I found it inevitable that Avatar would land the top spot of some US-based critic group or other. And it's already happened: The New York Film Critics Online have picked James Cameron's 3-D spectacle — which has mostly received quite respectable reviews — as the best picture of 2009.
Set in a future that's not all that far off, but on a planet that is way, way far off, Avatar pits greedy, ruthless, narrow-minded human beings — not unlike those inhabiting planet Earth right now — against a blue race with big yellowish eyes and long, flat noses. I haven't watched the movie, yet, but Cameron has already talked about the possibility of a couple of sequels, which means that the blue people manage to survive the Earthlings' destruction. Let's hope we on this planet are as lucky.
Anyhow, Cameron was not the NY Online critics' best director. That honor went to Kathryn Bigelow for the Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker. Earlier today, Bigelow and The Hurt Locker won top honors from the Los Angeles and Boston film critics.
The NY Online acting awards went to the following: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart (above, top photo), Meryl Streep for Julie & Julia (above, lower photo), Mo'Nique for Precious, and Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds. Waltz was also voted the year's breakthrough performer, while the best ensemble prize went to the cast of Armando Iannucci's political satire In the Loop, which includes James Gandolfini, Tom Hollander, and Peter Capaldi.
Among the other New York Online Film Critics' winners were Louie Psihoyos' The Cove as best documentary; Michael Haneke's European Film Award and Cannes winner The White Ribbon as best foreign language film; Pete Docter's Up as best animated feature; Quentin Tarantino for his Inglourious Basterds screenplay; and Marc Webb, who was voted best debut director for (500) Days of Summer.
Missing in action: Nine, The Lovely Bones, Broken Embraces, The Last Station, A Single Man, Invictus, Coraline, The Maid.
Looking forward to Cameron's latest. Just hoping its not too depressing.