Patrick Goldstein, dropping yet another bombshell, reports on the voting practices of the LA Film critics. This is a good time to remember that the LAFCA, unlike, say, the HFPA or the BFCA, really are critics – they aren’t crossover blogger/critics, they aren’t TV personalities who cover entertainment and write reviews – they are seasoned representatives of a, sad to say, dying breed.
And this year especially they seem keen on distancing themselves from Oscar (we made that accusation last year and boy did we hear about it but hey, either they’re living on a distant orb and don’t read the chatter or else they’re resisting). It’s still unknown whether the NYFCC will follow suit but LAFCA seems to have made its point loud and clear – none of the Big Oscar Movies will get their support in any way, shape or form. So here is the paragraph that made me roll my eyes more than once. I want to say, get over yourselves, but I won’t:
Here’s a few highlights from my spies in the room: They say that “Slumdog” sparked the most divisions of any film. Its partisans praised its filmmaking energy and social consciousness. But its scrum of detractors said they wouldn’t vote for it under any circumstances, with some critics claiming it was too derivative, coming off like an amped-up Satyajit Ray film. The only slam dunks in the voting were Penelope Cruz, who won best supporting actress for “Vicki Cristina Barcelona” and Ledger for “The Dark Knight.” The voting for best picture was extremely close, with the joke being that whether the vote went for “Wall-E” or “The Dark Knight,” that it was still a thumbs-up for an animated film, since “Dark Knight” is loaded with computer animation effects.
The biggest loser was probably Kate Winslet, who is considered a big academy favorite for her roles in “Revolutionary Road” and “The Reader” but got no love at all from the critics. The best actress runner-up was Melissa Leo (“Frozen River”), with the remainder of the voting going to Kristin Scott Thomas (“I Loved You So Long”), Meryl Streep (“Doubt”) and Angelina Jolie (“Changeling”). Penn and Mickey Rourke dominated the best actor voting, with some critics expressing surprise that Frank Langella didn’t poll higher. Left out in the cold were “Revolutionary Road,” “Doubt” and “The Reader,” which all need strong critical support to find an audience, along with “Benjamin Button,” which too many critics said left them cold. “Milk” and “The Wrestler” earned raves for their acting performances, but were not viewed as best picture material.
Can I just say, one more time that, since when did “leaving them cold” become an indication of a bad film? Hell, if that were true Stanley Kubrick’s entire library of films would non-LAFCA material. And Scorsese? No, they scared off by Big Oscar. It’s the only explanation for their hatred, half of them, of Slumdog Millionaire. It’s Danny Boyle. They would be creaming themselves if this movie wasn’t barreling towards Oscar. Danny Boyle? You have to be kidding me.
I hope that was sufficiently nasty. Now let’s see if our pal Scott Foundas will bite.
No Response for "LAFCA Moves Away from Oscar Again"
Well, isn’t there a difference between purposeful “leaving them cold” and unintentional “leaving them cold”?
Kubrick vs. Spielberg.
‘Artificial Intelligence: A.I.’ was technically beautiful. But it left too many people ‘cold’ and it didn’t get too many accolades. I think it’s intent was to be ‘warm’. But it came off as a hybrid cold/warm all over the place.
John, you make a good point but I’d wait and ask Fincher what his intent was. At any rate, neither AI nor Button left me cold. I really thought that film critics had trained themselves to look at films through a different opening that emotion, as Woody Allen might say.
I back you on this: being “left cold” is not at all an relevant argument against a movie. I would rather have expected this argument by the Hollywood Foreign Press and…hmm…yes, also the Academy, but if you regard the LA Critics as being kind of an intellectual critics group, you must be disappointed.
By the way, can I regard a group being “cinephil” or “intellectual” that called “Wall-E” the very best motion picture of the year??
Don´t want to sound like a snob, but…
Well damn, I respect the LAFCA even more now.
In all honesty, I do not understand the universal love for Penelope Cruz in VCB. I always thought that movie belonged to Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall myself.
Also, how does Wall-E win best picture but not best animated feature?
Dismissing Slumdog as a “pumped up Satyajit Ray film” is a bit condescending. Because the film is set in Mumbai, it should be compared to a Ray film?
As far as films leaving a viewer cold: I don’t think great films need to evoke tears, touchy feely moments, or overly dramatic scenes–but usually the great films do affect a viewer emotionally in some way. I think it’s interesting you bring up Kubrick but I’ve had trouble loving his films or thinking they’re masterpieces because I just don’t relate to them. Or I hate them.
sally hawkins wins NYFCC!
“In all honesty, I do not understand the universal love for Penelope Cruz in VCB. I always thought that movie belonged to Javier Bardem and Rebecca Hall myself.”
*********
I’m baffled myself. Cruz was good in VCB but does she deserve awards for that performance? If she wins an Oscar for that, I’m sure they’ll be head-scratching in a few years, asking “She won for that?”
I agree with them that hovering atop the Best Pic list IS The Dark Knight and Wall-E – I think they got that right — it wasn’t whom they awarded I had any problem with but how they dissed other films like Slumdog, Milk and Button because, it is my theory, that these are already tagged as “Oscar movies.”
@ daveylow: You couldn´t even relate to “Dr. Strangelove”?? Hard to believe for me.
@ Hanimal: Yeah, Sally Hawkins- I really have a crush on her after seeing “Happy-go-lucky”- GREAT!
@Harry (yes, I respond to EVERYONE): Agree, Javier Bardem was superb and I liked him a litlle bit better than Cruz- she should be thankful that Woody wrote her a perfect award-fitting role
Sasha, you could move Sally Hawkins on top of that “Oscar Contender Tracker”, won´t ya?
Yes !
Sally Hawkins for lead and Penelope Cruz for supporting.
No Kate Winslet this year !
I can’t really argue from a serious critical standpoint that coldness should count against a movie, but as a moviegoer I personally find it a detriment a lot of the time. Granted, it can be a good choice with the right subject matter or genre (particularly crime films). I don’t want to pre-judge Benjamin Button, but a cold epic (especially when its screenwriter wrote the “warm epic” Forrest Gump) is a hard sell.
Anyhow, a cold movie (No Country for Old Men) won the Best Picture last year and people may want different kinds of films in the mix.
Especially when the plot is kind of emotional, heartbreaking stuff is going on, I definitely prefer a non-sentimental way of story telling.
Otherwise, like “Forrest Gump”, it ends up in first grade-kitsch!
In this case, I can´t wait to see “Benjamin Button”.
Moving away from Oscar is a good thing. New York’s choices are certainly superior when they split, e.g., Brokeback Mountain over Crash, Traffic over Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan over Shakespeare in Love, LA Confidential over Titanic, Fargo over English Patient, just to name a few in recent years.
For me the “left cold” description of Benjamin Button is a placeholder until I can figure out exactly what it really is about the movie that doesn’t make it connect. It’s hard to see a movie just once and then immediately figure out its flaws and processes. Unfortunately that’s how most film critics have to do it, so we’re left with these unsatisfying descriptions until time passes by and leaves room for more discussion.
Wall-E and The Dark Knight really are the best pictures of the year. Thrilled to see them get recognized.
Also, 9 of the last 10 LAFCA Best Picture winners were nominated for the Oscar so I don’t think they are moving away that much. The sole exception is About Schmidt. True, none won, but LAFCA has a much much better track record than Oscar, like Saving Private Ryan, Crouching Tiger, Sideways, Brokeback Mountain, Letters from Iwo Jima and There Will Be Blood.
Only 3 films have won both LA and NY the past decade, Saving Private Ryan, Sideways and Brokeback Mountain. Hoping that Wall-e joins them, from what I have seen it deserves it, though still haven’t seen Button or Revolutionary Road.
So…tell me…is there something of Slumdog Millionaire that I’m supposed to get? Cause, I saw it and it was pretty good, except for the last half. It just got progressively more mainstream and cheap towards the end. And the actual ending? Too long and kinda meh. Also Latika’s acting sucked ass.
