Well, the (rather predictable) steamroller keeps on going today as “The Social Network” adds the New York Film Critics Circle to its tally of early kudos. The question now and through the next few weeks will be, is it “L.A. Confidential?” That was the question for “The Hurt Locker” last year, though, and we know how that turned out.
More notable, I think, is the resurgence of “The Kids Are All Right” after a small speed bump in this morning’s BFCA announcement. The film won Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay. Colin Firth, meanwhile, followed yesterday’s LAFCA win for Best Actor with a tip of the hat from the New York crowd, all prelude to an inevitable Oscar win come February.
Melissa Leo also continues to have a great showing in the precursor season, as she took home the award for Best Supporting Actress. And…wait, I’m getting bored already just writing this up. Just have a look for yourself at The Circuit.
[Photo: Focus Features]
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51 responses to “‘Social Network’ adds NYFCC to its tally”
Critics really love the cinematography of Black Swan. Libatique has won like every critics award. Makes me wonder if these people saw the Fountain four years ago.
I’m beginning to wonder about Christian Bale. Why is he not racking up Critics’ wins. I figured if he was going to win the BSA Oscar then it would be powered by a domination of Critics’ awards. Am I wrong?
I guess all you readers who were panicking/gloating about the fortunes of “The Kids Are All Right” can take a breather now.
Hurrah for “The Illusionist,” a million times over.
Hooray for M.Leo and Ruffalo!
Makes me wonder what the runner-up is in the best screenplay category. In any case, here’s one award Sorkin didn’t win.
Am I wrong?
Yes, you are. Recent Supporting Actor Oscar champs like Tim Robbins, George Clooney and Alan Arkin didn’t exactly light up the critics’ award circuit. Critics’ awards are handy, but hardly an Oscar prerequisite.
And Bale’s doing fine: National Board of Review and Boston are nice feathers in his cap.
*sigh*…Why do they even bother?
“And…wait, I’m getting bored already just writing this up. ”
Haha. You could just copy and paste the write up of this one from the other precursors. Nothing much more to be said about this string of precursors.
Sorkin losing is probably the only bug surprise here. Guess it had to happen sometime though.
*big*
Well that is a fair point, Guy, and it does change my view slightly. But considering Bale supposedly has a bad rep (which I always thought seemed exaggerated) I figured that AMPAS would need to sort of have its collective hand forced.
Also in regards to cinematography, with all these wins for Black Swan anyone think Deakins may miss out yet again?
Plenty of time for SAG, BFCA, BAFTA and the Globes to force that hand, Casey. Honestly, the Academy only really starts paying attention when people start winning on, like, TV.
Haha, that is another good point, Guy
At least I predited correctly the double Foreign Language Film- win for “Carlos”!
That said, I was totally wrong about my presumed strong showing of “Another Year”. It looks very doubtful if it still can join the Best Picture-line up without the support of the critics groups.
Oh, yeah, Another Year. WTF? You give him Best Director for something like Happy-Go-Lucky but can’t find room for ANYTHING for this movie? Have to be kidding me…
The L.A Confidential comparison is great…considering The King’s Speach is 2 billion grossing juggernaut.
”a” 2 billion
The typo killed your joke. Sorry, Wayne.
But obviously there’s more nuance to the argument than that. The point is: is this a critics’ fave more than an Academy play? I think it’s fair to say The King’s Speech bears certain similarities to Titanic (which, frankly, would have won if it had been a $200 million-grosser — it wasn’t all about the money on that one, it was about Academy sentiment).
As much as I know that Aaron Sorkin deserved that Screenplay win, I’m glad “The Kids Are All Right” hasn’t been phased out.
Exactly Wayne, there is no legit #2 to compete with TSN. If by some odd chance another film wins on Oscar night it will simply be because voters got bored of TSN. Going by the last three years it appears they don’t get bored of crowning what has already been announced king.
Nice for The Kids Are All Right to get a little bump up.. But I’m mostly amazed to see Black Swan and Matthew Libatique picking up yet another prize! It wasn’t really talked about so much as even a possibility but all these wins and nominations has to boost it’s chances quite a bit, at least towards an Oscar nomination.
Kris, even though my hopes are rather low maybe the HFPA is considering the film here and there tomorrow.
They nominated “Secrets and Lies” in the mid-90s for Best Drama, so they proved not to shy away from sensitive social-studies á la Mike Leigh.
And if they snub it for Drama, they at least should nominate Lesley Manville – no matter if it is for Leading or Supporting, but she deserves it.
I think that could prove to be a problem, Matt. Last year The Hurt Locker wasn’t as dominant as this so early on. Up in the Air won NBR. Avatar was just coming on as a real threat. And then the steamroller hit.
This could cause people to begin actively looking for an alternative. TSN is burning through a lot of fuel very early.
But judging by your second sentence, you seem to get my point.
I disagree…The Social Network with it’s sensibilities has a lot more in common with The Hurt Locker and No Country For Old Men than The King’s Speech.
The King’s Speech is not too different from let’s say The Queen,which won best actress but that was all.
And the difference between the critics and the academy has been diminishing in the last couple of years.
No Country swept the critics,won the oscar,same with Slumdog and the same thing with The Hurt Locker.
Three completely different films which had an undeniable support,all were too big for the academy.The Social Network is making a bigger sweep than all of them.
At least films like There Will Be Blood,Milk and Up In The Air won some of the awards…TSN is sweeping mercilessly.
“And the difference between the critics and the academy has been diminishing in the last couple of years.”
This I agree with. Thing is, the last couple of years, beginning with The Departed, have had a built-in narrative to help explain away atypical choices. Marty, the Coens, Bigelow/Cameron and big/small. Slumdog proved that older sentiments were still lurking, however.
This year, though, there is no such narrative. There is no such “excuse.” So if TSN wins, it’ll be a real indicator that the overall “change” has really begun to settle (at least in my view). And, by the way, I’m completely open to it.
And why would the academy get ”bored” by it’s wins?
No member is going to be like ” i love the film but to make things interesting i’m going to vote for another film”.
People just love to make something out of nothing…just like year.
It was quite obvious that Avatar had very little support outside of it’s visuals but after winning the Globes blogs like this one were proclaiming it was ”too big to lose” ignoring the big support for The Hurt Locker.
It’s pretty similar this year,The Social Network is winning comfortably and to kill the dullness of the race people will make statements like ”will it burn to quickly” as if there’s a limit to the amount of awards a film can get or ”there must be another contender” just for the sake of making it interesting.
_____________ FILM CRITICS AWARD
☑ The Social Network wins Picture and Screenplay.
☐ David Fincher wins Director.
☐ Toy Story 3 wins Animated Picture.
☑ Everything else is a toss up, it’s too early to predict anything about them.
This might come in handy.
Wayne: It’s less about boredom than it is the overall sense that they feel pushed toward something. They have shown, time and again, that they recoil when that happens.
But maybe you should relax, since clearly you’re taking this too seriously…
(And by the way, I was full-square in the Hurt Locker department when it came down to it last year, thank you very much.)
Thank God. I was getting disgusted/disinterested at everything watching Kids being snubbed for some films that are truly overrated (True Grit, Black Swan, Winter’s Bone).
Bening and Ruffalo and the film itself really needed these.
If the Academy hates being pushed toward something they should move the awards to middle of January and not take out their belatedness on the films and actors. Being last sucks regardless of what they do. Either they copy everyone else as they have the last few years or they come off as voting for different people and films just for the hell of being different. The biggest awards show should not have to be in that predicament.
I’m completely relaxed…the discussion might have a serious tone but there’s no tension at all,at least not on my part ;)
I just don’t buy statements like ”they feel pushed towards something”.Those arguments don’t hold any water especially not after awarding Slumdog and The Hurt Locker.
If anything was pushed,it was The Hurt Locker who was deemed as the savior of hollywood against the big bad wolf that was Avatar’s technology.
