The State of the Oscar race: Critics' Choice Awards & more regional critics prizes (2nd ROUND)

• CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS

The organization that tries too often to be an Oscar predictor rather than a critics group that really goes for their very favorites, but I must say I am quite pleased with their choices this year - I believe they show here the general consensus from critics. With Everything Everywhere All At Once winning here, beating some big favorites (and much more "made for Oscar taste" contenders) it takes the lead in the Oscar race. What a joy it is to see a small production with an early release going this far in the awards season!

A note about a couple of speeches: Brendan Fraser's acceptance speech earned him an instant Oscar nomination (moving, personal, inspiring!) and it generate even more goodwill towards him, which might lead to an actual Oscar win some months from now; and Cate Blanchett who had some negative words and made fun of prizes saying it is for competition purposes (and not for the recognition of quality)... is she too confortable this Oscar race? She's brilliant but she doesn't seem to need (or want) all these wins (clearly)... she seems more focused on campaigning for Todd Field.

BEST PICTURE: Everything Everywhere All At Once (A24)

BEST DIRECTOR: Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ACTOR: Brendan Fraser – The Whale

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: Cate Blanchett – Tár

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Angela Bassett – Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

BEST YOUNG ACTOR OR ACTRESS: Gabriel LaBelle, The Fabelmans

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Sarah Polley, Women Talking

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Top Gun: Maverick – Claudio Miranda

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Babylon – Florencia Martin (Production Design); Anthony Carlino (Set Decoration)

BEST FILM EDITING: Everything Everywhere All At Once – Paul Rogers

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever – Ruth E. Carter

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP: Elvis 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Avatar: The Way of Water – Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett

BEST COMEDY: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio (Netflix)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: RRR (Variance Films)

BEST SONG: RRR – "Naatu Naatu"

BEST SCORE: Tár – Hildur Gudnadóttir

• SEATTLE FILM CRITICS SOCIETY  

Another critics organization giving the top prize to EEAAO, but what really matters here is how critics groups went from Todd Field (Tár) to The Daniels for Everything Everywhere All At Once... the critics are pushing the directorial duo!

No big news here. Have a look:

BEST PICTURE: Everything Everywhere All At Once (A24)

BEST DIRECTOR: Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: Cate Blanchett – Tár

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Kerry Condon – The Banshees of Inisherin

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Bret Howe, Mary Vernieu, casting directors

BEST ACTION CHOREOGRAPHY: RRR

BEST SCREENPLAY: The Banshees of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, directors

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Fire of Love – Sara Dosa, director

BEST FILM NOT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE: Decision to Leave – Park Chan-wook, director

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Top Gun: Maverick – Claudio Miranda

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Elvis – Catherine Martin

BEST FILM EDITING: Everything Everywhere All At Once – Paul Rogers

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Babylon – Justin Hurwitz

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Babylon – Florencia Martin (Production Design); Anthony Carlino (Set Decoration)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Avatar: The Way of Water – Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, Daniel Barrett

BEST YOUTH PERFORMANCE (18 years of age or younger upon start of filming): Frankie Corio – Aftersun

• DENVER FILM CRITICS SOCIETY

The Daniels and their film strike again.... and they won every big category here. Sarah Polley gets a welcome prize for Women Talking's screenplay - and a much needed one considering I feel her movie is in trouble coming Oscar nominations announcement morning. Wins for Good Night Oppy and RRR, but they are not eligible for the Academy Awards. What about Glass Onion? The crime-comedy has had a steady awards run, but will it be the kind of movie the Academy embraces outside of the Best Adapted Screenplay category? I have some doubts, specially considering the lack of goodwill of Netflix to keep it playing in theaters despite the many appeals from theatres to do so...

The list:

BEST PICTURE: Everything Everywhere All At Once (A24)

BEST DIRECTOR: Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ACTRESS: Michelle Yeoh – Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ACTOR: Colin Farrell – The Banshees of Inisherin

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jamie Lee Curtis – Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR FILM: Everything Everywhere All At Once (A24)

EST ANIMATED FEATURE: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

BEST COMEDY: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

BEST VISUAL FX: Avatar: The Way of Water

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Sarah Polley, Women Talking

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Good Night Oppy

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: RRR, "Naatu Naatu"

BEST SCORE: Babylon, Justin Hurwitz

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: RRR

• NORTH DAKOTA FILM SOCIETY

A clear love for Babylon (which was nominated for Best Picture here, but it wasn't able to win Aftersun). Also, a lot of love for All Quiet On the Western Front which pops-up in a lot of categories but only took Best International Feature home.

