))
...LA bein' edgy. (Hardy is actually quite good, and of course has the advantage of having the movie largely to himself)

Director: Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
(ru: Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel))

Foreign Language Film: Ida
(ru: Winter Sleep)

New Generation: Ava DuVernay (Selma)

Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
(ru: Birdman)

Actress: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
(ru: Julianne Moore (Still Alice))
...category fraud in reverse?
...and, as someone said elsewhere: proof that a choice can be edgy and boring simultaneously

Documentary: Citizenfour
(ru: Life Itself)

Cinematography: Birdman
(ru: Mr. Turner)

Supporting Actress: Agata Kulesza (Ida) -- the unsurprise-surprise
(ru: Rene Russo (Nightcrawler))

Animated Feature: The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
(ru: The LEGO Movie)

Use of Music (tie): Inherent Vice/Under the Skin
...for some reason, the kids at Awards Watch were almost certain about Under the Skin winning; is there something special about that composer I don't know?

Production Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel
(ru: Snowpiercer)
...in my mind, a near-perfect 1-2

Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons
(ru: Edward Norton)

Editing: Boyhood
(ru: the Grand Budapest Hotel)
Last edited by Mister Tee on Sun Dec 07, 2014 6:20 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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