'Ratatouille', Miramax's 'No Country' tops National Board of Review list

[ALIASd]

NBR goes wild for 'No Country'

By Gregg Goldstein
The Hollywood Reporter
Dec 6, 2007

NEW YORK -- Joel and Ethan Coen's "No Country for Old Men" came out on top of the National Board of Review Awards on Wednesday as the Miramax Films/Paramount Vantage co-production picked up best picture, best ensemble cast and best adapted screenplay honors.

George Clooney and Julie Christie took home best actor and actress prizes. Clooney's "Michael Clayton" from Warner Bros. and Christie's "Away From Her" from Lionsgate landed on NBR's Top Ten Films and Top Independent Films lists, respectively. Michael Douglas received a career achievement award.

Tim Burton took home the best director prize for the DreamWorks/Warner Bros. musical "Sweeney Todd." Diablo Cody ("Juno") and Nancy Oliver "Lars and the Real Girl" tied for best original screenplay. All three films made the NBR top 10 films list.

Miramax also scored big with a best foreign film win for Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and best directorial debut and best supporting actress wins for Ben Affleck and Amy Ryan, respectively, for "Gone Baby Gone." The director's brother Casey Affleck won best supporting actor for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford."

The Iraq War expose "Body of War" took home best documentary, "Ratatouille" took home best animated feature, and both "The Great Debaters" and "Persepolis" won the Bvlgari Award for NBR Freedom of Expression.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/...88e7caf525a965

[planetbogg]

Creating that animation category is the death knell for any animated movie to even be nominated for the Best Picture category.

[ALIASd]

Would you rather have your film compete with maybe a dozen of animated films released in a year and be recognized with an award & add additional revenue at the boxoffice and home entertainment

Or

compete with a couple thousand eligible feature films?

[planetbogg]

Why can't it be both? I'm not current on the rules that many awards are governed by, but it seems that a movie that almost every single critic liked would be up for best picture. Are animated movies judged differently?