New York Film Critic Circle's Best of 2017

by Nathaniel R

Founded in 1935 the New York Film Critics Circle remains one of the two most important film critics organizations in the country (the other being the Los Angeles Film Critics Association). They might not have the influencing power they once had when there weren't 30+ similar organizations but people still hear them out each year before the "critics named this the best" accolades start sounding like ambient noise. Last year they were heavy on Oscar frontrunners or presumed runners up in virtually every single category. Will their winners be such Oscar favorites this year. Time will tell.

It was quite a day for A24 with two of their films being the only multiple winners: Lady Bird (Best Picture and Best Actress) and The Florida Project (Best Director and Best Supporting Actor).  Complete list of winners including interesting statistics follow after the jump...

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Call Me With Kindness

by Jason Adams

Call Me By Your Name is turning out to be the sort of success none of us saw coming sixteen months ago when it was first announced that the director of I Am Love was tackling a little gay love story. It just broke the 2017 record for per theater average over the weekend, and its reviews have been unanimously stellar. It won Best Feature at the Gothams Monday night, it topped the Independent Spirit nominations, and it’s expected to stick around racking up such prizes all awards season long.

And yet there’s been one complaint that’s nagged at the movie from a determined bunch of folks (including the film’s own writer, legend James Ivory) since it first screened at Sundance in January – a supposed shyness about nudity and gay sex. Ivory told Variety it’s a “pity” there's no full-frontal nudity in the film, while The Guardian called the movie “coy” and Slate called it out for a “lack of explicit sex.” One shot in particular has rankled these folks the most – a seemingly old-fashioned pan out the window just as the characters finally approach their erotic consummation.

The film’s director Luca Guadagnino, who probably had to look up the word “coy” in the dictionary the first time it was lobbed at him for this, is nonplussed by the reaction – he told Vulture:

“It’s really something I don’t understand. It’s as if you said there are not enough shots of Shanghai. I don’t understand why there has to be Shanghai in this movie.”

I’m inclined to agree with him. Not only because I found the film sexy as hell, erotic in languorous, voyeuristic ways that movies don’t really approach anymore. Its sense of tactility, for sweat and fabric and skin, and its often-prurient stares – up the legs of swimming trunks, for example - are a welcome shock to the system that makes the forbidden seem commonplace, easy...

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The 25 Youngest Men Ever Nominated for Best Actor

by Nathaniel R

Timothée Chalamet photographed by Craig McDean for Interview magazine

With the fine coming of age romantic drama Call Me By Your Name now in limited release, audiences can join critics in swooning over the revelatory work of Timothée Chalamet's as the preternaturally sophisticated but hormonally confused Elio. He won the Gotham Awards "Breakthrough" award last night. Should his incredible performance earn him an Academy nomination for Best Leading Actor, he will be the third youngest man to ever receive that honor (he turns 22 the day after Christmas)...

Only Mickey Rooney and Jackie Cooper were younger in their Oscar races and both happened in Oscar's first dozen years (!) when the Academy's habits and fetishes and aversions were still being sorted out. They quickly turned against really young actors. While many women have won Best Actress in their 20s, it's only happened once for a man. The youngest leading male winner is currently Adrien Brody who won his Oscar for The Pianist (2002) just three weeks before he turned 30.

But who are the youngest male leads ever nominated? Read on for the dewiest 25. Tell us how many you've seen and who is your favorite...

YOUNGEST LEAD ACTOR NOMINEES

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"Get Out" and "Call Me By Your Name" Divvy Up the Gotham Awards

by Nathaniel R

the oldest and youngest nominee flanking the big winner: Lois Smith, Jordan Peele, and Brooklynn Prince

Get Out (with 3 wins) and Call Me By Your Name (with 2 including Best Feature) dominated the Gotham Awards last night taking the bulk of the prizes. That didn't leave much for other contenders though A24 movies The Disaster Artist and Lady Bird scored both leading acting awards. Entirely shut out despite multiple nominations: The Florida Project, Good Time, and I Tonya. More after the jump...

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Dance Armie Dance!

Chris here. Call Me By Your Name is more than a month away from release and it's already a meme. One of the film's most escapist scenes has dropped online to much fanfare - a nighttime dance set to the Psychedelic Furs' "Love My Way". Now I'd argue that the scene does play as meaningfully out of context (most online clips don't), but the sheer delight of Armie Hammer's moves cannot be understated. And the internet has reacted in kind, overdubbing the scene with other songs to hilarious effect. Some tracks work better than others in this silly gag, but nothing matches the heights of the film's original track. Get ready to see a whole lot of dancing Armie in the coming months and to have a classic song completely redefined for you! What song do you want to see Armie dance to?

UPDATE: This wonderful account has been suspended, likely for copyright issues.

green light by lorde pic.twitter.com/8dHrsHeJIp

— armie dancing to (@armiedancingto) October 12, 2017

https://twitter.com/armiedancingto/status/9185294214092185

https://twitter.com/armiedancingto/status/918529421409218561