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The Boston Phoenix–Alumni Film Critics’ Poll

Our first-ever round-up of the past year’s best movies, with a little help from our friends
February 13, 2008 2:28:42 PM

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Daniel Day-Lewis

It’s true, the Boston Phoenix has never won an Oscar. But our fictional equivalent, the Back Bay Mainline, did help Joan Micklin Silver win an Otto Dibelius award at the Berlin International Film Festival. (Take that, Oscar.) Silver’s 1977 comedy/drama Between the Lines (starring John Heard and Jeff Goldblum) concerns the operations of a Boston alternative weekly, modeled after the Phoenix and its former competitor, the Real Paper.

Still questioning our cinema cred? Well, when it comes to film criticism, the Phoenix (originally called Boston After Dark) has one of the richest histories of any American publication. In our 41 years, we’ve been privileged to publish works by some of the best critics in the country. (A privilege we still enjoy today.) Many of those whose bylines we’ve featured have gone on to prominent positions as critics for the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Baltimore Sun, the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Salon, Entertainment Weekly, and New York magazine, among others.

With the Oscars coming up, we figured this group would have as intelligent and relevant opinions as any to weigh in on contemporary film. Thus the formation of the first annual Boston Phoenix–Alumni Film Critics’ Poll.

It’s hard to remember everyone who has written about film in the paper’s four-plus decades, let alone track them down. Some we simply could not find. Others were no longer reviewing movies full-time and ruled themselves ineligible. At least one declined participation for philosophical reasons, believing critics should not play the poll game. Another is now a Hollywood player and didn’t think it kosher — or politic — to pass judgment on his colleagues’ fare. But we did manage to round up 30 past and present contributors for what we feel is a pulsing survey of the films of 2007. Move over, Oscar: Otto is in town.

Scoring
Participants were asked to rank their top 10 films of the year, and their top five performances in five other categories: best director, actor, actress, supporting actor, and supporting actress. For best picture, we awarded 10 points for a number-one selection, nine points for a number-two selection, and so on. For the remaining categories, five points were given for a first-place selection, four points for a second-place selection . . . you get the idea.

Once all 30 ballots were tallied, we dropped nominees’ high and low scores in each category and tabulated the rest. (Nominees that received less than three votes in any given category are not listed in the final count.) In all, 142 films received at least one vote in any category, including, most surprisingly, one tally for Norbit.

But the cream definitely rose to the top. What follows is a list of the top vote-getters and their point totals, as well as the number of ballots on which each nominee appeared.

Best Picture
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly 116 (16)
No Country for Old Men 86 (12)
Ratatouille 67 (13)
There Will Be Blood 61 (12)
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead 52 (9)
Michael Clayton 39 (13)
Once   36 (9)
I’m Not There 33 (6)
Eastern Promises 32 (7)
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days 32 (7)
Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) 32 (6)
Atonement 31 (7)
Away from Her 30 (7)
Into the Wild   26 (7)
The Savages 22 (6)
Zodiac   16 (6)
Grindhouse 12 (4)
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 10 (4)
Fong juk (Exiled)

9 (3)

Se, jie (Lust, Caution) 9 (4)
Sang sattawat (Syndromes and a Century) 9 (3)
Killer of Sheep    8 (3)
Juno 6 (3)
Coeurs (Private Fears in Public Places) 6 (3)
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 6 (3)
The Bourne Ultimatum 5 (4)
Gone Baby Gone 5 (3)
No End in Sight 4 (3)
Superbad   4 (3)
3:10 to Yuma 3 (3)
Waitress 1 (3)

Best Director
Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) 36 (11)
Ethan and Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men) 30 (9)
Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) 30 (9)
Sidney Lumet (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead) 23 (9)
Todd Haynes (I’m Not There) 6 (4)
Sean Penn (Into the Wild) 6 (4)
Cristian Mungiu (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) 4 (4)
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) 4 (3)
Brad Bird (Ratatouille 4 (4)
Julie Taymor (Across the Universe) 3 (3)
Joe Wright (Atonement 3 (3)
Tim Burton (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) 2 (3)

Best Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood 45 (13)
Frank Langella (Starting Out in the Evening) 41 (12)
George Clooney (Michael Clayton) 15 (8)
Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah) 15 (6)
Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) 14 (6)
Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) 12 (7)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead) 11 (5)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Savages) 7 (6)
Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) 5 (4)
Sam Riley (Control) 3 (3)
Don Cheadle (Talk to Me) 3 (3)
Gordon Pinsent (Away from Her) 1 (3)

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose) 42 (11)
Julie Christie (Away from Her) 40 (12)
Laura Linney (The Savages) 23 (10)
Wei Tang (Lust, Caution) 17 (6)
Ellen Page (Juno) 15 (8)
Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) 12 (5)
Keira Knightley (Atonement) 7 (5)
Parker Posey (Broken English) 7 (4)
Angelina Jolie (A Mighty Heart)  5 (4)
Kate Dickie (Red Road)   3 (3)
Carice von Houten (Black Book)   2 (3)
Nicole Kidman (Margot at the Wedding) 2 (3)

Best Supporting Actor
Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) 51 (14)
Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) 26 (10)
Max von Sydow (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) 18 (6)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson’s War) 17 (7)
Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) 15 (6)
Robert Downey Jr. (Zodiac) 4 (4)
Tommy Lee Jones (No Country for Old Men) 4 (3)
Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild) 3 (3)
Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma) 3 (3)
Philip Bosco (The Savages) 2 (3)

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) 51 (13)
Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There) 44 (12)
Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton 24 (11)
Saoirse Ronan (Atonement) 9 (6)
Marisa Tomei (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead) 7 (4)
Catherine Keener (Into the Wild) 6 (4)
Samantha Morton (Control) 4 (3)
Vanessa Redgrave (Atonement) 3 (3)
Leslie Mann (Knocked Up) 2 (3)

Participating Critics
Peg Aloi Sylviane Gold Rob Nelson
Michael Atkinson Lance Gould Reid Paley
Harper Barnes Rafer Guzman Gerald Peary
Mark Bazer Scott Heller Betsy Sherman
Peter Brunette Peter Keough Gregory Solman
Ty Burr Loren King Michael Sragow
David Chute John Koch Gary Susman
David Edelstein Tom Meek Charles Taylor
Gregory Flaxman Myron Meisel Steve Vineberg
Chris Fujiwara Brett Michel Stephanie Zacharek
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