NYC Critics Orgs Toast The Queen, United 93

Within about 24 hours of each other, the New York Film Critics Online and New York Film Critics Circle have laid it down for 2006, and it looks like the same 10 or 11 films and performances are making the same headlines they've made for the last week. Big ups to ScreenGrab's Bilge Ebiri, who had the Blackberry hook-up inside the NYFCC lunch and thus had United 93 named the winner ahead of everybody; earlier he had scooped the world on the organization's prizes for Best Supporting Actor (Jackie Earle Haley) and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Hudson, for once not tying with the wildly overpraised Rinko Kikuchi or Catherine O'Hara) among others.

At any rate, NYFCO, which voted Sunday, favored The Queen pretty heavily over selections like Letters From Iwo Jima (which hadn't even been screened for most online press before this week) and The Departed; Stephen Frears even claimed the directing prize over Martin Scorsese, which defies rationalization, but you can see my opinion counts for exactly nothing in this square-off.

Helen Mirren and Forest Whitaker further cemented themselves as prohibitive Oscar favorites as winners of both groups' acting prizes. Which really is neither here nor there for me; I'm just afraid that without a shitty white-guilt ensemble drama from the lower intestine of Hollywood, we might not have a limping underdog to root against next February. We have officially killed Oscar-season fun. Way to go.

Anyway, check all the winners after the jump. I'm off to drown myself.

NY FILM CRITICS ONLINE AWARDS FOR 2006

Picture
THE QUEEN

Director
STEPHEN FREARS - The Queen

Screenplay
PETER MORGAN - The Queen

Cinematography
DICK POPE - The Illusionist

Actor
FOREST WHITAKER - The Last King of Scotland

Actress
HELEN MIRREN - The Queen

Supporting Actor
MICHAEL SHEEN - The Queen

Supporting Actress
JENNIFER HUDSON - Dreamgirls (tie)
CATHERINE O'HARA - For Your Consideration (tie)

Ensemble Cast
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

Debut as Director
JONATHAN DAYTON, VALERIE FARIS - Little Miss Sunshine

Breakthrough Performer
JENNIFER HUDSON - Dreamgirls

Film Score
PHILIP GLASS - The Illusionist

Documentary Feature
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

Animated Feature
HAPPY FEET

Foreign Language Picture
PAN'S LABYRINTH

Humanitarian Award
DEEPA MEHTA (Water) for taking risks to create films about the difficulties of social change in India especially as it affects women.

Ten Best Pictures (Alphabetical)
BABEL (Paramount Vantage)
THE FOUNTAIN (Warner Bros.)
INLAND EMPIRE (Absurda)
LITTLE CHILDREN (New Line)
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE (Fox Searchlight)
PAN'S LABYRINTH (Picturehouse)
THE QUEEN (Miramax)
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING (Fox Searchlight)
VOLVER (Sony Pictures Classics)
WATER (Fox Searchlight)

=====

2006 New York Film Critics Circle Awards

Best Picture:
United 93
(Runners Up: The Queen, The Departed)

Best Director:
Martin Scorsese, THE DEPARTED
(Runners-up: Stephen Frears, THE QUEEN; Clint Eastwood, LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA)

Best First Film:
Half Nelson
(Runners-up: Little Miss Sunshine, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints)

Best Actress:
Helen Mirren, THE QUEEN
(Runners-up: Judi Dench, NOTES ON A SCANDAL; Meryl Streep, THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA)

Best Actor:
Forest Whitaker, THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
(Runners-up: Ryan Gosling, HALF NELSON; Sacha Baron Cohen, BORAT)

Best Foreign Film:
Army of Shadows
(Runners-up: Volver; The Death of Mr. Lazarescu)

Best Non-Fiction Film
Deliver Us From Evil
(Runners-up: 49 Up; Borat [Ed. note: What the fuck?]; An Inconvenient Truth)

Best Animated Film:
Happy Feet (Runners-up: A Scanner Darkly; Cars)

Best Supporting Actor:
Jackie Earle Haley, LITTLE CHILDREN
(Runners-up: Eddie Murphy, DREAMGIRLS; Steve Carell, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE)

Best Supporting Actress:
Jennifer Hudson, DREAMGIRLS (Runners-up: Shareeka Epps, HALF NELSON; Catherine O'Hara, FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION)

Best Screenplay:
The Queen
(Runners-up: The Departed; Little Miss Sunshine)

Best Cinematography:
Pan's Labyrinth (Runners-up: Curse of the Golden Flower, Children of Men)

###

Posted at December 11, 2006 1:40 PM