SANTA MONICA—The awards season is officially in gear as the Critics Choice Awards unleashed its list of winners with “Silver Linings Playbook” having a big night taking home four awards including Best Comedy, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Actress in a Comedy and Best Actor in a Comedy for its stars Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. Followed close behind was the period piece “Lincoln” with three awards including Best Adapted Screenplay for Tony Kushner and Best Score. Catapulting to front-runner status in the Best Picture race was the movie “Argo.” While its star Ben Affleck was snubbed by the Academy, the critics thought his picture was award-worthy.
Ben Affleck was victorious in the Best Director race for “Argo” who received a standing ovation from the audience. It may be because of the snub he received earlier in the day for not being recognized in the Best Director Oscar race. He jokingly thanked the Academy while accepting his award on stage. It was indeed a snub not to see Affleck pick up a nomination for his impeccable skill behind the camera. It’s not a surprise to see the picture garner so much praise this year.
One of the highlights of the night came from the youngest nominee in Quvenzhane Wallis for Best Young Actor/Actress for her work in the movie “Beasts of the Southern Wild.” She read her acceptance speech from her mobile phone.
For Best Actress the award was given to Jessica Chastain for her sensational work in “Zero Dark Thirty.” Chastain got a bit teary eyed as she thanked director Kathryn Bigelow for her tenacity behind the camera for the picture calling her an inspiration. She’s looking like a tight-race between Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence “Silver Linings Playbook.”
Daniel Day-Lewis proved that he is the guy to beat this awards season for Best Actor as he took home the award for “Lincoln.” Lewis is such a poised actor who really focus’ his craft on the work that he does compared to the accolades that come with his movies. He’s proved time and time again that he is an actor that is a powerhouse on the big screen.
Anne Hathaway is perhaps the surest thing in the Supporting Actress race this awards season as she won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her sensational performance in the musical “Les Misérables.” While accepting her award the actress joked that her name was misspelled on the envelope. How funny!
For Supporting Actor the Critics Choice Award was given to Phillip Seymour Hoffman for his astounding work in “The Master.” It is indeed looking like the Supporting Actor race this season will be a duel between Hoffman and Tommy Lee Jones “Lincoln.”
“Skyfall” was a big winner in the Action Movie categories with wins for Daniel Craig and Best Action Movie. Quentin Tarantino was a winner for Best Original Screenplay for his controversial film “Django Unchained.” The Original Screenplay category is a competitive one this season, and it looks like Tarantino may be the gentleman to beat.
Now that the Critics Choice Awards are behind us, we’re just mere days from one of the big awards of the season the Golden Globes which will take place on Sunday, January 13 and will be handed out at the famed Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.
By LaDale Anderson