Overall, it's a good list of winners here. Love the passion for Dolly De Leon these days - she saves Triangle of Sadness from being a bore in my opinion. Have a look here:

BEST PICTURE: Aftersun – Mark Ceryak, Amy Jackson, Barry Jenkins, Adele Romanski, producers (A24)

BEST DIRECTOR: Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert – Everything Everywhere All At Once (A24)

BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett – Tár (Focus Features)

BEST ACTOR: Brendan Fraser – The Whale (A24)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Dolly De Leon – Triangle of Sadness (NEON)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ke Huy Quan – Everything Everywhere All At Once (A24)

BEST SCREENPLAY: The Banshees of Inisherin – Martin McDonagh (Searchlight)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Babylon – Anthony Carlino, Florencia Martin (Paramount Pictures)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Top Gun: Maverick – Claudio Miranda (Paramount Pictures)

BEST FILM EDITING:  Aftersun – Blair McClendon (A24)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Avatar: The Way of Water – Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon (20th Century Studios)

BEST SOUND: Top Gun: Maverick – Chris Burdon, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Mark Taylor, Mark Weingarten (Paramount Pictures)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Babylon – Mary Zophres (Paramount Pictures)

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING: The Whale – Anne Marie Bradley, Judy Chin, Adrien Morot (A24)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Babylon – Justin Hurwitz (Paramount Pictures)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: “Ciao Papa” Alexandre Desplat, Roeban Katz, Guillermo del Toro – Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio (Netflix)

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE: All Quiet On the Western Front – Germany (Netflix)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: All the Beauty and the Bloodshed – Howard Gertler, Nan Goldin, Yoni Golijov, John S. Lyons, Laura Poitras, producers (NEON)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio – Alexander Bulkley, Corey Campodonico, Lisa Henson, Guillermo del Toro, Gary Ungar, producers (Netflix)

• PORTLAND CRITICS ASSOCIATION

So much love for some of my personal favorites of the year: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Decision To Leave and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery or The Batman. Personally, no complains. Nothing quite new here despite how welcome it is to see Stephanie Hsu winning something for her astonishing performance in EEAAO.

Full list of winners and respective runner ups below:

BEST PICTURE: Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER) / Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (RUNNER UP)

BEST DIRECTOR: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER) / Todd Field, Tár (RUNNER UP)

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin (WINNER) / Park Hae-il, Decision to Leave (RUNNER UP)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER) / Cate Blanchett, Tár (RUNNER UP)

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER) / Brad Pitt, Babylon (RUNNER UP)

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE: Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER) / Keke Palmer, Nope (RUNNER UP)

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (WINNER) / Everything Everywhere All at Once (RUNNER UP)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (WINNER) / Turning Red (RUNNER UP)

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Moonage Daydrem (WINNER) / All the Beauty and the Bloodshed (RUNNER UP)

BEST FILM NOT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE: Decision To Leave (WINNER) / RRR (RUNNER UP)

BEST HORROR FEATURE: Barbarian (WINNER) / X (RUNNER UP)

BEST SCIENCE FICTION FEATURE: Nope (WINNER) / Avatar: The Way of Water (RUNNER UP)

BEST SCREENPLAY: Rian Johnson, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (WINNER) / Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once (RUNNER UP)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Claudio Miranda, Top Gun: Maverick (WINNER) / Kim Ji-yong, Decision to Leave (RUNNER UP)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Alexandre Desplat, Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio (WINNER) / Michael Giacchino, The Batman (RUNNER UP)

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Catherine Martin, Elvis (WINNER) / Shirley Kurata, Everything Everywhere All at Once (RUNNER UP)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Everything Everywhere All at Once (WINNER) / Avatar: The Way of Water (RUNNER UP)

BEST SOUND DESIGN: Top Gun: Maverick (WINNER) / Avatar: The Way of Water (RUNNER UP)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Avatar: The Way of Water (WINNER) / Everything Everywhere All at Once (RUNNER UP)

BEST STUNTS OR ACTION CHOREOGRAPHY: Top Gun: Maverick (WINNER) / Everything Everywhere All at Once (RUNNER UP)

• AFRICAN AMERICAN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

As the organization's name might suggest, here are a clear preference for POC artists - which is no wrong considering how the caucasian elites are honoured everywhere and have gotten much more spotlight for decades, so... it's fair! The only exception seems to be Rian Johnson winning the writing prize, but since Glass Onion has some relevant POC characters (and artists involved), I do see the point.

The Woman King is the big winner here! In fact, I love how The Woman King is getting recognition here and there in such a discreet way. Audiences and critics loved the movie and I believe it is quite appealing to the POC members of the Academy (and Sony know how to campaign, never forget that!).

