Critics Choice Wars Episode XXI: A Shark Jump
Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at 7:42PM As you have undoubtedly heard the Broadcast Film Critics Association yelled "do over" this weekend, seeing the response to Star Wars: The Force Awakens from both audiences (with those record breaking numbers) and critics. The organization had voted before the film screened as had literally all of major Oscar precursors. Instead of accepting that deadlines are deadlines -- which all other organizations did because who the hell doesn't? -- they asked members to vote on whether it should be added into the Best Picture lineup after the fact.
Some of us were angry to even be asked. The question was surely rhetorical for after it was asked it was clear that by even asking the BFCA would add the picture, breaking all semblance of standard operating procedure and sound voting practices. [More...]
NO @CriticsChoice - there are no do-overs in awards. That's what internet forums are for in perpetuity pic.twitter.com/ADXaYI4TwY
— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) December 21, 2015
Everyone I know within the organization (admittedly a small probably non-representative sample) voted "No" -- since most thoughtful journalists realize that this type of thing just isn't good for perceptions of your legitimacy or professionalism -- but the film has nevertheless been added to the Critics Choice Best Picture slate. Kris Tapley wrote an excellent editorial on why this surely big trouble for the organization (to which we both belong) so I won't agonize over their decision for more than one two more paragraphs though I would like to note some places I wish the film had been honored if we had merely delayed voting a few days to screen it.
Everyone knows where I stand on THE RULES. Awards are often called frivolous and judging art will always be an exercize in subjectivity. But that's what makes awards so special. They are important reflections of popular culture and of what is valued at a given point in time or what is perceived as quality in the field. They also have physical consequences: few Oscar nominated films are lost to the world which is far less true of early films that received no honors in the early days of prizes. But awards mean nothing or at least far less when rules are broken to determine them or the spirit of particular honors are gamed to the point of unrecognizability ("Supporting" now being a useless term for acting prizes, since everyone thinks that means "Second Billed Lead"). Even the silliest of children's games have rules. If you don't have them you're just having fun and the game is meaningless and the very next day you can't play it again since it only existed righ then, continually morphing. This should be anathema to any organization that wants to be an "institution" as it were. You have no worth even as a time capsule if there are no rules of calendar in play!
The decision to break the rules has already resulted in some members resigning...
Got an email 1 hr ago & just resigned from the #BFCA https://t.co/acXwUlsUFg @kristapley #CriticsChoice #StarWars pic.twitter.com/2DpnFPc9zV
— Eric Melin (@SceneStealrEric) December 22, 2015
Sent. Buh-bye, BFCA. pic.twitter.com/Ptth6Ng2Pq
— Scott Renshaw (@scottrenshaw) December 22, 2015
I admire these guys. I'm not actually sure I have the strength to join them for the simple reason that I don't write for a paper but for myself and my only pay (aside from a handful of kind readers who set up monthly $2.50 donations -- see right hand sidebar) comes from studio advertising built around the Oscars. The catch being that I'm not entirely sure I could run this blog affectively from November through January if the FYC screeners were to end. The studio practice of backloading so many films into the last three months of the year makes seeing everything so difficult. But I'll think it over because I probably should.
FOR NOW LET'S MOVE ON...
Here are the 5 categories where I would have been happy to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens honored had we screened it in time. The Critics Choice Awards added categories like Sci-Fi and Action and Comedy specifically to get a wider spread of films (and celebrities... and ratings) but even that was done clumsily since you can appear in more than one category (unlike at the Globes where it's partitioned) and some genre categories (well, sci-fi/horror only) don't have matching acting categories, making it all haphazard.
BEST ACTION MOVIE
This category contains three very good films (Mad Max, Rogue Nation, and Sicario) but surely Furious 7 and Jurassic World could step aside and leave worthy room for The Force Awakens
ACTOR IN AN ACTION FILM
It's sometimes difficult to come up with a full spectrum of nominees for these prizes. The nominees Daniel Craig, Tom Cruise, Tom Hardy, Chris Pratt, and Paul Rudd are all doing solid work in their films (for the record I voted for Pratt, Hardy & Rudd) but I'd be happy to see Harrison Ford in that lineup had we but waited a few days.
ACTRESS IN AN ACTION FILM
Here's where The Force really could have helped out. While Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlize Theron and Jennifer Lawrence are all highly deserving nominees (FTR I voted for Charlize, and two who weren't nominated: Shu Qi in The Assassin and Melissa McCarthy in Spy) , what the hell was Bryce Dallas Howard doing there for Jurassic World?!? Dump her for Daisy Ridley's future Jedi and you have a category worth talking about across the board.
