It seems fair to say that NY Press critic and NYFCC member Armond White is not only a harsh critic of Greenberg director Noah Baumbach, but that he harbors an intense dislike for the guy. White doesn’t claim to know Baumbach personally, but believes that his films speak volumes about his character and personality. Or so he said 27 months ago.

In a 12.18.07 interview with Big Media Vandalism’s Steve Boone, White called Baumbach an “asshole.” One of his quotes state that “you look at Noah Baumbach’s work, and you see he’s an asshole. I would say it to his face. And, of course, he gets praised by other assholes, because they agree with his selfish, privileged, stuck-up shenanigans. I don’t need to meet him to know that. Better than meeting him, I’ve seen his movies.”

Because of these sharp remarks, 42 West honcho Leslee Dart, who represents Baumbach and Greenberg producer Scott Rudin, decided last Friday to prevent White from seeing Greenberg, Baumbach’s upcoming film, at earlyish screenings.

And yet Dart told me early yesterday evening that White wouldn’t be prevented from seeing the film in time to meet his weekly review deadline (Greenberg opens on 3.26) — just that he wasn’t welcome to see it presently. I don’t know what this accomplishes exactly, but that’s her call. She made this decision on her own, Dart says, and not at the behest of Rudin or Baumbach.

I’ve been on shit lists myself from time to time so I know what this feels like from White’s end. I think it’s almost a badge of honor to be occasionally disciplined or threatened by movie publicists. Call it an oblique tribute to your tenacity or toughness of spirit or perceived influence…whatever. But where’s the beef in this White-vs.-Dart thing? How bad can things be for White if Dart is only delaying his invitation to a Greenberg screening?

It does seem as if White exaggerated when he complained yesterday in an e-mail to a colleague (a copy of which was sent to me yesterday afternoon) that he had been “blackballed.” I spoke to Dart after being sent White’s e-mail, and asked if what he’d written was true. And she spelled out the above. And sent me a link to White’s Big Media Vandal interview.

White told the colleague that a Focus Features rep had “called to disinvite me from [a] press screening of Greenberg. I objected that they were infringing upon my First Amendment rights as a journalist. In a second phone call, [the rep] apologized but informed me that I was still blackballed. Feel free to share [this] information with the NYFCO members.”

To go by two group-mailed messages sent my way last night, White’s e-mail has led to murmurings from some critics (including Eric Kohn) that they need to stand arm-in-arm with White and that a Greenberg review boycott may be in order.

In an e-mail sent to critics last night titled “Support Your Fellow Film Critics,” it is claimed that White “has been blackballed by Focus Features at the request of Noah Baumbach and his producer Scott Rudin.” Again, to my knowledge this is untrue as White’s Greenberg access is only on hold, and because Dart, according to what she told me, made this call on her own and not at the behest of her employers.

“Some of you may think that Armond is a pretentious pompous fool who has no idea what he’s talking about, but he is still a fellow film critic,” the letter states. “I suggest we all do three things: One, do not review Greenberg. Two, complain directly to the president of Focus Features, James Schamus, who prides himself on being a writer and supporter of the written word. And three, write directly to Scott Rudin and tell him you will not review any of his upcoming films.”

Jesus — this is like The Ox-Bow Incident! “C’mon, boys…let’s ride out and string up the killers of Larry Kincaid!” I’m making this analogy because, as noted, Larry Kincaid to my knowledge isn’t dead, and White will eventually be good to go with a Greenberg screening. I don’t know how these things get started but they obviously do from time to time. Tempest in a friggin’ teapot.

Directed and co-written by Baumbach, Greenberg is an amusingly bent and emotionally downbeat character study of a neurotic 41 year-old carpenter and ex-band member (Ben Stiller) as he takes care of his brother’s Los Angeles home during an extended vacation.

For what it’s worth I love Greenberg. I’ve seen it twice, in fact. It’s not a conventionally commercial film, but what Baumbach film is? In a 3.1 posting I called it “easily the most intriguing film of the new year…[it] doesn’t exactly ‘entertain’ and yet it does — it’s just operating in a low-key way that’s almost entirely about observation, and without a single false note.”

Update: Village Voice columnist/bloger Michael Musto, who’s also seen and enjoyed Greenberg, called Dart to clarify about the White matter, and she told him the same thing — i.e., that White hasn’t been banned, that he’ll see the film eventually, etc.

Further Update: White will reportedly see Greenberg on Friday.

