#slfca

I like to think voting in the St. Louis Film Critics Association has more Stilgar vibes than Feyd-Rautha vibes. Which is to say, more “As it is written!” and less “May thy knife chip and shatter!”

Though the 20-ish of us are all passionate about our favorite films, we haven’t resorted to knife duels to the death to determine winners (yet). This is my third year voting, and this is the largest batch of nominees yet. In 2022 we nominated 43 films in 23 categories, in 2023 we nominated 44 films in 24 categories, and this year, we nominated 53 films in 26 categories. Boy, I felt that increase. Though I had seen more new releases in 2024 than in previous years, there were still 28 titles I missed before my peers made them nominees. (And frankly, a few of them were barely on my radar, which highlights the varied marketing budgets available to different kinds of films.) I was able to squeeze 16 of them in the week between nominations and final voting, thus viewing the required 3-film minimum in every category except Horror. (The films I never got to: Alien: Romulus, Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World, Heretic, I Saw the TV Glow, The Last Showgirl, Late Night With the Devil, Longlegs, No Other Land, Queer, The Substance, Sugarcane, and Will & Harper. I did end up covering my eyes through much of The Substance after it was nominated for Best Picture, though!)

In the past, I’ve described our voting process and my ballot strategy. Little has changed since my 2022 and 2023 ballot round ups, so this year I’m keeping a pretty tight focus on the films themselves. As it is written: May thy watchlist grow ever longer!

Best Technical(-ish) Awards

Because these categories are so specific and varied, this is the time to let personal favorites shine or to acknowledge the merit in less-liked contenders. Re: the former, I wish Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (which achieved many stunts practically) and Fly Me to the Moon (which sported an impressive wardrobe) had earned more attention for their efforts. Re: the latter, I couldn’t deny the Challengers score or the production design in The Brutalist even though those films didn’t work as a whole for me.

A few more thoughts: 

I’m surprised Blitz and Saturday Night didn’t make more of a splash this Awards Season

It was a lackluster year for soundtracks. Even though I listened to Mean Girls and This Is Me…Now more than once on my own time, I was surprised I couldn't think of anything to surpass them on my list

Say what you will about Megalopolis, but I was never once bored! Even with a bonkers final product, Francis Ford Coppola is a master craftsman

Best Genre(-ish) Awards

These are the categories that inspire most of my frantic binge-watching between nominations and final voting. Of the 16 titles I watched in that week, 8 were in these categories, as were 9 of the 12 films I never found time for. (As always, I couldn’t vote in the Horror category because nothing inspires me to watch the minimum three films needed to vote.) Some of this is a matter of taste: I’m not drawn to documentaries in my free time, and though I did watch more than four last year, I didn’t think they deserved nominations. (Piece by Piece featured great animation, but it revealed nothing new about Pharrell). Some of this is because of the weak marketing for international films before the thick of Awards Season: I don’t remember hearing much, if anything, about Do Not Expect… before my peers nominated it, and I struggled to find a way to watch Dahomey.

A few more thoughts: 

You shouldn’t be surprised if you know anything about me that I had already seen all the Action and Comedy nominees before nominations were announced

I overestimated the reputation of Gladiator II and Rebel Ridge among my peers, and I underestimated their love for Deadpool & Wolverine and Hundreds of Beavers

Let the record show I was underwhelmed by Emilia Pérez as far back as December

My final vote for Best Comedy was one of my toughest picks. I almost voted for Saturday Night (which made me laugh more), but I ultimately selected the sharper script of A Real Pain

My major discovery in the week between nominations and final voting was The Seed of Sacred Fig, which ending up making my top 10 of the year

Best Performance Awards

Here’s where my love for my top 10 films of the year—okay, and the Minions—shows. I wish performances like Josh Hartnett’s in Trap had a shot in the dark during Awards Season, and I’m baffled at the lack of campaigning for Javier Bardem in Dune: Part Two. While I’m not surprised, I hate that the Academy slept on The Bikeriders and Civil War in multiple categories.

You'll also notice the first of our two new categories this year: Best Voice Performance. I doubt our nominations will overlap so much in the future, but there were a lot of fans of Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot for its inaugural event. 

