by Nathaniel R
Some of these were announced during the week but the weekend is when we catch up. In today's lineup: The Satellies (who went Ford V Ferrari crazy), The Black Film Critics Circle, plus Dublin and Nevada critics. There's also a second organization from Phoenix listed. At first we were stunned because the only cities with two critics orgs that we can think of off the top of our heads so far are New York, Los Angeles (major media hubs both), and Boston... all, notably, places with very elite and long-lived film critics orgs that are difficult to be accepted into. Thus a second upstart group forms usually with "online" in the title (back in the early Aughts when print vs web was still sort of a thing). That 'online' designation makes less and less sense these days so some critics organizations who originally had it have been rebranding (all critics are now online critics with every former major print publication having long since moved to the web). Is Phoenix a sign that all major metropoles* will have two or three critics organizations by, say, 2025? Will critics organizations eventually outnumber the actual industry guilds that make the movies (if they don't already).
But I digress. In this weekend's roundup, Marriage Story comes out on top but we also want to talk about Texas in general because it's, shall we say, curious when it comes to film critics awards...
BFCC
(Black Film Critics Circle)
This group was formed in 2010 after splintering off of the African American Film Critics Association.
Picture Dolemite is My Name
Director [TIE] Martin Scorsese, The Irishman and Kasi Lemmons, Harriet
Screenplay Queen & Slim
Adapted Screenplay The Irishman
Actress Lupita Nyongo Us
Actor Eddie Murphy, Dolemite is My Name
Supporting Actress Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Dolemite is My Name
Supporting Actor Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Animated Feature I Lost My Body
Foreign Language Film Parasite
Documentary Toni Morrison The Pieces I Am
Ensemble Dolemite Is My Name
Cinematography: 1917
Pioneer Award Costume Designer Ruth E Carter
Rising Star Kelvin Harrison
Special Mention Lloyd 'Kam' Williams
Brad Pitt just cant stop winning prizes but the big winner here is obviously Dolemite is My Name with four prizes plus a special award for Ruth E Carter.
PFCS
(Phoenix Film Critics Society)
This is the original Phoenix critics organization, formed in 2000. There is a newer group titled Phoenix Critics Circle -- which picked Parasite as its movie of the year -- formed only in 2014.
Picture Joker
Director Sam Mendes, 1917
Actress Renee Zellweger Judy
Actor Joaquin Phoenix, joker
Supporting Actress, Laura Dern, Marriage Story
Supporting Actor, Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Ensemble: Knives Out
Foreign Film: Parasite
Animated Film: Toy Story 4
Documentary: One Child Nation
Overlooked Film of the Year Hotel Mumbai
Screenplay Knives Out
Cinematography 1917
Score 1917
Song "Into the Unknown" Frozen 2
Editing 1917
Production Design 1917
Costume Design Rocketman
Visual Effects Avengers Endgame
Breakthrough Performance Roman Griffin Davis, Jojo Rabbit
Youth Performance Roman Griffin Davis, Jojo Rabbit
DFCC
(Dublin Film Critics Circle)
Picture Marriage Story (ru: The Irishman)
Director Martin Scorsese, The Irishman (ru: Pedro Almodovar, Pain & Glory)
Actress Scarlett Johansson Marriage Story (ru: Lupita Nyong'o, Us)
Actor Adam Driver, Marriage Story (ru: Joaquin Phoenix, Joker)
Screenplay Marriage Story (ru: Booksmart)
Irish Film: Extra Ordinary (ru: The Hole in the Ground)
Documentary Apollo 11 (ru: Diego Maradona)
Cinematography Ad Astra (ru: If Beale Street Could Talk)
Breakthrough Performance Aisling Franciosi, The Nightingale
Breakthrough Director Kantemir Balagov, Beanpole
NFCS
(Nevada Film Critics Society)
Picture Marriage Story
Director Noah Baumbach, Marriage Story
Actress TIE Charlize Theron, Bombshell and Scarlett Johannson, Marriage Story
Actor Adam Driver, Marriage Story
Supporting Actress Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers
Supporting Actor Joe Pesci, The Irishman
Screenplay Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Adapted Screenplay Jojo Rabbit
Animated Film: Toy Story 4
Documentary Apollo 11
Cinematography 1917
Visual Effects Avengers Endgame
THE SATELLITE AWARDS
(Not a critics prize and not well respected due to controversies -- were they originally an offshoot of the Golden Globes? It's difficult to remember and they're very quiet on their own history-- and to be fair, from a lack of a high profile. Televised awards show always boosts "being taken seriously" from pure visibility even if they don't always grant you respect (see the CCMAs and the Globes) But we figured we'd share them.
Picture Drama Ford V Ferrari
Picture Comedy Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Actress in Comedy or Musical Awkwafina, The Farewell
Actress in Drama Scarlett Johansson Marriage Story
Actor in Comedy or Musical Taron Egerton, Rocketman
Actor in Drama Christian Bale, Ford V Ferrari
Supporting Actress Jennifer Lopez, Hustlers
Supporting Actor Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse
Original Screenplay Marriage Story
Adapted Screenplay Joker
Score Joker
Song "I'm Gonna Love Me Again" Rocketman
Cinematography 1917
Visual Effects Alita Battle Angel
Film Editing Ford V Ferrari
Sound Ford V Ferrari
Production Design Motherless Brooklyn
Costume Design Dolemite is My Name
International Picture Truth or Justice (Estonia)
Animated or Mixed Media Picture The Lion King
Documentary 63 Up
Special Achievement Edward Norton, Motherless Brooklyn
First Feature Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, The Mustang
Ensemble Knives Out
* BACK TO CRITICS.
FOR FUN HERE ARE THE ONLY MAJOR METROPOLES IN THE US (WITHIN THE TOP 30 MOST POPULATED CITIES) THAT CURRENTLY DO NOT HAVE A FILM CRITICS ORGANIZATION)
#7 San Antonio, Texas*
#10 San Jose, California
#12 Jacksonville, Florida (Florida has one Film Critics Circle for the whole state. Sensible!)
#16 Charlotte, North Carolina
#22 El Paso, Texas
#24 Nashville, Tennessee
#25 Portland, Oregon
#26 Memphis, Tennessee
#27 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (Oklahoma has one Film Critics Circle for the whole state. Sensible!)
#29 Louisville, Kentucky
#30 Baltimore, Maryland (Virginia, Maryland, and DC critics all vote in the same organization: WAFCA)
* Here's a confusing thing about Texas and film critics associations. Dallas and Forth Worth (which rub up against each other geographically with Arlington trying to play buffer between them) share a group which makes a lot of sense. But there's also an organization called North Texas Film Critics Association even though Dallas and Forth Worth are the only huge cities in the North of Texas (Lubbock is the otherwise the largest but it's only the 11th biggest Texas city). Meanwhile the West and South of Texas are quite underrepresented given that all of the top ten cities except for Dallas and Forth Worth are located there! Houston and Austin have their own groups but El Paso and San Antonio and Corpus Christi have to go without? So why is there a Northern Texas critics group that is not Dallas / Forth Worth (again, the only major cities) but no Southern or Southwestern Texas organization which could cover multiple very large cities? There was once a statewide organization called "Society of Texas Film Critics" but it lasted only four awards years (1994-1997) before disbanding.