Houston Film Critics Society Nominees See ‘Marriage Story,’ Tarantino’s 9th Film In The Lead

Year’s best films to be honored January 2nd

Marriage Story, Noah Baumbach’s intimate dissection of marital disappointment, joins Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Quentin Tarantino’s epic exploration of exaggerated egos, to lead the nominees for the 13th annual awards of the Houston Film Critics Society.

Both films are nominated for six awards including Best Picture, with Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood also receiving a seventh nomination for Best Movie Poster Art. The prestigious film journalists annually honor the movie industry’s best work with winners to be announced January 2 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Get your awards show tickets now, come celebrate with us! »

Closely following the nomination leaders are 1917, The Farewell, The Irishman and Parasite, each nominated for five awards including Best Picture. Other contenders for this top award are Knives Out, Jojo Rabbit, Joker and Uncut Gems.

“We’re a passionate, adventurous group,” says Doug Harris, President of the organization. “This list of nominees represents the thousands of screening hours our members have devoted to uncovering the year’s most distinctive films so that we can bring the best of cinema from around the world to the audiences we serve.”

Because of the close voting for nominations, six actresses will compete for Best Actress for the first time, including Charlize Theron in Bombshell, Awkwafina in The Farewell, Renée Zellweger in Judy, Scarlett Johansson in Marriage Story, Saoirse Ronan in Little Women, and Lupita Nyong’o in Us. Five nominees are usually named. Johansson is also up for Best Supporting Actress for Jojo Rabbit, one of four other categories with six finalists emerging from tight contests, along with Best Foreign Language Film, Best Original Song and Best Documentary Feature.

Nominated for Best Actor are Leonardo DiCaprio for Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Adam Driver in Marriage Story, Eddie Murphy in Dolemite is My Name, Joaquin Phoenix in Joker and Adam Sandler in Uncut Gems.

Earlier this month, the HFCS announced its nominees for the Texas Independent Film Awards which honor films made in Texas. Bull, Building the American Dream, Nothing Stays the Same: The story of the Saxon Pub, Seadrift and Sleeping in Plastic are all up for these awards.

Winners in 18 categories will be presented at the January 2 event – starting at 7 p.m. – with special appearances from Roger Corman, who will be honored with a lifetime achievement award, as well as Ellyn Needham, wife of the late movie stunts pioneer Hal Needham, who will present the Society’s inaugural award for Best Stunt Coordination Team.

An After Party, open to all awards ticket holders at no additional charge, will be staged in the Ultimate Ransom Room at the Hotel ZaZa Houston Museum District.

The Houston Film Critics Society’s 13th Annual Movie Awards are underwritten in part by Leonard Courtright and the Keystone Family of Companies with additional support provided by Balcones Distilling.


HFCS logo

2019 Houston Film Critics Society Nominations

Best Picture

1917; The Farewell; The Irishman; Jojo Rabbit; Joker; Knives Out; Marriage Story; Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood; Parasite; Uncut Gems

Best Director

Bong Joon Ho, Parasite; Sam Mendes, 1917; Martin Scorsese, The Irishman; Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood; Lulu Wang, The Farewell

Best Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood; Adam Driver, Marriage Story; Eddie Murphy, Dolemite is My Name; Joaquin Phoenix, Joker; Adam Sandler, Uncut Gems

Best Actress

Awkwafina, The Farewell; Scarlett Johansson, Marriage Story; Lupita Nyong’o, Us; Saoirse Ronan, Little Women; Charlize Theron, Bombshell; Renée Zellweger, Judy

Best Supporting Actor

Willem Dafoe, The Lighthouse; Anthony Hopkins, The Two Popes; Al Pacino, The Irishman; Joe Pesci, The Irishman; Brad Pitt, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood

Best Supporting Actress

Kathy Bates, Richard Jewell; Laura Dern, Marriage Story; Scarlett Johansson, Jojo Rabbit; Florence Pugh, Little Women; Margot Robbie, Bombshell; Zhao Shuzhen, The Farewell

Best Screenplay

Knives Out; Marriage Story; Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood; Parasite; The Farewell

Best Cinematography

1917; The Irishman; Joker; Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood; Parasite

Best Animated Feature

Frozen II; How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World; I Lost My Body; Missing Link; Toy Story 4

Best Original Score

1917; Joker; Little Women; Marriage Story; Us

Best Original Song

Glasgow, Wild Rose; Home to You, The Aeronauts; I Punched Keanu Reeves, Always Be My Maybe; (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again, Rocketman; Into the Unknown, Frozen II; Stand Up, Harriet

Best Foreign Language Film

Atlantics; Corpus Christi; Les Miserables; Monos; Pain and Glory; Parasite

Best Documentary Feature

American Factory; Apollo 11; Biggest Little Farm; For Sama; Hail Satan; They Shall Not Grow Old

Texas Independent Film Award

Bull; Building the American Dream; Nothing Stays the Same: The Story of the Saxon Bar; Seadrift; Sleeping in Plastic

Visual Effects

1917; Ad Astra; Avengers: Endgame

Best Stunt Coordination Team

Crawl; Ford v Ferrari; Furie; John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum; Shadow

 Best Movie Poster Art

Birds of Passage; John Wick: Chapter 3 Parabellum; Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood; Parasite; Portrait of a Lady on Fire; The Last Black Man in San Francisco