The 2008 Awards Season Has Started!

[Gold Trumpet]

fuck kirk honeycutt, sheri linden, frank scheck, stephen farber, michael rechtshaffen, and ray bennett.

Jesus, go to IMDB. I understood the attack on the Slant review because it was bad but that's ridiculous.

[hedwig]

is one of them related to you or something?

i don't get your reaction.

[Gold Trumpet]

is one of them related to you or something?

i don't get your reaction.

Of course you don't.

[hedwig]

uh, ok then.

the problem is that Blood isn't being being recognized as the movie of the year by ANYBODY and they're part of that problem. i'll just have to assume that you have some personal attachment to kirk honeycutt, sheri linden, frank scheck, stephen farber, michael rechtshaffen, and ray bennett since you refuse to explain your (over)reaction. i don't think i even commented on the slant review so i'm not sure why you brought that up.

[Gold Trumpet]

uh, ok then.

the problem is that Blood isn't being being recognized as the movie of the year by ANYBODY and they're part of that problem. i'll just have to assume that you have some personal attachment to kirk honeycutt, sheri linden, frank scheck, stephen farber, michael rechtshaffen, and ray bennett since you refuse to explain your (over)reaction. i don't think i even commented on that slant review so i'm not sure why you brought that up.

they're part of what problem? Until you dig up their reviews and start finding intellectual faults with their arguments it isn't a problem. It's just a disagreement between some critics and some members of the audience. I understand the general sadness that There Will Be Blood isn't getting recognized by critics if you love the film, but you don't need to make it a personal mission to accost everyone who comes within an inch of disagreement. It just makes you look like a spammer. You're not doing the fans of the film any favors.

It wasn't an overreaction on my part. It isn't like you were presenting something for debate. You made a slam you wholeheartedly believed in.

[hedwig]

they're part of what problem? Until you dig up their reviews and start finding intellectual faults with their arguments it isn't a problem. It's just a disagreement between some critics and some members of the audience. I understand the general sadness that There Will Be Blood isn't getting recognized by critics if you love the film, but you don't need to make it a personal mission to accost everyone who comes within an inch of disagreement. It just makes you look like a spammer. You're not doing the fans of the film any favors.

they're part of the problem of CMBB being ignored. that's my whole point! it has nothing to do with accosting dissenters. sure, blood-negligence aside, those people might be great film critics..

i'm just frustrated by the continuation of an annoying trend. that's all. i don't care about kirk honeycutt.

It wasn't an overreaction on my part. It isn't like you were presenting something for debate. You made a slam you wholeheartedly believed in.

the IMDB remark was an overreaction. and yeah i guess i wasn't "presenting something for debate" unless somebody wants to argue that so many critics are justified in not listing Blood as their top film of the year.

[Gold Trumpet]

they're part of what problem? Until you dig up their reviews and start finding intellectual faults with their arguments it isn't a problem. It's just a disagreement between some critics and some members of the audience. I understand the general sadness that There Will Be Blood isn't getting recognized by critics if you love the film, but you don't need to make it a personal mission to accost everyone who comes within an inch of disagreement. It just makes you look like a spammer. You're not doing the fans of the film any favors.

they're part of the problem of CMBB being ignored. that's my whole point!

It's their duty to represent There Will Be Blood? They have to love it and give it the limelight of #1 on a top ten list? I remember a film called 2001: A Space Odyssey doing well for itself after missing the boat with most critics. If you're so convinced There Will be Blood is a masterpiece you have to understand most films of those kind don't come to easy acclaim.

it has nothing to do with accosting dissenters. and sure, blood-negligence aside, those people might be great film critics, just like ebert used to be.

As of 3:51am, Roger Ebert hasn't even posted his review of There Will Be Blood. You haven't read it. Take aim at him for other reviews but don't step on him and others for reviews it looks like you haven't even read.

i'm just frustrated by the continuation of an annoying trend. that's all. i don't care about kirk honeycutt.