Roger Ebert twittered a little while ago about Variety‘s decision to lay off its chief critic Todd McCarthy, to wit: “Variety fires McCarthy and I cancel my subscription. He was my reason to read the paper. RIP, schmucks.”

Update: Late Monday night Ebert filed a story about McCarthy’s dismissal. Here are the last few graphs:

“Todd always had reasons behind his reviews. They were clear and potentially helpful to filmmakers. His prose was considered. It began in the closing days of slangy Varietyese and evolved into a style fresh and witty. He didn’t miss a thing.

“What I’m saying is that Todd McCarthy is not a man Variety should have lightly dismissed. He is the longest-serving and best-known member of the paper’s staff, and if they made such a drastic decision, we are invited to wonder if Variety itself will long survive.

“Variety used to cover everything. I remember a magical night in Rome in 1967, when I sat late at night on the Via Veneto and gawked at the last remnants of la dole vita. I held a copy of Weekly Variety, all black and white on newsprint and easily more that 100 pages thick. I became fascinated by the back pages, the items two paragraphs long about cabaret performers in Boston, dancers in Miami, magicians in Philadelphia, lounge acts in Las Vegas, jazz clubs in London. Variety got its name from variety artists, and for decades they lived off a favorable notice in its pages. The paper then truly was ‘the showbiz Bible.’

“Well, those days over with. The glory days of the famous Variety critics are finished. I knew one of them, Gene Moskowitz, who signed his reviews Mosk., and was the Paris bureau chief who directed coverage at Cannes. In the 1970s, dying of cancer, he came to what he knew was his last Cannes, bringing along his wife and the young son he was so proud of. Under an umbrella on the beach, he looked toward the old Palais and said, ‘I saw a lot of good movies there.’

“About Todd McCarthy I am not very worried. He’s one of a kind. I can think of no better candidate as the director of a major film festival. Or as a professor, or of course as a film critic. What I lament is the carelessness with which his 31 years of dedication were discarded.

“Oh, the paper cites its reasons. ‘It’s economic reality,’ Variety President Neil Stiles said of the move. Some ‘downsizing’ is necessary cost-cutting. Some symbolizes the abandonment of a mission. If Variety no longer requires its chief film critic, it no longer requires me as a reader.”

Everyone presumably knows the Extra Virgin story by now…right? After meeting last November with Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow at this cozy West Village restaurant, I asked three female employees if they’d seen The Hurt Locker. None of them had even heard of it. One of them asked, “Is it a documentary?”

Two of three current Extra Virgin waitresses who haven’t seen The Hurt Locker.

EV hostess Nadia Owusu, an actress and SAG member who’s seen Kathryn Bigelow’s film on disc.

So I returned late this afternoon to see if the EV crew was still clueless in the wake of Bigelow’s Oscar triumph — i.e., winning last night for Best Picture and Best Director.

I spoke to five Extra Virgin staffers — a bartender, a hostess and three waitresses — and can report that Hurt Locker awareness levels have definitely surged since last November.

Hostess Nadia Owusu, an actresss and a SAG member, has seen a DVD screener of Bigelow’s film, and the bartender said he caught it at the Quad last summer. (They both liked it.) The three waitresses haven’t seen it — one said she didn’t know what it was about, and another said she’s only recently arrived to Manhattan and therefore wasn’t up to speed — but they do know the title and so on, having watched the Oscar telecast.

So that’s that. Knowledge evolves, life moves on, the universe expands, etc.

I don’t mean to sound facile about a grave occurence, but Variety‘s senior film critic Todd McCarthy has been whacked, Joe Pesci-style. The ailing trade paper’s president Neil Stiles has told N.Y. Times “Decoder” contributor Michael Cieply that McCarthy and theatre critic David Rooney have been let go as a cost-saving measure.

Ex-Variety staffer Todd McCarthy during the 2007 Cannes Film Festival

“It’s economic reality,” Stiles said. Variety will continue to carry the same number of reviews, he explained, but on a freelance basis. Here’s to one of the finest and most knowledgable film critics in the country bouncing back as soon as possible, and perhaps launching his own site.

Armed with inside knowledge and personal Variety experience, Indiewire‘s Anne Thomnpson has written a good commentary piece about McCarthy’s departure:

“Variety can’t afford McCarthy and Rooney, as they couldn’t afford me or editors Michael Speier and Kathy Lyford. But I was a relative newbie, a columnist/blogger. I was a luxury. Problem is, I was well-paid, as were McCarthy and Rooney. Nonetheless, they are necessities. Without them, Variety is doomed.

