Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photo: A24/Everett Collection
This is the scoring recap for Week 10.5 (a bonus edition!) of Vulture’s Movies Fantasy League. If you want to compete for pride and prizes against more than 19,000 other film buffs, there’s still time to join: Visit the league hub for information on how to play, and/or click the button below to submit an entry.
A Friday MFL bonus for everyone: The several awards announcements that arrived this week (New York Film Critics Circle, Film Independent Spirit, National Board of Review, and Critics’ Choice Awards) resulted in a flood of points that shook up league standings. Does that sound like a development that can wait until next week to discuss? Of course not.
On Tuesday, the New York Film Critics Circle proclaimed (I hope you’re sitting down) One Battle After Another as the year’s best film. That earned PTA’s latest 20 points, combined with ten more for Benicio del Toro winning Best Supporting Actor. The only other film to win multiple awards from NYFCC was The Secret Agent, which picked up a Best Actor win for Wagner Moura and Best International Film for a total of 20 points.
The other NYFCC winners:
➼ Eephus: +10 (Best First Film)
➼ If I Had Legs I’d Kick You: +10 (Best Actress, Rose Byrne)
➼ It Was Just an Accident: +10 (Best Director, Jafar Panahi)
➼ KPop Demon Hunters: +10 (Best Animated Film)
➼ Marty Supreme: +10 (Best Screenplay)
➼ Sinners: +10 (Best Cinematography)
➼ Weapons: +10 (Best Supporting Actress, Amy Madigan)
The next day came the Film Independent Spirit Awards nominations, which provided an infusion of points to a handful of small films that hadn’t earned anything. Many of those titles were inexpensive to draft, so it was a nice day for fans of strong ROI. Peter Hujar’s Day, a $5 purchase, was the nomination leader with noms for Best Feature, Best Director (Ira Sachs), Best Lead Performance (Ben Whishaw), Best Supporting Performance (Rebecca Hall), and Best Cinematography, earning 65 points.
Eva Victor’s Sundance hit Sorry, Baby (a $3 buy) scored four nominations (Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and a supporting nomination for Naomi Ackie) for 60 points. Oscar contender Train Dreams ($10) continued its strong run through the early precursors and added 50 points via four nominations (Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and a lead-performance nomination for Joel Edgerton). Twinless ($3) rounded out the Best Film nominees, picking up additional noms for Dylan O’Brien in Lead Performance and writer/director/star James Sweeney in Best Screenplay, for 45 points. The Keke Palmer–SZA comedy One of Them Days ($2) scored 40 points off of four nominations, while the queer psychological thriller Lurker ($1) got three nominations for 40 points of its own.
Twenty-three films in total earned Spirit Awards points. Here’s the rest of the tally:
➼ If I Had Legs I’d Kick You: +30 (Director; Lead Performance)
➼ Hedda: +30 (Lead Performance; Supporting Performance)
➼ Splitsville: +20 (Screenplay; Editing)
➼ Nouvelle Vague: +15 (Supporting Performance)
➼ Roofman: +15 (Supporting Performance)
➼ Rebuilding: +15 (Supporting Performance)
➼ Dust Bunny: +10 (First Feature; Cinematography)
➼ Eephus: +10 (Editing; Cassavetes Award)
➼ Warfare: +10 (Editing; Cinematography)
➼ Come See Me in the Good Light: +5 (Documentary)
➼ Friendship: +5 (First Screenplay)
➼ On Becoming a Guinea Fowl: +5 (International Feature)
➼ Sirat: +5 (International Feature)
➼ The Perfect Neighbor: +5 (Documentary)
➼ The Secret Agent: +5 (International Feature)
➼ The Testament of Ann Lee: +5 (Editing)
➼ The Wedding Banquet: +5 (Producers Award)
Also on Wednesday, the National Board of Review chimed in with its bucket of awards. Its list was topped by (brace yourself) One Battle After Another as Best Film. It was a bit of an OBAA sweep, with Paul Thomas Anderson winning Best Director, Leonardo DiCaprio taking Best Actor, Benicio del Toro continuing his excellent week with a Best Supporting Actor win, and Chase Infiniti winning Breakthrough Performance, all for a total of 60 points.
