NY Critics winners

[Sonic Youth]

But in a time of crisis, not only an economical crisis, a more general one, getting back to the roots of cinema and to its original "purity", through a foreign silent movie which speaks "the universal language of cinema", might be difficult for the Academy to resist to.

Between 'The Artist', 'Hugo' and 'War Horse', I've had the feeling for about a week that a variation of the above comment is going to be this year's meme. "The Academy retreats into the safety of the fantastical past in order to hide from the turbulent present", or something like that. And it's probably true.

I hadn't read this anywhere - and I certainly wouldn't apply it to War Horse or even Hugo, from what I've heard of these two movies.

I meant on this board. It was actually a prediction. I guess I was taking the original intent of your statement, and broadening it. I'm talking about movies going back to the past and romanticizing it as a reaction of avoiding present times. What you said sort of hinted at my thoughts. And I would apply it to Hugo (which I've seen) and War Horse (if the previews are any indication), and also The Help.

By the way, "getting back to the roots of cinema and to it's original purity" would most definitely apply to Hugo, nostalgically if not aesthetically.

[Greg]

But in a time of crisis, not only an economical crisis, a more general one, getting back to the roots of cinema and to its original "purity", through a foreign silent movie which speaks "the universal language of cinema", might be difficult for the Academy to resist to.

Between 'The Artist', 'Hugo' and 'War Horse', I've had the feeling for about a week that a variation of the above comment is going to be this year's meme. "The Academy retreats into the safety of the fantastical past in order to hide from the turbulent present", or something like that. And it's probably true.

This could also lead them to heavily rewarding veterans, by giving a 1st Oscar to Christopher Plummer, a 2nd to Vanessa Redgrave, a 3rd to Meryl Streep, and a 4th to Woody Allen.

[ITALIANO]

But in a time of crisis, not only an economical crisis, a more general one, getting back to the roots of cinema and to its original "purity", through a foreign silent movie which speaks "the universal language of cinema", might be difficult for the Academy to resist to.

Between 'The Artist', 'Hugo' and 'War Horse', I've had the feeling for about a week that a variation of the above comment is going to be this year's meme. "The Academy retreats into the safety of the fantastical past in order to hide from the turbulent present", or something like that. And it's probably true.

I hadn't read this anywhere - and I certainly wouldn't apply it to War Horse or even Hugo, from what I've heard of these two movies.

[Mister Tee]

So, this Lumenick guy is noyt only a liberal, he also -- bless him -- provides the voting data we used to know and love:


"The Artist'' won best picture on the third ballot with 44 points under the NYFCC's arcane weighted voting system, followed by 35 for "Melancholia'' and 20 for "Hugo.'' The von Trier tied with "The Artist'' with 27 points apiece on the first ballot, with "Hugo'' trailing with 16 points. Second ballot: "Artist'' (40), "Melancholia'' (33), "Hugo'' (21). My favorite film of the year, "The Descendants,'' never managed to amass more than 17 points in any round.

The biggest horse race was for best director, ultimately won by Michel Haznavicius of "The Artist'' with 47 points to 39 for Scorsese and 35 for Von Trier. In the first round, it was Haznavicius, 24; Von Trier, 22; and Malick 21 and in the second, a single point separated Haznavicius (33), Scorsese (32) and Von Trier (31).

Streep wired the field on the first and only ballot with 38 points to 24 for Michelle Williams ("My Week With Marilyn'') and 23 for Kirsten Dunst ("Melancholia''). While Pitt (42 points) triumphed over Michael Fassbender (27) and Jean Dujardin (26) on the second ballot, on the initial go-round it was Pitt 24, Dujardin 23 and Fassbender 18.

Brooks won on the second ballot with 43 points to 36 for Christopher Plummer ("Beginners'') and 18 for Viggo Mortensen ("A Dangerous Method'') Chastain had to go three rounds before her 33 points banquished Carey Mulligan's 27 (for "Shame'') and Vanessa Redgrave's 26 (for "Coriolanus'').

[Sonic Youth]

Acting: Was Brad Pitt really that good in Moneyball?