I'm frustated with a few annoying trends myself.

the IMDB remark was an overreaction. and yeah i guess i wasn't "presenting something for debate" unless somebody wants to argue that so many critics are justified in not listing Blood as their top film of the year.

You're still proving your IMDB candidacy. Worry about your own justification to why There Will be Blood is a great film.

[cine]

I'm frustated with a few annoying trends myself.

too funny.

[hedwig]

the IMDB remark was an overreaction. and yeah i guess i wasn't "presenting something for debate" unless somebody wants to argue that so many critics are justified in not listing Blood as their top film of the year.

You're still proving your IMDB candidacy. Worry about your own justification to why There Will be Blood is a great film.

ok clearly you missed the sarcasm there. i wasn't presenting something for debate because i don't really think it makes any sense for someone to argue with me over being annoyed that the movie's not getting a lot of awards. i'm not making some grand statement here. if anything, it would turn into a discussion of the movie itself which would obviously take place in another thread.

so the point is that i am NOT trying to spark a debate here. i think that's pretty obvious. i don't know what kind of serious analytical film discussion you're expecting from a reaction to a bunch of awards.

ok. this is pretty stupid. you can take the last word here, GT.

[Gold Trumpet]

so the point is that i am NOT trying to spark a debate here. i think that's pretty obvious. i don't know what kind of serious analytical film discussion you're expecting from a reaction to a bunch of awards.

Good job latching onto a fragment of my argument against you. I'm not always interested in debate. It isn't a button I press to answer everyone with. The point here is that I am interested in you being somewhat decent to critics who have opinions different from you. I still don't know if you truly believe critics have to love this film. I still do not know if you really do think they are imbeciles (which is what you've let on to thinking earlier). I don't even know if you've even read a few of the reviews.

[hedwig]

that's fine. i'll respond to just to clarify a few things you mentioned.

The point here is that I am interested in you being somewhat decent to critics who have opinions different from you.

haha ok, maybe it was a bit harsh to say fuck them. instead i bite my thumb at them.

I still don't know if you truly believe critics have to love this film.

nope.

I still do not know if you really do think they are imbeciles (which is what you've let on to thinking earlier).

not all of them, no.

I don't even know if you've even read a few of the reviews.

i have.

now if you'll excuse me, i have IMDB boards to spam.

[Gold Trumpet]

haha, the world is right again, but I'm a hypocrite too. I post on IMDB boards occasionally.

[MacGuffin]

"There Will be Blood" wins top critics' awards

"There Will Be Blood" took top honors from the National Society of Film Critics on Saturday, scoring wins for best picture, best actor for Daniel Day-Lewis and best director for Paul Thomas Anderson.

The strong showing by "There Will be Blood," a grim tale of power, corruption and greed surrounding an early 20th-century oil prospector (Day-Lewis), put the epic drama in solid contention for next month's Oscars.

The movie by Anderson, renowned for such offbeat fare as "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia," was his loose adaptation of a 1927 Upton Sinclair novel, "Oil!"

Julie Christie was named best actress by the critics' association for her role as a woman struggling with Alzheimer's disease in "Away From Her."

With the win, Christie added to a list of prizes that position her as a front-runner for the best-actress Oscar. She already has been cited by several well-known groups, including the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, and nominated for best actress by the Screen Actors Guild among others.

The National Society of Film Critics includes 61 members from major newspapers in Los Angeles, Boston, New York and Chicago as well as from Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker and Salon.com.

Critics' awards are important in helping build momentum heading toward the Academy Awards, or Oscars, which are the world's top film awards given out on the final Sunday in February by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Honors for best supporting performances went to Casey Affleck for the biopic "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," and Cate Blanchett in a gender-bending performance as one of six characters embodying an aspect of musician Bob Dylan's life and work in "I'm Not There."

The award for best foreign language film was won by Romania's "Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days," about a woman's attempts to secure an illegal abortion. The film also won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

The film critics, in their 42nd annual awards, named "No End in Sight," the documentary about the Bush administration's policies in Iraq and the war there, as the year's best nonfiction film.

