Critics Choice. Nominations for Everything Everywhere and for Everyone!

by Nathaniel R

The Critics Choice Award Nominations have been announced for the 2022 film and television year with Everything Everywhere All At Once (14 nods), The Fabelmans (11 nods), and Babylon (10 nods) leading the pack. (They said "long movies only!"). I have yet to meet any critics who were totally wild for Babylon though I do know one industry person that is. The CCA have not heard our moans and groans that if you nominate everything, nominations aren't that special or exciting. They've taken their mode of choosing one more than the Oscars or SAG or Guilds do in their categories (to help them with their predictions... sigh) and applied it even to the now ten wide field of Oscar's Best Picture race by choosing 11 titles. (double sigh).

Here are the nominations...

BEST PICTURE

• Avatar: The Way of Water
• Babylon
• Banshees of Inisherin
• Elvis
• Everything Everywhere All At Once
• The Fabelmans
• Glass Onion
• RRR
• TÁR
• Top Gun Maverick
• Women Talking

Somehow there are 11 nominees. Yikes. That is too many to take seriously other than as an attempt to sum up the Oscar race. (Some longer shot Best Picture possibilities that didn't land here are Triangle of Sadness, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Whale, A Man Called Otto, The Woman King, She Said, and Living... but none of them should give up hope yet since there's no overlap in voters and Oscar nomination balloting is a month away still (January 12th). Academy members are voting this week, but only on the specialty categories that have multiple rounds or "bake-offs". 

BEST DIRECTOR

• James Cameron, Avatar: The Way of Water
• Damien Chazelle, Babylon
• Martin McDonagh, Banshees of Inisherin
• Baz Luhrmann, Elvis
• Daniels, Everything Everywhere All At Once
• Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
• SS Rajamouli, RRR
• Todd Field, TÁR
• Sarah Polley, Women Talking

Same list as the too-wide Best Picture race except for booting Rian Johnson (Glass Onion) and Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun Maverick) in favor of Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King) since there are only 10 nominees here rather than 11. 

BEST ACTRESS

• Cate Blanchett, TÁR
• Viola Davis, The Woman King
• Danielle Deadwyler, Till
• Margot Robbie, Babylon
• Michelle Williams, The Fabelmans
• Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All At Once

There's never enough drama to these things when you do more nominations than Oscar eventually will. Like, who did the groups actually LOVE? Still, one supposes it is interesting that Olivia Colman Empire of Light is missing and horrible that with six spots there's no Emma Thompson in the mix for her genius in Good Luck To You Leo Grande. 

BEST ACTOR

• Austin Butler, Elvis
• Tom Cruis, Top Gun: Maverick
• Colin Farrell, Banshees of Inisherin
• Brendan Fraser, The Whale
• Paul Mescal, Aftersun
• Bill Nighy, Living

Bad news for Diego Calva and Jeremy Pope but then Oscar has trouble with younger leading men so they were always going to have trouble gaining traction and at least they're both up at the Golden Globes! The other  Globe nominee missing here is Hugh Jackman. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Jessie Buckley, Women Talking
• Kerry Condon, Banshees of Inisherin
• Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All At Once
• Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All At Once
• Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion

Passing over Dolly De Leon for Triangle of Sadness, who got in and the star-obsessed Globes despite not being famous, is not a good look.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Paul Dano, The Fabelmans
• Brendan Gleeson, Banshees of Inisherin
• Judd Hirsch, The Fabelmans
• Barry Keoghan, Banshees of Inisherin
• Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once
• Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway

Interesting that Ben Whishaw for Women Talking doesn't seem to be panning out (he also missed at the Globes)

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ ACTRESS

• Frankie Corio, Aftersun
• Jalyn Hall, Till
• Gabriel Labelle, The Fabelmans
• Bella Ramsey, Catherine Called Birdy
• Banks Repeta, Armageddon Time
• Sadie Sink, The Whale

Forgot to do our annual list of "who is eligible in this category" since it gets no pre-announcement press. Whoops. Nevertheless Critics Choice always goes for whoever was in the major movies here without thinking about the performances, per se. I mean how do you nominated Close for Best International Feature, for example, and NOT nominate its leading actor when so much of the movie is about looking at his face trying to process emotions (or not) that he cant' deal with? 

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

• Banshees of Inisherin
• Everything Everywhere
• The Fablemans
• Glass Onion
• Woman King
• Women Talking

Given that they gave individual nominations to all the principal players in both Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All At Once, this category feels redundant. 

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Aftersun
• Banshees of Inisherin
• Everything Everywhere
• The Fabelmans
• TÁR

Suddenly we're down to five nominees... what's the message there?

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Glass Onion
• Living
• She Said
• The Whale
• Women Talking

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• Avatar: The Way of Water
• Babylon
• Empire of Light
• The Fabelmans
• TÁR
• Top Gun Maverick

And we're back to six nominees.

