The Critics Choice nominations were announced today, and this is one of the big four signposts for how the Oscars will turn out. So this is exciting. Something relatively real I can look at until the Golden Globe nominations come out in two weeks.
For quick reference, last year all eight Best Picture nominees were nominated by BFCA. 2014, 7 of 8. 2013, 8 of 9. 2012, 8 of 9. 2011, 9 of 9. Get my point? These are the movies you’re gonna see all season long, so start getting used to it.
Here are your BFCA nominations for 2016:
BEST PICTURE
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
La La Land
Lion
Loving
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Sully
This is the first time I’ve seen Lion anywhere seriously, which interests me. I didn’t think Harvey seriously had a horse in the race this year. Still need to see it, so I don’t know how good it is.
And I know people loved Hell or High Water, but I didn’t seriously think that would be a major contender. I guess maybe that’s the lack of Sicario love spilling over into an almost assured nomination there. I’ll wait to see what the PGA and others do before I overreact.
I could have guessed on Sully, Manchester, Loving, Moonlight and La La Land. Those aren’t surprising. Arrival seemed like a fairly safe choice.
This is my first time seeing Fences anywhere. That might be coming on strong over the next few weeks. I need to see it first before I say anything. Though it does feel like a safe bet to do well at the guilds and th Globes, so that’s looking promising.
Hacksaw — still didn’t see that coming. I wonder if that can hold up the momentum. I’ll be interested in seeing how it does.
Not gonna guess a winner right now. I’m only interested in the nominees currently. And based on this list, I’m not unopposed to them.
BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
David Mackenzie, Hell or High Water
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
Denzel Washington, Fences
Yes to Chazelle. Yes to Jenkins. Yes to Villeneuve. Haven’t seen Washington. Mackenzie was solid, so good for him. Gibson was solid, so good for him. Lonergan I don’t necessarily need, but sure. It’s early. But these are directors I like, so I’m okay with this.
BEST ACTOR
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Joel Edgerton, Loving
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Tom Hanks, Sully
Denzel Washington, Fences
Affleck has looked like a lock leading up, so that makes sense. Hanks felt safe, not that he seemed like a particularly strong nominee. But I get it. Let’s see if SAG goes for him too. Denzel seems like an easy nominee. Garfield, with Hacksaw and Silence, should get some love from the guilds, if not an eventual nomination. Edgerton seems like an easy nominee. I’d be surprised if Gosling made it all the way through to Best Actor (because he never seems to), but the film’s looking like a behemoth currently, so who knows.
I haven’t even calibrated my brain to thinking about what the top performances are, but right now, five of these six sound good to me, and I love Tom Hanks, so sure.
BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Arrival
Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Emma Stone, La La Land
There’s Amy Adams again. I really need to see that performance again. Bening makes sense. Hupper I need to see. Negga and Stone I agree with, having seen them. And Portman — that’s the movie I can’t wait to watch, and I imagine she’s leading the pack at the moment, based on buzz and stuff.
I’d feel pretty confident saying that five of these six (Adams, Bening, Negga, Portman and Stone) are the likely nominees, or at the very least would make a solid list. But it’s early. Maybe there are people I’m forgetting.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Ben Foster, Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel, Lion
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
Is Dev Patel a supporting part in his own movie? Is this 2008 all over again?
Lucas Hedges, could not agree more. Bridges was awesome. Nice to see the Foster love, but no way anybody but Bridges gets that nomination. I agree with Michael Shannon being nominated for anything, even though I’ve yet to see that movie. And Ali — cool. He was awesome in Moonlight, though I could have used more of him in it.
There’s definitely room for more people here, and I want to see how this one shakes out over the next month.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Viola Davis, Fences
Greta Gerwig, 20th Century Women
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Janelle Monáe, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
Michelle Williams seems likely. Viola Davis seems like a lock. Harris has hit everything I’ve seen so far. Monae, I was surprised with in Moonlight, so I hope she’s good. Kidman — no idea. Could just be a Harvey special. I’ll reserve judgment until I see it. And no idea about Gerwig either. Gotta reserve a lot of judgment in this category, only having seen two of the performances.
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Alex R. Hibbert, Moonlight
Lewis MacDougall, A Monster Calls
Madina Nalwanga, Queen of Katwe
Sunny Pawar, Lion
Hailee Steinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen
Does Steinfeld still count as little even though you nominated her proper for True Grit six years ago? Okay.
Hedges and MacDougall were both terrific. Hibbert was really good too, assuming he’s the one who played the younger version and not the high school one. The little kid was much more impressive to me in those scenes. The girl in Katwe was fine. And I haven’t seen Lion so I have no idea.
