Tonight and tomorrow there will be some news stories about the National Board of Review.
The phony baloney group is handing out their annual awards. I’ve been writing about this boondoggle for years.
The NBR is a fan group run by a woman named Annie Schulhof. She controls who gets the awards even though there’s some kind of alleged vote conducted among members.
The members, who are not film critics but just people who like films, pay a fortune for membership and tickets to tonight’s gala at Cipriani 42nd St.
As scandal riddled as the Golden Globes are, the NBR hangs right in there. They’ve been sued, investigated, and so on but keep going. Like the Globes, the studios love the name “National Board of Review.”
In recent years, Schulhof has given most of the awards to A24. Last year best actor Daniel Craig and actress Nicole Kidman came from A24 films. This was because the NBR has an A24 exec on its board.
In the old days, Schulhof was thick as thieves with Warner Bros. She returns to that theme this year, giving “One Battle After Another” Best Picture, Director, Actor, Screenplay, and Breakthrough Performer.
Curiously, Schulhof pretty much ignored A24’s “Marty Supreme.” I guess she couldn’t make a deal with them. She did give Best Actress to Rose Byrne, from A24’s “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.” A24 picked up a few other citations as well.
Note: Schulhof also ditched “Hamnet,” maybe not realizing Steven Spielberg produced it. If she had legs, she’d kick herself now.
