The National Society of Film Critics selected Lars von Trier’s drama “Melancholia” as the best picture of 2011 during its annual meeting Saturday.
The society also named the movie’s star, Kirsten Dunst, as 2011’s best actress. The film ponders the end of the world.
The group, comprised of 58 prominent movie critics from around the country, met Saturday at Sardi’s Restaurant in New York City to make its picks.
Society members chose Brad Pitt as best actor for his performances in “Moneyball” and “The Tree of Life.” Albert Brooks, in “Drive,” and Jessica Chastain, in “The Tree of Life” and two other movies, received nods for supporting roles.
Terrance Malick was picked as best director, also for “The Tree of Life,” and Werner Herzog’s “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” was selected as best nonfiction film.
The society, founded in 1966, also works to promote film preservation and historically important movies.
This year, it recognized Brooklyn’s BAMcinematek for its retrospective of films by Vincente Minnelli, known for musicals and dramas; and the Criterion Collection for its DVD package of “The Complete Jean Vigo.”
The group’s picks can help galvanize interest in films ahead of the Academy Awards in February, but are not known to heavily influence who gets picked for the Oscars.
Apple and Google Face UK Investigation Into Mobile Browser Dominance
Apple and Google aren't giving consumers a genuine choice of mobile web browsers, a British watchdog said Friday in a report that recommends they face an investigation under new U.K. digital rules taking effect next year.
The Competition and Markets Authority took aim at Apple, saying the iPhone maker's tactics hold back innovation by stopping rivals from giving users new features like faster webpage loading. Apple does this by restricting progressive web apps, which don't need to be downloaded from an app store and aren't subject to app store commissions, the report said.
"This technology is not able to fully take off on iOS devices," the watchdog said in a provisional report on its investigation into mobile browsers that it opened after an initial study concluded that Apple and Google effectively have a chokehold on "mobile ecosystems."
The CMA's report also found that Apple and Google manipulate the choices given to mobile phone users to make their own browsers "the clearest or easiest option."
And it said that the a revenue-sharing deal between the two U.S. Big Tech companies "significantly reduces their financial incentives" to compete in mobile browsers on Apple's iOS operating system for iPhones.
Both companies said they will "engage constructively" with the CMA.
Apple said it disagreed with the findings and said it was concerned that the recommendations would undermine user privacy and security.
Google said the openness of its Android mobile operating system "has helped to expand choice, reduce prices and democratize access to smartphones and apps" and that it's "committed to open platforms that empower consumers."
It's the latest move by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic to crack down on the... Read More