Lots of people think so, but I'm not among them. To me, he reverted back to his bad habits that plague half his performances: smugness. He's surrounded by a cast of naturals in the movie, but his cockiness felt an affect. I don't mind smugness if it's essential to the character, but I never understood why Billy Beane had to come across as smug. Confident, assured, maybe somewhat entitled... but not smug. And FWIW, "confident" and "assured" were qualities that came through beautifully in his peformances in Tree of Life and (even better) Assassination of Jesse James, without any hint of smugness.

[Sonic Youth]

But in a time of crisis, not only an economical crisis, a more general one, getting back to the roots of cinema and to its original "purity", through a foreign silent movie which speaks "the universal language of cinema", might be difficult for the Academy to resist to.

Between 'The Artist', 'Hugo' and 'War Horse', I've had the feeling for about a week that a variation of the above comment is going to be this year's meme. "The Academy retreats into the safety of the fantastical past in order to hide from the turbulent present", or something like that. And it's probably true.

[nightwingnova]

Glad the NYFCC stood up to the unearned praise and declined awards to Descendants.

Apparently no Animated Feature award this year.

One hopes we'll see runners-up; if there were alot of close races, and omitted titles turned up regularly, it might change our view of this. However, simply based on the surface -- i.e., the winners:

A bad day for The Descendants.

A perhaps worse day for the indie candidates -- Fassbender, Olsen, Dunst, Swinton -- who needed some notice to get in among the glamour candidates. (Albert Brooks, by contrast, gets a leg up from this)

Not much love for the late-screening films, Iron Lady aside. One wonders if critics get set in their choices as the year goes on, and are less likely to be blown away by last-thing-I-saw than the studios believe.

Streep is now clearly well-placed. If other critics' groups go for her as well, the long-expected third could become reality.

HUGE boost for The Artist. As I've understood things, the main thing holding it back in some eyes is the sense of it being in the end too trivial a film. A best film award from such an august group is a pretty good rejoinder to that.

[nightwingnova]

I'd rather they be predictable and had voted with integrity.

It's good to have an awards that is serious and respectable even if you disagree with its choices.

Folks gush over the Oscars but you have to take them with a grain of salt. Much of it is all about entertainment, sentiment, and marketing.

With the NYFCC, they provide guidance to some of the valuable artistic achievement to see each year.


There

I don't know if I'd really consider them that important anymore. Looking over this list, a lot of these choices seem very predictable. And let's not let the Streep bandwagon get going too fast because it's just going to crash again. Remember how many prizes she's won in the past from critics groups without victory. Julie & Julia, a film that had no shot with Oscar despite being flogged by every critic and their mother netted her 8 awards including the New York critics. She won five (including SAG) for Doubt. The Academy isn't just going to give her a prize for being Meryl Streep. They could have done that easily by now. No, with Harvey Weinstein beyond Michelle Williams, her age and iconic character in My Week with Marilyn, I think you need to look there for the likely winner in February. But that's my opinion wanting to keep the Streep-hards from getting too overexcited about this choice.

No Animated Film is likely meant to comment on the lackluster year the major studios have had. With big efforts like Puss in Boots, Happy Feet Two and Cars 2 all bombing with critics, they probably wanted to send a stiff message to Hollywood.

[nightwingnova]

I just left some other movie boards after scrounging for information on the voting. Finally, I can have an intelligent and rigorous conversation about the choices!

The Artist doesn't open here until "who knows when?" - no scheduled date (and I'm in a major metro area); so, I can't compare it to other (also unseen) films that were potentially in contention for awards.

But, I would like some enlightenment from you guys regarding some of the other awards.

Cinematography: I greatly preferred Melancholia to The Tree of Life. ToL was predictable in many of its images. Or obviously artsy in its intent. In the end, I found the images only akin to ones from science documentaries and inspirational TV commercials and posters. Melancholia's images were original.

Acting: Was Brad Pitt really that good in Moneyball? He was splendid in ToL but the character was barely half a foot deep. Compared to Dujardin, Waltz and Fassbender?

What about Chastain and Brooks?

Unlike past years, we have not had the chance to see everything the critics saw. Still, this is the first year in recent memory that I find myself questioning so many of their choices.

[nightwingnova]

Anyone have scoop on the runners-up? The also-rans?

[Dien]

Maybe the NYFCC should make a point of awarding . . . Best Animated Film only as warranted. Are there worthy awardees each year?

I've been saying that about the Academy for years.

