Houston Film Critics Society announces award nominations.
Quentin Tarantino’s colorful re-creation of late-1960s LA, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” earned the most nominations for the upcoming 13th Houston Film Critics Society Awards honoring the best films of 2019, it was announced Sunday.
The film’s seven nominations include nods for best picture, director, screenplay and actor (Leonardo DiCaprio).
Noah Baumbach’s drama of marital discord, “Marriage Story,” and Bong Joon Ho’s off-kilter South Korean thriller, “Parasite,” are close behind with six nominations each. Sam Mendes’ WWI drama, “1917,” Martin Scorsese’s mobster epic, “The Irishman,” and Lulu Wang’s family reminiscence, “The Farewell,” racked up five nominations each.
In all, awards will be given in 17 categories, including best movie poster art, Texas independent film and the recently created best stunt coordination team.
Winners will be announced in a ceremony beginning at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 2 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Tickets are $9 and also include admission to the postshow reception.
The Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to pioneering, iconoclastic filmmaker Roger Corman, who will also be on hand to screen his 1963 film, “The Masque of the Red Death,” starring Vincent Price, at the museum on Jan 3 . For ticket information, go to mfah.org.
So far, the continent’s various film-critics groups have offered a split decision on the year’s best movie. “Parasite” was named best film by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Toronto Film Critics Association, the Detroit Film Critics Society, the Phoenix Critics Circle, the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association, the Southeastern
Film Critics Association and the Atlanta Film Critics Circle. “The Irishman” nabbed the top spot from the National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics Circle Awards and the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards. “The Irishman” also leads in the Seattle Film Critics Society’s nominations with 10.
Both the DFW Film Critics Association and the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle bucked the “Parasite” vs. “Irishman” battle by giving their top award to “1917” and Rian Johnson’s murder mystery, “Knives Out,” respectively.
The Houston Film Critics Society includes approximately 40 members from Houston, San
Antonio and southeast Texas who review films for online, print or broadcast media.
Here are the HFCS nominees:
Picture: “1917,” “Knives Out,” “Jojo Rabbit,” “Joker,” “Marriage Story,” “Parasite,” “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” “The Irishman,” “The Farewell,” “Uncut Gems”
Director: Bong Joon Ho, “Parasite”; Sam Mendes, “1917”; Martin Scorsese, “The Irishman”; Quentin Tarantino, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”; Lulu Wang, “The Farewell”
Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”; Adam Driver, “Marriage Story”; Eddie Murphy, “Dolemite
Is My Name”; Adam Sandler, “Uncut Gems”; Joaquin Phoenix, “Joker”
Actress: Charlize Theron, “Bombshell”; Awkwafina, “The Farewell”; Renée Zellweger, “Judy”; Scarlett Johansson, “Marriage Story”; Saoirse Ronan, “Little Women”; Lupita Nyong’o, “Us”
Supporting actor: Willem Dafoe, “The Lighthouse”; Anthony Hopkins, “The Two Popes”; Brad Pitt, “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood”; Joe Pesci, “The Irishman”; Al Pacino, “The Irishman”
Supporting actress: Kathy Bates, “Richard Jewell”; Scarlett Johansson, “Jojo Rabbit”; Laura Dern, “Marriage Story”; Florence
Pugh, “Little Women”; Margot Robbie, “Bombshell”; Zhao Shuzhen, “The Farewell”
Screenplay: “Knives Out,” “Marriage Story,” “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” “The Farewell,” “Parasite”
Animated feature: “Frozen II,” “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,” “I Lost My Body,” “Missing Link,” “Toy Story 4”
Cinematography: “1917,” “Joker,” “Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood,” “Parasite,” “The Irishman”
Foreign-Language Film:
“Atlantics,” “Corpus Christi,” “Parasite,” “Les Miserables,” “Monos” “Pain and Glory”
Documentary: “American Factory,” “Apollo 11,” “The Biggest Little Farm,” “For Sama,” “Hail Satan?,” “They Shall Not Grow Old”
Original score: “1917,” “Joker,” “Little Women,” “Marriage Story,” “Us”
Original song: “Glasgow” from “Wild Rose”; “Home to You” from “The Aeronauts”; “I Punched Keanu Reeves” from “Always Be My Maybe”; “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from “Rocketman”; “Into the Unknown” from “Frozen II”; “Stand Up” from “Harriet”
Visual Effects: “1917,” “Ad Astra,” “Avengers: Endgame”
Stunt Coordination Team:
“Crawl,” “Ford v Ferrari,” “Furie,” “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum,” “Shadow”
Movie Poster Art: “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum,” “Birds of Passage,” “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” “Parasite,” “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”
Texas Independent Film
Award: “Bull,” “Building the American Dream,” “Seadrift,” “Nothing Stays the Same: The Story of the Saxon Pub,” “Sleeping in Plastic”