National Society of Film Critics: Love for Spotlight, Carol, Creed....

The last important critics awards have been announced and in the week of Oscar nomination voting too. Though they went with many of the names that have previously mentioned at other stops, they made one particularly welcome new call in Michael B Jordan as Best Actor? But are Oscar voters still looking for suggestions? When you've got a field as potentially anemic as this year's Best Actor race where no one seems all that enthused about the very famous probabilities, dig a little deeper. It can only help! The NSFC, formed in 1966 and the third most important US critics group outside of NYFCC and LAFCA (yes some members overlap since "National" includes multiple cities) spread the wealth. Only Spotlight and Carol took more than one prize. 

The winners and runners up are after the jump...

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BB-8 is Basically Round WALL•E

Chris here. One of the most exciting elements of The Force Awakens is the fresh heroes we have to idolize. But Rey, Finn, and Poe aren't the only new blood worth obsessing over: we also have fan favorite BB-8.

So much of The Force Awakens relies on our collective nostalgia for the originals, but BB-8 seems to be his own charming creation. If you're thinking of C-3PO and R2-D2 as sources for our new friend, they're not the droids you are looking for. Delivering more humanity than his droid predecessors and drawing the most laughs, his extroverted connection to the other characters embodies the optimistic spirit of hope that is the staple of the franchise.

And yet something still felt too familiar. Who did BB-8 keep reminding me of?? And then, it clicked...

A playful breakdown after the jump...

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What did you see this weekend?

It was bound to happen given that earth's population and movie ticket prices constantly grow but The Force Awakens will be overtaking Avatar (2009) for #1 hit of all time in the US (NOT adjusted for inflation) sometimes this week. The new-old adventure from that galaxy far far away is just $20 million shy of that particular record now.

Beyond Star Wars there's quite a lot going on though -- including solid ticket selling moves by various Oscar players -- which we'll discuss after the jump... 

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Who Will Be This Year's "Out-of-Nowhere" Oscar Nominee?

Coco here, ready to talk about the current Oscar race and the surprises that might pop up.

Last week, we discussed SAG's bizarre taste. The math works against it but we're desperately hoping the Academy breaks free of their influence. Perhaps we should focus our hope on a recent wave of surprising, "out-of-nowhere" nominations at the Oscars.  Ever since 2011 (the year the Academy turned Best Picture into a flexible category with as little as 5 and as many as 10 nominees), there's been at least one acting nominee that landed on Oscar's list without being previously nominated at either the Golden Globes, SAG, or BAFTA.

Here are the stats...

2011 - The shocking inclusion of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in Best Picture came with the legendary Max von Sydow in tow for his mute performance in Best Supporting Actor. 

2012 - Everyone was surprised by the amount of support Silver Linings Playbook had considering the supporting Actress nomination for Jacki Weaver. (Various precursors had usually included Nicole Kidman in the divisive Lee Daniels film The Paperboy or random shout outs to Dames Judi Dench (Skyall) and Maggie Smith (Marigold Hotel) and even the then lesser known Ann Dowd (who was pitched as supporting in Compliance though she had the film's central role). It's also hard to remember now, but Quvenzhané Wallis had none of the big three precursor nominations before she made the Best Actress line-up for Beasts of the Southern Wild (though she was included at Critics Choice and at the Spirit Awards)

2013 & 2014 stats. Plus 2015 speculation after the jump... 

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A Happy New (Twitterful) Year

2016 is upon us. So far it's been a wash since a cold has attacked me without warning but while I sleep and stay hydrated (not simultaneously) and procrastinate here are some favorite tweets of the week. But the year started beautifully with two of our favorite film thinkers and Oscar historians Nick Davis and Mark Harris announcing new projects. Nick will be expanding his "Best Actress" section and Mark Harris will be celebrating 1966 movies all year as he preps for the 50th anniversary of those Best Picture nominees he celebrated in his first book "Pictures at a Revolution" which was on the Best Pictures of 1967.

Our first tweet is a perfect message for the "survey the greats" season we're in via filmmaker Guillermo del Toro. Our friend Nick has an interesting solution to this favorites versus perfection equation. He has two top 100s, greatest and favorites. He just wrote a huge batch of new essays which you should really read. Recent pieces include two movies that are accidentallly perfect for New Year's week including Strange Days and When Harry Met Sally (on the "greatest" list)  movies like Movies become "favorites" for so many reasons, whether that's great experiences at the theater where we saw them or, the ease at rewatching them, or just the slow dawning realization that this one you just love whatever its shortcomings (this is me with Burlesque which showed on cable in a loop in 2015 and I couldn't look away.)

Favorite movies don't have to be perfect movies. Like in any relationship, Love is what makes them stick around.

— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) December 29, 2015

 MORE AFTER THE JUMP including but not limited to Blanchett, Damon, Gleeson, Isaac ...and Eartha Kitt as 2016's Patron Saint?

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