Shut out of the awards were highly touted films including "Sweeney Todd" and the Coen brothers' "No Country for Old Men" that won several prizes in the award season's early weeks.

Tamara Jenkins won best screenplay for "The Savages," a comic drama she also directed, starring Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman as siblings coping with their ailing father.

[MacGuffin]

"No Country" tops favorites at film critics awards

"No Country for Old Men," a gritty thriller about a killer who cuts a path of destruction across Texas, was named best film at the Critics Choice Awards on Monday, leaving contenders such as "Into the Wild" and "Juno" by the wayside.

"No Country" also took home the directing prize for brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, while Spanish actor Javier Bardem was honored for his supporting role as a cold-blooded hitman with a novel means of dispatching his victims.

Britain's Daniel Day-Lewis was named best actor for his role as a tough oilman in "There Will Be Blood," and compatriot Julie Christie won best actress for playing an Alzheimer's victim in "Away With Her." Amy Ryan was honored for her supporting role as the deadbeat mother of a missing child in "Gone Baby Gone."

The Critics Choice Awards have an enviable track record as an Oscar predictor. In the past 12 years, half of the acting and best picture winners have gone on to claim Oscar glory, along with 75 percent of the directing winners.

But Bardem, an Oscar nominee in 2001 for his lead role in "Before Night Falls," was philosophical about his chances this time around.

"I don't think about Academy Awards, or anything. I'm from Spain," he told reporters backstage at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

The event, televised on cable channel VH1, is organized by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, a group of more than 200 television, radio and online critics in the United States and Canada.

'WILD' OUT IN THE COLD

Sean Penn's adventure saga "Into the Wild" went home empty-handed despite leading the field with seven nominations. The pregnant teen comedy "Juno," which had six nominations, had to settle for best writer (Diablo Cody) and best comedy.

"No Country" was among five pictures with five nominations each. Three others, legal thriller "Michael Clayton," bloody musical "Sweeney Todd" and period drama "Atonement," all were snubbed. Musical "Hairspray," also with five nominations, took home awards for best acting ensemble and best young actress.

"There Will Be Blood" also was a double-winner, with Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood winning for best composer.

The awards ceremony took place hours after the shock announcement that next Sunday's Golden Globes telecast would be canceled as a result of the Hollywood writers strike, which is now in its third month. Party plans and costume choices have been thrown into disarray.

"There are about 16 awards shows a year," said actor Don Cheadle, who received a special award in recognition of his efforts to publicize African genocide. "The Golden Globes is a glitzy one and it's one that is fun and they give liquor at the table and that's nice. I think the world will be all right."

In other categories, the French drama "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" was named best foreign language film while director Michael Moore's health-care study "Sicko" was best documentary.

One of the year's biggest box office hits, "Ratatouille," about a rat who cooks in a French kitchen, was named best animated feature, and fairy tale "Enchanted" was singled out as best family film.

Afghan Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada was named best young actor for his role as a rape victim in "The Kite Runner," and best song went to the Irish musical romance "Once."

The Oscars, which are the world's top film honors, will be given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on February 24.

[MacGuffin]

The DGA Noms!
Coens, Penn among the nominated directors.

The Directors Guild of America announced its nominees today for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2007. The announcement was made by DGA president (and Voyage of the Dawn Treader helmer) Michael Apted.

The nominated directors are: Joel and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men; Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will be Blood; Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton; Sean Penn for Into the Wild; and Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. All were first time nominees save for the Coen brothers.

"2008 marks the 60th Anniversary of the DGA Awards. We are very proud to have today's five nominees join the illustrious list of directors that have been nominated for directorial excellence in feature filmmaking over the past 59 years," said Apted. "What makes this award truly meaningful to directors is the knowledge that only this one is decided by their peers – the men and women who know first-hand the passion, sweat and fear that goes into each production."

The winner will be named at the 60th Annual DGA Awards Dinner on Saturday, January 26, 2008, at the Hyatt Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.