Argo is still soaring as precursors go...Tis the Season to Hear from Film Critics Circles and Orgs and Societies. The big news today – if you can call anything Off-Christmas news on Christmas Eve -- is that the Online Film Critics Society have announced their annual nominations with a parade of accordion accompanists on the streets of Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Or at least that’s what I wish they’d done since they nominated Holy Motors for four prizes instead of the typical requisite runner up position here or there or nowhere. Instead of an accordion parade they just posted their nominations online…as societies are prone to do.
But they’re definitely worth mentioning this year as they seem to be sort-of-maybe a-little-bit-kind-of thinking for themselves beyond the standard pet-peevish traps -- there's plentiful category fraud (even though it doesn't really make sense for critics groups to do that unless they think of themselves as oscar pundits first in which case they might want to check their purpose and/ormission statements!) and the dismissals of Hugh Jackman and Matthew McConaughey, awardage impulses which tend to strike me as genre and gender-norms bias, respectively.
BEST PICTURE
- Argo
- Holy Motors
- The Master
- Moonrise Kingdom
- Zero Dark Thirty
lots more after the jump including weirdly formatted lists (i can't deal today. it's christmas eve) and three more regional critics prizes.
BEST DIRECTOR
Ben Affleck – Argo
Paul Thomas Anderson – The Master
Wes Anderson – Moonrise Kingdom
Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty
Leos Carax – Holy Motors
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Denis Lavant – Holy Motors
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
Denzel Washington – Flight
BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Rachel Weisz – The Deep Blue Sea
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin – Argo
Dwight Henry – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – The Master
Ann Dowd – Compliance
Sally Field – Lincoln
Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Cabin in the Woods – Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard
Looper – Rian Johnson
The Master – Paul Thomas Anderson
Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Argo – Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
Cloud Atlas – Lana Wachowski, Tom Tykwer, Andy Wachowski
Cosmopolis – David Cronenberg
Lincoln – Tony Kushner
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Secret World of Arrietty
Wreck-It Ralph
BEST FOREIGN FILM
Amour
Holy Motors
Rust and Bone
This Is Not a Film
The Turin Horse
BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Imposter
The Invisible War
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
The Queen of Versailles
This Is Not a Film
EDITING
Argo – William Goldenberg
Cloud Atlas – Alexander Berner
The Master – Leslie Jones, Peter McNulty
Skyfall – Stuart Baird
Zero Dark Thirty – William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda
Lincoln – Janusz Kaminski
The Master – Mihai Malamiare Jr.
Moonrise Kingdom – Robert D. Yeoman
Skyfall – Roger Deakins
And we have three more regional critics groups to catalogue just for the helluva it
OKLAHOMA FILM CRITICS CIRCLE
Best Picture: Argo (Rest of Top 10 Descending: “Zero Dark Thirty.” “Moonrise Kingdom.” “Django Unchained.” “Silver Linings Playbook.” “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”
“The Master.” “Lincoln.” “Looper.”and “Les Miserables.”]
Best Director: Ben Affleck, “Argo.”
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln.”
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty.”
Best Supporting Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master.”
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables.”
Best Animated Film: “Wreck-It Ralph.”
Best Body of Work (tie): Joseph Gordon-Levitt (“Looper,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Lincoln”) and
Matthew McConaughey (“Bernie,” “Magic Mike,” “Killer Joe”)
As a huge fan of Joseph Gordon Levitt I still have to say "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL?" In no way shape or form did he need a prize for 2 decent performances and 1 barely adequate one.
Best Documentary: “Searching for Sugar Man.”
Best First Feature: “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Benh Zeitlin.
Best Foreign Language Film: “Amour.”
Best Guilty Pleasure: “21 Jump Street.”
Not-So-Obviously Worst Movie: “Prometheus.”
Obviously Worst Movie: “That's My Boy.”
Best Original Screenplay: Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, “Moonrise Kingdom.”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio, “Argo.”
UTAH FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION
Best Picture "Zero Dark Thirty" (runner-up: "Looper")
Directing Wes Anderson, "Moonrise Kingdom" (runner-up: Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty")
Lead Actor Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master" (runners-up: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln," and John Hawkes, "The Sessions")
Lead actress [tie] Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook," and Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
Supporting Actor Dwight Henry, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" (runner-up: Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master")
Supporting Actress Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables" (runner-up: Ann Dowd, "Compliance")
Original Screenplay Rian Johnson, "Looper" (runner-up: Joss Whedon & Drew Goddard, "The Cabin in the Woods")
Adapted Screenplay Stephen Chbosky, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" (runner-up: David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook")
Cinematography Roger Deakins, "Skyfall" (runner-up: Claudio Miranda, "Life of Pi")
Documentary Feature "Indie Game: The Movie" (runner-up: "The Invisible War")
Non-English Language Feature "Headhunters" (runner-up: "Amour")
Animated Feature "ParaNorman" (runners-up: "Frankenweenie" and "Wreck-It Ralph")
NEVADA FILM CRITICS SOCIETY
Best Film - Argo
Best Director - [TIE] Ben Affleck & Kathryn Bigelow
Best Actor - John Hawkes (The Sessions)
Best Actress - TIE Helen Hunt (The Sessions) and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Supporting Actor - Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)
Best Supporting Actress - Sally Field (Lincoln)
Best Youth Performance - Tom Holland (The Impossible)
Best Ensemble Cast - Lincoln
Best Animated Movie - Frankenweenie
Best Production Design - Les Miserables
Best Cinematography - Life Of Pi
Best Visual Effects - Life Of Pi
Final Takeaway Question: Why do you suppose critics groups bother with craft categories when they never do them full hog? Nearly all regional groups do one or two "craft" prizes but never all of them. Is this a statement that visual effects are more worthy than costume design or editing? Or whichever category they choose when they don't choose another. Is this just half-assery? It's weird but consistent through line for the regional prizes -- consistent in its half-assery but almost never consistent in which craft categories are deemed worthy of discussion. -- in most critics prizes.