Tag: Los Angeles Film Critics Association

The L.A. Critics Are In The Zone

Since 2009, every Best Film winner from the LA Film Critics Association has nabbed a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars with the exception of 2020’s Small Axe (which wasn’t eligible for Academy consideration). Five, including last year’s Everything Everything All at Once, went on to win. And this is why today’s announcement that Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest is the recipient of the big prize feels important. Zone is looked at as a coin toss for making the BP cut and victories like today help (I currently have it ranked 8th in the standings). The Holocaust drama also took Director and Music/Score and I have it receiving Oscar noms in both of those derbies as well.

The L.A. branch doesn’t differentiate between genders in their acting races and they name two winners in both lead and supporting. Sandra Hüller took a lead trophy for both Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest alongside Emma Stone for Poor Things. Both are expected to make plays in Best Actress at the Oscars (Hüller for Anatomy).

In Supporting, Rachel McAdams (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret) and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers) were the selections. The latter is widely expected to be among the Supporting Actress quintet of hopefuls. The former seems to be rising and I placed her in fifth earlier today in my latest round of predictions.

All of Us Strangers is your SoCal Screenplay winner. It hopes to make the list in Original Screenplay at the Oscars, but competition is fierce.

Other prizes:

Cinematography: Poor Things

Editing: Anatomy of a Fall

Production Design: Barbie

Film Not in the English Language: Anatomy of a Fall

Documentary/Non-Fiction Film: Menus-Plaisirs: Les Troigros

Animation: The Boy and the Heron

Keep an eye on the blog for major precursor news as we move closer to Oscar nomination morning!

2020: The Year of Chadwick Boseman

Prior to 2018, Chadwick Boseman was known primarily for his acclaimed turns as real life historical figures like Jackie Robinson in 42, James Brown in Get On Up, and Thurgood Marshall in Marshall. It was the title role as Black Panther in the MCU juggernaut where he created his own history in the only superhero flick to nab a Best Picture nomination.

2020 is shaping up to be the year where awards voters recognize Mr. Boseman. It is, of course, also the year in which the world mourned his passing on August 28 after a previously undisclosed battle with colon cancer at age 43. His turns in two Netflix pictures – Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods and George C. Wolfe’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom – have him in the running for Oscar nods and he could very conceivably get two. The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named him Best Actor for Rainey and the Academy may well follow suit. The New York Film Critics Circle bestowed their Supporting Actor prize for his work in Bloods and he could make his way to that Oscar shortlist.

In a year where the world of cinema lost legends such as Sean Connery, Kirk Douglas, Ennio Morricone, and Max Von Sydow, Boseman’s came as the most unexpected with an outpouring of grief and appreciation. His final year onscreen appears destined to come with the Academy’s recognition of the man who embodied real life heroes and created his own iconic one.

 

Oscars 2019: The Case of Antonio Banderas

In my Case of posts outlining the pros and cons of pictures, directors, and actors vying for Oscar glory in the major categories, we arrive at the thespians. Now that my write-ups for the nine film nominees are complete, we start with Best Actor. The plan is to mix it up with these posts among the four acting races. We start with Antonio Banderas and his role in Pedro Almodovar’s Pain and Glory.

The Case for Antonio Banderas

Pain and Glory is one of the most acclaimed foreign language features of 2019 not named Parasite and it earned Banderas career best notices in a nearly 40 year cinematic span. The pic, which draws on Almodovar’s real life experiences, sports a 97% Rotten Tomatoes rating and continues a partnership with his lead actor that began in 1982 and includes such features as Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, and The Skin I Live In. Banderas nabbed a Golden Globe nod and won some key critical precursors: the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and New York Film Critics Circle. The buzz for his work started months ago when he also took Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. This nomination marks his first ever from the Academy despite a long and fruitful career.

The Case Against Antonio Banderas

Best Actor was absolutely packed this year and it was uncertain whether Banderas would even get in. He missed a SAG nod. It’s extremely rare for an actor to win from a foreign language feature. For Best Actor, the list stands at one non-English speaking role with Roberto Benigni for 1998’s Life is Beautiful. 

The Verdict

For Banderas’s first shot at an Academy victory, the prize is the nomination in a field where there were at least 10 viable contenders and he made the cut.

My Case of posts will continue with my first Best Actress contender… Cynthia Erivo!

L.A. Digs Parasite

You might think the Los Angeles Film Critics Association would bestow some love to Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood in a neighborly gesture. However, you would be incorrect as this West Coast branch went with a decidedly foreign flavor for several of today’s selections.

The Association clearly were huge fans of Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite, which took home Best Picture, Director, and Supporting Actor (Song Kang-Ho). The L.A. Critics also name runners up. In each of these races, it was The Irishman, its maker Martin Scorsese, and Joe Pesci placing second.

In Best Actor, Antonio Banderas picked up another precursor for Best Actor with Adam Driver (Marriage Story) coming in behind.

There was an outside the box pick for Actress with Mary Kay Place winning for Diane and Lupita Nyong’o in Us as runner-up. This branch isn’t shy about naming unexpected recipients for lead female performers. Two recent examples are Kim Hye-Ja for 2010’s Mother and Yoon Jeong-hee for 2011’s Poetry.

Jennifer Lopez scored a victory here in Supporting Actress for Hustlers, followed by Zhao Shuzhen in The Farewell. 

Finally, in Screenplay (they don’t differentiate between adapted and original), it was Noah Baumbach’s script for Marriage Story taking honors over Parasite. 

This was clearly a big day for Parasite in Southern California and my precursor posts will continue tomorrow with the Golden Globe announcements and updated Oscar predictions!

