The nominees for the 23rd Annual Critics Choice Awards have been announced. As expected, most of the frontrunners were nominated and they were also surprises and snubs. Last year, La La Land took the top prize in the movie side while Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley took the top categories in the television side. You can check out the full list of nominees here.
In the movie side, The Shape of Water lead with fourteen nominations. The film has been snubbed by various film critics group but they were able to earn a lot of nods from the Broadcast Film Critics Association. Most of the film’s nominations came from the technical categories so it is not surprising that it earned as many nominations as this. There weren’t huge snubs in the movie categories. All of the frontrunners were nominated. There is no surprise or snubbed nominee. The most surprising nominee out of all of them is Patrick Stewart (Logan) in Best Supporting Actor but his performance was praised by the critics so his nomination shouldn’t come as a huge surprise as what we may think.
The Best Picture category has ten nominees. All of them are strong contenders and expected nominees. The Best Actor category has seven nominees, presumably a tie happened that led to this. There is also no surprise nominee in this list as all of them are expected to get nomination. The battle in this category should be between Gary Oldman and Timothee Chalamet. I won’t be surprised if Chalamet will win since a lot of critics group have awarded him. But, Oldman might get the industry support. The Best Actress category has also all the frontrunners and expected nominees. In the Best Supporting Actor category, just like what I’ve mentioned before, Stewart is the surprise nominee. For the rest, they are all expected to get nods. The Best Supporting Actress category might be the one with the most surprise nominees. Hong Chau (Downsizing) is a surprise part of the list. The film received mixed reviews, but her performance was praised. This is a positive sign for her as she has lighted a signal that she can be a major player in this category at the Oscars. Another surprise part of the list is Tiffany Haddish (Girls Trip). I mentioned in an article before that she deserves an Oscar nomination, but this confirmed her as one of the major players in this category this awards season. If she will get either a SAG or Golden Globe nomination, she can surely secure a spot at the Oscars. For the rest, they were expected nominees in this list.
The Best Director category has seven nominees and all of them are from the Best Picture frontrunners so the list shouldn’t come as a surprise. The technical categories also notably nominated the expected nominees. Most of them are either period, science fiction, or action films. Even though the film wasn’t screened to them, The Greatest Showman was able to get a nod in the Best Original Song for “This Is Me,” but it has been released publicly for weeks so they might have caught up with that song, not the film itself. Another notable part is that Chris Hemsworth (Thor: Ragnarok) was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy. So, I guess the critics really found his performance funny and the film itself was nominated in Best Action Movie. Overall, there was no huge surprises in the list of nominees as all of them are expected to get a nod.
In the television side, Feud: Bette and Joan lead with six nominations. In the Emmys, the series was notably shut out. Now, let’s see if the Critics Choice will be the ones who will show the love for the Ryan Murphy series. The second season of The Crown will not be released until this Friday but it already earned two nods for Best Drama Series and Claire Foy in Best Actress in a Drama Series. Maybe the critics had a screening. The Handmaid’s Tale continues on becoming a favorite with the three nods that it earned for Best Drama Series and acting nods for Elisabeth Moss and Ann Dowd. Freddie Highmore didn’t earn a nomination for The Good Doctor, but his performance in Bates Motel received some last hurrah. Billions and The Good Fight, which were both snubbed at the Emmys, received some love here on the acting categories. Gillian Anderson, who guest starred on three episodes of American Gods, received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Also, notably, they didn’t have the guest acting categories this year.
In the comedy categories, The Big Bang Theory surprisingly received a nod on Best Comedy Series. The new Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel also received some love with its three nominations: Best Comedy Series and acting nods for Rachel Brosnahan and Alex Borstein. Another Amazon series, Patriot, received an out-of-a-blue nomination in Best Comedy Series which is also its only nomination. This was a huge surprise. Hank Azaria (Brockmire), Sutton Foster (Younger), Ted Danson and Kristen Bell (The Good Place), and Randall Park and Constance Wu (Fresh Off the Boat), who were all snubbed at the Emmys, received some love here. Will and Grace was widely snubbed but Sean Hayes earned a comedy supporting actor nomination. Walton Goggins also received a nod for the second and final season of Vice Principals. GLOW also received some love through the four nominations that it earned including acting nods for Alison Brie, Marc Maron, and Betty Gilpin. Also notably, Alessandra Mastronardi, who played Dev’s love interest during the second season of Master of None, earned an unexpected nod.
In the limited series and TV movie categories, Emmy favorite Big Little Lies received six nominations while Fargo received five. Newcomers Godless, The Long Road Home, American Vandal, Flint, and I Am Elizabeth Smart received nominations in the top categories as well. Evan Peters received the only nod for American Horror Story: Cult, but he deserves it as his performance was noted as the highlight of the season. Plus, he’s in a good company with Robert De Niro, Jeff Daniels, Bill Pullman, and Ewan McGregor. Susan Sarandon was notably snubbed for her performance in Feud: Bette and Joan but her co-star Jessica Lange did. This sounds like a reverse 1963 Oscars. It’s now “Joan Crawford” who got nominated. Johnny Flynn, who played the young Albert Einstein on Genius, received a nomination but Geoffrey Rush, who played the older Einstein, didn’t. The supporting actress is almost the same as the Emmys, but with Shailene Woodley being replaced by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
In the Best Talk Show category, political heavy shows like The Late Show with Stephen Colbert didn’t get nominated and they opted with the “fun” talk shows like The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In the Animated Series category, Amazon series Danger & Eggs received an out-of-a-blue nomination and its in a company along with fan favorites Archer, Bob’s Burgers, and Rick and Morty. Overall, the television nominees are mixed of expected nominees and surprises. There were also snubs like Emmy winner Veep which was surprisingly shut out.
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