Sinners picked up the second-most points from the NBR, 35, for placing on the Top 10 Films list and scoring a Best Original Screenplay win for Ryan Coogler and Best Cinematography. Train Dreams kept chugga-chugging along with 25 points for placing on the Top 10 list and winning Best Adapted Screenplay.
Other films to win multiple awards and 20 points apiece were If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, which took Best Actress for Rose Byrne and placed on the Top 10 Independent Films list; Sentimental Value, which won Best Supporting Actress for Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas and placed on the Top 5 International Films list; and Sorry, Baby, which won Best Directorial Debut for Eva Victor and placed on the Top 10 Independent Films list.
As is the NBR’s custom, it announced an unranked top-ten list of films besides One Battle After Another, effectively delivering a top 11 for the year. Besides Sinners and Train Dreams, that list included Avatar: Fire and Ash, F1, Frankenstein, Jay Kelly, Marty Supreme, Rental Family, Wake Up Dead Man, and Wicked: For Good, each of which picked up 15 points.
The rest of the NBR points earners:
➼ Arco: +10 (Best Animated Feature)
➼ It Was Just an Accident: +10 (Best International Film)
➼ Cover-Up: +10 (Best Documentary)
➼ Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning: +10 (Outstanding Achievement in Stunt Artistry)
➼ 2000 Miles to Andrivka: +10 (Top 5 Documentaries)
➼ Come See Me in the Good Light: +10 (Top 5 Documentaries)
➼ Orwell: 2+2=5: +10 (Top 5 Documentaries)
➼ Bring Her Back: +10 (Top 10 Independent Films)
➼ Father Mother Sister Brother: +10 (Top 10 Independent Films)
➼ Friendship: +10 (Top 10 Independent Films)
➼ The Mastermind: +10 (Top 10 Independent Films)
➼ Rebuilding: +10 (Top 10 Independent Films)
➼ Left Handed Girl: +10 (Top 15 International Films)
➼ The Secret Agent: +10 (Top 15 International Films)
➼ Sirât: +10 (Top 15 International Films)
And finally, the points tally for the Critics’ Choice nominations, announced just hours ago. You’ll have to wait for Tuesday’s newsletter for the full analysis of the implications here:
150 points: One Battle After Another
135 points: Sinners
105 points: Hamnet
95 points: Frankenstein
90 points: Sentimental Value
80 points: Marty Supreme
55 points: Train Dreams; Wicked: For Good
50 points: Jay Kelly
45 points: Bugonia
35 points: F1
30 points: Weapons
20 points: No Other Choice; The Secret Agent; The Testament of Ann Lee
15 points: Blue Moon; If I Had Legs I’d Kick You; Sorry, Baby
10 points: KPop Demon Hunters; Left-Handed Girl; Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning; Sirāt; Warfare
5 points: 28 Years Later; A House of Dynamite; Arco; Avatar: Fire and Ash; Ballerina; Elio; Friendship; Hedda; In Your Dreams; It Was Just An Accident; Rental Family; Kiss of the Spider Woman; Splitsville; Superman; The Ballad of Wallis Island; The Fantastic Four: First Steps; The Naked Gun; The Perfect Neighbor; The Phoenecian Scheme; The Plague; The Smashing Machine; Zootopia 2
You can visit the MFL landing page to see the full leaderboard — and join our Discord server for additional data about each movie in the MFL, plus much more.
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2: December 5
Jay Kelly: December 5
A Private Life: December 5
Ella McCay: December 12
Goodbye June: December 12
Scarlet: December 12
Silent Night, Deadly Night: December 12
Atropia: December 12
Golden Globe nominations: December 8
Oscars shortlists: December 16
Questions? Feedback? Can’t find your team or mini-league on the leaderboard? Drop us a line at moviesleague@vulture.com.
