Critics Choice Awards Tonight Author: Sasha Stone 8 Jan
Around 5pm the Critics Choice will announce their winners, a few days before the Golden Globes announce theirs. The Monday following, Oscar ballots are due. This is the first time many of these contenders will be going to head to head for the first time. The five most likely films up for Best Picture all continue to gain momentum in their own way, but probably right now Slumdog Millionaire is going to start winning. Let’s go down BFCA road, shall we? For the past two years, the Critics Choice have matched Best Picture, Best Director. You have to go back to 2003 to find a year when their Best Actor and Best Actress picks did not match Oscar. So it will be interesting to see whom they choose, particularly since there is some disconnect between the BFCA and the Globes in those categories. Here are this year’s nominees: BEST PICTURE Nominees: • Changeling • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button • The Dark Knight • Doubt • Frost/Nixon • Milk • The Reader • Slumdog Millionaire • Wall-E • The Wrestler It’s probably safe to go with Slumdog Millionaire, which has a 92 BFCA rating. But if it isn’t Slumdog, it might be The Dark Knight with a rating of 96, or Benjamin Button (91), Milk (92), or Frost/Nixon (94). It’s doubtful that the winner won’t be among these five and is expected to be Slumdog. BEST ACTOR Nominees: • Clint Eastwood - Gran Torino • Richard Jenkins - The Visitor • Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon • Sean Penn - Milk • Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button • Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler This is either going to be Sean Penn or Mickey Rourke. A sentimental vote could go to Clint Eastwood, everyone’s favorite everything. I would probably predict Rourke for this. And something to note - Mickey Rourke’s moment at the podium is crucial to how his awards run plays out because there are two winners whose win would bring down the house: Mickey Rourke and Heath Ledger. BEST ACTRESS Nominees: • Kate Beckinsale - Nothing But the Truth • Cate Blanchett - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button • Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married • Angelina Jolie - Changeling • Melissa Leo - Frozen River • Meryl Streep - Doubt I have absolutely no clue how this is going to go. I don’t even really know whom the favorite is. Any of them could win. Meryl Streep is probably going to win but any of them might. This category is mostly wide open. Kate Winslet looms large but she isn’t nominated here. BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Nominees: • Josh Brolin - Milk • Robert Downey, Jr. - Tropic Thunder • Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt • Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight • James Franco - Milk If Heath Ledger doesn’t win this I’ll eat my hat. And it will be the first public win for the dearly departed actor. And I pity the actor who beats him but if there is going to be one, I’d say Josh Brolin has it. BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS Nominees: • Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona • Viola Davis - Doubt • Vera Farmiga - Nothing But the Truth • Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button • Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler • Kate Winslet - The Reader Penelope Cruz should win this. Viola Davis could win and Marisa Tomei is the dark horse. BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE Nominees: • The Curious Case of Benjamin Button • The Dark Knight • Doubt • Milk • Rachel Getting Married I’m thinking either Milk or Doubt. BEST DIRECTOR Nominees: • Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire • David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button • Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon • Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight • Gus Van Sant - Milk It’s probably going to be Danny Boyle but Christopher Nolan could sneak in. BEST WRITER (Original or Adapted Screenplay) Nominees: • Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire • Dustin Lance Black - Milk • Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon • Eric Roth - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button • John Patrick Shanley - Doubt Again, any of them could win — for some reason I have a feeling Frost/Nixon will win this but if it doesn’t, it would be Slumdog Millionaire, going for a sweep. BEST ANIMATED FEATURE Nominees: • Bolt • Kung Fu Panda • Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa • Wall-E • Waltz With Bashir Oh, do we really even need to go there? BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS (Under 21) Nominees: • Dakota Fanning - The Secret Life of Bees • David Kross - The Reader • Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire • Brandon Walters - Australia Dev Patel in a walk. Brandon Walters is a threat. BEST ACTION MOVIE Nominees: • The Dark Knight • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull • Iron Man • Quantum of Solace • Wanted Could be Iron Man or The Dark Knight. BEST COMEDY MOVIE Nominees: • Burn After Reading • Forgetting Sarah Marshall • Role Models • Tropic Thunder • Vicky Cristina Barcelona It probably will be Burn After Reading or Vicky Cristina OR even Tropic Thunder. BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION Nominees: • John Adams • Recount • Coco Chanel John Adams easily wins. BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Nominees: • A Christmas Tale • Gomorrah • I’ve Loved You So Long • Let the Right One In • Mongol • Waltz With Bashir Let the Right One In, I’m going to guess, or Waltz with Bashir. BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE Nominees: • I.O.U.S.A. • Man On Wire • Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired • Standard Operating Procedure • Young At Heart Man on Wire will probably win. BEST SONG Nominees: • “Another Way to Die” (performed by Jack White and Alicia Keys, written by Jack White) - Quantum of Solace • “Down to Earth” (performed by Peter Gabriel, written by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman) - Wall-E • “I Thought I Lost You” (performed Miley Cyrus and John Travolta, written by Miley Cyrus and Jeffrey Steele) - Bolt • “Jaiho” (performed by Sukhwinder Singh, written by A.R. Rahman and Gulzar) - Slumdog Millionaire • “The Wrestler” (performed by Bruce Springsteen, written by Bruce Springsteen) - The Wrestler Brooooooooooooooce. BEST COMPOSER Nominees: • Alexandre Desplat - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button • Clint Eastwood - Changeling • Danny Elfman - Milk • Hans Zimmer/James Newton Howard - The Dark Knight • A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire I think it’s down to Button, Dark Knight and Slumdog for the win. http://www.awardsdaily.com/?p=5682