In my predictions, for runner up I had: No award given this year. I'm glad this group recognized the absurdity of this category.

Probably why they didn't have the category until computers made it affordable for studios to pump them out like flies in an old sack of potatoes.

[ITALIANO]

Glad for A Separation and for Brad Pitt, whose quiet intensity in The Tree of Life (I haven't seen Moneyball yet) certainly proved to me that he's becoming one of the best American actors in films today. That such a popular star has got the seal of approval from the New York Critics may lead to something very important on Oscar night. (At this point, I'd say there's only one solid alternative for Best Actor).

Albert Brooks's uncertain destiny could be slightly less uncertain now - for a nomination, I mean; as others have pointed out, Chastain's three movies (and the fact that she's a very subtle actress, or at least she is in Tree of Life) may represent an obstacle. We will see.

As for The Artist, I'm afraid that Best Picture is over today. I say "afraid" because, unlike 2009 and 2010, this seems to be an interesting year for American movies, and there are certainly some more than worthy contenders. But in a time of crisis, not only an economical crisis, a more general one, getting back to the roots of cinema and to its original "purity", through a foreign silent movie which speaks "the universal language of cinema", might be difficult for the Academy to resist to.

[Damien]

Maybe the NYFCC should make a point of awarding . . . Best Animated Film only as warranted. Are there worthy awardees each year?

I've been saying that about the Academy for years.

In my predictions, for runner up I had: No award given this year. I'm glad this group recognized the absurdity of this category.

[The Original BJ]

I didn't have time to post my prediction list last night, but I'd have gotten three -- Foreign Film, Supporting Actor, and the big one, The Artist winning Best Picture. As Mister Tee says, this is obviously a big boost for a movie that could have been viewed as crowd-pleasingly light.

Most disappointed about the Shame shut-out -- I'd predicted both Fassbender and Mulligan and thought this would be a group that might have gone for at least one of them.

I'm not THAT surprised The Descendants was excluded -- it struck me as a solid but much more square vehicle than Payne's previous efforts.

I'm going to take a very firm "let's wait and see" attitude toward Meryl Streep's victory. I see some bloggers have declared the race over, that this cements Streep as the Oscar winner. I see no reason to make such a call just yet, particularly given the competition we've already seen, as well as the fact that Streep's movie is still a late-breaking question mark. But I also can't take OscarGuy's stance, that Streep's chances are definitely going to crash and burn again because Candidate X (whether that's Williams or Davis or whomever) is the likely winner instead. I just think Streep herself has too much going for her at this point (including, now, a major critics' prize) to not acknowledge that she's a strong part of this discussion. (And, lest we forget, Harvey Weinstein is ALSO behind Meryl Streep.)

For a while, Jessica Chastain has been talked about as a likely candidate for a you've-had-a-great-year Oscar nomination, and this certainly gives her a boost. The question still remains, though -- for which film? Take Shelter (which I've not seen) got her an Indie Spirit nod today, but The Help looks like her big Oscar vehicle, and she is quite funny in it, though I don't think that performance alone would be enough to get her onto the list. (The Tree of Life could also be a multi-Oscar nominee, but I don't think her performance there is attention-grabbing enough for singular attention.)

I want Emmanuel Lubezki to win an Oscar so g.d. badly.

[nightwingnova]

Maybe the NYFCC should make a point of awarding Best First Film and Best Animated Film only as warranted. Are there worthy awardees each year?

I don't know if I'd really consider them that important anymore. Looking over this list, a lot of these choices seem very predictable. And let's not let the Streep bandwagon get going too fast because it's just going to crash again. Remember how many prizes she's won in the past from critics groups without victory. Julie & Julia, a film that had no shot with Oscar despite being flogged by every critic and their mother netted her 8 awards including the New York critics. She won five (including SAG) for Doubt. The Academy isn't just going to give her a prize for being Meryl Streep. They could have done that easily by now. No, with Harvey Weinstein beyond Michelle Williams, her age and iconic character in My Week with Marilyn, I think you need to look there for the likely winner in February. But that's my opinion wanting to keep the Streep-hards from getting too overexcited about this choice.

No Animated Film is likely meant to comment on the lackluster year the major studios have had. With big efforts like Puss in Boots, Happy Feet Two and Cars 2 all bombing with critics, they probably wanted to send a stiff message to Hollywood.