VISUAL EFFECTS
This category currently has six nominees Ex Machina, Jurassic World, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant and The Walk. And while Star Wars visual effects are pleasingly low-fi they aren't the perfection of Ex Machina or Mad Max or The Martian... but you could probably jettison one of the others without weeping to carve out a space for the ongoing adventures of Luke, Han and Leia and their new young friends
SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
While you can argue that Star Wars is not sci-fi but "space fantasy" that argument is for true geeks. Most people, including mainstream broadcast critics, probably wouldn't quibble with the sci-fi designation and you surely would have seen The Force Awakens knocking out It Follows since The Martian, Mad Max, and Ex Machina probably weren't budging. But that would have been sad because It Follows is really good (and the only horror film nominated in a category for horror films). I'd like to think Jurassic World would have fallen because it's NOT a good movie but the BFCA is not all that discerning about their "this one's for the TV ratings!" categories.
If all of this depresses you here's a great tonic for a crazy Dark Side filled week -- GQ's hilarious essay "10 Haunting Questions I Have After Watching My First Star Wars Movie"
Reader Comments (29)
OMG the hysteria! The shenanigans! Such corruption!
I wonder how many of these members (no offense to Nathaniel, our favorite member), are truly film critics. I think this is appalling and in general it is an insult to the other films. This show is now unwatchable. They wanted to become one of the "Big Three," but with the sheer number of acting nominees, their credibility is negligible. And are they combining television with film during the broadcast?
I used to see the BFC as one of many secondary critics groups - like in 1996. But now they are an embarrassment. Star Wars was not screened in time. End of story. There are many instances of a film not being screened before a deadline....this film does not need the attention that films like "Tangerine" "99 Homes," or "45 Years" need. What a scam.
OMG the hysteria! The shenanigans! Such corruption!
I wonder how many of these members (no offense to Nathaniel, our favorite member), are truly film critics. I think this is appalling and in general it is an insult to the other films. This show is now unwatchable. They wanted to become one of the "Big Three," but with the sheer number of acting nominees, their credibility is negligible. And are they combining television with film during the broadcast?
I used to see the BFC as one of many secondary critics groups - like in 1996. But now they are an embarrassment. Star Wars was not screened in time. End of story. There are many instances of a film not being screened before a deadline....this film does not need the attention that films like "Tangerine" "99 Homes," or "45 Years" need. What a scam.
It seems to have been removed now:
http://www.criticschoice.com/movie-awards/
What an embarrassment! This whole thing is so depressing. I just don't understand why everyone needs to announce their nominees so soon. Can't they wait until the first week of January? The awfulness of the SAG nominees is the result of all this rushing. They can't digest all the movies they get to see in such a short time.
P.S. Don't resign! (but don't attend).
Or has it not been added to the list on their website yet? Hmm...
The Critic's Choice Awards is a fucking joke. It's probably worse than the Golden Globes now.
In an age where anyone with a computer, internet access, and time can call himself a film critic, I don't know why people serious about the sanctity of the profession would purposely make such a bone-headed choice. Yielding to the pressure of fans to have their favorites considered or included despite clear rules that dictate otherwise sets a horrible precedent that screams, "We don't care about the best! We just wanna be liked!" Where's the integrity?
It's like category fraud just isn't enough starfucking (is that a pun?) for awards shows nowadays. Does anyone not expect it to get a Best Picture nomination? How is almost every other critics group more eclectic than this? At least SAG stuck to what was available to it.
The graphic is genius. It implies that the BFCA was ever pre-sharkjump, which I would dispute, but it is genius. xo
Oh, lord. Starfucking much? The BFCA is beyond embarrassing at this point. Whereas before I'd chalk 'em up to a silly sideshow (and the Globes already have that cornered), now they're just the creepy guy masturbating in a dark corner. Yikes!
Not that the team over at Disney is at all concerned, but how does this do anything but sully The Force Awakens' reputation as an awards prospect? Do they really want to be seen as a dubious contender? Again, they probably don't mind either way as audiences by and large are pleased, but I see it as ultimately unfair to such a crowdpleasing movie to be burdened with such bad karma.
Nathaniel, NO ONE should make you choose between your integrity and your ability to earn a living. It's not your fault you live in a capitalist society. I think all your readers here (myself included) know that your critical integrity and intellectual honesty are beyond approach.
That said, I'm confused: how would resigning from BFCA affect your ability to get advertising?
I wouldn't resign. The screeners are worth it for your love of movies alone. This too shall pass.
