DFWFCA year-end awards

Hey, the film critics association with whom I may or may not still be a member, the Dallas Fort Worth Film Critics Association has posted its year-end poll.

I didn't vote this year. Because I left the newspaper world and moved online recently, my membership is in a bit of a gray area, but one I expect to be resolved positively in the near future. The DFWFCA is a relatively strict organization when it comes to membership qualifications (and good for it).

Of course, it's not strict enough, judging by this year's voting. At least I can say in a year of multiple potential masterpieces, I played no role in the perfectly OK Juno sneaking into second place. (I really hate feeling like I have something against a film that I kinda liked, but the level of praise baffles me.) Meanwhile, The Kite Runner outpolls Zodiac and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Grrrrrrrrrrr.

My mild acquaintance Josh Tyler over at CinemaBlend has his own thoughts on the blandness of our organization's selections. How can you resist an article that begins, "Dallas Film Critics have announced their year-end awards, and like critics everywhere else, they like boring, inaccessible movies that they saw no more than five minutes ago."

How conventional wisdom are the DFWFCA picks? Last year, The LA Times' The Envelope determined that the DFWFCA choice for Best Picture has been the most consistent indicator of the Academy Award Best Picture winner in recent years (At least until our United 93 choice last year). If that's the case, fans of No Country for Old Men should be elated. In fact, if that top five were the list of nominees, no one would blink.

Best Films
1. No Country for Old Men
2. Juno
3. There Will Be Blood
4. Atonement
5. Michael Clayton
6. Into the Wild
7. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
8. The Kite Runner
9.The Assassination of Jesse James
10. Charlie Wilson's War

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis

Best Actress: Julie Christie

Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem

Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton

Best Director: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen