Moments ago, one of the bigger precursors of the critics stage of the awards season chimed in, as the New York Film Critics Circle announced their prizes for 2019. The winners at NYFCC each year are usually given a nice boost in the Oscar race, at least perception wise. This year will prove to be no exception, as the members of this group went in some very interesting, yet still plausible, directions, as you’re about to see.
The New York Film Critics Circle gave only one movie multiple awards, and that was Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman. It took Best Picture from NYFCC, along with Best Supporting Actor for Joe Pesci. Other winners today included Benny and Josh Safdie getting Best Director for Uncut Gems, Antonio Banderas taking Best Actor for Pain and Glory, Lupita Nyong’o grabbing Best Actress for Us, Laura Dern winning Best Supporting Actress for both Marriage Story and Little Women, as well as the Best Screenplay prize going to Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood. The rest of the announcement can be seen next…

Here are all of the New York Film Critics Circle winners for this year:
Best Picture: 
The Irishman
Best Director: 
Benny and Josh Safdie, Uncut Gems
Best Actor: 
Antonio Banderas, Pain and Glory
Best Actress: 
Lupita Nyong’o, Us
Best Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood
Best Supporting Actor: Joe Pesci, The Irishman

Best Supporting Actress: Laura Dern, Marriage Story and Little Women
Best Animated Film: I Lost My Body
Best Cinematography: 
Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Best First Film: Atlantics

Best Foreign Language Film: 
Parasite
Best Nonfiction Film: Honeyland
Special Award 1: Indie Collect
Special Award 2: Randy Newman

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Additionally, the American Film Institute has chimed in today with their top ten list. They even went a step further and gave a special citation to Parasite, so technically it’s eleven this year!

Take a gander at AFI’s picks:
1917
The Farewell
The Irishman
Jojo Rabbit
Joker
Knives Out
Little Women
Marriage Story
Once Upon a Time in…Hollywood
Richard Jewell
Special Citation: Parasite

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Also of note, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced yesterday which twenty films were shortlisted for the Best Visual Effects category at the Oscars. The movies still in the running for that Academy Award are seen below…
Here’s the AMPAS press release:
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 20 films are in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 92nd Academy Awards®.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
“Ad Astra”
“The Aeronauts”
“Aladdin”
“Alita: Battle Angel”
“Avengers: Endgame”
“Captain Marvel”
“Cats”
“Dumbo”
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