Critics Choice Awards

The Broadcast Film Critics Association are the last and probably most important critic group to give out their awards especially if you want to know who might just nab the Oscars in two months. Tonight they presented the awards to the winners at the Critic Choice Awards.

The winners are...

Best Picture: The Hurt Locker
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Actress: Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia & Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
Best Supporting Actress: Mo'Nique, Precious
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds
Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner, Up in the Air
Best Animated Feature: Up
Best Action Movie: Avatar
Best Comedy: The Hangover
Best Foreign Language Film: Broken Embraces
Best Documentary Feature: The Cove
Best Picture Made for Television: Grey Gardens
Best Acting Ensemble: Inglourious Basterds
Best Young Actor/Actress: Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Best Cinematography: Avatar
Best Art Direction: Avatar
Best Editing: Avatar
Best Costume Design: The Young Victoria
Best Makeup: District 9
Best Visual Effects: Avatar
Best Sound: Avatar
Best Song: "The Weary Kind," Crazy Heart
Best Score: Michael Giacchino, Up

Most of the awards went to the usual suspects with the only real surprises coming from the lead categories and even then they weren't that big of a surprise. If you ask me, Directing, Supporting, and Screenplay categories are locked and loaded. And with Avatar most likely dominating the technical awards, the only other races to follow are Picture and Lead Acting categories.

For Best Picture, it's looking like a three-film race with The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, and Avatar duking it out. They all did well tonight. Avatar nabbed the most wins with six awards besting the combined tally of Basterd and Locker. The latter two films, however, grabbed the more important awards with Basterd getting Ensemble, Original Screenplay, and Supporting Actor while Locker got the two big ones, Picture and Director. And don't completely count out Up in the Air which won Adapted Screenplay.

Jeff Bridges seem poise to grab his first Oscar as he won Best Actor over critic favorites George Clooney and Jeremy Renner. Best Actress became a three-way race tonight as the BFCA chose to ignore critic favorite Carey Mulligan to give both Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock the award. Note that last year this category was also a tie and that Streep also won. What does this say about any of these actor's Oscar chances? Beats me, but at least some of the awards are still up in the air.

Finally, Kristin Chenoweth did a fine job hosting. The writing of some of the jokes, skits, and big opening number was a bit sloppy, but I can forgive anything that has to do with Chenoweth. She can make me watch anything.