BFCA Critics Choice Awards

[CalWilliam]

Mad Max isn't my favorite film of the year, but it would easily be a better winner than Braveheart, Crash or Out of Africa.

That's such a wrong statement, I'm sorry. If Mad Max wins, and I think Big Magilla will agree with me on this (as well as many other people), it'll be the worst best picture winner ever. It's the most stupid, borderline laughable and vacuous film I've seen in time. This joke is going on for too long. And I also think The Martian is worse than Out of Africa, Braveheart and Crash, by the way.

[OscarGuy]

There is absolutely no comparison between Out of Africa, Braveheart, Crash and Mad Max, other than you hated them. I don't care much for the prior three, but Mad Max is sensational. On MetaCritic, it's at 89, which is better than Son of Saul, Brooklyn, Room, Bridge of Spies, The Martian, The Revenant and many others. It's currently tied for #11 for best score of the year from them. At Rotten Tomatoes, it's at 97% with an average rating of 8.6. That puts it at the current #1 position for the year on RT according to their own weighted rankings (I have no idea how they figure that one out).

Before Braveheart won the Golden Globe for Best Picture, the Broadcast Film Critics (before they were Critics Choice) gave their Best Director award to Mel Gibson, giving Best Picture to Sense and Sensibility. The only other critics group that recognized it was SEFCA, which put it in second place for the year behind Best Picture winner Apollo 13.

Crash won the Chicago award for Best Picture, a couple of Supporting Actor awards, Supporting Actress from BAFTA and 9 Original Screenplay awards.

Out of Africa came in runner-up at LAFCA, 3rd place at NYFCC and won various other prizes from those two groups plus NBR, London Critics & NSFC, since that's really all there were back then.

None of these films had the level of support from critics that Mad Max has. Crash had a 69 at Metacritic. Braveheart had a 68. Out of Africa predated the site. Crash had a 75% at RT, Bravheart was at 78% (only 65 reviews since the site predates Braveheart), Out of Africa is at 53% (43 reviews, most likely nostalgic reviews...of which I'm one of them, though I gave it a Fresh rating, just because I don't think it's so bad as to deserve a rotten).

I haven't updated my precursor tallies yet, but I already know that Mad Max is doing substantially better than any of those films in terms of awards. This is not a repeat of 1985, 1995 or 2005. You may not be in agreement, but I can find people who don't like any number of Best Picture winners of the last 10 years. I agree that none of those three films should have won. Mad Max isn't my favorite film of the year, but it would easily be a better winner than Braveheart, Crash or Out of Africa.

Currently, Carol leads my list just ahead of Brooklyn. I wouldn't mind seeing either of those two films win at this point. I will watch my Spotlight screener some time soon, just not sure when.

[Heksagon]

And so it goes, the Oscar race is over before it begins. Or so it seems. Academy, prove me wrong!

Don't tempt them, Magilla. Remember how Braveheart and Crash came to win.

[Big Magilla]

All along we've thought that this would be the year in which the NBR, NFCC, the LAFC, the Globes and the guilds would all go their separate ways ahead of a truly suspenseful Oscar race. Instead, they, as well as the outliers are going for the same films.

I've had my concerns that the critically acclaimed "little" films such as Spotlight, Brooklyn, Carol and Room would cancel one another out and the Best Picture award would go to a big budget commercial hit, something like Bridge of Spies or The Martian. Now I'm finding my theory was right, but that the consensus is becoming something even more maddening as it coalesces over a film that even has the word "mad" in its title.

It saddens me but it seems it happens every ten years now that the least attractive among the Best Picture nominees takes home the prize. We could easily see a repeat of 2005 and Crash, 1995 and Braveheart and 1985 and Out of Africa.

The DiCaprio narrative really does seem to have taken hold with Damon, Fassbender and Redmayne most likely also getting Best Actor nominations and the fifth slot a toss-up between Depp, Smith McKellen and Cranston.

The Best Actress category will tell us whether Academy members are men (and women) or mice and defy the publicists in nominating Mara in her proper category. I would say the same for Vikander, but her repetitive showing in supporting actress for Ex Machina gives me hope that she will be nominated for that in support and either be nominated for The Danish Girl in lead or be bypassed for Rampling who'll battle it out with Ronan, Larson, Blanchett and Mara.

There are so many strong contenders for supporting actor that I really don't have a favorite, although I would like to see Michael Keaton win, consolation prize or not.

Supporting actress should go to Vikander or Stewart. The rest of the contenders are fillers.

And so it goes, the Oscar race is over before it begins. Or so it seems. Academy, prove me wrong!

[Okri]

There's a weird disparity in how predictive they want to be on the film side vs how clearly they don't care about predicting the emmys. Which is good, because their television line-ups are largely VERY strong. Best actor in a drama is near perfect (switch out Schreiber and put in Rhys and it would be)

[Sabin]

The Critics Choice (I really hate that name) have a pretty consistent predicting pattern. That seems to be the sole reason for their existence. To participate in the Oscar narrative. For the past four years, they've gone some variation of nominating two that don't get nominated and missing one.