But yeah…I don’t get why critics are throwing themselves at this film and raising it up. Do they just want attention or something?
Satyajit Ray’s films are wonderful and original. Slumdog Millionaire IS maybe the most derivative film I’ve seen in a decade. However, it is not derivative of Ray’s work. It is a clean rip from every Dickens novel. Boyle is a terrific director, but even his style is distracting and obviously meant to conceal the lack of substance here. This film receives my “Emperor’s New Clothes” award this year…
I think Slumdog is getting all this love because it lets people like something totally conventional and mainstream and feel like they’re all cool and global and multiculti at the same time.
“It’s still unknown whether the NYFCC will follow suit but LAFCA seems to have made its point loud and clear – none of the Big Oscar Movies will get their support in any way, shape or form”
Not to sound too snarky here but…how is this the case at all? I count, between their wins and their runner ups: The Dark Knight, Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, Doubt, Wall-E, and The Wrestler. All of these are on your best picture board, and all of them appear in other categories as well. What would constitute “Big Oscar Movie”?
An American in Paris makes Benjamin Button looks positively warm and fuzzy in my book.
And don’t get me started on American Beauty…
Also…what is the “get over yourselves” directed toward here? “Left me cold” sounds like a standard “I didn’t like it” to me, and remember that this isn’t a quote but a paraphrase of several people’s comments. We don’t know what was actually said.
If you meant it in relation to Slumdog, all I can say is “c’mon”: I think it’s absolutely fair that a contingent of, as you put it, seasoned representatives of a dying breed should say hold up here, if nowhere else. Since when is it the critics’ job to ensure the coronation of the frontrunner? Are you suggesting that the half who refused to vote for it were all just snarly whiplash moustachio’d naysayers? Is that it — all who don’t like a film that others love must be dismissed as ‘moving away’ from the great ideal that is Oscar? As I’ve said before, at what point are they allowed to have a legitimate dissenting opinion? Or is that not feasible? By this logic, every group should have the same consensus prize. And wouldn’t THAT be boring.
I’m really disappointed by this coverage, Sasha, and it isn’t because I don’t like Slumdog. It’s that there’s blatant and sloppy misreading of awards trends going on to justify your sense that, snicker snicker, LAFCA is falling out of step with Oscar. For one, you can’t make that point before the Oscar noms are even out. And second, it doesn’t hold up when you consider last year’s results.
Ex.
BEST PICTURE “There Will Be Blood”
Runner-up: “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”
TWBB was nominated, and Diving Bell was probably 6th man out.
BEST DIRECTOR Paul Thomas Anderson
“There Will Be Blood”
Runner-up: Julian Schnabel (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”)
Both nominated.
BEST ACTOR Daniel Day-Lewis
“There Will Be Blood”
Runner-up: Frank Langella (“Starting Out in the EveninG”)
Winner, and likely in the running.
BEST ACTRESS Marion Cotillard
“La Vie en Rose”
Runner-up: Anamaria Marinca (“4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days”)
Winner, and could’ve been in the running if there was a legitimate push for it.
BEST Supporting ActrESS Amy Ryan
“Gone baby Gone” and “Before the devil knows you’re dead”
Runner-up: Cate Blanchett (“I’m Not There”)
Both nominated.
BEST Screenplay Tamara Jenkins
“The Savages”
Runner-up: Paul Thomas Anderson (“There Will Be Blood”)
Both nominated.
BEST Cinematography Janusz Kaminski
“The Diving Bell and the butterfly”
Runner-up: Robert Elswit (“There Will Be Blood”)
Nominated, winner.
BEST Production Design Jack fisk
“There will be blood”
Runner-up: Dante Ferretti (“Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street”)
Nominated, winner.
Would their results have to predict the Oscars 100% for you to admit they aren’t ‘distancing’ themselves? And how does one distance oneself from an awards group that has not yet announced, anyway?
