Critics Round 5: 'Dog' still has the power but 'CODA' and 'Mass' pick up a little love

UPDATED 3:55 PM For those who've been playing along with the seemingly neverending critics awards, in the Best Picture battle so far we've got:

11 for Power of the Dog (Philadelphia, NY Online, Boston Online, Chicago, SEFCA, which just more than doubled its total this week via Florida, OAFCC, Utah, Phoenix, Dublin, and Dallas)
3 for Drive My Car (NYFCC, LAFCA, Boston)
3 for Licorice Pizza (Atlanta, St Louis, NBR)
2 for Belfast (DC, Las Vegas)
1 each for: Cyrano (Detroit), Dune (Sunset Circle), The Green Night (Portland), The Lost Daughter (Gothams), Belfast (DC)

...and now King Richard (BFCC), Mass (IFJA) and CODA (Nevada)

Despite three first-time wins this week, we've hit the Power of the Dog coasting wave -- this happens each season. If one film hasn't thoroughly dominated in the early rounds something will by the midway point. There's another dozen or so orgs left (it's so hard to keep track these days with 30+...or are we at 40+ orgs now?) groups. So it's unlikely that Power of the Dog will be dethroned. Until the televised awards that is which are annual reminders that critics awards only tell about a third of the story, half at max.

The complete awards from the 9 latest critics groups to announce (Black Film Critics Circle, Nevada, Florida, Online Association For Female Critics, Utah, Indiana, Dallas/Ft Worth, Phoenix, and Dublin) are after the jump... 

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"The Lost Daughter" reigns at the Gotham Awards

by Nathaniel R

Peter Sarsgaard, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Dakota Johnson at the Gotham Awards

Last night, while many film journalists were at one of the several West Side Story premieres, the Gotham Awards were held celebrating much less expensive but also captivating cinema.  Maggie Gyllenhaal's feature directorial debut, The Lost Daughter  reigned winning four of its five categories. This was bad news for Passing, another Netflix film (which we like even more though they're both fine films) which received 5 nominations but lost in all of its categories. Other multiple nominees who took home no prizes included A24 films like Red Rocket, The Green Knight, and C'mon C'mon, 

Outside of  The Lost Daughter the biggest awards season boost was definitely for CODA. The family drama about a child of deaf adults who wants to be a professional singer won prizes for both its leading lady Emilia Jones and her onscreen father Troy Kotsur. Kotsur really should be more competitive in Best Supporting Actor discussions so perhaps this will help!

THE WINNERS and more commentary are after the jump...

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Thankful for... Christopher James

This year for our "thankful for" column we're interviewing our contributors so you can get to know them better. Yes, Thanksgiving is technically over but we're still grateful. Here's one more for you. A big hug and thank you to CHRISTOPHER JAMES!

Chris has been with for TFE for just over a year but we've known him much longer online, first meeting him in the flesh on a trip to Los Angeles. In the short time he's been with us he's completed the popular "Gay Best Friend" series (one more wrap-up episode is coming!) and is about to launch a new series. He also kept things lively with fun personal anecdotes and important questions, and has been a powerhouse when it comes to our Emmy coverage. 

Our short interview follows...

When did you first fall in love with the movies?

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Sundance Opening Night: CODA

By Abe Friedtanzer

 

It’s never the biggest movies that premiere on opening night of the Sundance Film Festival, but they’re always worth looking at carefully since they do set the tone for what comes next. I reviewed the first films I saw in 2020 and 2019 for this site, and they were both among the best films I saw each year – Summertime, director Carlos López Estrada’s follow-up to another Sundance opening night premiere, Blindspotting, coming out sometime this summer, and the Alex Gibney documentary The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley, which ended up debuting on HBO.

That impressive club adds a new member this year in the form of CODA. I didn’t realize until I finished watching the film that its title is an acronym for Child of Deaf Adults...

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