A few more thoughts: 

Hard Truths was one of those barely-on-my-radar movies, but Marianne Jean-Baptiste wowed me so much she earned one of my few final votes outside my original batch of nominations

Like Soundtrack, Supporting Actress was a category I struggled to come up with strong candidates for, but Jennifer Lopez came through for me yet again. While I loved Nickel Boys, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor’s role was very supporting 

Best of the Best Awards

Will Anora, The Brutalist, and A Complete Unknown stand the test of time? The consensus of this moment suggests so, though anyone who has followed Awards Season knows pop culture’s short memory. (I’m publishing this before Oscar night—it’s possible I’ll eat these words in just a few days.) You can tell from the small overlap between my top 10 and our cumulative top 10 that my taste varied from the consensus, but if I’d seen The Seed of the Sacred Fig sooner, it would’ve bumped Twisters off my list.

A few more thoughts: 

 Our second new category for 2024 was Best First Feature, which along with Best Scene, added five unique nominees

That Civil War scene feels like THE scene of 2024

My affection for Nickel Boys has only grown as Awards Season has continued

More of the Best of 2024

Check out more on the St. Louis Film Critics Association site

See the full list of our picks on Letterboxd

Read my personal list of the best films of the year

Have you ever wondered how Best of the Year lists are chosen? Each year publications like Entertainment Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter conduct anonymous interviews with Academy members to reveal their Oscar votes, often with article titles like “brutally honest” and “juicy.” I understand not wanting to burn any bridges with friends or colleagues, but I usually finish those pieces annoyed. If you’ve got an opinion, own it! How do know if I can trust your judgment or taste?

In the spirit of transparency, I’m doing my small part to be the change I wish to see in the world. (Exactly the scenario someone had in mind when altering Gandhi’s words to fit on a bumper sticker.) Last year I voted in the St. Louis Film Critics Association Best of the Year for the first time, and I’m sharing my behind-the-scenes look at how we narrowed down the 800+ eligible films of the year to our 23 winners and how I chose my votes. Apologies in advance it's not a "juicy" take—there's not a lot of drama in our group!

These were the key 2022 dates for our decisions:

Saturday, December 10th: Individual nominations due to SLFCA leadership

Sunday, December 11th: Tie-Breaker Meeting to determine final nominees

Saturday, December 17th: Final ballots due

As a reminder, I can’t speak for how every critic in the group prioritizes viewing or votes. Another critic in the group may have completely different strategy even if we end up voting for the same nominee!

How the Ballots Work

Like many awards shows, I’m kicking this explainer off with Best Supporting Actor and Actress. I didn’t have any cuts when I submitted my ballot—I was looking for people to fill my five slots. The real decision-making was about their order. 

In the first round of voting, our ballots are ranked, with our first choice earning five points toward the performer’s total and fifth place earning one point. For example, I contributed five points each to Andre Braugher and Carey Mulligan’s totals for their performances in She Said as well as two points to Angela Basset’s total for her Black Panther role. While those three made the cut for SLFCA’s nominations, not enough of the other critics ranked Adrien Brody, Jamie Lee Curtis, Dolly De Leon, Kate Hudson, Rami Malek, Pedro Pascal, or John David Washington highly enough for them to make the final nominations. Curtis and De Leon were just a few points away from making the cut.

More performers our critics loved: Jessie Buckley, Women Talking; Hong Chau, The Whale; Tom Hanks, Elvis; Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway; Anthony Hopkins, Armageddon Time; Nina Hoss, Tár; Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once; Barry Keoghan, The Banshees of Inisherin; Keke Palmer, Nope; Eddie Redmayne, The Good Nurse; Mark Rylance, Bones and All; Jeremy Strong, Armageddon Time

Watching as Many Movies as Possible

More than 800 eligible films were released in 2022 . (One of our members compiled them all into a Letterboxd list.) In the 10 days before my nominations were due, I watched She Said, Triangle of Sadness, Vengeance, and White Noise, all of which made my picks for Best Screenplay. I also watched titles I nominated in other categories (Babylon, Emily the Criminal, The Fabelmans, RRR, “Sr.”), plus a few that didn’t make the cut (Armageddon Time, Devotion, The Menu, Something From Tiffany’s, The Wonder). 