Jase, being a member of the BFCA gives you access to screeners as well as get you seen as somebody who can influence and is important. Studios are probably more likely to grant you access to big stars if they know you're a BFCA member who can then vote and such. At least that's what I assume Nathaniel means.
The entire thing is a farce and the organisation is a farce because of it. Utterly absurd. I'd say I can't wait to see how they handle it on the show telecast, but that would imply I would be watching it beyond speech clips on YouTube.
Jase -- what Glenn said, plus screeners really do help you produce content (rewatches, catching up, reference material) which you need in order to have content to get traffic which then helps you get advertisers.
What's amazing to me is that this is seemingly done "for the ratings," as though your average Star Wars fan is going to watch a random movie awards show on A&E simply because The Force Awakens is nominated in a single category.
Thanks for explaining that Glen and Nathaniel.
I really wish the oscars move back to march and all of the guilds and precursors move down the line too and nominate / award in January. This mad rush to be predictive has caused a cluster-f situation in the last few years and awards season has become such a weird beast
It could also compete in Original Score category. As always, John Williams creates masterpieces.
@Evan - Word!!!
Nathaniel - All due respect to you and the hard work you put into this blog, but realistically the Critics Choice awards doesn't really have any integrity to lose. All those separate categories make it a joke already. No need to resign and make your life more difficult.
Don't resign it's not worth it. This sucks because up until that BFCA were my favorite nominations of the season solely for 2x Theron and 2x Hardy. I have no doubt SW is a great flick that deserves the nomination but as you said rules are rules.
Also it's kinda ridiculous how they had that vote but only added BP nomination...adding more nominations would be unfair to other nominees but now it just looks ludicrous since they even half assed the second round.
I look forward to in five years when people have caught up with, say, GIRLHOOD, and everyone retroactively goes back and nominates it for awards. Why don't we just change the winners of years past, too, if we're not happy with them anymore.
Whoever thought that the People's Choice Awards would not be the most worthless awards given? This fiasco was inevitable once everybody started trying to be "first" and give their awards at the end of November/early December. So why not go all the way and make the eligibility period Dec 1 to Nov 30? Why couldn't Star Wars just be considered a 2016 release for their purposes (which it is)? "Critics"? If they were real critics, they'd be promoting Tangerine and Clouds of Sils Maria and 99 Homes, etc. -- you know "quality" -- than trying to outdo every other bullshit awards body and invent categories to trawl for stars to come to their ceremony. Where's their category for Best Independent Film, for instance?
Who cares. It's not like they haven't done this before.
Any film nominations committee should wait until January 1st for voting anyways. You all do this to yourselves. Truncate the awards season to two months.
The BFCA became a joke when they added a sixth nominee to all of the categories - not because (like the Emmys) they believed so much great work was being done they couldn't accommodate it all with five nominees, but because it gave them an extra shot to predict the Oscars. They admit as much on their website; the line "historically, the 'Critics’ Choice Awards' are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations" appears three times in the press release announcing this year's nominations. (That's nothing to be proud of - I started respecting the Globes when they started making better choices than the Oscars.)
That said, don't resign! Most of us who regularly post here would love the opportunity to cast a vote for some major film awards. You get to do it!
Don't resign but is there a way to get on the board and affect change in the organisation?
Agree with all of the above.. I admire you for sticking to your guns ...
Nominating Jurassic World for best anything already would make this critics group illegitimate. A pointless rehashing of same plot the franchise always uses together with uninteresting characters.
It seems like now is the time, with several BFCA members resigning, to be courageous and splinter off into a new group. A group with anti-category fraud rules for a start. Surely these defectors could use their connections and hustle to still receive screeners. After a couple of years of wonderful and varied nominees nominated with integrity and non-Oscar prognosticating , you may be considered in the same breath with the "big" critics awards. I've heard some critics that would possibly join this new group have good contacts that could promote and bolster the esteem of the group through something as simple as a tweet (A critic I don't have to name has even had brilliant actors such as Melanie Lynskey provide content. Work those connections BFCA resigners/defectors!) .Studios with true supporting candidates hovering on the cusp would want to send screeners to a critics group who won't ignore true supporting candidates for secondary or subtle leads that won't crack the lead category. More often than not your best content is created outside of oscar season, from golden age hollywood through to recent public (not just the screener privy) releases. Where I live I get the "oscar glut" movies from mid Jan to Feb or so and there's always something interesting to watch from a stack of dvd's or a full up recorder box to pass the time. Integrity can be worth a couple of nights of two dollar noodles a week. When my monthly charity commitment is finished in a few months I may consider giving that Red Cross money to your cause.
In true Melissa Leo style i hope you CONSIDER.