CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
Film News: ‘The Artist’ Takes Top Prize at New York Film Critics Circle
CHICAGO – The New York Film Critics Circle was the first major group to make their picks official for the best of film in 2011 when they announced their winners earlier today. After moving their awards from mid-December to late November, a move that many feel was just to make their pick more noteworthy in award season hype, the NYFCC picked the silent, black and white film “The Artist” as the Best Film recipient.
“The Artist” took home a little more hardware as well when the Best Director Award was awarded to Michel Hazanavicus. The wins are significant for “The Artist” in hyping the film even more for award season and comes on the same day that it was tied for the most nominations at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. Keep your eye out for this one during Oscar season.
Other awards presented by the NYFCC included: Best Actor: Brad Pitt for “Moneyball” and “The Tree of Life;” Best Actress: Meryl Streep for “The Iron Lady;” Best Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks for “Drive;” Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain for “The Tree of Life,” “The Help,” and “Take Shelter;” and Best Screenplay: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin for “Moneyball.”
How much of a boost the awards will give to each winner is still to be seen, but the wins certainly can’t hurt the Oscar hopefuls, even though they were given before most critics have seen several of the films that may be top runners this year, including “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.”
By TIM MARTENS |