(Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by Damien »

nightwingnova wrote:Not critical enough of Thatcher? She's a hero in Britain. She kicked the country forward from an economic and morale dump. The country was dying in the late 70s and 80s.
Not among the British entertainment and arts community, which is to the left of that in the States. Many of the mainstays of British theatre and film today got their starts in works excoriating Thatcher and the Tories.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by Greg »

nightwingnova wrote:Not critical enough of Thatcher? She's a hero in Britain. She kicked the country forward from an economic and morale dump. The country was dying in the late 70s and 80s.
She does have a degree in chemistry, so she can't be all bad.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by nightwingnova »

That's why my original list of contenders is so expansive. A decent number of talked about films, but - since reviews are not yet out for many of them - hard to know how much to trust the buzz.

The best I can trust to do is use personal judgment to trim the list further down to finalists:

Film: The Artist, War Horse (the middle-brow alternative this year), Shame (I think that Richard Corliss is right about The Descendants and that Tree of Life is way overrated.)

Director: David Fincher (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Lars von Trier (Melancholia), Steven Spielberg (War Horse)

Actor: Christoph Waltz (Carnage), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Michael Fassbender (Shame, et al) (I find Waltz' performance the most interesting, original and trenchant of the year.)

Actress: Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) (Streep is the favorite. Dunst is superb as the clinically depressed sister who becomes the bulwark of strength in a real crisis.)

Supporting Actor: Viggo Mortensen (A Dangerous Method), Christopher Plummer (Beginners, et al), Robert Forster (The Descendants)

Supporting Actress: Janet McTeer (Albert Nobbs), Vanessa Redgrave (Coriolanus), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Melancholia)

Screenplay: Shame

Cinematography: Melancholia (should be a slam dunk), The Artist, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Mister Tee wrote:Who are these critics performing cartwheels? All I've seen are reactions from a few Brit papers, who just might be extra-inclined to support a film about their former Prime Minister, and bloggers who went into not only the film thinking "Oscar"...they pretty much went into the entire year with that mind-set. Critics are likely to take a far more jaundiced view. Let's at least wait till the trades weigh in.

In fact, I'd say we're unusually in the dark this year, given how close we are to the first prizes (1 week away). The Iron Lady, War Horse, We Bought a Zoo, The Girl witrh the Dragon Tattoo, Young Adult, in the Land of Blood and Honey and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- none have yet been rated by credible reviewers. Predicting the NY outcome this year is like throwing darts at the side of a barn.
Last edited by nightwingnova on Thu Nov 24, 2011 1:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by Sonic Youth »

nightwingnova wrote:Not critical enough of Thatcher? She's a hero in Britain.
You'd never know it from watching those "Spitting Image" episodes.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by nightwingnova »

Not critical enough of Thatcher? She's a hero in Britain. She kicked the country forward from an economic and morale dump. The country was dying in the late 70s and 80s.
Damien wrote:My guess is that The Descendaants will nab Best Screenplay, while The Artist takes Picture and Director. I think Kirsten Dunst has to be considered the favorite for Best Actress. Apparently The Iron Lady isn't critical enough of the Evil Bitch, so I don't think the liberal voting group will want to honor it in any way -- awarding Streep could be seen as honoring the former prime minister herself.

But Tee is right -- with the awards so early and so many major films still not reviewed, this year is impossible to call.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by Mister Tee »

I also think the women primarily being spoken of for the Oscar win -- Davis and Streep -- are unlikely to make much showing at NY, LA or National. Dunst, Tilda Swinton and Elizabeth Olsen seem more likely to compete there, with maybe Michelle Williams or Charlize Theron straddlling the commercial/art gap.

I'm anxious for the daily reviews tomrrow, to see if The Artist is truly a critics' movie. It's been so hyped since Cannes -- by the machine, not so much the critical fraternity -- that I wonder if there might be some backlash. For the moment, I'm looking at The Descendants, Tree of Life, Melacholia and Hugo (check out those Metacritic scores) as the strongest critics' best picture contenders.

More on this at the end of the weekend, by which point I assume at least some further murmurs will have escaped.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by Reza »

Damien wrote:I think Kirsten Dunst has to be considered the favorite for Best Actress.
Really? What an absurd character she plays and what was so revelatory about Dunst's performance in Melancholia?
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by Damien »

My guess is that The Descendaants will nab Best Screenplay, while The Artist takes Picture and Director. I think Kirsten Dunst has to be considered the favorite for Best Actress. Apparently The Iron Lady isn't critical enough of the Evil Bitch, so I don't think the liberal voting group will want to honor it in any way -- awarding Streep could be seen as honoring the former prime minister herself.

