BFCA Adds Star Wars: The Force Awakens to the Best Picture Lineup

There were stories out of major publications in the last week, that an unprecedented vote may occur this week. Apparently, many of the voting members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association insisted that a vote be taken to consider whether the new Star Wars should be nominated for Best Picture. Well the vote has been taken, and to no one's surprise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is now the 11th nominee for Best Picture at this year's Critics Choice Awards. So here are not the 11 nominees for Best Picture:

The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Sicario
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens

I love love love loved the new Star Wars movie, and will easily be in my top five films. I am huge fan of the franchise, and this film had everything that a Star Wars fan could love. I am not going to do an official review because spoilers will happen, and while it doesn't seem possible, there are still plenty of a folks who have not seen the film yet. Plus I don't want to anger the internet trolls. But I did love the film, and part of me is happy to see that it has been so successful that an organization such as the BFCA would make such a bold move to reconsider it. But it was kind of a stupid move. First of all, it has angered a lot of its members, and more than a few have resigned due to it. And this has nothing to do with the quality of the film, but everything to do with integrity. They believe that there are deadlines for a reason, and that if the BFCA wanted to make sure that Star Wars was part of the conversation, they should have either waited a week or so, or reopened the entire process, not just Best Picture to include not only that film, but probably several late contenders that had not been fully screened. Instead they just did so for Best Picture, they did so in a sloppy way, and in the process they have further demeaned an awards show that has striven so hard to be taken as a serious Oscar precursor, but has also tired too hard to improve ratings. The combination has left a lot of folks, particularly its own members exasperated. That being said, all this does is prove that Oscar voters are going to have a hard time ignoring this film, and if they do, it might be to their own peril, because between critics and audiences, this film is clearly one of their favorites.