Alex Carlson
Film critics from across the country have been showing their hands with their annual lists of awards. Critics Circles, Societies, and Associations from Los Angeles to New York and North Texas to Indiana have doled out their top prizes to a few select films that have emerged as Oscar frontrunners. Tonight Critics from all corners of the country come together to award 2010 films in the 16th Annual Broadcast Film Critics Association Critics Choice Awards. The ceremony represents the kick-off to the televised film Awards season which will soon include the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards and eventually the Oscars.
It would seem that predicting the Critics Choice Awards would be a rather simple endeavor, considering we’ve already heard from so many critics groups and some clear favorites have emerged. However, there is always room for spoilers and ceremonies of the past have proven to be quite unpredictable. This year there seem to be a few films that have emerged as “critical darlings” and those are likely the films we will see feted tonight.
Despite the fact that Black Swan earned the most Critics Choice nominations, there is another film that has emerged as a clear favorite for Best Picture. David Fincher’s The Social Network has won 24 awards from Critics Groups and has the highest Metacritic score of any 2010 film. That makes it seem like an obvious choice for Best Picture and while Darren Aronofsky has gotten a lot of attention in the precursors, I’m predicting David Fincher for the Best Director win. Any other choice in those two major categories would be nothing short of a major upset that could change the direction of the Oscar race.
In the acting categories it seems there is always one pick in these Awards that does no represent the current frontrunner and last year it was this night that first indicated that Sandra Bullock was emerging as an Oscar contender. This year I am choosing safe picks for Actor and Actress, going with Colin Firth and Natalie Portman respectively, but in the Supporting Categories I will take a slight risk. I contemplated choosing somebody other than The Fighter‘s Christian Bale for the Supporting Actor category, but his complete precursor dominance forced me to chicken out and instead I am voting against his co-star, Melissa Leo. Leo seems to be the favorite with a lot of early Awards attention, but my pick is going to Jackie Weaver of Animal Kingdom. Weaver’s film seems to have a lot of momentum right now and she should be able to top Leo and her other competitor Hailee Steinfeld, who has the Young Actor/Actress category wrapped up.
Since Black Swan was the favorite for nominations, I don’t expect it to go home empty-handed (beyond Portman). I have predicted it for major technical categories like Cinematography and Art Direction. Inception has the Visual and Sound Effects categories in the bag and it is likely to top all competition for the Best Action Film award. There weren’t really any comedies this year that stuck out for critics in a major way with all six of their nominees ranging from a 56 to 74 Metacritic score. The most critically well-received of the group was Cyrus, but it was not a commercial success like the usual winners in this category. My out-on-a-limb selection goes for the dumb Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg comedy The Other Guys, because it will be like a consolation prize for Wahlberg, who won’t win for The Fighter.
The rest of the predictions are available below. Feel free to share yours in the comments and check back after the ceremony and see the actual winners. The ceremony will be broadcast live tonight on VH1.
Broadcast Film Critics Association
16th Annual Critics Choice Awards
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Predicted Winners BEST PICTURE BEST ACTOR BEST ACTRESS BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE BEST DIRECTOR BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY BEST ART DIRECTION BEST EDITING BEST COSTUME DESIGN BEST MAKEUP BEST VISUAL EFFECTS BEST SOUND BEST ANIMATED FEATURE BEST ACTION MOVIE BEST COMEDY BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE BEST SONG BEST SCORE |
Actual Winners BEST PICTURE BEST ACTOR BEST ACTRESS BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE BEST DIRECTOR BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY BEST ART DIRECTION BEST EDITING BEST COSTUME DESIGN BEST MAKEUP BEST VISUAL EFFECTS BEST SOUND BEST ANIMATED FEATURE BEST ACTION MOVIE BEST COMEDY BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE BEST SONG BEST SCORE |
My Score: 15/25
Friday, January 14, 2011 at 6:49 pm
You can see my predictions on my blog, they’re pretty much the same as yours except for a few.
Friday, January 14, 2011 at 11:16 pm
My predictions for the Oscars are on my website and from watching this I’ll have to change a few.
Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 5:18 am
I wonder if Inception will win the most Oscars,
without winning any of the major ones.
That would have to be some sort of record or something…
Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 5:24 am
15/25…
Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 11:11 am
I was 19/25
I got Documentary, Score, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, and Costume Design wrong.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011 at 4:31 am
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