Today was a big day of critics awards, where a lot of stuff went down. I believe the critics are all trying to get in their awards before this weeks nominations for the Broadcast Film Critics Association, Golden Globes, and the Screen Actors Guild awards because it is important to critics to feel like they have a say! So nevertheless I give you two important critics group that, in their own right, influence the awards race.
First the Los Angeles Film Critics Association is a meaningful critics group that has major impact on the awards, its importance ranks up there with the New York Film Critics Circle. Sometimes they go for more of the "indy" choices, but one thing is true they always have head scratching surprises. So here is their list of head scratchers:
Best Picture: TIE!! Gravity and Her
Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity; runner-up: Spike Jonze, Her
Best Actor: Bruce Dern, Nebraska; runner-up: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Best Actress: TIE!! Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine, and Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue Is the Warmest Color
Best Supporting Actor: TIE! James Franco, Spring Breakers, and Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave; runner-up: June Squibb, Nebraska
Best Screenplay: Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Before Midnight; runner-up: Spike Jonze, Her
Best Animated Feature: Ernest and Celestine; runner-up: The Wind Rises
Gravity has truly been missing in the critics round of the awards season, and finally it showed up with wins for Picture and Director. If Gravity is going to go far it definitely needed this, and deservingly so. Having a tie for Best Picture is pretty surprising, because it shows not only divisions among critics groups but also division in critics groups. As I have said and will continue to say, no movie is a lock for a win, not one. The LAFCA likes to show their runners-up as a second place prize, so the director of Her, Spike Jonze is definitely on the radar for directing. Remember, Her won Best Picture and Jonze won Director at the National Board of Review. I predicted Bruce Dern to win here, Nebraska is an "indy" film, so I figured if he showed up it would be his to lose here. Cate Blanchett's critics awards sweep has not been a surprise, critics generally go googoo for Woody Allen actors. She has and will be the frontrunner, and the one to beat. I thought Adele Exarchopoulos would win this, the LAFCA loves foreign actresses! I think she has a small shot at bumping one of the older ladies for a Best Actress nomination. The most shocking win of this group is James Franco winning Supporting Actor for Spring Breakers. I almost watched that movie, but thought it looked dumb, but maybe I should give it a chance? This was a head scratching win, that I fully believe is not even on the radar for big awards...but this year is crazy, so I suppose, why not? I finally was able to see Dallas Buyers Club, and Jared Leto was FANTASTIC. I would love to see him win, and I am glad to see him winning, even if it is a tie. Lupita Nyong'o was my second choice to win here, I thought it would be June Squibb; but June came in second. Lupita has not a lot of screen time in 12 Years a Slave, but the time she has is the most powerful and memorable of the whole movie. I have not been following closely with Screenplay and Animated Feature categories lately, but Ernest and Celestine winning over the dominating The Wind Rises was a complete surprise. All in all, good choices.
The other critics group that carries some importance, but not as heavily followed is the Boston Film Critics Association. For some reason, the BFCA awards has brought me the most excitement, because it showed and proved something to me...first things first, here are their choices:
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave; runner-up: The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Director: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave; runner-up: Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave; runner-up: Leonardo Dicaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine; runner-up: Judi Dench, Philomena
Best Supporting Actor: James Gandolfini, Enough Said; runner-up: TIE!! Barkhad Abdi, Captain Philips and Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Supporting Actress: June Squibb, Nebraska; runner-up: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Best Screenplay: Enough Said; runner-up: The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises; runner-up: Frozen
What made me so happy with their winners is not that any particular film won, but that The Wolf of Wall Street is starting to pick up some steam. I also have said that if there is any movie, sight unseen, that can win Best Picture over 12 Years a Slave and Gravity it would be The Wolf of Wall Street. Second place gives some recognition and reassures us that it must be great, so look out. 12 Years a Slave has also been missing out on awards, next to Gravity, and it too needed to show up somewhere. The lead acting categories were of no surprise, but the supporting presented some interesting wins. James Gandolfini definitely needed to win something, somewhere, so that he can be considered for any Oscar! What a great way to pay tribute to him by nominating him for an Oscar, that would be cool to see, but who knows. The likelyhood is slim for Gandolfini, but it would still be great to see. June Squibb is receiving a little bit of a surge, so props to her! Other than those comments, that is all I have about that.
There is one other critics group that I will show you, not on this post, that is probably one of the most important and that is the Broadcast Film Critics Association; they are a big voting body and they have a live ceremony. The big awards come on the 11th with Screen Actors Guild kicking it off, followed the next day with the Golden Globes, and the last one is the already mention Broadcast Film Critics Association. It is a BIG week! So look in for more posts than usual this week! I AM SO PUMPED! BRING ON THE AVALANCHE!
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