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.
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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.
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
