"Conclave" and "Wicked" Lead with Critics Choice Nods
Thursday, December 12, 2024 at 8:25PM
NATHANIEL R in A Complete Unknown, Anora, Conclave, Critics Choice Awards, Emilia Perez, Oscars (24), The Brutalist, The Substance, Wicked

by Nathaniel R

The Critics Choice, hot on the tail of the Golden Globe nominations, have weighed in on the cinematic year choosing the Pope-selection thriller Conclave and the first half of Wicked based on both the Broadway phenomenon and the lengthier best seller that inspired it as the "most" awards worthy title. They each amassed 11 nominations. [Full disclosure: I remain a member but trust that my ballots are not generally reflected in the consensus which always feel -- at least to me -- closer to Oscar predictions than passion ballots.]

BEST PICTURE... 

 

 

Nine of the ten choices were also nominated at the Globes for Best Picture - the lone film to miss with the Globes but hit here was Sing Sing. The Globe nominees for Best Picture that aren't present in the CCA list: September 5, Challengers, and A Real Pain

There's still at least a little bit of a race for that top ten with Oscar voters. 

BEST ACTOR 

 

With the exception of Hugh Grant in Heretic  this is exactly the Golden Globe Best Actor Drama list (Grant was the only member of the Globe nominees for Best Actor, Comedy to make it, replacing Sebastian Stan who was nominated at the Globes in both the Drama (Apprentice) and Comedy (Different Man) categories. 

In such a thin year for Best Actor it's looking pretty certain that the Oscar lineup will be Brody, Chalamet, Craig, Domingo, and Fiennes. It's a shame that the decision makers in A Real Pain's campaign didn't face facts that that's a two lead film since Kieran Culkin would have still been nominated. I really believe this in my heart. 

 

 

BEST ACTRESS 

 

In an interesting twist of the usual outcome, this category more closely resembles the Golden Globe Best Actress Comedy or Musical category than it does the drama category. Eric suggested in the Globes post that this year's Oscar list might skew in this very direction and here we have the first suggestion that he's probably right. This list is bad news for Amy Adams and Saoirse Ronan who continue to lose heat in this race (despite being awards favourites in general)

Marianne Jean Baptiste is the only nominee who wasn't nominated at the Golden Globes.

Is this lineup bad news for Nicole Kidman in Babygirl? Or is it that we vote so early? I realize that Babygirl hit festivals but on the CCA screening app it wasn't featured (all of these nominees were). I certainly wanted to see her work before voting. Since both the Globes and the CCA feature more nominees than Oscar we can't say anything is certain quite yet about who might be dropped (or added) in January. 

 

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR 

 

While Kieran Culkin is sweeping this category (sigh) it's at least a small comfort that most of the other people with buzz are actually in supporting roles. 

 

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS 

 

...the  same cannot be said of Supporting Actress where four of the six nominees could easily be argued to be leads. For the record I did not vote for any of these women since I staunchly do.not.fuck with category fraud no matter how much I love a performance.  I voted for Juliette Lewis in The Thicket, Joan Chen in Didi, and... I forget who the third* was, it's been a long day. But also this year feels curiously thin on strong supporting roles for women (which all would have been ignored anyway given the plethora of leads campaigning here.

* for the record we're only allowed 3 nominees per category for our individual ballots.

 

 

BEST YOUNG ACTOR / ACTRESS 

 

 

A decent list if not consistently strong across the shortlist. I will vote for either Izaac Wang or Zoe Zeigler in the end (both were on my submitted ballot). Blitz is really tanking with awards voters which is  a shame because in the craft categories at least it's quite worthy. 

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE 

 

 

As the only real precursor to the SAG Awards list in this category, it'll be interesting to see which of these films make it there: Anora, Conclave, and Emilia Perez feel certain but you never know with SAG (remember when The Post missed?). Will they be moved by the inmates playing themselves in Sing Sing? Will they select Saturday Night's bevy of quick portraits even though that film seems to have lost all Best Picture heat? Will they go for September 5 even though the Critics Choice group passed? 

Of these nominees, Wicked is by far the laziest possible vote since the only award-worthy performances come from Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande who would of course be amply covered in the individual acting categories.  I love Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum, Bowen Yang, and Jonathan Bailey (❤️) as celebrity actors as much as the next person -- i really do -- but arguing that these performances are awards worthy is really pushing it just because the film is enjoyable. It wouldn't even make my top 15 for Best Ensemble and I am a fan of it! 

 Dune Part Two, The Brutalist, September 5, Queer, and even Challengers (which would have flatlined without its delicious three-way chemistry) were right there for the taking without even having to stray past the buzzy titles that this group was already watching. 

BEST DIRECTOR 

 

With 8 nominees... well, whatever.

 

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY 

 

 

 September 5 was not embraced by the CCAs so it's inclusion here is noteworthy. 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY 

 

 

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 

 

 

 I included Vermiglio in my ballot because Jesus Christ that movie is beautiful. And Russian DP Mikhail Krichman is very underrated as DPs go. I hope more international auteurs start begging to work with him; they should.

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN 

 

 

I knew it had no prayer of getting nominated but I voted for Problemista in this category. Not sure I understand the minimalist Conclave inclusion or its polar opposite in the hodgepodge of anything-goes spectacle  for Gladiator II. 

Given that the CCAs loved The Substance, it's weird to not see it penetrate this category since its production design is easily one of its most successful elements 

BEST EDITING 

 

Even though Dune didn't have to do much to stay in the conversation (given that it's a sequel to a major awards player) it's nice to see one other early release still being thought of in these year-end races. In other words: glad to see Challengers pop up. 

 

 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN 

 

 

I'm starting to think what we need more than all of these 6-8 nominees awards categories from so many groups is a split between contemporary work and everything else, since contemporary work so rarely has a prayer in a lot of craft categories no matter how excellent the work is. Remember when Room couldn't get arrested for Production Design in its year despite its ingenious design to make that film work. And every year we see very well designed character specific costuming go unrewarded if it's in a contemporary film. I'm not saying they'll make my lineup (i have so many films yet to see) or that I haven't also gone all period or fantasy in this category in the majority of years but it'd be nice for people to acknowledge contemporary work more often. 

So in short I want to shout out Anora's Jocelyn Pierce, Problemista's Catherine George, Challengers' J W Anderson, The Fall Guy's Sarah Evelyn, Love Lies Bleeding's Olga Mills, and The Room Next Door's Bina Daigeler for interesting or spot-on character work this year in contemporary costumes. 

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP 

 

 

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS 

 

 

 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

 

 

 Nice list. 

BEST COMEDY 

 

 

Glad to see Thelma :)  

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM 

 

 

This category tends to be volatile in precursors which is just how we like (all) categories to be. But this year there appears to be some consensus. Four of the films crossover with the Globe choices: All We Imagine As Light (not eligible for the corresponding category at the Oscars), Emilia Perez,  I'm Still Here, and Seed of the Sacred Fig. 

Globe nominees The Girl with the Needle (Denmark) and Vermiglio (Italy) still feel very likely as competition given that we don't yet know the makeup of Oscar's 15-wide finalist list. 

BEST SONG 

 

 

I'm happy for "Beautiful That Way". Good song. But I'm bummed that Blitz's "Winter Coat" which actually gets a whole scene to itself (unlike so many song nominees that feel superfluous to their movies even when they happen to be good songs) doesn't have a ton of buzz. 

BEST SCORE 

 

What are your  favourite and least favourite among these nominees? 

 

Article originally appeared on The Film Experience (http://thefilmexperience.net/).
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