But what about the films I hadn't seen that SLFCA nominated? That’s what the week between the Tie-Breaker Meeting and the final ballot due date is for. In those seven days, I checked out The Banshees of Inisherin, Tár, and Women Talking, which were movies I had expected to be nominated regardless of my support. 

More screenplays on my long list: Amsterdam, The Menu, See How They Run

More screenplays our critics loved: After Yang, Aftersun, All Quiet on the Western Front, Bodies Bodies Bodies, Elvis, Empire of Light, Happening, Nope, Three Thousand Years of Longing, Till, The Whale

Choosing Nominees

In the Cinematography, Editing, and Visual Effects categories, I focused on an advocacy strategy. Before I met most of my fellow St. Louis Film Critics Association members, I was regularly updated with their film recommendations in a private Facebook group. As early as September, members shared headlines about the Awards Season, and based on chatter I’d seen in the group and in the film world at large, I figured support would be strong for films like Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, She Said, and Top Gun: Maverick. I was less sure about sentiment for Amsterdam, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, See How They Run, Triangle of Sadness, and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, so I prioritized them on my ballot.

More films on my long list: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (VFX), RRR (Editing), She Said (Editing), The Woman King (VFX)

A few more films our critics loved: All Quiet on the Western Front (Cinematography), Avatar: The Way of Water (Cinematography, Editing), The Batman (VFX), Decision to Leave (Editing), Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness (VFX), Empire of Light (Cinematography), Three Thousand Years of Longing (VFX), Women Talking (Editing)

Breaking Ties

After we submitted our ballots, we met as a group at a restaurant to hash out ties. The longest and most passionate debate broke out over the Best Scene category because there was a six-way (!) tie for third place. We ultimately decided to keep four of those six scenes and nominate six films total. We typically only include five nominees, but exceptions can be made in the case of a tie.

A few more scenes our critics loved: Scarlet Witch vs. the Illuminati in Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, the Home Alone-inspired sequence in Violent Night

Prioritizing Nominees

After nominations were finalized at our our Tie-Breaker Meeting, I counted 20 nominated films I had not seen, 14 of which were only nominated in 1 category each. (I did not join the group till the summer, so I was not watching for most of the year knowing about this deadline!) I knew I would not have the time to watch them all, so I prioritized by asking these questions:

How many nominations did each film have? The Banshees of Inisherin, Women Talking, and Tár each earned between 4 and 11 noms, so they were highest priority

Could I watch every nominee in a category? All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, Apollo 10½, Jackass Forever, and Wendell & Wild each only earned one nom, but I prioritized them so I could complete the Animated, Comedy, and Documentary categories

Had I watched enough noms to vote in a category? To vote in a category, I had to watch at least three nominees. I prioritized the twice-nominated in Decision to Leave so I could vote in Best International Feature, but I decided to skip voting in the Horror category because I would’ve needed to watch four films to vote (and because this horror-averse viewer probably would have found all four of them quite upsetting!)

More films on my long list: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Action), The Lost City (Comedy), Marry Me (Comedy), Minions: The Rise of Gru (Comedy), See How They Run (Comedy), The Woman King (Action)

A few more films our critics loved: Bad Axe (Documentary), The Bad Guys (Animated), The Banshees of Inisherin (Comedy), Barbarian (Horror), The Batman (Action), Broker (International), Bros (Comedy), Clerks III (Comedy), Corsage (International), EO (International), Lightyear (Animated), Navalny (Documentary), The Sea Beast (Animated), Smile (Horror)

Announcing the Winners

For me, the final round of voting is a combination of picking clear favorites in a category and trying to get your favorite films represented somewhere on the ballot. Winners are announced in a press release and shared on the SLFCA website. And in just a few weeks the process starts all over again with the new year! 

You can see the full list of winners and nominees for 2022 at STLFilmCritics.org, and here are how my nominations shook out in the categories not featured above: