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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European Film Awards honor Antonio Banderas, Juliette Binoche, and The Favourite

True giants of cinema gathered in Berlin today for the annual European Film Awards. It was honestly a bit overwhelming to see Wim Wenders, Juliette Binoche, Claire Denis, and Pedro Almodóvar all sitting side by side in the front row. How to even imagine the cinema without them? 

In a surreal sort of way, what was happening on stage was even more overwhelming... but for its inexplicable surreality (more on that in a bit) and its time travelling nature.Regarding the latter due to the indifferent nature of release dates across borders the overall champ was The Favourite which had its American awards run a full year ago. 

The winners and more commentary follows.

Costuming goddess Sandy Powell and the producers of The Favourite

FILM The Favourite
COMEDY The Favourite...

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Golden Globe Predictions - Let's do it!

It's that time of year. The Golden Globe nominations arrive on Monday morning so it's time to throw caution to the wind and try and predict the ever unpredictable HFPA whims. I'm opting for double nods for both Scarlett Johannson (duh) and Shia Labeouf (whaaa?)

PICTURE DRAMA	PICTURE COMEDY/ MUSICAL
• 1917 • Ford V Ferrari • The Irishman • Little Women • Marriage Story Potential Spoilers: Decided to predict Ford V Ferrari because the Globes usually surprise somewhere but in actuality The Two Popes or Joker OR BOTH are safer bets.	• Cats • Jojo Rabbit • Knives Out • Once Upon a Time in Hollywood • Rocketman Potential Spoilers: Booksmart, Dolemite is My Name, Hustlers

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Animated Feature Contenders: "I Lost My Body"

by Tim

I Lost My Body, the first animated film to win the top prize at the Cannes International Critics's Week, is nothing if not distinctive. The "I" of the title is a sapient severed hand, which spends the length of the feature skittering around on its fingers, looking for the human to whom it used to be attached; this is a journey that is by turns bittersweet, sentimental, and horrifying. Director Jérémy Clapin, making his feature debut (he was also responsible for the celebrated 2008 short Skhizein), spent years sheperding this project into existence, and it has the unmistakable feeling of a passion project, one whose odd shifts in tone and moody emotional appeals are wonderfully earnest. While it is probably not the best animated feature of 2019, it's surely the most uncompromised and confident.

The film, adapted by Clapin and Guillaume Laurant from Laurant's novel Happy Hand (his other film credits include Amélie, and the echoes of that story ring very loudly here), divides itself into two strands. One is about that hand, deftly making its way through the all the dangers that reside six inches above the ground in Paris. The other is a quasi-romantic drama about a lost soul, twentysomething sad sack Naoufel (Hakim Faris)...

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