National Society of Film Critics Chooses "The Rider"

by Nathaniel R

The televised awards shows are about to take over but before they do, the NSFC has had their say. They're always the last major critics group to chime in, and unlike the other two members of the critical trinity (LAFCA & NYFCC) they have not chosen Roma. Instead that honor went to Chloe Zhao's rodeo injuries drama The Rider. I recently caught up with this arthouse sleeper hit and though I found it gorgeous and moving, it struck me as a bit modest in its artistic goals, or at least a touch repetitive about achieving them. So to each their own as far as "very best" goes but it's the kind of film that deserves to find ardent fans so it's wonderful that critics have gone to bat for it here and there. It's had such a long run; the film was actually an Indie Spirit nominee in 2017 due to its festival premieres so it's been kicking around with awards for an entire year now!

The full list of NSFC winners and a few more comments after the jump...

Click to read more ...

More Critics Prizes Roll In...

Chris here, with some goodness from more regional critics' groups. It's always fascinating to see what pockets of passion occur throughout the countries various critics' groups, even in a year such as this that appears to be largely dominated by a handful of films. This year's key films in that regard have been Roma and The Favourite, both recognized by two more groups in this roundup...

But first is a group that departed that Best Picture consensus, and wouldn't you know that yours truly also belongs to this group. I'm one of the 25ish members of the Columbus Film Critics Association (formerly titled Central Ohio... under the same acronym) and we've just announced If Beale Street Could Talk as 2018's best! Humblebrag: my personal best film of the year has won both years of my voting.

Here are the COFCA winners in addition to wins from critics in Houston and North Carolina...

Click to read more ...

GALECA Favours "The Favourite" as Nomination Leader

by Nathaniel R

The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Journalists have announced their official nominations for 2018. It's GALECA's 10th year as an organization making this an anniversary year. As ever, full disclosure on such things, a few of our contributors here at TFE are members of this organization with encompasses over 200 journalists from the UK, US, Australia, and Canada. The all time most-awarded films by GALECA were Carol (2015) and Moonlight (2016) so that's a good track record. The Favourite leads the movie nomination this year while Pose led the TV side.

Recently the Online Film Critics Society had a slate that also favored The Favourite but the Yorgos Lanthimos pitch-black comedy emerged with nothing when the actual winners were selected. It kinda makes you think. Could The Favourite also lead the Oscar nominations but lose everything? 

After the jump the full list of nominees with quick commentary...

Click to read more ...

OFCS Winners

by Nathaniel R

Mission: Impossible - Fallout was one of only 2 films to win multiple prizes from the OFCS that was not on their top ten list (the other was Black Panther)

The Online Film Critics Society (a couple of TFE's contributors are among their 283 members) have announced their winners for their 22nd annual awards.  Alfonso Cuarón's Roma continues its critical dominance by taking 4 prizes including both best foreign film and best film. Other multiple winners include Black Panther, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, If Beale Street Could Talk, First Reformed, and Hereditary. Four films on their top ten list were shut out of winning any prize: The Favourite,  You Were Never Really Here, Eighth Grade, and Suspiria...  five if you count their #2 film BlacKkKlansman  but we figure the lifetime achievement award for Spike Lee covers that one. The complete list of winners follows after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Florida Film Critics Circle (and more)

Given our most recent podcast conversation in which Florida film critic Alfred Soto was a guest star, we wanted to inform you of the end results of The Florida Film Critics Circle's year end "best" discussions. The Favourite took their top prize but the big story is how fully they embraced Asian cinema with two acting prizes for Asian actors and additional prizes for Shoplifters (foreign film), Shirkers (documentary), and Mirai (animated film).

The 26 member wide organization is spread out all around Florida and has been in existence since 1996, just before the boom (2002-2012) when every city and/or state decided they needed an organization, sometimes two of them!) Their full list of winners (along with a handful of other groups that announced earlier that we neglected to mention) are after the jump...

Click to read more ...