Meet the Los Angeles Film Critics

Tomorrow, the Los Angeles Film Critics, and the New York Film Critics Online, will announce their winners. I thought it might be fun to find out who they are.

They are mostly men. Many of them came up through the blogging world, some of them are actual Oscar bloggers as we speak. Believe me, there is no group, I don’t think, that is free from crossover journalists or bloggers, which begs the question why there isn’t a better ratio of men to women. For instance, there is no reason why Anne Thompson should not be among these names. I have just as much experience writing film reviews and such to be qualified to be on it (I wouldn’t want to belong to any club who would have someone like me as a member). So it all seems a bit off to me – but it is what it is. The dust hasn’t really settled since the film critic scene swelled to the numbers we see today. Some years it keeps that the Oscar race is completely dependent upon the critics to guide the taste factor. Other years it feels like the critics have nothing to do with the race at all. I think the critics would publicly prefer to keep things as distant as possible, to have nothing to do with the people who vote on the Oscars. But you know, the modern Oscar race isn’t really just about Oscar voters. It’s about the whole industry – the PGA, the DGA and SAG. They make the product, critics ostensibly review that product. Still, I have felt like, somehow, the contest of who gets the ultimate say in what’s best seems to always end with the Academy. That might be changing. The Spirit Awards and the Golden Globes both seem to be their own species – so much so that they can almost exist as stand alones. We’re a long way off from the public at large thinking that way, but it’s not that far off.

Here is the gender breakdown of the LA Film critics.

Here are the names:

ROBERT ABELE ANDY KLEIN CLAUDIA PUIG
DAVID ANSEN CHRISTY LEMIRE PETER RAINER
ANDREW BARKER EMANUEL LEVY MICHAEL RECHTSHAFFEN
GEOFF BERKSHIRE SHERI LINDEN HARRIET ROBBINS
JUSTIN CHANG LAEL LOEWENSTEIN JAMES ROCCHI
TIM COGSHELL JUSTIN LOWE BETSY SHARKEY
ALONSO DURALDE WADE MAJOR HENRY SHEEHAN
DAVID EHRENSTEIN LEONARD MALTIN BRENT SIMON
ANNLEE ELLINGSON WILLARD MANUS CHARLES SOLOMON
DEVIN FARACI TODD MCCARTHY MICHAEL SRAGOW
STEPHEN FARBER DREW MCWEENY BOB STRAUSS
F.X. FEENEY MYRON MEISEL ELLA TAYLOR
JON FROSCH JOE MORGENSTERN KEVIN THOMAS
TODD GILCHRIST AMY NICHOLSON LUKE Y. THOMPSON
JAMES GREENBERG MICHAEL NORDINE KENNETH TURAN
RAY GREENE MARK OLSEN ALYNDA WHEAT
TIM GRIERSON JEAN OPPENHEIMER GLENN WHIPP
KIRK HONEYCUTT HJ PARK MICHAEL WILMINGTON
MARK KEIZER JOHN POWERS CHUCK WILSON

And here is Statsgasm Marshall Flores’ awesome interactive chart.

Anyone up for predictions? What are YOUR LA Film critic predictions?

Here are ours
Best Picture
Mad Max: Fury Road – Sasha Stone, Marshall Flores
The Revenant – Ryan Adams

Best Director
George Miller, Mad Max: Fury Road – Stone, Flores
Todd Haynes, Carol – Adams

Best Actress
Rooney Mara, Carol – Stone
Charlotte Rampling – Flores
Brie Larson – Adams

Best Actor
Tom Courtney, 45 Years – Stone
Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs – Flores
Matt Damon, The Martian – Adams

Supporting Actor
Michael Keaton, Spotlight – Stone
Tom Hardy, The Revenant – Flores
Benicio Del Toro, Sicario – Adams

Supporting Actress
Elizabeth Banks, Love & Mercy – Stone
Jennifer Jason Leigh, The Hateful Eight – Flores, Adams

Animated Feature
Inside Out – Stone
Anomalisa – Flores, Adams

Screenplay
Spotlight – Stone, Flores
Carol – Adams

Editing
Mad Max – Stone, Adams
Spotlight – Flores

Production Design
Carol – Stone, Flores, Adams

Cinematography
The Revenant – Stone, Flores, Adams

Score
Hateful Eight – Stone
Mad Max: Fury Road – Flores
Carol – Adams