SANTA MONICA—I truly could not believe that the Critics Choice Awards is celebrating 31 years. I know critics have been around forever, but I’m almost certain this awards ceremony has not been televised for 31 years. With that said, the first awards show of the season was the Critic’s Choice Awards hosted by Chelsea Handler. Her opening monologue had some good laughs, but at the same time, it felt a bit stiff. It took time for Handler to get her groove in my opinion.
Handler’s monologue went way too long, and it was awkward. You don’t have to point out all the celebrities in the room or all the big movies of the year. If you’re going to do that you have to make it funny and she failed to do that for me. I give Chelsea kudos for her paying tribute to actor, writer, director and producer Rob Reiner. Three hours, sorry this 3-hour ceremony is too long, it should NOT BE THIS LONG for a Critic’s Awards show, perhaps it’s the fact that they have intertwined TV into the FILM world.
Miles Caton won the first award of the night for his performance in the blockbuster flick “Sinners.” He took home the Critic’s Choice Award for Young Actor/Actress. Looks like “Adolescence” was a big winner in the Limited Series category for TV with Owen Cooper, Stephen Graham, and Erin Doherty winning the acting awards. Like an hour into the ceremony, I was already checked out. I truly think the inclusion of the TV categories into the ceremony has sucked the air out of the show. It didn’t use to be like that, and it has become a slog to get thru.
However, there were some surprises along the way. “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another” led all contenders coming into the night with 17 and 14 nominations respectively. However, it was “One Battle After Another” that took the big prize of Best Picture. The movie also picked up awards for Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson, who also walked away with the Best Adapted Screenplay prize as well.
Ryan Coogler won the Best Original Screenplay prize for “Sinners.” Perhaps the categories up for anyone to win was Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress this awards season. There were two surprises of the night with Amy Madigan winning for “Weapons” over favorite Ariana Grande for “Wicked: For Good.” While Jacob Eloridi won Supporting Actor for “Frankenstein” over a competition heavy category that included Paul Mescal “Hamnet,” Sean Penn “One Battle After Another,” Adam Sandler “Jay Kelly” and Stellan Skarsgard “Sentimental Value.”
Might be important to note that “Frankenstein” picked up several technical prizes along the way like Best Hair and Makeup, Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. This could potentially be Timothee Chalamet’s year, as he won the award for Best Actor for his work in “Marty Supreme.” If there is anyone that could be a major threat to him, its Leonardo DiCaprio for “One Battle After Another.” While in the Best Actress race Jessie Buckley won for “Hamnet,” and I don’t see any other actress stopping Buckley all the way to Oscar. This is her year.
What does this mean for awards season? You may see some serious crossover, but we will likely have a stronger prediction of things to come with Golden Globes ceremony on Sunday, January 11, but the strongest predictor of awards season shifts will be Wednesday, January 7, when the nominations of the Screen Actors Guild Awards are announced. The world gets to know what the actors are thinking, and they always have a surprise or two, similar to the Academy Awards.
