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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Critics Choice Movie Awards Live Blog

by Nathaniel R

7:30 It took me 15 minutes to find a live stream but I unfortunately found it just in time to see a frankly hideous video mix which used this strange early photoshop spotlight effect on movie clips so the actors were lit up and everything else was blacked out. Taye Diggs was introduced as a 'chocolatey heartthrob'. He launched into a musical performance which was........ ........   ........... ........ .........Yes, Taye Diggs is very handsome!

7:32 Lady Gaga wins Best Song for "Shallow". Who knew Peter Farrelly was such a fan, giving her a standing ovation. She thanks Bradley Cooper profusely and smartly talks about his transformation into Jackson Maine (we need people to talk about this amazing performance.  "I was mesmerized both for myself and my character" Wait, they're different people? Kidding.

7:38 Best Young Actor or Actress goes to Elsie Fisher with reaction shots from Thomasin McKenzie and Amandla Stenberg, who both seem unfussed about losing, already pros they are.

As someone who has anxiety, it's exciting to be on this stage right now.

Tee hee. Sadly, though Elsie throws up a peace hand sign, she doesn't say "Gucci" but 'Peace and love, y'all'...

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"The Favourite" Leads the Critics Choice Nominations

by Nathaniel R

me giving my fellow BFCA members the side-eye for some of their choices

Yorgos Lanthimos' pitch black comedy The Favourite led the Critic's Choice Nominations with a staggering 14 nods. Black Panther wasn't far behind with 12. The morning's biggest (and best) surprise is surely the resurgence of First Man, which had been struggling with precursors but has a very healthy 10 nominations with the BFCA. One wonders if it can rocket to a Best Picture nomination despite its box office troubles? In other very good news Toni Collette is nominated (though we aren't surprised in this case) and the foreign film list is aces. Well done.

Not that it's all good news but we're starting with the positives.

In the television categories (which are worth a read because they're quite different than the Globe nominations) Escape at Dannemora, The Americans, and The Assassination of Gianna Versace led all shows with 5 nominations a piece.  The complete list of nominees is after the jump along with a few comments...

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FYC Young Performer Award 2018

by Nathaniel R

Evan Rosado was just one of a handful of truly incredible child performances this year in "We the Animals"

Each year one of our award traditions here at The Film Experience is to help fellow BFCA members choose more wisely when it comes to the "Young Performer" category at the Critics Choice Movie Awards. We do this with a not-so-simple eligibility list. You see, our ballots don't come with lists of eligible choices so it's up to each member to think up a list and since the category gets no media coverage it's hard to think up choices on the spot so sometimes the nominations are quite lazy (You had a high profile child or teen role in a big studio film? You're nominated!). For instance this year, voters would be practically insane to skip Zain Al Rafee in Capernaum (only one of the best child performances ever) but given that that's within a foreign film hopeful that has yet to open in theaters (December 14th), voters ARE likely to be insane and skip him.

It takes a bit of research for the teen/young adult performances to see who is actually eligible. Given that we're apt to miss a couple of names, so do let us know if you don't see your favorite. The BFCA voting is about to begin so here are those cheat sheets to help them vote along with some trivia notes...

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Critics Choice Documentary Winners 2018

In an unusually successful year for documentaries in terms of audience interest, two of the biggest hits, Won't You Be My Neighbor? ($22.6 million) and Free Solo ($7.3 million and climbing) now have yet more to crow about. They each won three prizes at the 3rd annual Critics Choice Documentary Awards last night. Though they both appear to be likely future Oscar nominees you just never know with the documentary branch. 

The winners in each of the Critics Choice doc categories are listed after the jump... 

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