“Along with the badly handled recent fracas over Robert Koehler‘s review of Iron Cross (which was pulled off the site during a robust Oscar campaign, then later restored) this sends a dubious message to Hollywood: Variety is running out of cash. As one vet journalist tweeted me today: ‘This feels like end of the world as we know it. I can’t even comprehend.’

“I saw it coming. When I left The Hollywood Reporter, which gave me the opportunity to launch the Riskybiz blog, and had already been through several Draconian staff and expense trims, to move to number-one trade Variety, I saw a bigger, fatter, more spendthrift organization accustomed to riding high off the hog. And I saw a trade that was neither in tune with its customers, nor with changing times on the web. Layoffs eventually came. And kept coming.

“But former editor-in-chief Peter Bart had built a respected news organization with a strong staff — and he saw the wisdom of deploying top critics all over the world. That was the center of Variety‘s long-range success. It made the paper a global must-read.

“Erudite and learned about cinema, Todd McCarthy gets more hits for his reviews than anyone at the paper. Wait…Variety is behind a pay wall. They don’t care about hits anymore. Don’t they care about premium content? They also lost star news hound Michael Fleming to Deadline Hollywood, which is stealing more readers by the day. He probably saw that he too, was overpaid. And didn’t want to be rendered invisible.

“Too bad Variety couldn’t haver instituted across-the-board pay cuts for everyone — and saved some jobs and talent. Oh, wait — the people at the top would have to cut their salaries too. And what about that blinking red Variety logo on top of their Wilshire office tower? How many salaries would that cover a year?

“While this change brings opportunity for two talented, less expensive younger staff critics trained by McCarthy — Justin Chang and Peter Debruge — McCarthy and Rooney’s departure marks a sad, sad day.

“It is indeed the end of an era.”

All The Wonderful Things columnist AJ Schnack has posted the remarks that The Cove director Louie Psihoyos intended to deliver on the Oscar stage last night…but couldn’t because the orchestra cut him off.

“We made this film to give the oceans a voice,” Psihoyos would have said.

“We told the story of The Cove because we witnessed a crime. Not just a crime against nature, but a crime against humanity.

“We made this movie because through plundering, pollution and acidification from burning fossil fuels, all ocean life is in peril from the great whales to plankton — which incidentally is responsible for half the oxygen in this theater.

“Thank you, Black OPS Team for risking your lives in Japan, and thank you, Academy, for shining the brightest lights in the world on The Cove.

“Japan, please see this movie for yourselves! Domo Arigato!”

The Wrap‘s Joseph Adalian is reporting that last night’s Oscar telecast attracted 41.3 million viewers, the best since 2005 and an approximate 15 percent gain from 2009’s viewership, which averaged 36.3 million. But the show “skewed a bit older.” Much of the audience gains came in adults over 50, who upticked about 17 percent. In terms of 18-to-34 year-olds, the show “was actually down 3 percent.”

I can’t understand much of what Hurt Locker producer Nicolas Chartier said at a private Oscar-viewing party last night — too Pepe Le Pew. (YouTube link/coding copied from Kris Tapley‘s In Contention.)

I think it was unfair and ungracious of Oscar producers Bill Mechanic and Adam Shankman not to include Farrah Fawcett in last night’s death-tribute reel. Fawcett began on the tube, of course, but she was an industry-community person as much as anyone else, and she gave highly respected performances in at least two features — Extremities and Alan Pakula‘s See You In The Morning. And let’s not forget her fine work in The Burning Bed, a powerful made-for-TV flick.

I didn’t see Ron Silver in last night’s tribute either, although I may have missed him. Was Edward Woodward included? I know Bea Arthur wasn’t, and that they also blew off Marilyn Chambers, basically for blowing too many guys in too many porn films. Incuding her would have established an unwelcome precedent, I realize, but Chambers was as famous and influential a performer in the early 1970s as Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Cybil Shepard or Barbra Streisand were in their realms. She wasn’t a real “actress”, of course, but Average Joes and Janes knew her quite well. She was as iconic in her own way as Muhammud Ali.

Robert Downey, Jr. vs. Mickey Rourke as Mr. Gravelly-Voiced Bad-Ass Whomever…Ivan Vanko/Whiplash. The Superhero must face down a Formidable & Ruthless Opponent in the first franchise-sequel. I’ve now seen Iron Man 2 (Paramount, 5.7) in a compressed form — I know exactly what’s coming. All that’s left is to sit through the long version at an all-media screening, write “pretty good” and then stand back as the Eloi masses surge into the plexes.

