CRITICS' POLL '07 | "There Will Be Blood" Hailed as Best of 2007 in iW Poll of 100+ Critics; "No End In Sight," "Away From Her" Singled Out

Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" (which opened in two theaters over the weekend) recently dominated indieWIRE's annual survey of more than 100 North American film critics. The exceptional fifth feature by P.T. Anderson was named best film of the year in indieWIRE's poll of 106 film critics. Notably, the film topped five categories: Anderson was singled out for best director and best screenplay, while Daniel Day-Lewis' role as oil man Daniel Plainview was named the best performance of 2007 and Robert Elswit was singled out for best cinematography. Charles Ferguson's "No End in Sight" was voted the best documentary of the year and in the category of best first film, Canadian actress turned director Sarah Polley, with her debut feature "Away From Her," edged out fellow thespian Ben Affleck's "Gone Baby Gone."
[ read more in Movies ]   [ 1 comments ]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Critics' Poll, Lead Story ]

CRITICS' POLL 2007: The Critics Speak: State of Distribution, Politics, 'Shmabortion', Year of the Actor, and More

Included within their ballots in the 2007 indieWIRE Critics Poll are comments on the year in film from many of the 106 participants. Today, we offer the third in a three part series of edited comments from the critics. In Part 1, a look at some of the orphan #1 picks from the critics, while in Part 2, feedback on the best and worst of the year. Finally, in this edition, thoughts on the business side of things, as well as insights on films about the war in Iraq, considering Apatow, and talk about some of the year's stand-out performances.
[ read more in Movies ]   [ 0 comments ]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Critics' Poll, Lead Story ]

CRITICS' POLL 2007: The Critics Speak: Best, Worst, the Auteurs and the Underrated

Included within their ballots in the 2007 indieWIRE Critics Poll are comments on the year in film from many of the 106 participants. Today, we offer the second in a three part series of edited comments from the critics. In this edition, a look at cinephilia, comments about the best and worst of the year, considering the underrated and the underappreciated, and thoughts on "No Country For Old Men," "There Will Be Blood," "I'm Not There," and "Southland Tales."
[ read more in Movies ]   [ 0 comments ]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Critics' Poll ]

CRITICS POLL 2007 | Poll Comments: Critics Defend Their #1 Orphan Picks

Included within their ballots in the 2007 indieWIRE Critics Poll are comments on the year in film from many of the 106 participants. Today, we offer the first in a three part series of edited comments from the critics. The group collectively cited a total of 176 best films; of these movies, a small handful garnered a single, defiant #1 mention from a maverick voter. Below, some critics defend their #1 best film orphan picks.
[ read more in Movies ]   [ 0 comments ]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Critics' Poll ]

CRITICS' POLL '07 | "Secret Sunshine" Glows as Best Undistributed Film; Critics Pick 250+ Un-Acquired Faves

What is it about Korean auteurs that have critics salivating and distributors running for the exits? Last year, Hong Sang-soo's "Woman on the Beach" topped indieWIRE's best undistributed films list for 2007. This year, Hong compatriot Lee Chang-dong's "Secret Sunshine" was far-and-way the winner of the honor. Thirty-four of the 106 critics surveyed in the 2007 indieWIRE Critics' Poll put the film on their list as one of the best undistributed films of the year. But, of course, it's an accolade that cuts both ways: Call it a back-handed compliment, as Caveh Zahedi once did upon receiving his award for "Best Film Not Playing at Theater Near You," or a paean for the sorry state of art-house film distribution.
[ read more in Movies ]   [ 0 comments ]   [ filed under Critics' Poll, Lead Story ]

CRITICS' POLL '06 | The Afterlife of "Mr. Lazarescu": Cristi Puiu's Meditation on Mortality Tops indieWIRE Critics Poll

Welcome to the first annual indieWIRE film critics' poll. If you're experiencing deja vu, it's because this national survey is a direct descendant of the Village Voice poll, which I conducted from 1999 to 2005 ("Take One" through "Take Seven") with the help of my former colleagues J. Hoberman and Michael Atkinson. Recent developments at the Voice have left that poll without a home and the good folks at indieWIRE have graciously stepped in to adopt it.
[ read more in Movies ]   [ 3 comments ]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Critics' Poll, Lead Story ]

CRITICS' POLL '06 | Film Critics Pick 200+ Favorite Undistributed Films

Is Korean filmmaker Hong Sang-soo the must unsung auteur in the U.S. marketplace? For the last several years, the director's work has continued to place high atop critic polls of the year's best undistributed films at both indieWIRE and the Village Voice. From "The Power of Kangwon Province" to "Turning Gate" to "Woman is the Future of Man" to "Tale of Cinema" to this year's top undistributed vote-getter "Woman on the Beach," Hong represents the profound chasm between art and commerce in cinema today.
[ read more in Movies ]   [ 3 comments ]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Critics' Poll, Lead Story ]

CRITICS' POLL '06 | The Comments: Critics Defend Their Orphan Pick

[Our 107 participants collectively cited a total of 189 films; of those movies, 68 garnered a single, defiant Top 10 mention from a maverick voter. Below, some critics defend their orphan picks.] It's all very well for critics to denounce "The Good German" as a slab of artifice, to compare it negatively with "The Maltese Falcon" and "Casablanca," and to trot out cliches about film noirs and femme fatales--all of which avoids dealing with the movie's seriousness and its mood of paranoia and despair. The morally squalid labyrinthine necropolis of Soderbergh's "Germany Year Zero" perfectly evoked the nation's shattered psyche, and was made all the worse by America's occupation. (Sound familiar?) The masterstroke was the lack of heat between Clooney and Blanchett. In a city where women were raped en masse in 1945, love was all used up. Don't believe that "play it again" stuff.--Graham Fuller
[ read more in Movies ]   [ 0 comments ]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Critics' Poll ]

CRITICS' POLL '06 | The Comments: The Worst, the Overlooked, and The Death (and Rebirth?) of Film Culture

THE DESCENT: The Worst Movie Ever Made and Other Low Points Wow, what a terrible year.--Jeff Reichert Winter Passing," "Trust the Man," "American Gun," "Wah-Wah," "Twelve and Holding," "Coastlines," "A Good Woman," "Ask the Dust," "Loverboy," "The Lost City," "Shadowboxer," "The Wicker Man," "Confetti," "Lucky Number Slevin." By my count, I saw the worst movie ever made more than a dozen times this year. In 10 years of year-ending, I've never had such a hard time compiling a list of movies I was unreservedly unenthusiastic about. Thank heavens for "The Fallen Idol" and "Out 1"; otherwise I might think I'd simply lost my love of the art form.--Sam Adams
[ read more in Movies ]   [ 1 comments ]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Critics' Poll ]

CRITICS' POLL '06 | The Comments: The Best, From Mr. Lazarescu to Mr. Eastwood

In a year where many movies barely skimmed the surface, "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu" got under my skin. Its extraordinary long takes forge a practically physical connection between audience and subject; I'll never forget the moment when I felt my own body jerk in response to Lazarescu's spasmodic cough. Mr. Lazarescu slips closer to death, rendered mute and finally inert, relieved of his combative personality and reduced to his elemental physicality. There were plenty of bodies chopped up, mangled, dissected, and split open this year, but only one that we were encouraged to take as our own.--Sam Adams
[ read more in Movies ]   [ 1 comments ]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Critics' Poll ]