The 42nd annual awards were given out by the National Society of Film Critics, an association of 61 movie critics from across the country. The group’s opinions often diverge from those of Oscar voters.
This year’s Oscar nominees will be announced Jan. 22.
The National Society of Film Critics on Saturday named ’There Will Be Blood’ a gritty tale about a turn-of-the-century oil man infected with greed, the best picture of 2007. The society also honored ’There Will Be Blood’ for cinematography.
The film topped Julian Schnabel’s ’The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ and Joel and Ethan Coen’s harrowing saga, ’No Country for Old Men’.
In ’There Will Be Blood’, partly based on Upton Sinclair’s 1920s novel “Oil!”, Daniel Day-Lewis plays a riveting and dynamic Daniel Plainview who loses his morals and mind in his Ahabesque quest for black gold.
The movie was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who was also tapped as best director, beating out Schnabel and the Coen brothers. Previous movies by Anderson include ’Boogie Nights’ and ’Magnolia’.
Acting honors went to Day-Lewis and Julie Christie for ’Away from Her’.
Best supporting actor honors went to Casey Affleck for ’The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’ and Cate Blanchett who was one of several actors playing Bob Dylan in ’I’m Not There’.
’No End in Sight’ made by Charles Ferguson, was chosen as the best documentary of the year. The movie depicted the costly mistakes made shortly after President Bush invaded Iraq, helping fuel a deadly insurgency.
The critics need to get their heads out of their #@!&*. As much as the movie wants to mean something and have something to say, it just doesn’t work. The writing is too thin and the directing too meandering which really is a testament to Daniel Day-Lewis’s enjoyable, albeit one note, performance that people don’t really notice this. For a full breakdown on why this movie is overrated, read this:
http://cinemoose.com/review-there-will-be-blood/
And for a breakdown on why this movie is receiving so much critical acclaim, read this:
http://cinemoose.com/there-will-be-blood-and-the-emperors-new-clothes/