'Critics Choice' Winners List & Oscar-Calling Post-Mortem

the night doubled as a live tribute to Amy SchumerDespite the disdain many members of the media, including some within the BFCA, seem to hold for the HFPA, the organization that runs the Golden Globes, everyone seems to want to be them. The Critics Choice Awards, now in their 21st year, have had trouble emerging from that institution's shadow.

Though the CCMAs had seemed to be on a slight upswing around the turn of the decade (the Meryl Streep years of Doubt and Julie & Julia seemed to go well in terms of media interest, comparatively at least), things have been since trending downward and went truly haywire this year.  In addition to the "never take us seriously!" self-sabotage to change a nominee lineup after nominations had been announced, there are the strange impulses that can only come from not trusting the voting body such as the need to give Amy Schumer a special prize in the year when she's already going to win a normal prize.

Meanwhile the continued expansion of categories over the past several years has created a clusterf*** that requires that very few of them be televised live. Which is a pity because if they were they might be worth discussing. Mad Max Fury Road won 9 prizes but it didn't even remotely emerge from the night feeling like a big winner since only one of the nine was televised! [More...]

That's more self-sabotage since surely mainstream prizes like "Best Action Flim!" were added to attract mainstream celebrities and viewers in the first place. Arguably yet more troubling from a legitimacy standpoint is that there appears to be no rhyme or reason to the expansions. Why, for example if you're going to have extra acting prizes for your movie categories, do you not have them for all. Action and comedy and default (drama) require actors, the awards seem to say, but sci-fi/horror films do not since they're the only "Picture" category without acting prizes. And why are technically all films eligible in all categories rather than corraled into one pen -- Mad Max Fury Road was nominated in three separate best picture categories this year: the regular one (which is not labelled "drama" so we can assume "drama" is considered default?), the action category, and the sci-fi/horror category.

The only one it missed was comedy -- which is really unfair to the flaming guitar guy you must admit.

Because of the low ratings and the haphazardness of the 52 (!) categories and even the misleading name since critical adulation is less important in the nominations than being perceived as Oscar-bound, you can't really call the CCMA's influential -- the only way to be influential is to have your own voice and personality and opinions and have others value those very things... or at least pay attention to it (which is why the Globes continue to matter much to the chagrin of many haters).

 Yes yes, many of the Critics Choice winners go on to win Oscars a month later... but honestly couldn't most people call a good percentage of the award winners in late January in the top categories if that's what they're trying to do? General frontrunners have always emerged by this point in the 'Big Eight' Categories.

THE WINNERS... 
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THE BIG EIGHT CATEGORIES
PICTURE Spotlight
ACTOR Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
ACTRESS Brie Larson – Room 
SUPPORTING ACTOR Sylvester Stallone – Creed
SUPPORTING ACTRESS Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
DIRECTOR George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Charles Randolph and Adam McKay – The Big Short

We can safely assume that 75% or more of these players will take home the Oscar in their correlative category. The most vulnerable might be George Miller (in the end it is still a hallucinatory gonzo sci-fi action movie so the win would have no precedent... which is fun!) and if you want to throw the dice Alicia Vikander -- though she is starting to feel lockish too. In fact the four acting frontrunners fit the template Oscar profiles perfectly; the Academy likes to reward beautiful female actors in their 20s or 30s for  "promising" talent and male actors in their 40s on up for longevity and respect earned over the years.

Yes there are numerous exceptions to these impulses but these are the defaults. 

THE EXTRA ACTING & CRAFT CATEGORIES - ONLY THE ACTING PRIZES WERE GIVEN OUT ONSCREEN

YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS Jacob Tremblay – Room
ACTING ENSEMBLE Spotlight 
CINEMATOGRAPHY The Revenant – Emmanuel Lubezki 
PRODUCTION DESIGN Mad Max: Fury Road – Colin Gibson
EDITING Mad Max: Fury Road – Margaret Sixel 
COSTUME DESIGN Mad Max: Fury Road – Jenny Beavan
HAIR & MAKEUP Mad Max: Fury Road
VISUAL EFFECTS Mad Max: Fury Road
SONG Furious 7 – See You Again 
SCORE The Hateful Eight – Ennio Morricone

Here's where it gets MORE interesting if you're thinking of Oscars. It seems unlikely that Oscar voters will drool quite as much on Mad Max (which won 9 prizes at the CCMAs) so some of the craft categories are very much up for grabs. Mad Max's production design and costumes in particular, while brilliant, seem like tougher sells to the Academy voters beyond the honor of the nomination but we'll see.

Trivia Note 1: If you remove the three extra "action" categories Mad Max won 6 Oscar-correlative prizes. If you win that many Oscars at the Oscars you win Best Picture. There are only four exceptions. Cabaret is the all time record holder for 'most wins without Best Picture' as it took home 8 golden boys (before losing to The Godfather). Runner up is Gravity which won 7. Tied for third place of Most Winning Without Actually Winning, with 6 Oscars each are  Star Wars (1977) and A Place in the Sun (1951). If you want to be nitpicky maybe Star Wars is tied with Gravity since it also won a special non-competitive Oscar. 

Trivia Note 2: if Lubezki does repeat at the Oscars he'll be the only cinematographer in movie history to have won 3 consecutive Oscars. 

OTHER FILM CATEGORIES SOME OF WHICH WERE INVENTED TO GET MORE CELEBRITIES ON STAGE ONLY TO HAVE TO HAND OUT MANY OF THEM OFF SCREEN

ACTION MOVIE Mad Max: Fury Road 
ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE Tom Hardy – Mad Max: Fury Road
ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road

COMEDY The Big Short 
ACTOR IN A COMEDY Christian Bale – The Big Short
ACTRESS IN A COMEDY Amy Schumer – Trainwreck 
 

ANIMATED FEATURE Inside Out 
SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE Ex Machina 
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Son of Saul
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE  Amy 

The CCMA's went with all the expected winners in these categories as if to remind us that 'these are the hot titles.'

TELEVISION

Carrie Coon wins for her astounding work on The Leftovers. She was a real treat to interview last year.

DRAMA SERIES Mr. Robot – USA
ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES Rami Malek – Mr. Robot – USA
ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES Carrie Coon – The Leftovers – HBO
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES Christian Slater – Mr. Robot – USA
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES Constance Zimmer – UnREAL – Lifetime
GUEST ACTOR/ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES Margo Martindale – The Good Wife – CBS 

COMEDY SERIES Master of None – Netflix
ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES Jeffrey Tambor – Transparent – Amazon
ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES Rachel Bloom – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – The CW
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES Andre Braugher – Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Fox
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES Mayim Bialik – The Big Bang Theory – CBS
GUEST ACTOR/ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES Timothy Olyphant – The Grinder – Fox

TV MOVIE / LIMITED SERIES Fargo – FX
ACTOR IN A TV MOVIE / LIMITED SERIES Idris Elba – Luther – BBC America 
ACTRESS IN A TV MOVIE / LIMITED SERIES Kirsten Dunst – Fargo – FX
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN TV MOVIE /LIMITED SERIES Jesse Plemons – Fargo – FX 
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN TV MOVIE/LIMITED SERIES Jean Smart – Fargo – FX

ANIMATION SERIES BoJack Horseman – Netflix
REALITY SHOW – COMPETITION The Voice – NBC
REALITY SHOW HOST James Lipton – Inside the Actors Studio – Bravo
STRUCTURED REALITY SHOW Shark Tank – ABC 
TALK SHOW Last Week Tonight with John Oliver – HBO
UNSTRUCTURED REALITY SHOW Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown – CNN

Kirsten Dunst kept hand-dancing whenever Fargo won (frequently)

The most interesting thing about television prizes Off-Emmy is that they rarely seem that interested in being "predictive"... which is so wonderful and healthy since prediction should have literally ZERO percent bearing in giving someone a prize for "Best" anything. (Unless the prediction is you're going to continue to be awesome and we don't have to worry that you'll make this prize look dumb in retrospect later on.) Why is this? Is this because the Emmys are actually too boring to care about predicting (with their tendency to give the same prizes to the same people and shows for years on end?) or is this because time tables are different so not everyone is voting with the same calendar and episodes in mind? 

At any rate it's wonderful to see the amazingly talented actors from mostly newish shows be rewarded for the lifeblood they're injecting into the TV landscape. Can any of the attention in the drama and comedy categories from wins here (and at the Globes with three repeats: Mr. Robot for Drama, Christian Slater for Supporting Actor Drama and Rachel Bloom for Actress Comedy) have an impact next summer with the Emmys who are super hard to budge in terms of shifting their nominee and winners even a smidgeon to account for great work and newbies?

