By John H. Foote
Martin Scorsese’s masterful crime epic The Irishman won Best Picture today from the National Board of Review. The film also won for its screenplay and the Icon Award for Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.
Adam Sandler won Best Actor for his feverish high wire act in Uncut Gems, while Renée Zellweger won the first of what will be many awards for Judy, portraying icon Judy Garland.
Brad Pitt took Best Supporting Actor in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which also won Quentin Tarantino the Best Director Award, edging out Scorsese.
Kathy Bates took Best Supporting Actress in Richard Jewell.
1917 won Best Cinematography.
Never snicker about the Board’s choices, they picked Green Book for Best Picture last year and it won the Oscar. Historically they are always the first group to announce their awards which they started doing before the Academy, 110 years ago.
John H. Foote is a well-recognized Canadian film critic/historian who has been an active critic for 30 years. His deep love for the movies began at a very young age. He began his career as co-host of the popular TV show Reel to Real where he remained for nine years. While on TV he began dabbling in education, eventually ascending to Director of the Toronto Film School, where he also taught film history. After leaving the college to care for his wife, he returned to teaching at Humber College where he taught both Film History and Method Acting Theory. John has written two books: “Clint Eastwood – Evolution of a Filmmaker” and the upcoming “Spielberg – American Film Visionary”. He is currently working on two books, one about the films of the seventies and another on the films of Martin Scorsese. Through his career he has worked in TV, radio, print and the web. John has interviewed everyone in the industry (more than 300 interviews) except Jack Nicholson, he says sadly. Highlights include Martin Scorsese, Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep Robert Duvall, Jane Fonda, Francis Ford Coppola and Kathryn Bigelow.
