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…
- A Complete Unknown
- Anora
- The Brutalist
- Conclave
- Dune: Part Two
- Emilia Pérez
- Nickel Boys
- Sing Sing
- The Substance
- Wicked
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
- Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
- Timothée Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
- Daniel Craig – Queer
- Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
- Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
- Hugh Grant – Heretic
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
- Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
- Karla Sofía Gascón – Emilia Pérez
- Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
- Angelina Jolie – Maria
- Mikey Madison – Anora
- Demi Moore – The Substance
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
- Yura Borisov – Anora
- Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
- Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
- Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
- Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
- Denzel Washington – Gladiator II
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
- Danielle Deadwyler – The Piano Lesson
- Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor – Nickel Boys
- Ariana Grande – Wicked
- Margaret Qualley – The Substance
- Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
- Zoe Saldaña – Emilia Pérez
…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
- Alyla Browne – Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
- Elliott Heffernan – Blitz
- Maisy Stella – My Old Ass
- Izaac Wang – Didi
- Alisha Weir – Abigail
- Zoe Ziegler – Janet Planet
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
- Anora
- Conclave
- Emilia Pérez
- Saturday Night
- Sing Sing
- Wicked
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
- Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
- Sean Baker – Anora
- Edward Berger – Conclave
- Brady Corbet – The Brutalist
- Jon M. Chu – Wicked
- Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
- RaMell Ross – Nickel Boys
- Denis Villeneuve – Dune: Part Two
With 8 nominees… well, whatever.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- Sean Baker – Anora
- Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, Alex David – September 5
- Brady Corbet, Mona Fastvold – The Brutalist
- Jesse Eisenberg – A Real Pain
- Coralie Fargeat – The Substance
- Justin Kuritzkes – Challengers
September 5 was not embraced by the CCAs so it’s inclusion here is noteworthy.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- Jacques Audiard – Emilia Pérez
- Winnie Holzman, Dana Fox – Wicked
- Greg Kwedar, Clint Bentley – Sing Sing
- RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes – Nickel Boys
- Peter Straughan – Conclave
- Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts – Dune: Part Two
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Jarin Blaschke – Nosferatu
- Alice Brooks – Wicked
- Lol Crawley – The Brutalist
- Stéphane Fontaine – Conclave
- Greig Fraser – Dune: Part Two
- Jomo Fray – Nickel Boys
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
- The Brutalist
- Wicked
- Conclave
- Nosferatu
- Gladiator II
- Dune: Part Two
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
- Sean Baker – Anora
- Marco Costa – Challengers
- Nick Emerson – Conclave
- David Jancso – The Brutalist
- Joe Walker – Dune: Part Two
- Hansjörg Weißbrich – September 5
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
- Lisy Christl – Conclave
- Linda Muir – Nosferatu
- Massimo Cantini Parrini – Maria
- Paul Tazewell – Wicked
- Jacqueline West – Dune: Part Two
- Janty Yates, Dave Crossman – Gladiator II
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
- Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
- Dune: Part Two
- The Substance
- Wicked
- Nosferatu
- A Different Man
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
- Gladiator II
- Wicked
- Dune: Part Two
- Better Man
- The Substance
- Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
- Flow
- Inside Out 2
- Memoir of a Snail
- Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
- The Wild Robot
Nice list.
BEST COMEDY
- A Real Pain
- Deadpool & Wolverine
- Hit Man
- My Old Ass
- Saturday Night
- Thelma
Glad to see Thelma 
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
- All We Imagine as Light
- Emilia Pérez
- Flow
- I’m Still Here
- Kneecap
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig
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
- “Beautiful That Way” – The Last Showgirl – Miley Cyrus
- “Compress / Repress” – Challengers – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross
- “El Mal” – Emilia Pérez – Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Camille
- “Harper and Will Go West” – Will & Harper – Kristen Wiig
- “Kiss the Sky” – The Wild Robot – Maren Morris
- “Mi Camino” – Emilia Pérez – Selena Gomez
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
- Volker Bertelmann – Conclave
- Daniel Blumberg – The Brutalist
- Kris Bowers – The Wild Robot
- Clément Ducol & Camille – Emilia Pérez
- Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross – Challengers
- Hans Zimmer – Dune: Part Two
What are your favourite and least favourite among these nominees?