Comments

[Glenn Dunks]

The movie side of these things just sounds like a clusterfuck of a disaster. Shameless shills without a brain of their own. You're so right about everything. Why give Schumer a special achievement award when she's gonna win her own category? Why bother with all of the extra categories if nobody is there to see them? And, truly, how absurd does the whole Star Wars thing feel now? Even more absurd.

I think the fact that seemingly a whole bunch of people weren't there - including even George Miller whose people no doubt told him any speech exposure would be great - speaks volumes.

Their TV side has always been great though so well done to them.

[Hayden W.]

I hope Winslet takes the SAG and BAFTA. I'm beginning to feel like she's the only person I can responsibly root for in Supporting Actress.

[LadyEdith]

All of these critics awards that don't take category fraud seriously, and on the movie side go to the same nominees/winners as the Oscars are really a mess.
How can critics dare to criticize the Academy and it's membership when their own rules are truly illogical and dysfunctional?
I mean no disrespect to Nathaniel who obviously recognizes the issues, but critics in general are hypocritical to criticize AMPAS for the same issues their own voting body perpetuates.
Looks like some reforms are needed - and not just at AMPAS.

The London Critics awards were last night and Guy Lodge even presented, his twitter feed seemed a little more interesting than this schmooze fest.
Too many award shows, how I wish I could just block these out until Oscar night. I'm making myself nostalgic for the old days.

[Bia]

Yeah, the TV awards are always most interesting, excluding SAG and Emmy -- they always are same same.

I think Rachel McAdams had a little audition up there to try and impress voters as the Spotlight rep, but she failed. Sadly. Reading off the paper, so nervous, and saying "um" too much. Alicia was far more poised and well thought out.

[Rami]

It's an exciting time to be on television right now isn't it ? It's such a golden era, I watch A LOT of stuff and even I can't keep up with everything. So happy for Dunst, I've always been a fan.

[adelutza]

The most ridiculous moment for me was when Mad Max won all those awards which were showed on the screen one after another before a commercial break. It felt like a big joke though they were all really competitive categories.

[Nick T]

Maybe the TV part is less predictive because now all the Emmy precursors are over six months away from the actual Emmys and predictions are useless so we might as well just give it to good shows since real buildup is mostly impossible. I do genuinely appreciate that the Emmys and TV awards in general seem less plagued by rewarding actors based primarily on narrative than the Oscars do. Everyone really seems to want to give it to Rami Malek purely for his work more than DiCaprio for his work, I think Rachel Bloom is the only actress to win both her awards between here and the Globes, it all feels more up in the air and in a good, exciting way, which is super great!

And I know they're both leads but if Oscar is giving Supporting Actress to Fraud I hope Mara gets it someone please stop Vikander

[Rami]

Nick totally agree, I like Vikander and she had a great year, but if fraud is rewarded might as well give it to Mara who is my third favourite performance of the year (after Rampling and Cate!)

[Philip H.]

I think a big reason why TV prizes are less predictive is for a few reasons... A) unlike Oscar season, the schedule is a lot more crazy and all over the place. With Oscar, you start with awards at the end of the year and it's all aboard the award train, with the final destination being Oscar. The Emmys are a lot more separate, especially because a lot of TV awards are given out with movie awards. B) with TV, people are less scared to go with a different choice because generally speaking there are more opportunities to give awards to the same people/characters/shows. With movies you never know if this person will be back in the conversation again. TV is like..."she'll literally be playing this same character next year."

With that said, this show is a huge mess lol but their TV nods/winners are so great.

[Ryan T.]

I said this last night on twitter, but man Jacob Tremblay is really gunning for a Star Wars role isn't he? It's like every time we see him it's... "ROOM IS AWESOME! BRIE IS AWESOME! STAR WARS IS AWESOME!" It's adorable and you never know.

Also yes those TV winners are FANTASTIC.

[Volvagia]

Ryan T.: I'm pulling for Batman v. Superman to fail just so he can act out the Robin origin, but if we actually wind up with "Star Wars: Jedi Academy" starring Jacob Tremblay? There are worse paths to try to maintain cinematic relevancy after a strong start. Isn't that right, Haley Joel "Secondhand Lions, Tusk, Entourage" Osment? (Look, I like Haley Joel Osment, but the only relevant thing he's done since A.I. is his ongoing lead role in the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise.)

[svg]

The only(?) group to give an award to FURIOSA.

Ride eternal, shiny and chrome BFCA!

[Ez]

I don't understand how Carol could win zilch at the Critics Awards when critics almost universally loved the film.

[Mareko]

Universally admired isn't the same thing as universally loved.