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• Avatar The Way of Water
• Babylon
• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
• Elvis
• Everything Everywhere
• Fabelmans

EDITING

• Avatar: The Way of Water
• Babylon
• Elvis
• Everything Everywhere
• TÁR
• Top Gun Maverick

COSTUME DESIGN 

• Babylon
• Black Panther Wakanda Forever
• Elvis
• Everything Everywhere
• Glass Onion
• The Woman King

Really proud of CCA for once for thinking outside of the box a bit here and picking a contemporary film (Glass Onion). 

 MAKEUP AND HAIR

• Babylon
• The Batman
• Black Panther Wakanda Forever
• Elvis
• Everything Everywhere
• The Whale

VISUAL EFFECTS

• Avatar The Way of Water
• The Batman
• Black Panther Wakanda Forever
• Everything Everywhere
• RRR
• Top Gun Maverick

Black Panther Wakanda Forever's underwater visual vfx are looking extremely shoddy in retrospect given Avatar's arrival. We wonder if that might matter to the Oscar branch when they vote on these awards.

COMEDY

• The Banshees of Inisherin
• Bros
• Everything Everywhere
• Glass Onion
• Triangle of Sadness
• Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

And the first total surprise. Was not expecting to see Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent there. Thought it would be something more recent like The Menu. 

ANIMATED FEATURE

• Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
• Marcel the Shell with Shoes On
• Puss in Boots: the Last Wish
• Turning Red
• Wendell & Wild

Back down to five nominees. The Critics Choice nominations in this category should never be taken that seriously since they almost always ignore the international animated films. EFA nominee Little Nicholas and Globe nominee Inu-Oh are possibilities with Oscar still. 

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

• All Quiet on the Western Front
• Argentina 1985
• Bardo
• Close
• Decision to Leave
• RRR

And back up to six... it's like a see-saw with no rhyme or reason! RRR is not eligible for Best International Feature Film at the Oscars but sometimes not being eligible for that prize helps you in other Oscar races (see the Oscar fates of famous films like Talk to Her and Three Colors: Red for proof)

This list is the same as the Globes list plus Bardo... which is a very weird inclusion for a "critics" group given the somewhat harsh reviews the movie has received. It's also the six subtitled features with the highest profiles this year in the US. Oscar might get friskier since they require members to watch a certain percentage of the contenders before voting. So dont count out Pakistan's Joyland, Denmark's Holy Spider, and more...

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

• "Carolina" Where the Crawdads Sing
• "Ciao Papa" Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio
• "Hold My Hand" Top Gun Maverick
• "Lift Me Up" Black Panther Wakanda Forever
• "Naatu Naatu" RRR
• "New Body Rhumba" White Noise

This is the exact same list at the Globes plus "New Body Rhumba" which is a great choice and the best scene in White Noise. Expect Oscars list to be different because this group and the Globes are not good at predicting Oscar's taste in songs (though they do, sadly, try!)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

• Babylon
• The Batman
• The Fabelmans
• Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
• TÁR
• Women Talking

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THESE NOMINATIONS? ANY QUICK OBSERVATIONS? 

Comments

[DAVID S]

Another big score for Angela Bassett. Make it happen, Oscar!

[Michael R]

Ugh. This organization needs a major overhaul. I wonder how many "ties" there'll be this year?

[eurocheese]

The biggest surprise to me is Claire Foy missing, though I'm thrilled both EEAAO supporting ladies made it. I'd love to see them both make the Oscars.

I had a feeling about Ben Whishaw, who is playing the most sensitive character in Women Talking. The male-heavy voting bodies are undervaluing Women Talking in general, though I am hoping it still makes BP, Screenplay, Score and pulls at least one acting nomination. (I was never sure on Polley in Director, either.)

[Michael R]

Is Bassett actually happening? Over so many much more deserving performances?! Too bad.

[jules]

What Michael said. 10 nominees for Director is a joke.

I'm sad that Nina Hoss seems to be getting squeezed out of the awards race. I think she's one of the world's great actresses.

[DK]

I can't imagine how you could see TAR — love it enough to give it Picture/Director/Actress/Screenplay/Editing nominations — and fail to put Hoss ahead of some of these other actresses. Just doesn't make sense.

[Wae Mest]

Or how you could see ARMAGEDDON TIME and fail to put Anthony Hopkins way way way at the top of your supporting actor list. What happened there, darlings?

[Yavor]

As wonderful as Nina Hoss is, there's not enough juice to her character to warrant a Supporting Actress nomination. Apart from taking the child away from Lydia at the very end of the movie, Sharon is mostly just standing there.

Noémie Merlant's Francesca on the other hand? Yes, that's totally Oscar nomination worthy. Francesca has meatier scenes and the character is a major catalyst for Lydia's downfall.

