NEW YORK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE Awards

[oscar jubis]

Best Film of 2003
LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING

Best Director
SOFIA COPPOLA Lost in Translation

Best Actress
HOPE DAVIS American Splendor

Best Actor
BILL MURRAY Lost in Translation

Best Supporting Actress
SHOHREH AGHDASHLOO House of Sand and Fog

Best Non-fiction Film
CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS

Best Screenplay
CRAIG LUCAS Secret Lives of Dentists

Best Cinematographer
HARRIS SAVIDES Elephant and Gerry

Best Foreign Film
CITY OF GOD

Best Animated Film
THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE

Best First Film
AMERICAN SPLENDOR

[pmw]

I find that screenplay choice interesting. I liked the film and I know it is a favorite of NY'er film types, but I didn't look to it as a best screenplay option.

Also, my thoughts on Lost in Trans are known, but I would add that as much as I love Bill Murray and as funny as he was in the movie, is it a Best Actor performance? I could understand "most likeable" or "best deadpan" but was his acting that amazing? Id be willing to concede that it was I suppose...

[oscar jubis]

The screenplay award for Dentist was a surprise to me, although Craig Lucas is well-known to Broadway audiences.

I liked Murray's performance. I think he makes it appear effortless, though it's nuanced. This type of award usually goes to perfs like Sean Penn's in 21 Grams, a sure bet for an Oscar nom.

[tabuno]

In the footsteps of Tom Hanks, Bill Murray as well as other great comics deserve recognition for their superior talent and ability as actors. Mr. Murray's opportunity as a character portrait and a slice of life experience in a realistic motiff provides a great foundation for Academy Award recognition.

[oscar jubis]

Yep, I hope Murray gets a nom. To support your comments: the comedic talents of Jack Black and Johnny Depp make School of Rock and Pirates conceivable as entertainments. Not that I'm advocating they get nominated also. There's only five spots and plenty of worthy competition. Besides, these movies made a killing at the box office. Agents will surely demand and get more green for Black and Depp.

[tabuno]

Depp certain deserves recognition for his large array of acting performances (i.e., Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003) ; Blow (2001) ; Chocolat (2000); Ed Wood (1994); Edward Scissorhands (1990)). He has created unique, well remembered characters and in Pirates his role certainly qualifies for Best Supporting Actor nomination.

[oscar jubis]

Our Academy has never nominated Depp. It's a significant slight. He has received four Golden Globe nominations, but no awards. The English and the French are more appreciative of this talented Kentucky-born, Florida-raised Parisian. I loved him as Ed Wood and of course, as Captain Jack Sparrow.

[pmw]

Originally posted by oscar jubis
Our Academy has never nominated Depp. It's a significant slight. He has received four Golden Globe nominations, but no awards. The English and the French are more appreciative of this talented Kentucky-born, Florida-raised Parisian. I loved him as Ed Wood and of course, as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Thats pretty amazing. Hes done some great work. I would support an oscar nom for Pirates of the Caribbean. No emmy for his 21 Jump Street days?!?!?!?

[Johann]

I'm as distressed as Tim Burton when it comes to Johnny's newfound "fame". Tim was right: "That cracks me up. It's like he just arrived on Earth, Johnny".

People magazine just named him the sexiest man alive. I'm secure enough in my manhood to say that he is one good-looking dude. Too good looking. He's got that Jim Morrison beauty about him. He should be a movie star. He's intelligent, Valentino-ish and TALENTED.

I've been anticipating his films every year for a decade. Edward Scissorhands was the first film where I knew I was watching someone special. His resume boasts some serious artwork:



A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven)
Platoon (Oliver Stone; Best Picture 1986)
Cry-Baby (John Waters-stars with his buddy Iggy Pop)
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (Lasse Hallstrom) emotional
Benny and Joon -a tribute to Buster Keaton
Ed Wood -arguably his greatest performance. No Oscar nomination? Fire the fucking academy! Tom Hanks is good, but Johnny stole his thunder and no one noticed.
Donnie Brasco -Johnny goes toe-to-toe with Pacino and proves he's got chops to match Al. I loved this film.
Sleepy Hollow -a creepy, entertaining romp through the Burton forest. Not a great acting vehicle, but who cares? The people making the film are geniuses.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas -another Terry Gilliam masterpiece, although no one in the film world took note. I guess it has to be this way....
From Hell -a personal favorite, it's Johnny as a plainclothes Batman. Add copious amounts of Opium and you have an art film fans' dream.
Blow -drug movies don't get much leaner than this. Wicked,
wicked movie.
Before Night Falls -Schanbel's another film god to me. This is a showcase for Bardem, but Johnny is (as always) unforgettable
Don Juan DeMarco -people hate this movie, but they don't realize that it was made by a scholar (Jeremy Levin)and stars 2 heavyweights: Brando and Dunaway. If you don't like it, you're not paying attention to it. I smile from the first scene tiil the end...