BEST PICTURE: The Woman King

BEST DIRECTOR: Gina Prince-Bythewood, The Woman King

BEST ACTOR: Jeremy Pope, The Inspection

BEST ACTRESS: Danielle Deadwyler, Till

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Brian Tyree Henry, Causeway

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Angela Bassett, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

EMERGING FACE: Jaylin Hall, Till & Bruiser

EMERGING FILMMAKER: Carey Williams, Emergency

BEST INDEPENDENT FEATURE: Nanny

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Wendell & Wild

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Sidney

BEST ENSEMBLE: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

BEST WRITING: Rian Johnson, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE: Saint Omer

BEST SONG: “Lift Me Up”, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: We Cry Together

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: New Moon

• GEORGIA FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

Nothing new here. Another big win for Everything Everywhere All At Once. Stephanie Hsu gets a double win here (both in Best Supporting Actress and Breakthrough Award), which is lovely (I guess I am a kind of a Hsu cheerleader these days). A note to Michael Giacchino's win for Best Original Score for The Batman - one of the most unique and chilling scores in year to get the gold it deserves!

Next! Have a look at the winners:

BEST PICTURE: Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST DIRECTOR: Everything Everywhere All at Once – Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

BEST ACTOR: Colin Farrell - The Banshees of Inisherin

BEST ACTRESS: Michelle Yeoh - Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Stephanie Hsu - Everything Everywhere All at Once

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Everything Everywhere All at Once – Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery – Rian Johnson

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Top Gun: Maverick – Claudio Miranda

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Babylon – Florencia Martin, Anthony Carlino

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: The Batman – Michael Giacchino

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: “Hold My Hand” – Lady Gaga, BloodPop, Benjamin Rice (Top Gun: Maverick)

BEST ENSEMBLE: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM: RRR

BEST ANIMATED FILM: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM: Fire of Love

BREAKTHROUGH AWARD: Danielle Deadwyler (WINNER TIE) & Stephanie Hsu (WINNER TIE)

OGLETHORPE AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN GEORGIA CINEMA: Till, Chinonye Chukwu, Michael Reilly & Keith Beauchamp (WINNER)

• HAWAII FILM CRITICS SOCIETY

More Everything Everywhere... WAIT! Mia Goth! Goth wins for Pearl. Nice to see someone different taking a prize home these days. Genre bias often prevents excellent acting turns in horror flicks to get the gold they deserve, so... I am quite pleased with her win here! Also, The Batman over the usual Elvis or The Whale in Best Make-Up is also deserving for Colin Farrell's Penguin makeup alone.

The winners list, ladies and gentlemen: 

BEST PICTURE: Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST DIRECTOR: The Daniels, Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ACTOR: Brendan Fraser, The Whale

BEST ACTRESS: Mia Goth, Pearl

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Kerry Condon, The Banshees of Inisherin

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Women Talking

BEST ART DIRECTION: Babylon

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Top Gun: Maverick

BEST EDITING: Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ANIMATED FILM: Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Sr.

BEST MAKE-UP: The Batman

BEST SOUND: Top Gun: Maverick

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Babylon

BEST SONG: “Hold My Hand” (Top Gun: Maverick)

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Avatar: The Way of Water

BEST STUNT WORK: Top Gun: Maverick

BEST NEW FILMMAKER: Lee Jung-jae, Hunt

BEST FIRST FILM: Aftersun

• IOWA FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION

John Williams scores a win here for his score for Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans, while Wildcat sneaks and steals the Documentary prize from the usual winners of this season. Marcel The Shell With Shoes On seems to be the only real contender able to compete with Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio in the critics prizes... Overall, it's a strong showing for A24 here again.

Winners list below:

BEST FILM: Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST DIRECTOR: The Daniels, Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ACTOR: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin

BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, Tár

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jamie Lee Curtis, Everything Everywhere All At Once

BEST ANIMATED FILM: Marcel The Shell With Shoes On

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Wildcat

BEST SCORE: The Fabelmans

BEST SONG: Top Gun: Maverick, "Hold My Hand"

Well, as you can see, most regional critics associations went for Everything Everywhere All At Once, generating the buzz it needed for the televised awards. I could put some more critics prizes winners shortlists here, but truth is nothing really changes that much. The nominees vary, but the general consensus is EEAAO is the best film of the year, with The Banshees of Inisherin taking a fair share of prizes too. Top Gun: Maverick dominates the tech categories and Best Actress is a close race between Michelle Yeoh and Cate Blanchett. As for Ke Huy Quan... it's a sweep! A very deserving one.