The now four-time host for the just concluded 31st Annual Critics Choice Awards, Chelsea Handler might have meant her opening monologue line as a joke, but it certainly has a ring of truth to it. “This is the first awards show of the season so we are going to kick things off with the right vibes, ” Handler told the very starry packed-to-the-rafters of the Barker Hangar at Santa Monica Airport Sunday night. “You guys are all going to be spending the next three months together so whoever wins tonight get used to seeing them win, and whoever doesn’t win Quentin Tarantino will come up here and tell you what you did wrong.”
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The part about “get used to seeing them win” has the ring of truth based on my experiences covering numerous awards seasons over the decades. There can be a clinging hope of changing fortunes as the season rolls along for those who keep losing precursor awards to the same people, but for some eventual Oscar winners the dye can be cast right from the first of many of these ceremonies since other voting groups including the all-important industry awards sometimes follow right in unison. Everyone loves the smell of a winner and getting to go on stage and give inspiational acceptances can really build momentum.
Kicking off the actual televised awards-giving portion of the loooooong season that won’t end until March 15 at the Dolby Theatre, this is the first time in my memory the Critics Choice Awards voted on by some 500+ critics and film and tv writers/reporters (FULL DISCLOSURE: I am President of the Film Branch of CCA and vote in both movie and tv ballots), has actually been the lead horse, but this organization has traditionally been a reliable bellwether in crowning eventual Oscar winners no matter where it has landed on the calendar. Last year the Best Picture victory of Anora at the fires-delayed CCA ceremony, followed the next night by both key PGA and DGA victories, sealed the deal for that movie just as final Oscar voting was about to start. CCA also correctly forcast three of the four Oscar acting winners too. Past years have a consistent track record.
If tradition holds up we may be able to look back and say this was not just a good night, but a very prescient one, for Timorthee Chalamet (Marty Supreme), Jessie Buckley (Hamnet), Amy Madigan (Weapons) , and Jacob Elordi (Frankenstein). This quartet managed the neat trick of scoring key acting triumphs in four different movies, none of which were the Best Picture winner. That honor went to Paul Thomas Anderson’s juggernaut, One Battle After Another which has a perfect track record on the critics circuit so far this year by always coming up at the end and being named Best Picture. Every single time. That has now happened at the Gothams, LA, NY, London, Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco Film Critics, countless other regional groups, National Board Of Review, and now this weekend at both the National Society of Film Critics and Critics Choice Awards.
This kind of run is quite rare these days and can have a strong effect on Oscar voters, no question about it. And it is not as if the industry has to be convinced about Anderson’s film. It has been rapturously received wherever it has screened around town starting with its turnaway official Academy screening in September. Plus Anderson is considered way overdue with 11 previous Oscar nominations including three for Best Picture. We had to wait until the end of the three hour CCA show for its three victories including Adapted Screenplay and Director, but it is now clear OBAA is the one to beat, putting it in prime position as all the guild nominations begin unspooling including SAG on Wednesday, and then DGA, PGA, WGA, BAFTA, Oscars etc in the next three weeks.
What was refreshing though about the CCA show was the way it spread the love around . OBAA had 14 nominations but only those three (albeit key) wins. Sinners had 17 nominations and led with 11-time nominated Frankenstein with four each. The lead acting wins for Chalamet and Buckley (whose acceptance was especially good and makes me look forward to the next twelve times she has to give one) weren’t surprising, and veteran Madigan’s popular Supporting Actress win was something you could feel might happen. She was a charmer. Many might have been surpised at Elordi’s Supporting Actor triumph as the Creature in Frankenstein but voters clearly recognized the degree of difficulty and this is a major boost for his Oscar nomination chances eight days before that balloting begins in the uber competitive Supporting Actor category. I sat at the front Netflix table with the Frankenstein group and Elordi who was enthusiastically standing (at 6’6 he can’t be missed in the room) and cheering on everyone including his young Wuthering Heights co-star Owen Cooper who followed his Emmy win with another here for Adolescence. When the artisans behind the hair and makeup , as well as production design of Frankenstein were all also announced as winners, they came over from Table 58 and the group hugs were palpable. I also noticed during commercial breaks the inevitable seat fillers would come and sit at the empty chairs at the table with Elordi affably engaging in conversation with all of them. Nice guy .
With Sound and Editing wins for F1, that Apple Original Films production looks to follow in the Oscar trajectory of one of its inspirations, 1966’s Grand Prix, another racing classic that earned three Oscars for its Sound and Editing. And with Song and Animated Feature for KPOP: Demon Hunters, plus Cinematorgraphy for the gorgeous Train Dreams you could easily see those two Netflix films doing the same thing at the Oscars. CCA just annointed them front runner status in those categories in a night that was very big for the streamer when you also consider the four wins for Frankenstein, as well as a sweep in the Limited Series TV categories for Adolescence. And hey, throw in those big Warner Bros wins for OBAA and Sinners, and well…. Okay maybe we are getting ahead of ourselves I guess.
And speaking of Adolescence the Critics Choice Awards, like the Globes and SAG also mix up film and TV. This year it was clear that it was the Emmys that made a major impact on CCA voters with not just Adolescence sweeping up four wins, but also Apple’s The Studio with three, and HBO Max’s The Pitt also with three. Though CCA nominated a lot of fresh shows like Alien: Earth, Chief Of War, Death By Lightning, Landman, Murderbot, Task, The Beast In Me, The Girlfriend, and other acclaimed newbies, it stuck with the tried and Emmy-true for the most part (and that includes Jean Smart again for Hacks).
Only Sarah Snook’s Lead Actress win in the Peacock limited series All Her Fault, and Rhea Seehorn’s well-deserved win for Lead Actress in the freshman Apple series, Pluribus waved the flag for newer entries, although it was nice to see perrenial nominee Janelle James finally take the prize on her fourth go round in Abbott Elementary. I also loved (and voted for) Jimmy Kimmel’s talk show win and his thank you to Donald Trump for making it possible.
But like Handler said, this is just the first big show of the season, with so many more to go, including the Golden Globes next weekend (and SAG and DGA nominations plus the AFI Awards Lunch and Movies For Grownups Awards show before we get to even that). Momentum is everything so let’s see where we are a week from now.