Hedges is gonna win this, most likely, and he’ll deserve it. Were Hedges not here, MacDougall would be my choice.
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
20th Century Women
Fences
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight
Yeah, that about makes sense.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
La La Land
Moonlight
The Lobster
Manchester by the Sea
Loving
Hell or High Water
YES! The Lobster!
Take that out (because that’ll never fucking happen) and you have a real solid list of screenplays.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Lion
Nocturnal Animals
Arrival
Sully
Hidden Figures
Fences
How could August Wilson have adapted his own play if he died eleven years ago?
Arrival seems like the most impressive, since I think it’s based on a short story. Though I need to see half the category, so I don’t rightly know most of it.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Jackie
Moonlight
Nocturnal Animals
La La Land
Arrival
Based on trailer alone, Jackie will be nominated. La La Land absolutely. Arrival, I’m surprised it’s getting so much love. I really didn’t see this coming. And Moonlight looked nice. And Nocturnal — haven’t seen, but A Single Man was gorgeously shot, so it makes sense.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Arrival
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Jackie
La La Land
Live by Night
These five make complete sense.
BEST EDITING
La La Land
Hacksaw Ridge
Sully
Moonlight
Arrival
These also make complete sense.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Allied
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Florence Foster Jenkins
Jackie
La La Land
Love & Friendship
They like them some old timey costumes, don’t they?
I want to see if the guild calls La La Land contemporary or fantasy.
BEST HAIR & MAKEUP
Doctor Strange
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hacksaw Ridge
Jackie
Star Trek Beyond
This is meaningless, because we’re gonna have a weird shortlist to pick from.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
A Monster Calls
Arrival
Doctor Strange
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
The Jungle Book
This is the only love A Monster Calls gets, huh? Something it has zero chance at winning and will never be nominated for. Okay.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Finding Dory
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
The Red Turtle
Trolls
Zootopia
So the five likely nominees and then Trolls, which was… yeah.
BEST ACTION MOVIE
Captain America: Civil War
Deadpool
Doctor Strange
Hacksaw Ridge
Jason Bourne
One of these things is not like the others…
BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Benedict Cumberbatch, Doctor Strange
Matt Damon, Jason Bourne
Chris Evans, Captain America: Civil War
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool
They’ll give this to Reynolds. You know they will.
BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Gal Gadot, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
Scarlett Johansson, Captain America: Civil War
Margot Robbie, Suicide Squad
Tilda Swinton, Doctor Strange
Kinda funny that three of these are supporting characters, and that there aren’t five.
I guess they haven’t seen Passengers yet?
BEST COMEDY
Central Intelligence
Deadpool
Don’t Think Twice
The Edge of Seventeen
Hail, Caesar!
The Nice Guys
Rooting for Hail, Caesar or The Nice Guys here.
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Ryan Gosling, The Nice Guys
Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins
Dwayne Johnson, Central Intelligence
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool
Please give this to Gosling. Grant is more dramatic, but he’d be good too.
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Kate Beckinsale, Love & Friendship
Sally Field, Hello, My Name Is Doris
Kate McKinnon, Ghostbusters
Hailee Steinfeld, The Edge of Seventeen
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
McKinnon? Really?
Just give it to Meryl and be done with it.
BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
10 Cloverfield Lane
Arrival
Doctor Strange
Don’t Breathe
Star Trek Beyond
The Witch
Rooting for The Witch. Though Arrival should clearly win.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Elle
The Handmaiden
Julieta
Neruda
The Salesman
Toni Erdmann
Good news is I have the ability to have seen almost all these movies (sans Erdmann, which I’ll see soon enough). But I’ve only seen two of them. So no idea.
BEST SONG
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” from La La Land
“Can’t Stop the Feeling,” from Trolls
“City of Stars,” from La La Land
“Drive It Like You Stole It,” from Sing Street
“How Far I’ll Go,” from Moana
“The Rules Don’t Apply,” Rules Don’t Apply
Two notes. First, the minor one — of course they fucking nominated Timberlake.
Second, and the important one — is this actually a good year for film music? Because I think it might be. There are at least a half dozen more songs than this that could count. There’s legitimately good stuff this year. Which is exciting for once.
BEST SCORE
Arrival
Jackie
La La Land
Lion
Moonlight
I haven’t started delving into the scores, but sure.
– – – – – – – – —
So those are your BFCA nominations. I’ll go back over these at least three times over the next seven weeks. They might not mean a whole lot now, but they’ll be meaningful later.