“I’m afraid we can only do, absurdly, what has been given to us to do, right to the end.” — from Jean Anouilh‘s Becket.

Last night’s biggest shockaroo came when Precious scribe Geoffrey Fletcher won the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, which no pulse-taker had even fantasized about as a remote possibility. It wasn’t in the cards, and yet it happened.

Up In The Air co-screenwriters/non-collaborators Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner.

Fletcher got all sniffly as he conveyed his heartfelt thanks, and all I could think as I watched was, “This isn’t entirely about you, bro. This is obviously a ‘we love Geoffrey Fletcher and Precious‘ award’, okay, but only partly.”

It’s also…in fact, I suspect it was mainly a “we’re not going to give this award to Jason Reitman for regarding his Up In The Air co-writer Sheldon Turner as an irritant during much of the campaign season, particularly when Up In The Air won the Golden Globe Best Screenplay award, so we’re going to give it to Fletcher instead. We like his screenplay and the film, but this is mainly about not wanting to give the Oscar to Reitman.”

When Fletcher’s name was called out the reaction in the room (or in my room, at least, at 92Y Tribeca) was one of total surprise. We’re talking MAJOR SHOCK WAVES. Reitman and Turner were definitely seen as having been snubbed.

Up In The Air came out of Telluride and Tribeca with a serious Best Picture headwind, and yet the air started to hiss out of the balloon when The Hurt Locker began winning with all the critics and guilds, and particularly when Avatar stomped into the picture in mid December. But Up In The Air is/was still an excellent film. And so a sentiment seemed to grow that the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar should go to Up In The Air co-authors Reitman and Turner as a makeup award.

My immediate thinking was that Reitman did himself in with (a) that inelegant display he put on at the Golden Globes when he ignored Turner as he thanked the HFPA for the Up In The Air Golden Globe award for Best Screenplay, and (b) that slight air of entitlement that people seemed to get from him.

After the Globes debacle there was a slight judgment current I kept hearing and feeling to the effect of Reitman might be a bit of an ay-hole. I regret to say that I heard that word a lot. That and “dick.” I didn’t agree with it, just to be clear. Reitman probably shouldn’t have radiated a frosty vibe toward Turner, but it didn’t seem like any criminal offense to me.

DVR capture of Reitman after the announcement of Avatar‘s Best Picture win at the Golden Globes.

Up In The Air is a beautifully made, very touching and (I think) profound film about America here-and-now and what we all need and want. Everyone knew or accepted that it was being regarded as one of the top two or three, and no one seemed to dispute — even as the Avatar steamroller began to happen in December — that while UITA had fallen back in the Best Picture race that Reitman & Turner would at least get a compensation Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay….at least that.

But no. Something happened. What I suspect is that “Reitman is a bit of an ay-hole” happened. Particularly Reitman’s look of glum concern when Avatar won at the Golden Globes — remember that photo? I’m saying all this, mind, as a sincere admirer of Reitman and Up In The Air. I have no problem with the guy. I accept that any willful creative person is going to exhibit a touch of assholery every now and then — it just goes with the territory and isn’t that big of a deal. I condemn him not.

In Contention‘s Kris Tapley, another admirer of Up In The Air who’s interviewed Reitman once or twice, says the following:

“I frankly don’t remember his ‘look of concern’ at the Globes (which could have just as easily been concern that The Hurt Locker didn’t win), and he didn’t ignore Turner on that stage, either. In fact, after they unfortunately played Turner off the stage at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, Reitman’s position was Turner should speak first from that point on.

“I think two things happened. First was the dust-up surrounding writing credits, which became so pronounced and overstated as to reflect a sheen of animosity, when there was none. That may have found its way into the overall Academy consciousness.

“Second, and most importantly, I think Reitman is getting put in his place after reaching a high level of success so early in his career. This has always been a notion in the ether, but it really rang true for me when I was watching the Best Director category. All of those clips of people talking about the respective nominees. He looked like an absolute baby in the midst of all of that, a true wunderkind.

“And I also think it’s clear the Academy had a level of admiration and respect for Precious. It seemed palpable in the room.”

Last night’s big “what?” moment happened when Music by Prudence won the Best Documentary Short Oscar. Director-producer Roger Ross Williams ran to the stage like an Olympic sprinter and began to say thanks. And then producer Elinor Burkett darted in and pretty much grabbed the mike and took over the shpiel, obviously to Williams’ chagrin. Salon’s Kerry Lauerman reports the story from both parties:

Salon: “People are already saying you ‘pulled a Kanye.’ What happened?”