The academy might have worked like that in the 90′ but it’s pretty obvious that with the new memberships over the last 5-6 years,their agenda(or lack of it) has changed.
Anyway,so much for that,on another topic i can’t believe they gave TKAAR best screenplay…beyond the ”shocking” lesbian part,the writing was cringe worthy,the speech at the end would surely win any award for the cheesiest-of-the -year.
Matt: Agreed.
Wayne: You don’t have to buy them but they are, I assure you, true. Or at least, they have been in the past. As I said, I’m open to a shift, it’s just that it’s been a long, drawn-out shift, going back to the early part of the last decade and it’s finally settling. And it’s not an intangible. New members every year.
I figured that this may be a place for Kids Are All Right, Winter’s Bone, or Another Year to help their awards chances. But while Kids got a boost, I’m surprised at how little the other two have registered with awards groups thus far (after seeing Another Year at the NYFF I thought it was going to be a critics darling and that Manville may even start to sweep the best actress awards).
Still, while Social Network was clearly going to be a strong critics contender, I was already bored yesterday of seeing it win every single BP prize as if there were no other great movies this year. Maybe my annoyance has a little to do with personal bias, as while I thought Social Network was a pretty good movie, I did also find it overrated and could name 25 movies from this year that I think are better. Though even last year, when Hurt Locker was one of my favorites, I got bored by the time we came to the NSFC awards.
“Being last sucks regardless of what they do.”
Matt and Kris, AMPAS are last largely by choice. I don’t think it sucks for them as much as you think. They are seating pretty at the end of the table and LIKE being the last word of the award season.
There are other benefits to being last, such as having the benefit of observing the race and… what they do next is hard is describe precisely because they there is a lot of forces in work here. I could argue that it gives them the chance to see more and narrow the field down. That’s how I see all of the precusors. They are not so much about forcing the Academy’s hand (athough that could happen to, should everyone suddenly go bananas for something truly unfriendly) as they are about drawing attention to things, that may or may not be noticed otherwise.
In any case you are making a mistake of thinking of AMPAS as a homogenous body. It’s the internal conflict between different viewpoints is what makes things interesting.
Maxim: I still think being last it’s what continues to hurt their ratings. Who wants to see the same people say the same things after we’ve seen them at the Globes, BFCAs, etc.? Maybe it’s overstating it a bit, but I do think there is something to it and I’ve always maintained that they should move to mid-January.
But then no one would see the films (because they’d have fewer precursors to TELL them what to watch). A vicious cycle.
They should finally get rid of the Golden Globes.
The TV folks can have the Emmys, the movie folks can have the Oscars, and the music industry (awful as it is) can have its appropriately pathetic Grammy awards.
There are drawbacks to all of the scenarios. Personally, I think that they are in the best possible spot.
For one thing, absolute majority of Academy Awards viewership only watches the Oscars because they are the Oscars. They don’t really know much about other ceremonies, especially those that aren’t televised. These types aren’t likely to get bored. And the rest will probably watch the Oscars anyway.
We also seem to be taking it for granted that every year the race might get boring. This has certainly not been the case all the time.
Moreover, I believe that should Oscars no longer be last major ceremony of the season their prestige would vanish. A Golden Globes time slot might come at the cost of Golden Globes size viewership.
It could also spell a financial disaster, not just to AMPAS but the entire industry. With other Awards still following in the Oscar’s heels and thus, overshadowing the them, the faith in the financial Oscar bump would immediately go away. Good bye those FYC ads.
Nevermind the fact that it might be logistically impossible to complete the two-stage voting process by mid-January. Here, too, just think of what a shorter Awards window would mean to publications like Variety and Hollywood Reporter.
Lastly, I think that Oscar producers might think that the the ceremony should occur after the general public (I don’t think it’s about the membership) had a chance to see the films and those had something to root for. Most of us are only slowly catching up on most of the films that are being released. And seeing awards given handed out to films one haven’t yet seen is even more boring than seeing the all award given out to the all same films one hasn’t seen ;) .
I might be going overboard with my predictions but I am merely trying to follow the idea to the logical conclusion.
