Category: Precursors

Announcing their awards for 2019, the New York Film Critics Online has selected Parasite the best of the year along with a lot of other more mainstream selections. Award Tallies (3) Parasite The Awards

With the most eclectic batch of winners we are likely to see all season, the New Mexico film critics have gone with a couple of mainstream choices (Irishman and Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood) and several more strange selections (And Then We Danced, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, and Weathering with You). Award…

Breaking the Irishman streak, Los Angeles Film Critics chose Parasite as Best Picture along with two other awards. The Irishman came in runner-up to all three of the Parasite victories. Parasite could have won four, but like other groups I’ve seen, they gave Parasite the top prize so they could give Foreign Language Film to…

Quentin Tarantino’s exploration of Hollywood at the time of the Charles Manson slayings proved quite popular with the Washington D.C. area critics. The Irishman, Little WOmen, and Parasite also did well. We’re already starting to see a number of individuals and films making recurrent appearances in the precursors, which makes the Oscar race a touch…

Winner of numerous awards in the U.S. in 2018, The Favourite proved even more popular overseas taking four prizes from the European Film Awards, including both Best European Film and Best European Comedy. There isn’t much to say about these except that in all the categories not won by The Favourite, someone won that has…

There are three films that seem to be dominating precursor season, directed by Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and Noah Baumbach. It’s the little differences here that set things apart with films like Dolemite Is My Name doing better than usual and Little Women picking up more expected nominations. Nominations Tallies (10) The Irishman, Once Upon…

The Irishman continues to dominate the precursors, as do Marriage Story and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood. Most of the folk that are or have been in the conversation continue to be mentioned without any major surprises. Award Tallies (7) The Irishman (6) Marriage Story, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (4) Parasite (3) Jojo…

Nothing on this list is particularly surprising, but what is surprising is the special award to Parasite. AFI does not often give out such awards, so that makes this truly a special selection. This is also only a list of American-made films. Non-American films aren’t eligible, which could explain some exclusions. The Awards Best American…

The New York Film Critics Circle always enjoy being contrary and they often choose a mixture of popular and off-beat. That is very true this year with films like The Irishman and Uncut Gems being awarded side-by-side. When Parasite won Foreign Language Film and Quentin Tarantino won the screenplay award, it seemed likely The Irishman…

Announced over multiple days, starting on Monday, Dec. 2 and finalizing on Dec. 4, the Australian Academy Awards are a completely different operation and their winners are no less strange, but also interesting to boot. The Nightingale won the night with four prizes having gone into the second night with only one award. The King…

There are a couple of things that can be definitively said about the National Board of Review. They love Clint Eastwood and their winners seldom take home Oscars without a critic award sweep. That first statement bears out in their recognition of Kathy Bates in Supporting Actress, Paul Walter Hauser in Breakthrough Performance, and their…

Coming as a surprise to no one, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story easily took the award for Best Feature along with awards for Best Actor and Best Screenplay. This should give a boost to all of the winners going into the Oscar nominations with Adam Driver, Awkwafina, Marriage Story, and American Factory all solid contenders at…

While hardly a notable precursor, Spain’s Academy Awards, the Goya Awards, recognize the best that nation has to offer with few nominations for releases from other countries. Storming the nominations were three films that earned double-digit citations with all the rest receiving five or fewer nominees. While at War topped them all with seventeen while…

The International Press Academy is a most bizarre organization. They regularly change some dates, refuse to announce others, and generally feel like an utterly disorganized mess. A strange parallel to the far more organized Golden Globes, it’s surprising that the group is still giving out awards. When asked to provide a date for their awards,…

How the Atlanta film critics have become the first of the minor critics to announce is anyone’s guess, but here they are hot on the heels of the other early newbies the Hollywood Critics Association. Unlike the HCA, Atlanta seems to have an eye on influencing the Oscars with a lot of daring choices. Parasite…