Burkett: “What happened was the director and I had a bad difference over the direction of the film that resulted in a lawsuit that has settled amicably out of court. But there have been all these events around the Oscars, and I wasn’t invited to any of them. And he’s not speaking to me. So we weren’t even able to discuss ahead of the time who would be the one person allowed to speak if we won. And then, as I’m sure you saw, when we won, he raced up there to accept the award. And his mother took her cane and blocked me. So I couldn’t get up there very fast.”

Salon: “Can you explain the reason behind the conflict?”

Burkett: “The movie was supposed to be about the entire band, Liyana. And the [band members] were very clear they did not want to participate if it ended up being just about one person. The director and HBO decided to focus solely on Prudence.

Salon: “And that led to the rift. But didn’t you see him at other events to discuss what would happen if you won?”

Burkett: “He won’t talk to me! This whole week, there have been events thrown by the International Documentary Association, and he hasn’t passed any of the invitations on to me. The movie was my idea. I live in Zimbabwe. Roger had never even heard of Zimbabwe before I told him about this. And you know, I felt my role in this has been denigrated again and again, and it wasn’t going to happen this time.

Salon: “How do you feel about the final product?”

Burkett: “The final product…it’s not that it’s bad. It’s not what I envisioned when I came up with this project. And it’s not what we promised the boys in the band. It’s just not what we wanted it to be.:

Salon then spoke to Williams….

Salon: “So what happened?”

Williams: “Only one person is allowed to accept the award. I was the director, and she was removed from the project nearly a year ago, but she was able to still qualify as a producer on the project, and be an official nominee. But she was very angry — she actually removed herself from the project – because she wanted more creative control.”

Salon: “But couldn’t you decide ahead of time who would speak?

Williams: “That was handled by the publicist for the academy. I don’t know what they told her. The academy is very clear that only one person can speak. I own the film. She has no claim whatsoever. She has nothing to do with the movie. She just ambushed me. I was sort of in shock.”

Salon: “You seemed to run up there pretty fast. Didn’t you see her coming up the aisle? What did you think was going to happen when she got there?

Williams: “I just expected her to stand there. I had a speech prepared.”

Salon: “She claims she found the movie’s story, that she brought it to you.”

Williams: “No, not at all. The truth is that she saw the band perform [in Zimbabwe], and told me about that, and then I opened up a dialogue with the [King George VI School & Centre for Children with Physical Disabilities] school and went on my own – which you would’ve heard about in my speech — and spent $6,000 going to Africa shooting myself. And when people expressed interest in the film, I asked her to come on board. And then I regretted that decision. Then she sued.”

Salon: “It was quite a tussle. Does this diminish the Oscar at all?”

Williams: “Absolutely not. It’s such a career achievement, to win an Academy Award. This is what the business is. There are times when there’s disagreement and dispute and you always hope that people will rise up to the occasion. It doesn’t diminish it. She disowns it and doesn’t want any part of the film. I’m so proud of the movie.”

Salon: “Did your mother try and block her with her cane?”

Williams: “My mother got up to hug me. And my mother is 87 years old. She was excited.”

Hollywood Elsewhere interjection: Probable bunk! Whenever a child points out the age of a parent in the course of explaining any sort of curious or unusual altercation, what they’re saying is “yes, my parent acted questionably but you have to cut him/her some slack because old people tend to be confused and don’t know what they’re doing half the time.” Which of course is rarely true. Old people are plenty aware of what’s going on at any given moment. They just tend to be a little gruffer or grumpier.

The Hurt Locker has won the Best Picture Oscar…Extra Virgin ladies! And Kathryn Bigelow, bless her, has also won for Best Director. “This is a moment of a lifetime,” she said. “I would not be standing here if it weren’t for Mark Boal, who risked his life for what he put on the page” She thanked Nicolas Chartier! “I’d like to dedicate this to the women and men who risk their lives in Iraq and Afganistan..may they come home safe.” Beautiful ending, beautiful night.

Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow, producer-writer Mark Boal following Best Picture win.

Crazy Heart‘s Jeff Bridges paying tribute to parents after winning the Best Actor Oscar.

The Cove producer Fisher Stevens, star Ric O’Barry, director Louie Psihoyos and a woman I’m not for the time being recognizing…sorry.