The 2005 Arts and Faith Film Critics Circle Awards - Nominations
For those who don't know, the Arts and Faith Film Critics Circle is a fellowship of critics applying Christian perspectives to film through reviews and discussion, seeking to encourage revealing and intelligent dialogue about the human experience.
Formely the Promontory Film Critics Circle, this four-year-old association changed its name, updated its membership requirements, and revised its mission statement this year. Now under the name The Arts and Faith Film Critics Circle ... due to our debates and discussions at www.ArtsandFaith.com ... we've voted and chosen our nominees for our fourth annual film awards.
Many, many thanks to the critics who participated in the reformation of the [AFC]2 this year, and who contributed their votes for the best things they saw this year. (To see a current list of participating critics, click here.)
Here are the results, listed alphabetically.
Now, [AFC]2 critics have two weeks to try and catch up with those that they have missed before the final votes are collected.
NOMINEES FOR THE ARTS AND FAITH FILM CRITICS CIRCLE'S 2005 FILM AWARDS
MOST SIGNIFICANT EXPLORATION OF SPIRITUAL ISSUES
(Due to a four-way tie for fifth place, there are EIGHT nominees instead of five.)
Dogville
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Finding Neverland
The Passion of the Christ
The Return
The Sea Inside
Time of the Wolf
Twilight Samurai
BEST NARRATIVE FILM
Dogville
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Incredibles
The Passion of the Christ
Vera Drake
BEST DOCUMENTARY
(Due to a tie, there are six nominees instead of five.)
Control Room
Fahrenheit 9/11
The Five Obstructions
The Story of the Weeping Camel
Supersize Me
Touching the Void
BEST ACTOR
Jim Carrey - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Don Cheadle - Hotel Rwanda
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Aviator
Jamie Foxx - Ray
Paul Giamatti - Sideways
BEST ACTRESS
Julie Delpy- Before Sunset
Nicole Kidman – Dogville
Imelda Stauton - Vera Drake
Hilary Swank - Million Dollar Baby
Kate Winslett- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
(Due to a tie, there are six nominees instead of five.)
Morgan Freeman - Million Dollar Baby
John Hurt - Dogville (narrator)
Nick Nolte - Hotel Rwanda
Clive Owen - Closer
Mark Wahlberg – I Heart Huckabees
Peter Wight – Vera Drake
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett - The Aviator
Alex Kelly - Vera Drake
Maia Morgenstern - The Passion of the Christ
Sophie Okenodo - Hotel Rwanda
Sharon Warren – Ray
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
Dogville
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Mean Creek
Sideways
Vera Drake
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Brad Bird - The Incredibles
Charlie Kaufman - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Mike Leigh, et al. - Vera Drake
Vladimir Moiseyenko and Aleksandr Novototsky - The Return
Lars Von Trier – Dogville
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Haggis - Million Dollar Baby
Richard Linklater - Before Sunset
David Magee- Finding Neverland
Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor – Sideways
Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris - The Manchurian Candidate
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Hero
The Passion of the Christ
The Return
The Saddest Music in the World
Spring Summer Fall Winter ... and Spring
BEST DIRECTOR
Mel Gibson - The Passion of the Christ
Michel Gondry - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Michael Haneke – Time of the Wolf
Mike Leigh - Vera Drake
Lars Von Trier – Dogville
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Jon Brion - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
T Bone Burnett (and various artists) – The Ladykillers
Andrei Dergachyov – The Return
David Holmes – Ocean’s Twelve
John Powell - The Bourne Supremacy
BEST FAMILY FILM
(Due to a tie, there are six nominees instead of five.)
Finding Neverland
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
The Incredibles
Miracle
The Polar Express
The Story of the Weeping Camel
I'm very pleased with this list, although it's always hard to see favorites fall short by one or two votes. But this list represents a healthy diversity of interests and, um, "passions."
I'm sure you'll be stunned, as I am, by some inclusions AND some exclusions. But there they are. Such is the way of critics' lists. (A narrator for Best Supporting Actor? Wow! No "Flying Daggers" for cinematography? Wow!)
But I'm excited that I now have extra motivation to seek out some of the things I've missed. Anybody know if "Twilight Samurai" is readily available on DVD yet?
If you have any questions, let me know: LookingCloserReview@msn.com.
Is Ebert's Memory Failing?