There's lots of other films, and I've mentioned in previous posts Dead Man and Pirates of the Carribean, which are two examples of Depp's ability to play characters. (William Blake and Jack Sparrow are vastly different roles, but still have "Johnny" at the heart of them) He also directed Marlon Brando in a film, starred in a Polanski film and shared billing with John Turturro and Dennis Hopper in honoring the Beats.

The dude can act. He's got more talent than Will Smith, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Josh Hartnett and Mark Wahlberg COMBINED.
The problem with recognizing Johnny is that he's created a body of work that demands respect but also tells the world to fuck off.
He's the kindest rebel in Hollywood. He trashes hotel rooms and then apologizes. I wanna see him go full boar into a role. I wanna see him really test the boundaries of his talents.

You listening, Johnny?

It's time for you to read Jung's "Man in Search of His Soul" and then find a script.

[cinemabon]

Oscar, you certainly predicted "Capturing the Friedmans". I recall your posts earlier in the year concerning that film. While I finally saw "Lost in Translation" and agree that Sofia is a new and brilliant director, the "Best" directing job this year should go to Peter Jackson. He had insurmountable odds stacked against him to complete a work so vast and complicated that most directors would have thrown up their hands very early in the process.

As to Johnny Depp, the actor's actor, he has been largely ignored like Dean (initially) and Newman was early in his career. Depp shuns the Hollywood crowd, and rightly so. But that is death when it comes to "sellling yourself" for Oscar. The Academy is more like a club and less like an objective board of review. Someday, however, I am certain his "ship" will come in. Perhaps this is the year. Then he can pull a Brando and refuse his Oscar, as he might do, considering his past snubs.

[oscar jubis]

Beautiful post, Johann. The time off suited you well, or whayya put on that eggnog? Thanks.

[Johann]

Funny you mention eggnog.
Over the holidays I had several glasses with Appleton Estates Jamaican rum.

As the Hughes Bros. said: "It's an aid to creativity"!

[oscar jubis]

Cinemabon, I agree with your comments above. I am happy with the Critics Circle recognizing Coppola's talents because I am confident the Academy (and other groups) will reward Peter Jackson for his enormous accomplishment. I thought of him while watching the doc Lost in La Mancha, about Terry Gilliam's failed attempt to make a film "inspired" by Don Quijote (starring Johnny Depp and Jean Rochefort). So many things can potentially go wrong and the stakes are so high. Insurmountable odds indeed.

Many on this boards have doubted Coppola's talents. I predict they'll come around as she develops her body of work. As far as directors go, my favorite North American director is Atom Egoyan. I am quite ticked off about the limited U.S. distribution of this Canadian's films. Ararat(2002), his latest, didn't open here. His films do satisfy on first viewing, but reveal new layers on subsequent viewings. At least all his movies are available on dvd, many with Atom's brilliant commentary. As you can see, I use every opportunity to push them.

I remember the lively exchanges concerning Capturing the Friedmans. I saw it on opening weekend with a large, enraptured audience. The entertainment value of it seemed obvious to me, besides what one learns about the legal system, the media, family dynamics, home movies as self-expression, etc. The doc generates debate about both content and form. A documentary I liked almost as much but seen by few is Stevie. The director of Hoop Dreams was "big brother" to a troubled boy from rural Illinois and returns ten years after their last contact. It's out on video. I admit it's not as alluring and controversial as "Friedmans" though.

[Johann]

He's classy and world-class. Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter got him noticed, but people seem to have brushed him aside. A dangerous thing to do with a guy of his talent...

He's still a fairly young guy. His career will loom large in say, 10 years, when all the film snobs will wake up and say, "You know that Atom Egoyan? He's a great director!"

Assholes.
Ararat should win Best Picture, if you really want my two-cents.

[pmw]

Exotica was great. I wasnt as big a fan of The Sweet Hereafter. No doubt about Egoyan's potential. He just isn't a crowd pleaser, which is fine with me.

[Johann]

That says a lot about audiences.

Reminds me of a great quote by E.J. Obert:

To be in the cinema and experience a world that others have created
-with wide-open senses-
To lose oneself and gain a real treasure in return
Is one of the most vital experiences one can have.
An experience perhaps more vital than love