[Peggy Sue]

I feel dirty after reading anything related to this group.

[Mr Ripley79]

Will all the naysayers who thought Curtis only stood an outside chance clearly see she's coming for the Oscar.

Is Bassett really Oscar worthy,can someone who has seen the film explain what she does in the sequel,I am intrigued as I think she's been undervalued until AHS brought her back then the BPanther stuff.

Could Mescal make it or is Cruise too strong,BP heat helps.

I think Jackman was a Globes thing.

I cannot see 4 men from 2 different films being nominated so I think Keoghan who is less well known in Hollywood than Judd and Paul will come up empty handed leaving room for Pitt to sneak in.

Truly hope it will be Henry who gets in though he's so good in Causeway.

Cate,Margot,Danielle and the 2 Michelle's should start picking a dress or pant suit for the big night.

[Richter Scale]

"Given that they gave individual nominations to all the principal players in both Banshees of Inisherin and Everything Everywhere All At Once, this category feels redundant."

That's funny, I don't see an individual nomination for James Hong (which leads me to wonder, whatever happened with James Hong's campaign?)...

[Score and Cinematography]

Thrilled for Paul Mescal and Aftersun screenplay. Would love if they Oscared.

Also happy for Bros in comedy and Polley in director.

Sad for my donkey EO.

[Gallavich]

No good news for my loved Nope. If I don't see it appear in the sound category at the Oscars it will be a rigga Morris big as the missed nomination for Lupita in US.

[Gallavich]

@Yavor-realize that you spoiled big

[Mr Ripley79]

Can people not give away major plot points in their posts,a lot of us haven't seen the big films and now Tar's ending has been totally spoiled.

[Chris]

My theory on the 10 Director Lineup is that the original 6 (the number they had last year) were all men, so they did a last minute expansion in order to avoid the bad press.

[Amy Camus]

Spoiler Alerts are strictly for 3rd rate minds

[Wae Mest]

LOL what? The downfall of the titular character is literally the plot of TAR, it's not spoiling anything honey.

[Mr Ripley79]

Wae Mest yet it is if you no nothing about the film other than Blanchetts is a composer who has downfall,I had no knowledge of a bay in the plot or that it plays into the ending.

Amy what a juvenile thing to say.

[Lucky]

I don't think Judd Hirsch is happening. I'd say he's this year's Bradley Cooper (in Licorice Pizza).

Also, beware of spoilers, guys. Not all of us live in territories where the films have screened. I'd ask you Nathaniel if you could help us avoid this situation, there's already too many spoilers floating around :)

[Joe G.]

@MrRipley79, I think Angela Bassett is fine to good in the film. She gets some big monologues that really highlight just how regal she is, all showing how much pain her character is in. I think she also is given a decent amount to do (for this type of role in this type of film) and all of it plays to her strengths. Most of all, I think she's sort of the audience surrogate reminding us of what a loss T'Challa, and truly Boseman, is for her character, but also for the franchise. She does a good job channeling her pain as a mother into a sort of royal fury. There's a real weight to her performance, and I don't think the emotional journey the lead is on would work without her.

I'm not sure she an actually happen though. While I can see SAG going for her, I do think the biggest challenge for her will be the fact that she's the only non-tech contender for her film. It will just make it harder for her to get in. I also think that she's benefiting from a lot of pre-Avatar buzz. Once that comes out, I think it's going to overwhelm the conversation about other action/genre films. But, I'd love to see her nominated again. It has been way too long, though I'm not sure I'd nominate her (still haven't see Women talking,and I loved the supporting ladies of Women King).

[Jans]

It's a shame that everyone forgot Emma Thompson gave a brilliant performance tis year for a small movie that went nowhere. Of course I'm happy Cate will probably win her 3rd Oscar but Emma should at least be in the conversation. Just my thought....

[G.Shaq]

Sorry but in what alternate universe is EEAAO a comedy? (Haha, get it?)
No but seriously.

[Mr Ripley79]

JoeG thankyou and no plot points given away.

[jules]

If a Supporting Actor from the Fabelmans is nominated, I hope it is Paul Dano. He gave my favorite performance in the film. Playing a straight-laced, studious patriarch is actually a departure for him - he's played so many villains and misanthropes. And he's past due for his first nomination.

[Nate]

Honestly, I can't take the CCA seriously anymore. Since that decision to include The Force Awakens in the Best Picture line-up after the nominations were announced, it's been downhill only for them. The Globes look much more interesting and in-control of what they are doing, despite all of their issues.

[Score and Cinematography]

With most acting nominations coming from best pic contenders and Banshees, Fabelmans and EEAAO being major contenders, I wouldn’t be surprised if supporting actor were 2, 2 and 1 from these films.

[Fabio Dantas Flappers]

Really, who care about Critics Choice?
They're completely nonsense.