The Watchers

The Watchers

Thursday, 12 December 2024

Awards Season 2025: Critics' Choice Awards Nominations


This afternoon (Thursday 12th December), the film nominations for the 30th Annual Critics Choice Awards were announced. 

Here are a selection of their nominees:

Best Picture
A Complete Unknown 
Anora 
The Brutalist 
Conclave 
Dune: Part Two 
Emilia Pérez 
Nickel Boys 
Sing Sing 
The Substance 
Wicked

Best Director
Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)
Sean Baker (Anora)
Edward Berger (Conclave)
Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)
Jon M. Chu (Wicked)
Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
RaMell Ross (Nickel Boys)
Denis Villeneuve (Dune: Part Two)

Best Actor
Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)
Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)
Daniel Craig (Queer)
Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)
Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)
Hugh Grant (Heretic

Best Actress
Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)
Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)
Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths)
Angelina Jolie (Maria)
Mikey Madison (Anora)
Demi Moore (The Substance)

Best Supporting Actor
Yura Borisov (Anora)
Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin (Sing Sing
Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)
Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)
Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)

Best Supporting Actress
Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (Nickel Boys)
Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked)
Margaret Qualley (The Substance)
Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)
Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)


A full list of nominees can be found here

Conclave and Wicked lead the pack with 11 nominations apiece; Emilia Pérez and Dune: Part Two have 10, whilst The Brutalist gets nine. 

As is usual, there's a lot of the same names coming up in the various awards bodies. Of course, nothing's ever certain until the nominations are announced but you can definitely see the way the wind is blowing for this awards season. Still time for some interesting curveballs though before we get to the Oscar nominations. 

The 30th Critics' Choice Awards will be handed out on Sunday 12th January 2025. Broadcast on The CW, Chelsea Handler will return for hosting duties for the third year running. 

Congratulations to all nominees!

Awards nonsense pauses over the next couple of weeks so everyone can enjoy the holidays. We'll be getting back on the awards trail in early January, with the Golden Globes being handed out on 5th January 2025. 

Monday, 9 December 2024

Awards Season 2025: Golden Globes Nominations


Today (Monday 9th December 2024) saw the announcement of the nominees for the 82nd Golden Globe Awards, with Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project. The Office, Inside Out) and Morris Chestnut (Boyz N The Hood, The Best Man, Kick-Ass 2) doing the honours. 

The awards are now administered by Dick Clark Productions and Eldridge Industries, following the disbanding of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) in June 2023. A group of voters consisting of 334 journalists representing 85 countries selected the nominees. Upon taking over from the HFPA, the decision was made to keep the split between drama and musical/comedy categories (as had been the HFPA's tradition). 

Below is a selected list of the film nominees:

Best Picture - Drama
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Dune Part 2
Nickel Boys
September 5

Best Picture - Musical or Comedy
Anora
Challengers
Emilia Pérez
A Real Pain
The Substance
Wicked

Best Director
Jacques Audiard (Emilia Pérez)
Sean Baker (Anora)
Edward Berger (Conclave)
Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)
Coralie Fargeat (The Substance)
Payal Kapadia (All We Imagine As Light)

Best Actor - Drama
Adrien Brody (The Brutalist)
Timothée Chalamet (A Complete Unknown)
Daniel Craig (Queer)
Colman Domingo (Sing Sing)
Ralph Fiennes (Conclave)
Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice)
 
Best Actor - Musical or Comedy
Jesse Eisenberg (A Real Pain)
Hugh Grant (Heretic)
Gabriel LaBelle (Saturday Night)
Jesse Plemons (Kinds Of Kindness)
Glen Powell (Hit Man)
Sebastian Stan (A Different Man)

Best Actress - Drama
Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl)
Angelina Jolie (Maria)
Nicole Kidman (Babygirl)
Tilda Swinton (The Room Next Door)
Fernanda Torres (I'm Still Here)
Kate Winslet (Lee)

Best Actress - Musical or Comedy
Amy Adams (Nightbitch)
Cynthia Erivo (Wicked)
Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez)
Mikey Madison (Anora)
Demi Moore (The Substance)
Zendaya (Challengers)

Best Supporting Actor
Yura Borisov (Anora)
Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain)
Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown)
Guy Pearce (The Brutalist)
Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice)
Denzel Washington (Gladiator II)

Best Supporting Actress
Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez)
Ariana Grande-Butera (Wicked)
Felicity Jones (The Brutalist)
Margaret Qualley (The Substance)
Isabella Rossellini (Conclave)
Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez)

A full list of nominations can be found here.

OK, before I get too far into it, I just want to point out one thing. There may be a new team heading the Golden Globes but the HFPA's naughty little habit of category fraud is still alive and well. Whilst I am pleased to see both Hugh Grant and Demi Moore recognised for their bravura performances (you can file this directly under "don't hate the player, hate the game"), I would argue that neither Heretic (thriller and psychological horror) nor The Substance (body horror and psychological drama) are musicals or comedies; you could maybe get away with an argument that The Substance (and possibly Nightbitch) could be classed as "black comedy". I don't get the thinking behind it at all. It's giving off The Tourist and The Martian vibes for those who remember those years. 

I'm really pleased to see both Daniel Craig and Ralph Fiennes recognised. I was initially unsure whether Queer (on its title alone, let alone its content) would figure, but I'm glad it did. Similarly, I'm chuffed that Conclave has got as much love as it has; it's a well-made film, expertly acted and beautiful to look at. This year's Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award nominees include Deadpool & Wolverine, Twisters, Wicked, and (surprisingly) Alien: Romulus. Also, in case anyone is wondering what September 5 is ('cause I sure was), it's a historical thriller which follows the ABC Sports broadcast team who find themselves covering the hostage crisis which unfolded at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics.

Emilia Pérez leads the way with an amazing 10 nominations; The Brutalist (a biopic of architect László Toth) is second with seven, and Conclave has six. 

It was also announced that the brilliant Viola Davis will be the recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award (for "outstanding achievement" in film), whilst Ted Danson would be getting the television equivalent with the Carol Burnett Award. 

The Golden Globes will be handed out in a ceremony on Sunday 5th January 2025, to be broadcast live on CBS with Nikki Glaser (Trainwreck, I Feel Pretty, Good Clean Filth) taking up hosting duties. 

Congratulations to all nominees!


So, next up on the awards season trail, and our last stop before the Christmas holidays, will be the Critics' Choice Awards who will announce their nominees this coming Thursday (12th December 2024).
  

Wednesday, 4 December 2024

Awards Season 2025: Film Independent Spirit Awards Nominations


It's been a busy couple of months for Watchers Productions, as we've ventured into the world of theatre and are putting on a play. Twinkle - a one-man show about a vengeful pantomime dame - will hit the stage in Cardiff next week. Tickets are available here. It's a perfect alternative Christmas night out for those of you who like your festive entertainment a little darker. 


Anyway, with all this going on, I'm sure the handful of awards season aficionados will forgive me for letting this creep up on me. 

Today (Wednesday 4th December) saw the announcement of the nominees for the 40th Independent Spirit Awards. The nominations were announced via YouTube video by Cooper Hopkins and Lauren Melton. You will no doubt be aware by now that these awards recognise films made wholly or partly outside the traditional studio system. 

Below is a selection of nominations:

Best Feature
Anora
I Saw The TV Glow
Nickel Boys
Sing Sing
The Substance

Best Director
Ali Abbasi (The Apprentice)
Sean Baker (Anora)
Brady Corbet (The Brutalist)
Alonso Ruizpalacios (La Cocina)
Jane Schoenbrun (I Saw The TV Glow

Best Lead Performance
Amy Adams (Nightbitch)
Ryan Destiny (The Fire Inside)
Colman Domingo (Sing Sing
Keith Kupferer (Ghostlight
Mikey Madison (Anora
Demi Moore (The Substance
Hunter Schafer (Cuckoo
Justice Smith (I Saw The TV Glow
June Squibb (Thelma
Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice

Best Supporting Performance
Yura Borisov (Anora
Joan Chen (Didi)
Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain
Danielle Deadwyler (The Piano Lesson)
Carol Kane (Between The Temples
Karren Karagulian (Anora
Kani Kusruti (Girls Will Be Girls)
Brigette Lundy-Paine (I Saw The TV Glow)
Clarence "Divine Eye" Maclin (Sing Sing
Adam Pearson (A Different Man

A full list of nominees can be found here.


Anora (a romantic comedy-drama about the whirlwind marriage between a Brooklyn stripper [Mikey Madison] and the dissolute son of a Russian oligarch [Mark Eydelshteyn], which won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival) and I Saw The TV Glow (a psychological horror about two troubled high school students [Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine] whose connection to their favourite TV show - The Pink Opaque - leads them to question their realities) lead the field with six nominations apiece. 

There are some interesting nominations in the television categories. Shogun leads the way with five nods, with Baby Reindeer and English Teacher both getting four. However, what surprised me were the three nominations for Agatha All Along (rightly recognising the stellar work of Kathryn Hahn, Patti LuPone, and Joe Locke) and a very well-deserved nomination for Cristin Miloti for her superb performance as Sofia Falcone in The Penguin. Andrew Scott also gets a nod for Ripley, which is nice. 

The 40th Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony will take place at the usual Santa Monica beachside tent on 22nd February 2025, hosted by Aidy Bryant (Saturday Night Live, Human Resources, The Big Sick) for the second year in a row. 

Congratulations to all the nominees!


As I didn't get a chance to do my usual "For Your Consideration" post, I'm going to include the important dates here. The timetable for the major movie awards in 2025 is as follows:

Golden Globes
Nominations announced: 9th December 2024
Awards ceremony: 5th January 2025 (hosted by Nikki Glaser)

Critics' Choice Award
Nominations announced: 12th December 2024
Awards ceremony: 12th January 2025 (hosted by Chelsea Handler)

Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards
Nominations announced: 8th January 2025
Awards ceremony: 23rd February 2025

Directors' Guild Of America (DGA) Award
Nominations announced: 8th January 2025
Awards ceremony: 8th February 2025

Writers' Guild Of America (PGA) Award
Nominations announced: 9th January 2025
Awards ceremony: 15th February 2025

Producers' Guild Of America (PGA) Award
Nominations announced: 10th January 2025
Awards ceremony: 8th February 2025

BAFTA Film Awards
Nominations announced: 15th January 2025
Awards ceremony: 16th February 2025

Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzies)
Nominations announced: 16th January 2025
Awards ceremony: 1st March 2025

The 97th Academy Awards (Oscars)
Nominations announced: 17th January 2025
Awards ceremony: 2nd March 2025 (hosted by Conan O'Brien)


So, as a very wise lizard woman from the dawn of time once said,