By MCN Editor editor@moviecitynews.com

THE SOCIAL NETWORK NAMED 2010 BEST FILM OF THE YEAR BY THE NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW

Posted Thursday, December 2nd, 2010 - 2 Comments »
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Annual Gala to be held on Tuesday, January 11, 2011
hosted by Meredith Vieira

New York, NY – December 2, 2010 – The National Board of Review named The Social Network the 2010 Best Film of the Year. Directed by David Fincher, this timeless drama explores the moment at which Facebook, the most revolutionary social phenomenon of the new century, was invented and the resulting lawsuits. The film was released on October 1st by Columbia Pictures.

Below is a full list of the awards given by the National Board of Review:

Best Film: The Social Network
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Best Actress: Lesley Manville, Another Year
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Best Foreign Language Film: Of Gods and Men
Best Documentary: Waiting for “Superman”
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Ensemble Cast: The Town
Breakthrough Performance: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Debut Directors: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, Restrepo
Spotlight Award: Sylvain Chomet and Jacques Tati, The Illusionist
Best Original Screenplay: Chris Sparling, Buried
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Sofia Coppola for writing, directing, and producing Somewhere
William K. Everson Film History Award: Leonard Maltin
NBR Freedom of Expression: Fair Game, Conviction, Howl
Production Design Award: Dante Ferretti, Shutter Island

Ten Best Films
(in alphabetical order)
Another Year
The Fighter
Hereafter
Inception
The King’s Speech
Shutter Island
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Five Best Foreign-Language Films
(in alphabetical order)
I Am Love
Incendies
Life, Above All
Soul Kitchen
White Material

Five Best Documentaries
(in alphabetical order)
A Film Unfinished
Inside Job
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Restrepo
The Tillman Story

Top Ten Independent Films:
(in alphabetical order)
Animal Kingdom
Buried
Fish Tank
The Ghost Writer
Greenberg
Let Me In
Monsters
Please Give
Somewhere
Youth in Revolt

“This year the NBR honored The Social Network, as well as its director David Fincher, lead actor Jesse Eisenberg and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. We believe the film portrays a dramatic story that will stand up over time and appeal to many generations,” said NBR President Annie Schulhof. “The NBR screened over 250 films this year, from big studios to small independents, and I think our winners reflect the diversity and goal of the organization, which is to honor excellence in filmmaking. We look forward to celebrating with all our talented honorees on the evening of January 11th and are very pleased to welcome back last year’s host Meredith Vieira.”

This year the National Board of Review, a select group of film enthusiasts, academics, film professionals, and students, screened over 250 films including studio, independent, foreign-language, animated and documentary selections. These screenings were frequently followed by in-depth discussions with filmmakers, directors, actors, producers, and screenwriters. The NBR was founded as a clearing house for new movies, over a hundred years ago on January 25, 1909, just 13 years after the birth of cinema. Its stated purpose was to endorse films of merit and champion the new “art of the people,” which was transforming America’s cultural life. Today, the organization is comprised of 110 members, many of whom are past recipients of the NBR student grant program which enables students and young filmmakers to finish their projects and exhibit their work.

Each January, the NBR hosts talented and prestigious members of the film community at its awards gala, honoring achievements in a variety of categories of film, direction, and performance. In addition, the NBR recognizes new voices in filmmaking with its Directorial Debut and Breakthrough Acting Awards and singles out a deserving individual in the film community with The William K. Everson Film History Award, in honor of the pioneering film historian, educator, author, and longtime NBR member.

The 2010 NBR Awards will be hosted by Meredith Vieira on January 11, 2011 at Cipriani’s 42nd St. in New York City. Once again, the accounting firm of Lutz & Carr, LLP tabulated the voting ballots.

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THE NBR

For over 101 years the National Board of Review has dedicated its efforts to the support of film, domestic and foreign, as both art and entertainment. The nonprofit organization celebrates the distinctive voice of the individual artist, honoring excellence and supporting freedom of expression in film. The Board’s core activities include fostering commentary on all aspects of film production, as well as underwriting educational film programs and seminars for film students. In 2010, the NBR gave student grants to nine schools, and reached out to the community through the Children’s Aid Society, Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, The Ghetto Film School, and Educational Video Center. In addition, the organization annually grants the Marion Carter Green award to a student short film with strong musical elements. For more information please visit http://www.nbrmp.org/

HISTORY

The National Board of Review (NBR) was founded in 1909 in New York City, just thirteen years after the birth of cinema. It was formed to protest New York City Mayor George McClennan’s revocation of moving-picture exhibition licenses, which occurred on Christmas Eve of 1908 on the grounds that the new medium supposedly degraded the morals of the community. To assert their constitutional freedom of expression, theater owners, led by Marcus Loew, and film distributors (Edison Biograph, Pathe, and Gaumont), joined John Collier of The People’s Institute at Cooper Union to establish a National Review Committee, a clearing house, that endorsed films of merit and encouraged the new “art of the people.” In 1919 the organization first selected its “10 best movies of the year.” The NBR later published a magazine called Films in Review, which was the first publication devoted to critical discussion of film, counting among its contributors Harold Robbins, Dore Schary, Stephen Sondheim, Alfred Hitchcock, and Tennessee Williams. During the era of the Hollywood blacklist (when others were silent), Films in Review vigorously opposed film censorship. Movies released between 1920 and 1951 carried the legend “Passed by the National Board of Review.”

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Posted in Movie City News, Press Releases | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “THE SOCIAL NETWORK NAMED 2010 BEST FILM OF THE YEAR BY THE NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW”

  1. android says:
    December 3, 2010 at 7:34 am

    im super sick of the battery on my droid going down so fast, seriously annoys the crap outta me, see what happens, find a good site and BAM my battery is dead, so yeah, i luckily had enough battery to read this and post the comment haha, i have no life. yay me!

  2. movielocke says:
    December 3, 2010 at 9:53 am

    which are the fox searchlight films, 127 hours and what else? black swan?

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon