Here comes the second out of the five most prestigious film awards for the annual Hollywood award season. The 2018 (23rd) Critics’ Choice Awards was held yesterday that honours the best of television and movies in year 2017. I will only post the result for the film categories as I have not watched any television series from the West for the past year.
So, without wasting any more time, here’s below is the full winners’ list for 2018 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards alongside with the list of nominees and my opinions. Do note that the number of nominees for each categories are inconsistent as they range from 4 to 7 for normal categories and 10 for best picture category:


BEST PICTURE
“The Big Sick”
“Call Me by Your Name”
“Darkest Hour”
“Dunkirk”
“The Florida Project”
“Get Out”
“Lady Bird”
“The Post”
“The Shape of Water” – WINNER
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”

Opinion: Delighted for ‘The Shape of Water’ to win. I have just watched this movie recently and it was fantastic and brilliant. Looks like the Oscar race for best picture will be now only between ‘The Shape of Water’ and ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ which had just won Golden Globes last week in Best Motion Picture – Drama. I still prefer the former. I find nothing exceptional for ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’.
BEST ACTOR
Timothée Chalamet – “Call Me by Your Name”
James Franco – “The Disaster Artist”
Jake Gyllenhaal – “Stronger”
Tom Hanks – “The Post”
Daniel Kaluuya – Get Out”
Daniel Day-Lewis – “Phantom Thread”
Gary Oldman – “Darkest Hour” – WINNER

Opinion: Expected result. Gary Oldman is overdue for awards and this is a perfect year for him. He is now the locked favourite to pick his first Oscar for best actor later. I’m quite happy that the list is expanded to 7 nominees in this category to fit in Jake Gyllenhaal as a little recognition to him as he has been very great in his recent film works. As for the other awards that has 5 nominees only for a category, he must be the one to be left out sadly.
BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain – “Molly’s Game”
Sally Hawkins – “The Shape of Water”
Frances McDormand – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” – WINNER
Margot Robbie – “I, Tonya”
Saoirse Ronan – “Lady Bird”
Meryl Streep – “The Post”

Opinion: Looks like Frances McDormand is on her way to win her second Oscar. She is now also locked for best actress win in the remaining awards including the Oscars. She is great in ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ but I find Sally Hawkins to be much more exceptional from her performance in ‘The Shape of Water’. Besides that, I am also annoyed by Frances McDormand’s strong personality and rude attitude.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe – “The Florida Project”
Armie Hammer – “Call Me By Your Name”
Richard Jenkins – “The Shape of Water”
Sam Rockwell – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” – WINNER
Patrick Stewart – “Logan”
Michael Stuhlbarg – “Call Me by Your Name”

Opinion: Willem Dafoe lost a lot of momentum by losing to Sam Rockwell again in this Critics’ Choice after being defeated too at the Golden Globes. Looks like Sam Rockwell is climbing the stair very quick to the top of the race and he is now the frontrunner to snatch the Oscar later. Well, he deserved it as I find his performance in ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ excellent.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Mary J. Blige – “Mudbound”
Hong Chau – “Downsizing”
Tiffany Haddish – “Girls Trip”
Holly Hunter – “The Big Sick”
Allison Janney – “I, Tonya” – WINNER
Laurie Metcalf – “Lady Bird”
Octavia Spencer – “The Shape of Water”

Opinion: Similar case to Willem Dafoe-Sam Rockwell situation. Allison Janney continued her winning streak by taking this Critics’ Choice for best supporting actress. She now overtakes the previous favourite, Laurie Metcalf. Well, I am equally amazed by both of their performances.
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Mckenna Grace – “Gifted”
Dafne Keen – “Logan”
Brooklynn Prince – “The Florida Project” – WINNER
Millicent Simmonds – “Wonderstruck”
Jacob Tremblay – “Wonder”

Opinion: Jacob Tremblay had won this before and so I don’t think he would be winning again. Dafne Keen is great in ‘Logan’ but performance in superhero film is usually not sought after for awards. I have not watched ‘The Florida Project’ and hence I have no comment to the winner’s selection in this category.
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
“Dunkirk”
“Lady Bird”
“Mudbound”
“The Post”
“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” – WINNER

Opinion: Agree with this. Although I don’t think ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri’ is a masterpiece, but I have to admit that all the main cast (Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson and other supporting cast) did amazing jobs in this movie.
BEST DIRECTOR
Guillermo del Toro – “The Shape of Water” – WINNER
Greta Gerwig – “Lady Bird”
Martin McDonagh – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Christopher Nolan – “Dunkirk”
Luca Guadagnino – “Call Me By Your Name”
Jordan Peele – “Get Out”
Steven Spielberg – “The Post”

Opinion: Happy for Guillermo del Toro to win. His direction is brilliant in ‘The Shape of Water’. He is now the hot favourite to pick the Oscar and that puts Christopher Nolan aside. Poor Nolan. He has directed some stellar works in the past but never win big. I hope his chance will come very soon again next time.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor – “The Shape of Water”
Greta Gerwig – “Lady Bird”
Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani – “The Big Sick”
Liz Hannah and Josh Singer – “The Post”
Martin McDonagh – “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”
Jordan Peele – “Get Out” – WINNER

Opinion: ‘Lady Bird’ is tipped to win this, but ended up losing to ‘Get Out’. Looks like ‘Lady Bird’ is not getting any love from Critics’ Choice. I have to admit that ‘Get Out’ do have a standout story in a horror theme, a genre that usually has typical and repetitive plots.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
James Ivory – “Call Me by Your Name” – WINNER
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber – “The Disaster Artist”
Dee Rees and Virgil Williams – “Mudbound”
Aaron Sorkin – “Molly’s Game”
Jack Thorne, Steve Conrad, Stephen Chbosky – “Wonder”

Opinion: ‘Call Me By Your Name’ has its only chance here and yup, it won. Competition in adapted screenplay isn’t strong this year and so it makes way for ‘Call Me By Your Name’ to sweep multiple awards in this category easily including the coming Oscars.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Roger Deakins – “Blade Runner 2049” – WINNER
Hoyte van Hoytema – “Dunkirk”
Dan Laustsen – “The Shape of Water”
Rachel Morrison – “Mudbound”
Sayombhu Mukdeeprom – “Call Me By Your Name”

Opinion: Didn’t watch ‘Blade Runner 2049’ but I heard a lot of good words on that movie particularly on its technical achievements.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Paul Denham Austerberry, Shane Vieau, Jeff Melvin – “The Shape of Water” – WINNER
Jim Clay, Rebecca Alleway – “Murder on the Orient Express”
Nathan Crowley, Gary Fettis – “Dunkirk”
Dennis Gassner, Alessandra Querzola – “Blade Runner 2049”
Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer – “Beauty and the Beast”
Mark Tildesley, Véronique Melery – “Phantom Thread”

Opinion: Glad that ‘The Shape of Water’ win this one too because it clearly has amazing production design that successfully enables me as an audience to immerse myself into the movie.
BEST EDITING
Michael Kahn, Sarah Broshar – “The Post”
Paul Machliss, Jonathan Amos – “Baby Driver” – WINNER
Lee Smith – “Dunkirk”
Joe Walker – “Blade Runner 2049”
Sidney Wolinsky – “The Shape of Water”

Opinion: Happy for a recognition to ‘Baby Driver’. It was a great movie. The editing is brilliant in that one. However, I have a feeling that ‘Baby Driver’ will not win for the coming Academy Awards in this category as usually a film winning this award will be getting a best picture nomination in Oscars’ history. ‘Baby Driver’ certainly won’t be getting a best picture nomination.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Renée April – “Blade Runner 2049”
Mark Bridges – “Phantom Thread” – WINNER
Jacqueline Durran – “Beauty and the Beast”
Lindy Hemming – “Wonder Woman”
Luis Sequeira – “The Shape of Water”

Opinion: There has to be something for ‘Phantom Thread’. And yup, Critics’ Choice found a category for it. I would prefer ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to take this.
BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP
“Beauty and the Beast”
“Darkest Hour” – WINNER
“I, Tonya”
“The Shape of Water”
“Wonder”

Opinion: Gary Oldman’s transformation as Winston Churchill in ‘Darkest Hour’ is something that many people talked about. The make-up is incredible and it makes me not even able to recognize that it was Gary Oldman. So, a win for ‘Darkest Hour’ in this category is expected.
BEST SONG
“Evermore” – “Beauty and the Beast”
“Mystery of Love” – “Call Me By Your Name”
“Remember Me” – “Coco” – WINNER
“Stand Up for Something” – “Marshall”
“This Is Me” – “The Greatest Showman”