L.A. Loves Roma

Alfonso Cuaron’s Mexican drama Roma continued its precursor love today as the Los Angeles Film Critics Association awarded it Best Film. While that’s certainly a feather in the cap for something that’s a near lock for a Best Picture nod, it’s not necessarily a harbinger of what’s to come. Only once in this decade have the LAFCA and the Academy agreed on their top race  – 2015’s Spotlight.

While Cuaron’s effort got the big prize, the filmmaker himself came in second in directing to a surprise selection of Debra Granik for Leave No Trace. Her name hasn’t surfaced much for Academy consideration and I currently do not have her in my top 10 possibilities. Ironically, only two directors this decade have shared the Oscar and this category. One is Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water last year. The other? Cuaron for 2013’s Gravity.

Three of the acting winners are seen as strong players for the Oscars: Ethan Hawke (First Reformed) in Actor, Olivia Colman for The Favourite in Actress, and Supporting Actress victor Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk. In Supporting Actor, Steven Yeun won for his work in the South Korean mystery Burning. He’s been nowhere on Oscar’s radar and likely won’t be.

With Roma taking Best Film overall, the LAFCA had a tie in their Foreign Film race between Burning and Shoplifters.

Can You Ever Forgive Me? got some attention, taking Screenplay over runner-up The Favourite. That could help its already decent chances at an Adapted Screenplay nod down the road.

Another surprise came in their documentary pick – the Netflix release Shirkers from Singapore. It has not been discussed much in what’s seen as a crowded field of selections.

Spider–Man: Into the Spider–Verse took Animated Film, further positioning itself as the main rival to Pixar front-runner Incredibles 2.

My updated Oscar predictions will be up Thursday!

L.A. Critics Call a Best Picture’s Name

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association put their stamp on awards season today and it marked a solid afternoon for Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me by Your Name and Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water. The latter hasn’t received much precursor love thus far. The former picked up its first Best Picture prize.

LAFC also honors runner-ups and that went to The Florida Project, another pic that seems to be on the upswing at the moment. There was a tie for Best Director between Guadagnino and del Toro. The Call Me love continued with Timothee Chalamet taking Best Actor with James Franco (The Disaster Artist) second. The Water appreciation extended to Sally Hawkins for Actress with Frances McDormand (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) following.

Supporting Actor went to Willem Dafoe in Project, making him 3 for 3 including the NBR and New York Critics. Sam Rockwell in Billboards was on his heels. Laurie Metcalf in Lady Bird was victorious for Supporting Actress with Mary J. Blige in Mudbound in the two spot.

Other races:

Screenplay

Winner: Get Out. Runner-Up: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Animated Film

Winner: The Breadwinner. Runner-Up: Coco

Foreign Language Film

Winners: BPM (Beats Per Minute) and Loveless (tie)

Documentary Feature

Winner: Faces Places. Runner-Up: Jane

Bottom line: the Academy’s Best Picture race is indeed looking wide open right now and Call Me and Shape had nice west coast showings today to keep their names relevant.

Los Angeles and Boston Shine a Spotlight

As critics organizations have started handing out their year end best of honors starting last week, two stories have stood in the forefront: the love fest enveloping Mad Max: Fury Road and the lack of attention to what many consider to be Oscar’s soft front runner. That would be Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight, the true life story of Boston Globe reporters exposing the Catholic Church priest sex abuse scandal. In fact, when Boston’s online critics organization bestowed their awards over the weekend, many assumed they would select Spotlight due to the geographic factor alone. They went with Max.

Today, however, two organizations from both coasts feted Spotlight with some love. It also finally got some hometown attention as the Boston Society of Film Critics named it their Best Picture. Just a few hours later, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association followed suit, making it a very good day for Spotlight.

Director McCarthy, on the other hand, was not picked by either coast in the Director race. Boston went with Todd Haynes for Carol and Los Angeles picked George Miller for Mad Max with Haynes as their runner up.

Truth be told, Spotlight winning the L.A. award may not be the greatest harbinger. In the 21st century, only one feature that won its top category went onto win the Oscar: 2009’s The Hurt Locker. The Los Angeles group is also known for making some out of left field choices in the acting races and they did with their supporting choices. Michael Shannon took Supporting Actor for the little seen 99 Homes and he’s not considered much of a threat in the Academy hunt. Runner up: Mark Rylance, whose chances are considerably better for Bridge of Spies. For Supporting Actress, they went with Alicia Vikander and she is widely expected to be nominated come Oscar time. Yet L.A. honored her for Ex Machina and not the film everyone expects her nomination for, The Danish Girl. Runner up: Kristen Stewart for Clouds of Sils Maria and Ms. Stewart won in Boston today. Her previously thought to be improbable Oscar nod keeps growing more probable everyday.

For Best Actress, it was a nice day for Charlotte Rampling, who won on both coasts. Her performance in little seen drama 45 Years has also been gaining attention and that could well translate into an Academy notice. L.A.’s runner up was Brooklyn’s Saoirse Ronan and her Oscar chances are excellent.

Los Angeles may have provided a lifeline to Michael Fassbender who took Actor for Steve Jobs. That film’s Oscar chances have taken a hit due to its dismal box office performance and some have begun speculating whether that factor could affect even Fassbender getting noticed. These critics awards help. The runner up was Geza Rohrig for foreign feature Son of Saul. In Boston, there was a tie between Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant and Paul Dano in Love and Mercy. DiCaprio is seen by many as the current Academy front runner while Dano is being campaigned for in Supporting Actor at the Oscars (where his inclusion is definitely a question mark).

As always, I’ll keep updating you on these precursors as they continue. Today’s bottom line: a true spotlight on Spotlight.