BFCA scores: The Town, The American, Never Let Me Go

Currently Ben Affleck’s The Town is¬†cleaning up¬†at BFCA with an 86, well within range¬†of a Best Picture nomination. Meanwhile, The American, Jack Goes Boating and Never Let Me Go¬†seem to have¬†gone down for good¬†in the BP race, if BFCA scores are any indication, which they generally are. All 10 of last year’s Oscar nominees scored 85 or higher with the Broadcast Film Critics, while¬†other¬†presumed contenders – Invictus (83), Crazy Heart (85), A Single Man (79), The Last Station (81), The Lovely Bones (76) – fell by the wayside. But Affleck shouldn’t breathe a sigh of relief just yet; also missing from the 2009 Oscar roll: Me and Orson Welles (100), Star Trek (93), 500 Days of Summer (92), Fantastic Mr. Fox (91) and Julie & Julia (88). So¬†it’s still anybody’s heist,¬†though so far¬†The Town appears to be making a clean getaway.

Oscar’s¬†acting and¬†writing categories¬†tend to be¬†a bit more eclectic. In the past we’ve seen¬†quite a few¬†nominees¬†plucked from films with less-than-stellar BFCA scores.¬†So Carey Mulligan, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and perhaps even George Clooney, along with their respective screenwriters, can take heart. If Anne Hathaway could do it with a mediocre two-star score of 71 for Rachel Getting Married, Mulligan still has a chance. Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There (78) also knows how she feels. As does Martin McDonagh, the Oscar-nominated¬†scribe of In Bruges (79).

A selection of current BFCA scores after the cut.

****
Toy Story 3 – 97
Inception – 94
The Town – 86
The Kids Are All Right – 85
Winter’s Bone – 85

***
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – 84
How to Train Your Dragon – 84
Animal Kingdom – 82
Get Low – 82
The Girl Who Played With Fire – 82
Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps – 82
Flipped – 81
The Ghost Writer – 81
Shutter Island – 81
Mother and Child – 80
Despicable Me – 79

**
Jack Goes Boating – 74
Never Let Me Go – 73
Fish Tank – 72
The American – 71
Greenberg – 67

*
Eat Pray Love – 65
I’m Still Here – 64

Not Rated
Solitary Man