Split Decisions at the Critics Choice Awards
Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 10:21AM
NATHANIEL R in Amy Madigan, Critics Choice Awards, Frankenstein, Jacob Elordi, Jessie Buckley, Miles Caton, One Battle After Another, Oscars (25), P.T. Anderson, Sinners, precursors

by Nathaniel R

ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER takes Best Picture. It's finally Paul Thomas Anderson's trophy time.

While Sinners led the nominations by a comfortable margin there wasn't a clear "favourite" to emerge at the the Critics Choice Awards this past Sunday night. Three films dominated with One Battle After Another taking Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay, Sinners winning Original Screenplay, Young Actor, Casting, and Score, and Frankenstein taking Supporting Actor (Jacob Elordi), Costume Design, Production Design, and Hair and Makeup. Three to four awards is nothing to complain about but they all lost some key races, too. As we move on to the Golden Globes (Sunday) and the SAG Awards it remains to be seen if any one film will become a threat for a mini-sweep at the Oscars, or if it will be more of a spread the wealth kind of year like this. 

After the jump the full list of winners and a few comments... 

BEST PICTURE 

The deflating support for Wicked is highly noticeable and leads me to believe it might have a rough showing on Oscar nomination morning. Jay Kelly always felt like a precursor placeholder for something with more passionate support as voters familiarized themselves with the contenders. (Unfortunately awards voters do wait for the last minute -- we'd be so much better off if they were all insatiable moviegoers year round!). That said I don't put too much stock in Sentimental Value or  Bugonia winning nothing... funny how that works right? Perception is everything but it's also only in the eye of the beholder. All four have a strong (Sentimental Value) to decent shot (the other three) at Oscar's Best Picture list but surely at least one or two of them will fall away. But which of the following replace them: The Secret Agent, It Was Just An Accident, F1 or something much more surprising?

BEST ACTOR

Timothee Chalamet is gaining momentum in the Oscar Best Actor race. It ALWAYS helps to be a major contender in successive years... it starts to feel like it's "your time" even if the voting bodies of awards shows wouldn't necessarily go there otherwise. But in the grand scheme of things Timothee is still awfully young for Oscar voters in their parallel but more exclusive lead male category. If he does win in March he'll be the second youngest winner ever. 

BEST ACTRESS  

Now that the televised awards have begun we assume that Jessie Buckley will prove a sweeper, even if Rose Byrne remains her only threat to "critical darling" status. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

I'll be curious to see if Elordi can manage an Oscar nomination. On the one hand he's way too young and pretty for Oscar voters to take seriously but on the other hand he is buried in transformative 'de-glam' makeup (Actor division) and people sure do love Frankenstein and he is so much better than the movie housing him that it would make a lot of sense. As for wins, we still think Skarsgard is a major threat for the actual Oscar though. I personally voted for Del Toro as he's easily the most "actually supporting" performance in this lineup. My choice was made for me in that way but thankfully Del Toro also happens to be perfect / inspired in that movie.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

 

In the arguably most surprising win of the night, Madigan triumphed over presumed Oscar frontrunner Teyana Taylor for her instantly iconic horror villain "Aunt Gladys" in Weapons.  I voted for her but I definitely did not expect her to win and I still really worry that she could be  the shameful snub on Oscar nomination morning. I suppose the real question is how well liked / connected she is to Oscar's acting branch members. Will they be eager to celebrate the comeback or forget to vote for her because they're only thinking about the Best Picture contenders? We've seen the latter happen before unfortunately.

BEST YOUNG ACTOR / ACTRESS

 

This is not a knock against Caton but I hate that Critics Choice lets adults compete with children in this category because if feels so imbalanced. Plus whenever an adult is in the lineup they have an easy path to a  win. 

 

BEST DIRECTOR

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY  

I voted for Sentimental Value here but it went home empty-handed. 

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY 

  

One of the weirdest things about awards is how auteurs can go years without winning anything and then suddenly win multiple prizes for a single film. We saw that happen last year when Sean Baker was buried in trophies.  PTA could win three Oscars on a single night in March, despite being worthy many times previously.

 

BEST CASTING AND ENSEMBLE

This felt like a toss up between Sinners and One Battle but Francine Maisler is a very famous casting director (relatively speaking since people wouildn't recognize casting directors on the street) so that may have tipped the scale. 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Another thing I voted for that I thought didn't have a chance at the win. Happy to be wrong! 

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

 

I deeply wish that I had actually loved Frankenstein because its dominance in my fav non-actress categories (The eye candy prizes) is going to depress me all season. Hamnet, The Fantastic Four, and Marty Supreme would all have made excellent worthier winners if you ask me. 

BEST EDITING

We've long suspected that F1 would score in a couple of craft categories in awards season. The question is whether or not it's competitive in more than Sound and Editing.

 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Hawley's costumes are a lot of fun so this is the Frankenstein win I like the most.

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP

 

Well, wait. This is also a solid win for Frankenstein. If it must win multiple future Oscars let that only be in Costumes & Makeup. 

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

An easy call given how James Cameron films always rule in this category with their boundary pushing tech.

BEST STUNT DESIGN   

Meh. If it's the Best Stunt Design why is this the least thrilling entry in that long-running franchise? 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE  

 

The frontrunner for the Oscar but I think it would be more vulnerable if any of the others had demonstrated more mass appeal. Doesn't it skew a little too something for how they usually vote?

 

BEST COMEDY   

I voted for Eternity but The Naked Gun is a fun movie and we deserve more proudly and purposefully stupid (as opposed to just stupid) comedies. 

 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Not a surprising win but I so badly do not want No Other Choice to leave the film award season empty-handed. 

BEST SONG  

 

I still think "I Lied To You" might take the actual Oscar. 

BEST SCORE  

As expected and given that it's almost a musical and there's no category for that kind of score, not underserved.

BEST SOUND   

I was hoping (though I knew it was a pipe dream) for a surprise win from Sirāt

TELEVISION

BEST DRAMA SERIES .

 

Such a great show... and I say that as someone who has previously been allergic to hospital dramas and who thought I would see what the fuss is about and determine that it wasn't for me. [Cut to: 15 hours later].

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Wonderful choice.

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Wonderful choice.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Wonderful choice.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES 

Wonderful choice. 

BEST COMEDY SERIES

While I like this show and it's right in the wheelhouse of entertainment critics, I personally prefer Nobody Wants This. 

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Smart is the new Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She's just going to keep winning until the show is off the air (sigh). She is phenomenal on the show but I think anything over three prizes for the same character is insane (and I have always thought so, no matter who it was.)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES 

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

 

BEST LIMITED SERIES

It feels like Adolescence will still be winning awards 10 years from now... awards season stretches out for so long with television series since the time tables are sometimes different. 

BEST MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION

 

BEST ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION

BEST ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Justice for Michelle Williams who is utterly transcendent in Dying for Sex. Unfortunately she is exactly the type of always-terrific actors that awards bodies tend to admire more than they want to see holding statues (see also Annette Bening and Glenn Close and other greats throughout history). 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE SERIES

BEST ANIMATED SERIES

Clearly a case of politic discourse outside of the actual show boosting you to the podium.

BEST TALK SHOW 

Same.

BEST VARIETY SERIES

BEST COMEDY SPECIAL 

The End.

 

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