Critics Awards Sunday Results!

So many prize announcements today: Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), the Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA), Philadelphia Film Critics Circle (PFCC), and Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA). Spoiler: It's been a very good day for Parasite.

LAFCA is always the most exciting critics group to watch when it comes to Best Actress because year after year they surprise and usually in good ways. This year is no exception as they've gotten behind Mary Kay Place's wonderful performance as Diane in Kent Jones underseen film of the same name. 

More winners after the jump...

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Critics Choice Award Nominations: "The Irishman and Little Women ... in Hollywood"

by Nathaniel R

The Critics Choice Association (previously known as the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association) has about 420 members. It's the largest critics organization in the US of which your host here is but 1 voice so dont blame him when the votes go all wrong and veer closer to Oscar prognostication than a reflection of the critical hive mind over the course of 2019. As with the industry voters who vote on Oscars, SAG, and Guild prizes, film critics tend to forget what they loved the first 9 months of the year and focus primarily on releases from October, November, and December. 

This year The Irishman leads the nominations with 14. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is close behind with 12 nods. Little Women takes position number three with 9 nominations. Herewith the nominees for 2019 in both film and television...

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Ana de Armas and the perils of playing a good person

by Cláudio Alves

When looking at the 94 performances which have conquered the Best Actress Oscar, some jump out as weird anomalies. It's not so much a question of the actor's work as it's an issue of character type. Good people are rare. Not those who are idealized icons or martyred by nightmarish cruelty, but the few that are just regular decent folk. That's one of the reasons Emma Thompson's Margaret Schlegel from Howards End seems so out of place, for instance. She's an average person who seems intrinsically decent but whose goodness isn't simplistic sainthood. More importantly, she's all that but isn't boring to watch.

That's a rare feat and few actors can accomplish it. In screenplays, such roles tend to look simplistic and lacking in substance. Just think of how insufferable Cosette tends to be in Les Misérables or how unconvincing Jane can be in Pride & Prejudice adaptations. Tom Hanks is one of those rare performers who can take such a role and play it to perfection, bringing humanity to decency and making ordinary kindness interesting to watch. Emma Thompson is another. And, in a delightful surprise, so is Ana de Armas…

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First Round Critics Orgs: NYFCO & AFCC

by Nathaniel R

With 3 critics groups announcing thus far, Laura Dern is the only threepeat winner.

NYFCC was the prestige kick off of this portion of precursor season (critics groups) a few days back and their rivals on the West Coast (LAFCA) announce tomorrow. But in the meantime we've also had announcements from New York (Online) and Atlanta, both of which went wild for Parasite. Side note: Yes we know there've been other group announcements but we dont acknowledge the nominations portion that so many groups are doing now because it just makes the overabundance of small regional organizations feel even more desperately extra. If just announcing winners is good enough for NYFCC/LAFCA/NSFC, the holy trinity of critics prizes, it ought to be good enough for smaller cities and less prestigious orgs.

Here are the winners for New York Online and Atlanta...

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Dame Maggie Smith Unchallenged by the Abbey

by Murtada Elfadl

Did you ever feel that sometimes Dame Maggie Smith has been phoning it in as the Dowager Countess in Downtown Abbey? Did you think that despite being droll and funny she might have been playing obvious notes that we’ve seen from her before. Well you are not alone. The Dame herself agress as she told ES Magazine...

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