The Oscar race just got a little more curiouser. The Hurt Locker, the tense war drama about bomb diffusers in Iraq, beat out a field of 10 nominees – including Inglourious Basterds, Up in the Air and Avatar – to win the best picture prize at the Broadcast Film Critics Association’s 15th annual Critics’ Choice Awards on Friday night.
Does that mean Hurt Locker is now the frontrunner? Not quite, since the Critics Choice is more about what the critics loved rather than looking at the whole picture, but certainly Hurt Locker‘s brownie points just went up.
Other big winners of the evening including Hurt Locker‘s director, Kathryn Bigelow, who received a standing ovation for her superb work. I picked James Cameron – Bigelow’s ex-husband, by the way – to win the Golden Globe, but I’m thinking Bigelow may have a chance to snatch it away from him. Looks like everyone is thinking it’s time for a woman director to dominate on the award circuit. We’ll see.
Best actor went to Jeff Bridges for his turn in Crazy Heart, natch, while in a surprise move, The Blind Side‘s Sandra Bullock AND Julie & Julia‘s Meryl Streep tied for best actress – Bullock gave Streep a big old kiss on stage to celebrate their win together. I just wonder if the Academy Awards will do the same tie thing. They have before, when they awarded the Best Actress Oscar to Funny Girl‘s Barbra Streisand AND The Lion in Winter‘s Katharine Hepburn in 1968.
There were no surprises, however, in the best supporting actor/actress categories, with frontrunners Mo’Nique and Christoph Waltz winning for their turns in Precious and Inglourious Basterds, respectively. Saoirse Ronan, who portrays a murdered young girl in The Lovely Bones, picked up the award for best young actor/actress.
As for the other top nominated films, they all walked away with some prizes. Quentin Tarantino won for best original screenplay for his deliciously wry Inglourious Basterds, which also picked up the first award of the night for best acting ensemble. Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner’s Up in the Air, an adaptation of the novel by Walter Kim, was named best adapted screenplay, while The Hangover scored as best comedy. And Cameron’s Avatar took home the most trophies, six of them, including best action movie, cinematography, art direction, editing, sound and visual effects.
Now let’s see how the Globes go Sunday to get a clearer picture going into the home stretch.
Here’s a complete list of Critics’ Choice winners:
BEST PICTURE – “The Hurt Locker”
BEST ACTOR – Jeff Bridges (“Crazy Heart”)
BEST ACTRESS (tie) – Meryl Streep (“Julie & Julia”), Sandra Bullock (“The Blind Side”)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds”)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – Mo’Nique (“Precious”)
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS – Saoirse Ronan (“The Lovely Bones”)
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE – “Inglourious Basterds”
BEST DIRECTING – Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY – “Inglourious Basterds” (Quentin Tarantino)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY – “Up in the Air” (Jason Reitman)
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 ANIMATED FEATURE – “Up”
BEST ACTION MOVIE – “Avatar”
BEST COMEDY – “The Hangover”
BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION – “Grey Gardens”
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM – “Broken Embraces”
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – “The Cove”
BEST SONG – “The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart,” by Ryan Bingham and T-Bone Burnett
BEST SCORE – “Up” (Michael Giancchio)