If the Academy does feel inclined towards something else, I doubt it will be The King’s Speech. I think Feinberg and Wells’ assertions regarding The Fighter could pan out. It’s doing fairly well in terms of nominations so far.
Loving the wins for “The Illusionist”, “Animal Kingdom” (Best First Feature) and Annette Bening.
Kristopher, is Inception’s Oscar hopes for picture, director and screenplay finis’? The critics have turned their back on the only box-office megahit that isn’t animated for hardcore art house stuff. Deadline’s Nikki Finke castigated WB pictures prez Alan Horn for not campaigning enough for Inception. He denied it, and said that other films were needing pushing too (Hereafter, Harry Potter 7A and The Town). But it seems clear that Inception’s push has been found to be without any backbone. What are your thoughts on that?
No guts with these choices anyway. Are we going to be going on another death march like we’ve done the past 2 years with Hurt Locker and Slumdog only this time it’s a goddamned movie about an asswipe who starts up Facebook?
I feel sorry for ABC and the ratings hit they’re gonna take from a bunch of Sundance typemfilms that nobody’s seen as its Oscar lineup.
Keil re: getting rid of the Globes.
The Globes were the ONLY ones that got both comedy and drama best pictures (and director) RIGHT last time. They stood alone amid the Hurt Locker circle jerking.
While The King’s Speech may have the critical appeal to compete with The Social Network, it’s hard to believe it will achieve the same kind of box-office draw that Titanic and Avatar hauled in with audiences.
When L.A. Confidential swept the critics’ awards, I don’t think anyone could have foreseen the tremendous impact that Titanic brought to the screen. Titanic was a massive visual achievement that reeled in audiences because of the love story amidst the great disaster. Critics and audiences ended up loving it because of the emotional hook, which was somewhat lacking in L.A. Confidential.
The reason Avatar didn’t win last year was, ironically enough, because of its visual excellence. Cameron’s breakthroughs in technology undermined the nuances of motion-capture performance. The actors’ branch simply didn’t want to vote for a film that carried a less meaningful experience emotionally. Critics and audiences loved what Cameron was able to accomplish and the film was a billion-dollar success. Yet Avatar works more because of what you see rather than what you feel, which prevented it from having the same kind of momentum as Titanic. As a result, the Academy found it easier to vote for (in my opinion) the better film in The Hurt Locker.
How this year is different from 1997 and 2009 is that there’s no billion-dollar film to dethrone The Social Network’s momentum. The Social Network is the best reviewed film of the year. The majority of audiences love it and if they don’t, they admire what Fincher and Sorkin were able to accomplish. The King’s Speech will not achieve the same kind of popularity with audiences like Titanic and Avatar. The films that can do that, while also having the critical accolades to back it up, are Toy Story 3 and Inception. Academy members find it hard-pressed to vote for an animated film, which kills Toy Story 3. As for Inception, its ensemble of actors and the visual ambitions of Christopher Nolan might sway voters who feel The Social Network is too hollow for their tastes. But if something is too good to ignore, which I believe The Social Network is, then how can you deny it?
Any intimation that we’ll be finding out the NYFCC’s runners up? I don’t see any clues on line, and maybe they’ve elected to keep the curtain drawn. But if I had a cat, curiosity would be killing it.
The most wonderful thing I heard/read all day was at Jeff Wells Blog.
Here is what Pete Hammond said, : I heard from one person in the room that there was an active e-mail movement among certain members to name Dogtooth Best Picture, but it didn’t go anywhere once the meeting got going today.
Ah sweet possibility! More reason to love LAFCA. I wish they take out nominations one year just to shame all the other critic awards an show them how it is done.
Dogtooth?
@red_wine: I was hoping NYFCC might go for Dogtooth as Foreign Film, or at least as runner-up. I now harbor the same hope for NSFC, though it’s probably unreasonable. Your comment makes me think it’s less unreasonable, so thanks!
“Slumdog only this time it’s a goddamned movie about an asswipe who starts up Facebook?”
You haven’t even seen the film have you?