December 11, 2007
No Country For Old Critics
The New York Film Critics Circle met yesterday to vote on their “Best of” list for 2007; widely viewed as a barometer for the upcoming Academy Awards, the critics pride themselves as “a principled alternative to the Oscars, honoring esthetic merit in a forum that is immune to commercial and political pressures.” But if one anonymous member is to be believed, the meeting sounds more like a “principled” excuse for an Aint It Cool News-style geek-out.
[NY Observer critic] Rex Reed made a vomiting noise the first time there was a vote for Francis Coppola's Youth Without Youth, which prompted NYFCC chief Stephen Whitty to quip, 'And a special award to Rex for sitting through it.' N.Y. Press critic Armond White gave a passionate speech arguing against the proposed Lifetime Achievement Award for director Sidney Lumet (Before The Devil Knows You're Dead) on the grounds that Lumet sucks and always has, but that's about it. Oh, and there was a good protest vote for Best Actress with Bianca the doll (from Lars and the Real Girl) being pushed over Julie Christie."
In the end, Christie edged out the inflatable sex doll to win Best Actress for her performance in the Alzheimer's tearjerker Away From Her, which also earned Sarah Polley the award for best directorial debut. The Coen brothers were the big heavyweights though, nabbing Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay for No Country for Old Men. Javier Bardem also won Best Supporting Actor for his extraordinary performance in No Country, with the Best Actor prize going to Daniel Day Lewis for his work in P.T. Anderson’s dark turn-of-the-century oil epic There Will Be Blood, which opens in select theaters on December 26th. (See the full list of awards.)
Do you agree with Armond’s rumored dissent on Sidney Lumet’s (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon) Lifetime Achievement Award?
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I think Rex Reed has a yearly fit at these events.
Anyway, I think Sidney Lumet deserves a Lifetime Achievement award, if only for Network and Dog Day Afternoon. But some of his movies really are stinkers.
I wonder if Sarah Polley (who directed Away from Her) will be a dark horse candidate for any other directing honors. It's not as flashy a film as others (I'd bet Paul Greengrass gets a nomination for Bourne Ultimatum over Polley), but with awards attention on Julie Christie, there may be more focus on Polley's contributions.
whatever. These awards suck ass. Why even have them every year? seminal works come by only once every 5 years it seems now. Everything is redundant and hackneyed. We need More "TAXI DRIVER"'s. These indie movies are always about divorce, gays, AIDS, being poor or some stupid shit that's been done a million times over in a million ways. We need a film maker to come in and breathe new life. Go to IMDB and just rent a film from the top 250. Classic films will always be good but who the hell will watch the crap that won the best film award last year? no one.
No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood? About "divorce, gays, AIDS, being poor or some stupid shit"?
I'm looking forward to a Teutonic infanticide biopic next year.
Maybe Herzog will direct.
Lumet should get the lifetime acheivement award if for nothing but being able to find people to fund his crap. i look at dog day and network as flukes in an otherwise bland and boring career. even serpico is overrated.