Thompson on Hollywood

Critics Keep Voting for Tree of Life, from Chicago to Indiewire Poll

Awards

Critics are lining up behind Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life." While critics groups don't have as much predictive impact as Guild awards like the Screen Actors Guild, they do add to to winners' patina, build credibility and consensus, and keep attention on some must-see titles.

By Anne Thompson
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December 19, 2011 1:44 PM
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Los Angeles Film Critics Make Surprise Best Actress Pick, Poetry's Yun Jung-Hee, Actor Fassbender, Director Malick, Picture The Descendants

Awards

While the AFI film jury went mainstream with their top ten picks this year, the LA Film Critics went indie, picking South Korean actress Yun Jung-Hee ("Poetry") as best actress for her performance as a woman facing Alzheimer's.

By Anne Thompson
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December 11, 2011 4:29 PM
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American Film Institute Juries Pick Top Ten Movies and TV Shows

Awards

The American Film Institute film and TV juries--a mix of industry professionals, critics and academics-- met Sunday to pick their top ten films and television shows of 2011, below. They limit their choices to American content only, which is often the subject of some debate. While Harvey Weinstein managed to convince the Independent Spirit Awards committee to include "The Artist" as an American film, the AFI gave it a special award instead, along with the "Harry Potter" series.

By Anne Thompson
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December 11, 2011 3:45 PM
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Now and Then: With Recent Controversies, Maybe Critics Matter?

News

Something changed this week. As the days passed, each became part of a snowballing narrative about critics that seemed to me to portend a future less than bright. The New York Critics pandered to the Oscar horse race and ended up muffing the whole deal, losing their one chance a year to go out on a limb. AT’s criticism of the latest incarnation of “At the Movies” ignited the usual mixed bag of fury. And now David Denby’s gone and broken Sony’s review embargo on “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.”

By Matt Brennan
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December 5, 2011 11:22 AM
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Tyrannosaur Tops British Independent Film Awards, Fassbender Wins Best Actor

Awards

The 14th British Independent Film Awards, created by Raindance in 1998 to celebrate and promote merit and achievement in British independent films, gave three awards to "Tyrannosaur": for Best British Independent Film, Best Debut Director Paddy Considine, and Best Actress Olivia Colman, who beat Tilda Swinton for "We Need to Talk About Kevin"; Lynne Ramsay won Best Director. Michael Fassbender continues to strengthen his position in the Oscar race, by winning Best Actor for "Shame." Previous winners include "The King’s Speech," "Moon," "Control," "Slumdog Millionaire," "The Constant Gardener" and "This Is England." Nominees and winners (bold) are listed below.

By Anne Thompson
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December 4, 2011 6:00 PM
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London Film Critics' Circle Honors Nicolas Roeg

News

By Jacob Combs
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December 3, 2011 11:39 AM
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Oscar Talk: Impact of New York Critics, National Board of Review, Indie Spirits, We Bought a Zoo Review

Awards

By Anne Thompson
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December 2, 2011 11:53 AM
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Tuesday Awards Wrap-Up: Who Comes Out Ahead?

Awards

By Anne Thompson
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November 29, 2011 1:43 PM
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Gotham Awards and New York Film Critics Winners, Indie Spirit Nominations

Awards

The awards race is in full swing this week. In New York Monday night The Gothams Awards will name winners, and Tuesday the Indie Spirits will make public their nominations and the New York Film Critics Circle will vote their winners. They're announcing them via Twitter, having pushed back by one day their scheduled November 28 voting in order to see David Fincher's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" on Monday. (Indiewire assesses these awards here.)

By Anne Thompson
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November 28, 2011 3:44 PM
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New York Film Critics Circle Move to Vote Early Backfires

Awards

When I reported--accurately, it turns out--that the members of the New York FIlm Critics Circle were having a tough time seeing all the films they needed to see in time for their pushed-up voting date of November 28, the NYFCC head John Anderson bit my head off: "We're going to see everything we need to see," he insisted. Monday he gave as a reason for postponing the vote the need to give the group time to see all the eligible films, but that is impossible. Why not admit that this was not a good idea?