But Tee is right -- with the awards so early and so many major films still not reviewed, this year is impossible to call.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by Dien »

I say let the guessing games continue. It makes for a more exciting prediction pool.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by nightwingnova »

The major British papers love Streep but find the movie "silly." From the trailer, I can't tell if she's spot-on or a tad ludicrous. Streep does provide a girlish flirty quality to her characterization that is not present in the real deal.

Mister Tee wrote:Who are these critics performing cartwheels? All I've seen are reactions from a few Brit papers, who just might be extra-inclined to support a film about their former Prime Minister, and bloggers who went into not only the film thinking "Oscar"...they pretty much went into the entire year with that mind-set. Critics are likely to take a far more jaundiced view. Let's at least wait till the trades weigh in.

In fact, I'd say we're unusually in the dark this year, given how close we are to the first prizes (1 week away). The Iron Lady, War Horse, We Bought a Zoo, The Girl witrh the Dragon Tattoo, Young Adult, in the Land of Blood and Honey and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- none have yet been rated by credible reviewers. Predicting the NY outcome this year is like throwing darts at the side of a barn.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by Big Magilla »

I don't think any of the unseen films are going to factor much in the NYFC voting for Best Picture, which I see as race between The Descendants and The Artist unless they go wild and go for something like Shame which probably has a better shot at Best Actor.

I see Michael Fassbender's closest competition for Best Actor as Gary Oldman and Jean Dujardin unless their love for The Descendants is so overwhelming that they decide to award Clooney.

Less predictable are the NBR awards this year. This group is more likely to vote for War Horse, but they've been full of surprises in recent years so I expect to be surprised by whatever they decide to so aside from voting for Streep as Best Actress.

A bit of trivia: Harry Lloyd who plays the young Denis Thatcher in The Iron Lady is the great-great-great grandson of Charles Dickens.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by Mister Tee »

Who are these critics performing cartwheels? All I've seen are reactions from a few Brit papers, who just might be extra-inclined to support a film about their former Prime Minister, and bloggers who went into not only the film thinking "Oscar"...they pretty much went into the entire year with that mind-set. Critics are likely to take a far more jaundiced view. Let's at least wait till the trades weigh in.

In fact, I'd say we're unusually in the dark this year, given how close we are to the first prizes (1 week away). The Iron Lady, War Horse, We Bought a Zoo, The Girl witrh the Dragon Tattoo, Young Adult, in the Land of Blood and Honey and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close -- none have yet been rated by credible reviewers. Predicting the NY outcome this year is like throwing darts at the side of a barn.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by Big Magilla »

Say what you will about the decline of this august voting body, but when the NY critics speak, Oscar voters still pay attention unless they do something off the wall like give Cameron Diaz a Best Actress award for a silly sex comedy. If Meryl Streep wins her fifth award from this group for the The Iron Lady she will be all but unbeatable at the Oscars. This seems to be a crowd-pleasing performance that has critics doing cartwheels, unexpectedly so based on the director's past unchallenging work. That gives Oscar's most nominated performer the look of an underdog, and everyne loves an underdog.

Streep plays Maggie Thatcher both as the middle-aged bitch she was at the height of her power as well as the demented octagenerian she is now. It's got Oscar written all over it. If the critics shower it with awards, it will not suffer the same fate as her two previous NYFC winswhich were more polarizing, i.e. the good, but downbeat A Cry in the Dark and the good, if trifling Julie and Julia.
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by nightwingnova »

From buzz, trailers and viewings, here are what I consider to be the contenders next Tuesday:

Film: The Artist, The Descendants (please no, the moralizing ending ruins it), War Horse, Tree of Life (please no, vastly overrated), Shame, Melancholia

Director: David Fincher (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist), Lars von Trier (Melancholia), Steve McQueen (Shame)

Actor: Christoph Waltz (Carnage), Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Michael Fassbender (Shame, et al), Gary Oldman (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy)

Actress: Kirsten Dunst (Melancholia), Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady), Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene), Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs),

Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (Beginners, et al), Robert Forster (The Descendants),

Supporting Actress: Shailene Woodley (The Descendants), Berenice Bejo (The Artist), Vanessa Redgrave (Coriolanus), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Melancholia)

Screenplay: The Descendants (again, please no), War Horse, Shame

Cinematography: The Artist, Melancholia (should be a slam dunk), Shame, Tree of Life, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
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Re: (Ridiculous) NY Critics Voting Date

Post by Sabin »

Why would it matter if critics get a chance to see a Stephen Daldry movie before voting on the best films of the year?
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