Let’s say that IS what’s happening: so? Since when are critics’ awards only valuable insofar as they are predictive? I think you’re taking away from all the winners here. I think we should be celebrating unexpected choices, which recognize that not only one person deserves credit in a given category in a given year.
It’s probably because of Brad Pitt. I knew from the beginning that they should have used a different actor for that film because brad is not that great.
I don’t think author/artist/filmmaker intent is ever crucial to the reading and understanding of art. What matters is, does it work for the viewer. No need for Fincher to read us the answer key.
Sasha, since you shined the bat signal for me, here I am, although I didn’t find your piece on the LAFCA voting “nasty” per se–just slightly misinformed in a couple of respects that previous poster “qwiggles” has already pointed out. The main point being that if LAFCA is consciously trying to distance itself from Oscar, it’s doing a pretty poor job of it, unless, as “qwiggles” rhetorically asks, you expect the two groups’ winners to line up 100%.
Whenever I venture on to these awards-season blogs, or sample the musings of Patrick Goldstein, I never fail to be reminded of that old children’s game where one person says something to another and so on down the line, until the last person in the chain has heard something completely different than the original message. In his desperation to drum up a story where there isn’t really one to begin with (instead of, say, reporting on the disastrous state of movie coverage in his own newspaper), Goldstein writes a piece about a “scrum” of Slumdog Millionaire detractors in the LAFCA voting pool, and suddenly you’re reporting that fully half of the group’s members “hated” the movie. Oy vey. Believe me, if half the members of LAFCA actively hated a movie, it wouldn’t win best music and direction, place runner-up for cinematography, and figure in the running (as Goldstein suggests, per his “spies”) in several other categories.
Beyond that, I don’t have much to add, except that over at the critic aggregator website Metacritic.com, Wall-E has an average score of 93 out of 100, while Slumdog manages only an 85. And over at Rotten Tomatoes, Wall-E manages a 96% “fresh” rating to Slumdog’s 92%. So, yes, I am just gasping with astonishment that the former film would win out over the latter in an awards contest voted on by film critics (you know, the ones whose very reviews are used to determine these scores). Just flabbergasting. Couldn’t have seen that one coming.
You also write that LAFCA has made it clear that “none of the Big Oscar Movies will get their support in any way, shape or form.” But again, as “qwiggles” points out, that’s not really true, unless by Big Oscar Movies, you mean that handful of year-end releases that arrive around this time every year, fatally weighted-down by their own self-importance, that end up more or less bottoming-out with the Academy too (sometimes, but just as often not, saved by the technical categories—like Cold Mountain and Dreamgirls’ avalanche of music nominations). Come February, let’s see which group of movies ends up with a greater total of Oscar nods: “The Dark Knight, Happy-Go-Lucky, Slumdog Millionaire and Wall-E” (the “big four” LAFCA winners, as it were) or “Benjamin Button, Doubt, The Reader and Revolutionary Road” (Goldstein’s quartet of LAFCA bridesmaids). I know where my money’s riding.
At least you seem not to have joined the camp that keeps trying to convince us it’s “surprising” to see Happy-Go-Lucky (which has an 84 on Metacritic and a 94 on Rotten Tomatoes) racking up critics’ awards left and right. Another shocker. And surely, it’ll be even more shocking if it gets some Oscar nominations, even though Leigh was nominated for screenplay for three of his last five movies, best director for two of them, and has guided two of his previous stars to Best Actress nominations. “Psst. Happy-Go-Lucky is an Oscar underdog. Pass it on.”
It is always nice when someone being talked about in a post on AD replies to said post, especially when its as thorough a reply as Scott Foundas’ above.
Another case of damned if you don’t and damn if you do… Damned if you are in sync with Oscars and being blamed for being populist and commercial like the Oscars. Then damned if you are not in sync with the Oscars, treating this as if it’s a big anathema . Sheeesh! There’s always something to complain about! There are only 5 slots for most categories people! Inevitably there will be snubs!
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