The next big announcement is going to come from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, or BFCA, or Critics Choice awards. They are the largest voting body of critics -around 300. They are also filled with folks of “dubious achievements,” and more Oscar bloggers than they probably should have. That makes their tastes somewhat mainstream but also a bit in keeping with the kinds of waves of popularity that sometimes take hold online but fail to move the needle in the industry at all.
Their tastes can sometimes match up with Oscar but the really important thing to know about them this year is that their live show is going to take place the same day of Oscar nominations. It will also be positionedafter the Golden Globe awards, unlike last year. What happens at the Globes could maybe be altered somewhat by what happens at the BFCAs – their ratings were up last year, though they lost major points for cutting away during Tony Kushner’s win. If their show sacrifices important moments like that to make it more MTV-esque it will lose credibility and influence quickly. The Globes would never do such a thing.
The Critics Choice nominations will be announced bright and early Monday morning first as breaking news on KTLA, a local network here in Los Angeles, around 8:45am, before hitting the web shortly thereafter.
Last year, their top ten had all Best Picture nominees save Amour:
Winner: Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
The year before they were one of the few groups to nominate Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close AND War Horse for Best Picture, with all nine again:
2011: The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
The year before they had 9 out 10 – putting in, as many did, The Town instead of The Blind Side. Mercifully, they gave their Best Picture prize to the rightful winner that year, The Social Network.
2010: The Social Network
127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The King’s Speech
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
And the year before they had to live down the “strong showing” of Nine — sometimes it is as though they vote in anticipation of what Oscar might do, rather than what they think is best:
2009: The Hurt Locker
Avatar
An Education
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
Nine
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air
Before that, Oscar’s Best Picture was down to five so it mattered less.
Care to leave your predictions for the Critics Choice nominees?
My prediction is this: 12 Years a Slave, Her and American Hustle will lead. They will lean more towards American Hustle as it is totally their kind of movie. I’m also going to guess that they will give American Hustle the win. But the Academy will go for 12 Years a Slave.
Best Picture
12 Years a Slave
Gravity
American Hustle
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Wolf of Wall Street
Her
Captain Phillips
Fruitvale Station
Saving Mr. Banks OR Blue is the Warmest Colour
One other prediction:
Adele Exarchopoulos will get nominated for Actress, Lea Seydoux for Supporting. This is a group that will go for this film bigger than other groups, being that it is representative of “the internet.” And “the internet” this year loves that movie, that actress and Spike Jonze’s Her. So expect to see a lot of love thrown that way.
Currently it looks as if these are the BFCA’s top-ranked narrative films in English.
94 – 12 Years a Slave
94 – Short Term 12
93 – Gravity
92 – American Hustle….
Ryan – Inside Llewyn Davis currently site with a 94 score on MC, with 0 negatives/mixed reviews. Don’t see how BFCA can ignore it and retain any credibility.
Ryan – Inside Llewyn Davis currently site with a 94 score on MC, with 0 negatives/mixed reviews. Don’t see how BFCA can ignore it and retain any credibility.
And Her has shot up on the Metacritic charts too, steve50, passing AmHus at 89 to land at 90 (though that score can change drastically since Her only 8 meta-reviews right now)
So are we saying the BFCA does all this meticulous accounting of its own members’ reviews all year long — only to throw all those BFCA numbers out the window and readjust their nominees to match what’s happening in the real world (as real as any of this may be)? Why yes, I believe that’s exactly what we’re saying.
I would love if they gave Michael B. Jordan, Octavia Spencer, and Fruitvale Station some recognition.
In 2010, The Town got switched with The Kids Are All Right at the BFCA’s not The Blind Side. Wrong year 🙂
“Adele Exarchopoulos will get nominated for Actress, Lea Seydoux for Supporting. This is a group that will go for this film bigger than other groups, being that it is representative of “the internet.” And “the internet” this year loves that movie, that actress and Spike Jonze’s Her. So expect to see a lot of love thrown that way.”
I guess I should change my name to “the internet” now. Those three (plus ScarJo in supporting… but I guess that’s the same thing) are what I am championing most at this point.
Also, I just saw American Hustle and loved it. I know that people are taking issue with the dubious accents (and they are dubious), but… so what? There was real honestly in both Lawrence and Adams’ performances. The accent mattered less. Also see Tom Hanks in Captain Phillips (probably will be nominated) and even more so Helen Hunt in The Sessions (arguably should have won)
That is an interesting prediction. I thought it would be opposite since they can award Hustle in Best Comedy. If Hustle were to win both, that would be a big coup, even if the awards body itself is …um…questionable.
Currently it looks as if these are the BFCA’s top-ranked narrative films in English.
94 – 12 Years a Slave
94 – Short Term 12
93 – Gravity
92 – American Hustle
90 – Captain Phillips
89 – The Wolf of Wall Street
89 – Her
89 – Philomena
89 – Blue Jasmine
88 – Fruitvale Station
88 – Dallas Buyers Club
88 – Frozen
87 – Nebraska
87 – All Is Lost
86 – Before Midnight
86 – Saving Mr. Banks
86 – Mud
85 – Enough Said
85 – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
85 – The Spectacular Now
85 – Prisoners
85 – Side Effects
85 – Rush
But their designated 10 Best List always diverges from their critics score averages.
I really don’t think the Academy will go for 12 Years a Slave. I think it’s going to be all split up this year, with Cuaron winning Director, AH wins Picture, and Chiwetel will be the big win for 12 Years. I just feel that they love Alfonso Cuaron a lot and will want to give Gravity a bigger win than just the techs. And he would also make history by the way, as the first Mexican to win Best Director.
The Kids Are All Right was nominated for Oscar in place of The Town in 2010. In 2009, The Blind Side and District 9 took the place of Invictus and Nine.
Wouldn’t hurt to have someone from your team factcheck your posts before you put them up online.
sometimes it is as though they vote in anticipation of what Oscar might do, rather than what they think is best
What do you mean sometimes?!
OT: I just realized that it’s December 15th and I still have 6 “Oscar movies” I haven’t even had the chance to see yet. I’ve never been this tardy. Her, Nebraska, Inside Llewellyn Davis, August: Osage County, The Wolf of Wall Street, and American Hustle. Usually there’s only 3 left or something. Why do they hate normal people so much? 🙁
Adele and Lea might get in here, but not on Oscar nomination morning.
Anyone who thinks otherwise wasn’t aware of The Dreamlife of Angels (1998), a similar (and in many ways better) film that was similarly honored at Cannes…and similarly ignored by Oscar. Wait, watch and see.
I expect brie Larson to get a critics choice best actress nomination!!!!
The Master did not get a Best Picture nomination last year. It should’ve though.
Looks like they’re all getting ready to eat corn on the cob.
Anyway, I assume that the Critics Choice is going to look the same as all the pundits list. They just try to predict Oscar and don’t really do their own thing.
their live show is going to take place the same day of Oscar nominations, and will take place after the Golden Globe awards, as opposed to before. What happens at the Globes could maybe be altered somewhat by what happens at the BFCAs
This is confusing.
For Awards watchers based outside of LA (or those who don’t own a TV set), you can watch the announcement on KTLA’s web site:
http://ktla.com/live/#axzz2nZyg86rm
Local newscasts are streamed live!