Last year, they nominated Gone Girl, Nightcrawler, and Unbroken but ignored American Sniper in a field of eight nominees. In 2013, they nominated Inside Llewyn Davis and Saving Mr. Banks instead of Philomena and in 2012, they nominated The Master and Moonrise Kingdom instead of Amour in a field of nine. In 2011, they predicted Drive and that was simply left off in a field of nine. In 2010, they predicted The Town instead of The Kids Are All Right in a field of ten.

None of these above films that the Critics Choice got wrong in the past four years were nominated for a SAG Ensemble or a Golden Globe for Best Dramatic Picture so that would imply that The Big Short, Carol, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Revenant, Room, and Spotlight are safe.

Inside Llewyn Davis and Moonrise Kingdom were both nominated for Golden Globes for Best Comedic/Musical Picture but not a SAG nomination, but the same can be said for Her, Nebraska, and The Wolf of Wall Street. So by this rationale, The Martian is not negatively affected by this trend. Gone Girl, The Master, Nightcrawler, Saving Mr. Banks, The Town, and Unbroken are dramatic pictures that were nominated for no major Best Picture accolade at this point (although Gone Girl was nominated for Director, Screenplay, Actress, and Score at the Golden Globes), so that means that Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, and Sicario are on the cusp.

[anonymous1980]

NOMINATIONS FOR THE 21st ANNUAL CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARDS

MOVIE

BEST PICTURE
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Sicario
Spotlight

BEST ACTOR

Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
Matt Damon – The Martian
Johnny Depp – Black Mass
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl

BEST ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett – Carol
Brie Larson – Room
Jennifer Lawrence – Joy
Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Paul Dano – Love & Mercy
Tom Hardy – The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Michael Shannon – 99 Homes
Sylvester Stallone – Creed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara – Carol
Rachel McAdams – Spotlight
Helen Mirren – Trumbo
Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Abraham Attah – Beasts of No Nation
RJ Cyler – Me and Earl and the Dying Girl
Shameik Moore – Dope
Milo Parker – Mr. Holmes
Jacob Tremblay – Room

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

The Big Short
The Hateful Eight
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
Trumbo

BEST DIRECTOR

Todd Haynes – Carol
Alejandro González Iñárritu – The Revenant
Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Ridley Scott – The Martian
Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Matt Charman and Ethan Coen & Joel Coen – Bridge of Spies
Alex Garland – Ex Machina
Quentin Tarantino – The Hateful Eight
Pete Docter, Meg LeFauve, Josh Cooley – Inside Out
Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy – Spotlight

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Charles Randolph and Adam McKay – The Big Short
Nick Hornby – Brooklyn
Drew Goddard – The Martian
Emma Donoghue – Room
Aaron Sorkin – Steve Jobs

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Carol – Ed Lachman
The Hateful Eight – Robert Richardson
Mad Max: Fury Road – John Seale
The Martian – Dariusz Wolski
The Revenant – Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario – Roger Deakins

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Bridge of Spies – Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo
Brooklyn – François Séguin, Jennifer Oman and Louise Tremblay
Carol – Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
The Danish Girl – Eve Stewart, Michael Standish
Mad Max: Fury Road – Colin Gibson
The Martian – Arthur Max, Celia Bobak

BEST EDITING

The Big Short – Hank Corwin
Mad Max: Fury Road – Margaret Sixel
The Martian – Pietro Scalia
The Revenant – Stephen Mirrione
Spotlight – Tom McArdle

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Brooklyn – Odile Dicks-Mireaux
Carol – Sandy Powell
Cinderella – Sandy Powell
The Danish Girl – Paco Delgado
Mad Max: Fury Road – Jenny Beavan

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP

Black Mass
Carol
The Danish Girl
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Ex Machina
Jurassic World
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
The Walk

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Anomalisa
The Good Dinosaur
Inside Out
The Peanuts Movie
Shaun the Sheep Movie

BEST ACTION MOVIE

Furious 7
Jurassic World
Mad Max: Fury Road
Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Sicario

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE

Daniel Craig – Spectre
Tom Cruise – Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Tom Hardy – Mad Max: Fury Road
Chris Pratt – Jurassic World
Paul Rudd – Ant-Man

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE

Emily Blunt – Sicario
Rebecca Ferguson – Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
Bryce Dallas Howard – Jurassic World
Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2
Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road

BEST COMEDY

The Big Short
Inside Out
Joy
Sisters
Spy
Trainwreck

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Christian Bale – The Big Short
Steve Carell – The Big Short
Robert De Niro – The Intern
Bill Hader – Trainwreck
Jason Statham – Spy

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Tina Fey – Sisters
Jennifer Lawrence – Joy
Melissa McCarthy – Spy
Amy Schumer – Trainwreck
Lily Tomlin – Grandma

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE

Ex Machina
It Follows
Jurassic World
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

The Assassin
Goodnight Mommy
Mustang
The Second Mother
Son of Saul

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Amy
Cartel Land
Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief
He Named Me Malala
The Look of Silence
Where to Invade Next

BEST SONG

Fifty Shades of Grey – Love Me Like You Do
Furious 7 – See You Again
The Hunting Ground – Til It Happens To You
Love & Mercy – One Kind of Love
Spectre – Writing’s on the Wall
Youth – Simple Song #3

BEST SCORE

Carol – Carter Burwell
The Hateful Eight – Ennio Morricone
The Revenant – Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alva Noto
Sicario – Johann Johannsson
Spotlight – Howard Shore