Opinion: ‘This Is Me’ won in Golden Globes but ‘Remember Me’ won in Critics’ Choice now. So, it’s the battle between these two in the remaining awards. I’m okay with any of these two songs winning.
BEST SCORE
Alexandre Desplat – “The Shape of Water” – WINNER
Jonny Greenwood – “Phantom Thread”
Dario Marianelli – “Darkest Hour”
Benjamin Wallfisch and Hans Zimmer – “Blade Runner 2049”
John Williams – “The Post”
Hans Zimmer – “Dunkirk”

Opinion: Another expected and satisfying outcome. Alexandre Desplat crafted a simple yet magical soundtrack for ‘The Shape of Water’. The score adds extra layer to the movie.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“Blade Runner 2049”
“Dunkirk”
“The Shape of Water”
“Thor: Ragnarok”
“War for the Planet of the Apes” – WINNER
“Wonder Woman”

Opinion: Also happy for ‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ to win as that was the last movie in its film franchise. The creation of the realistic apes in the movie is a challenging task to do and yet so amazingly delivered in this movie.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“The Breadwinner”
“Coco” – WINNER
“Despicable Me 3”
“The LEGO Batman Movie”
“Loving Vincent”

Opinion: ‘Coco’ all the way. Everybody is now 100% sure that ‘Coco’ will take the same prize in the coming Oscars too. This wonderful movie has been snatching almost all of the precursor awards and it totally deserves all of them.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“BPM (Beats Per Minute)”
“A Fantastic Woman”
“First They Killed My Father”
“In the Fade” – WINNER
“The Square”
“Thelma”

Opinion: No comment in this category as I have not watched all of the nominated films.
BEST ACTION MOVIE
“Baby Driver”
“Logan”
“Thor: Ragnarok”
“War for the Planet of the Apes”
“Wonder Woman” – WINNER

Opinion: Delighted for ‘Wonder Woman’ to win. I had an awesome time watching it months ago. Brilliant movie and is the ‘only’ brilliant movie by DC in recent years.
BEST COMEDY
“The Big Sick” – WINNER
“The Disaster Artist”
“Girls Trip”
“I, Tonya”
“Lady Bird”

Opinion: I am surprised that ‘Lady Bird’ lost for this one. Even if ‘Lady Bird’ lost, I would thought of it losing to ‘I, Tonya’ or ‘The Disaster Artist’. It ended up losing to ‘The Big Sick’, a movie that has not received a lot of awards buzz. I’m surprised.
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Steve Carell – “Battle of the Sexes”
James Franco – “The Disaster Artist” – WINNER
Chris Hemsworth – “Thor: Ragnarok”
Kumail Nanjiani – “The Big Sick”
Adam Sandler – “The Meyerowitz Stories”

Opinion: Expected. James Franco won here after similar win in Golden Globes few days ago. Well, his winning will end here as there are no longer separate category for acting performance in musical/comedy in the remaining award presentations. It will be all just nominations for him from here onward.
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Tiffany Haddish – “Girls Trip”
Zoe Kazan – “The Big Sick”
Margot Robbie – “I, Tonya” – WINNER
Saoirse Ronan – “Lady Bird”
Emma Stone – “Battle of the Sexes”

Opinion: Saoirse Ronan surprisingly lost to Margot Robbie here. Again, another surprise. Saoirse Ronan won in Golden Globes but now Margot Robbie came into the light by winning in this Critics’ Choice. But I’m actually happier that Margot Robbie won as I find that her performance is slightly better than Saoirse Ronan. Anyway, both of them are sure to be nominated for best actress in the coming Academy Awards but they won’t be able to win. So, it is very obvious that ‘Lady Bird’ is totally shut out in Critics’ Choice to the shock of many people.
BEST SCI-FI OR HORROR MOVIE
“Blade Runner 2049”
“Get Out” – WINNER
“It”
“The Shape of Water”

Opinion: This is the category for ‘Get Out’ to win. Enough said.
The next major Hollywood film awards will be the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG) to be held on 21st January 2018.
(Images in this post are from various sources throughout the world wide web)