UPDATE: It turns out that he was thinking of a scene from "Rick," a film that was out a couple of years ago, with Bill Pullman. Spooky. And, as a matter of fact, Ebert's review has now been corrected, and the mistakes are gone.
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Roger Ebert's review of "In Good Company" is very very strange indeed.
(Kudos to Steven Greydanus for catching this bizarro review.)
First of all, he says,
It's about a corporate culture that tries to be evil and fails.
I've seen the movie, and I have no idea what this means.
Secondly, he recounts this scene:
"You're kind of a bizarrely honest guy," Carter tells Dan, who replies: "No, just around you."
Wrong. That conversation happens between Carter and Dan's daughter, Alex.
But then, the third problem, and it's a whopper!
There is a bizarre episode where Carter takes Dan out drinking, in a club where patrons can observe each other via closed-circuit TV, and then hurries back to his office to join an X-rated chat room.
This scene DOES NOT OCCUR in the film. And nothing even remotely resembling it takes place.
What's a Parable?
My friend Ron Reed happened to quote writer C.H. Dodd today in offering the definition of the word "parable." Ron referenced this in summing up the virtues of The Return, my favorite film of 2004.Read more
Dennis Quaid: Doing What Harrison Ford Failed to Do
For the last two decades, Harrison Ford has been so narrowly focused on action-hero movies and traditional romantic leading-man roles that he's accepted increasingly embarrassing projects. There have been the occasional experiments--"Presumed Innocent," and that awful romance with Kirsten Scott Thomas, but he's clearly shown that he needs help in selecting decent projects.
Dennis Quaid, on the other hand, has continued to improve as an actor, choosing good roles (with the occasional exception, like "Flight of the Phoenix"), delivering strong performances, and being willing to play a variety of characters and not try to hide his age. Instead of performing as Scarlett Johansson's lover, for example, he's quite happy just to play her DAD.
Scarlett Johansson hearts Dennis Quaid. And so do I. 
Here's my review of In Good Company, his latest film, in which the REAL acting story is TOPHER GRACE ... who makes a remarkable debut as a leading man. But Quaid is excellent too, and the actors compliment each other perfectly.
So, what do you think? Maybe Quaid should inherit the role of Indiana Jones for the fourth film, since Ford hasn't done anything worth glancing at since Air Force One (and even that was below-par compared to Ford's glory days).
Frederick Buechner movie available
Looks like the film is finished. You can even watch the first fifteen minutes online.Read more
Million Dollar Baby Joins My 2004 Top Ten
This always happens. No sooner do I turn in my Top Ten list of 2004 to meet a deadline than I suddenly discover a film that changes everything.Read more
The hero of Hotel Rwanda has some questions for us.
If you haven't seen Hotel Rwanda, you should.Read more
Buechner (2005)
[These comments were originally published in an installment of Film Forum column at Christianity Today in January 2005.]
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Buechner ... is simply a conversation with the subject. If that's what you're looking for, you won't be disappointed.
On the first day of the war in Iraq, Rob and Molly Collins sat down with one of their heroes — the writer and ordained Presbyterian minister, Frederick Buechner. The cameras rolled, and the result is a thought-provoking conversation with the writer of Godric, Son of Laughter, An Alphabet of Grace, and many other novels and classics of Christian thought.
In this context of tension, profound questions, and longing for peace, the Collinses share their questions and Buechner, clearly familiar with the themes, muses spontaneously and offers anecdotes from his experiences. He suggests that God is speaking to us through everyday occurrences and subtle details, just waiting for us to notice him and learn to listen. The film does not make any pretense to be about the writer's life or to explore his literature. It feels almost like a home movie about two readers' privileged hours with the man who has profoundly enriched their lives.
Here, Buechner's answers only scratch the surface of issues he has explored in-depth in his books, and we could certainly ask for a film that offers more background on his history, his many and varied publications, his influences, and other writers, artists, and Christian leaders he has inspired.
But Buechner can serve as an provocative conversation piece for Christians at home, at church, or with neighbors. (His casual blending of Buddhist sensibilities with Christian philosophy may seem unsettling to some, inspiring to others.) It can also give curious moviegoers their first taste of his personality and views, which might lead them to some of the most rewarding reading of their lives. Watching the Collins' work, it's easy to see that they would find nothing more rewarding than to know that their work coaxed viewers to try out Buechner's writing for the first time.
For more information on the Buechner DVD, visit the official site.