“Avatar” won six prizes at Friday’s Critics Choice Movie Awards, but James Cameron’s blockbuster lost in two of the top categories, including Best Picture, to his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker.”
Bigelow also won the award for Best Directing during the ceremony at the Hollywood Palladium.
When the filmmakers responsible for "The Hurt Locker" came offstage after winning the Best Picture award (left, Getty Images), Cameron was one of the first to congratulate Bigelow and the film’s writer, Mark Boal.
The Critics Choice Movie Awards are handed out by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, a group of more than 200 television, radio and Internet critics.
The Best Actor award went to Jeff Bridges for “Crazy Heart.” The Best Actress race resulted in a tie between two mainstream stars, Meryl Streep for “Julie & Julia” and Sandra Bullock for “The Blind Side.”
The supporting awards went to Christoph Waltz for “Inglourious Basterds” and Mo’Nique for “Precious.”
“Avatar” was named Best Action Movie, and also took home awards for editing, cinematography, visual effects, art direction and sound.
Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” won three awards; in addition to Waltz’s award, the film won for Tarantino’s screenplay and for Best Ensemble Cast.
The musical "Nine," which tied "Basterds" with a record 10 nominations, did not receive any awards.
The BFCA expanded from 17 to 25 categories this year to more closely mirror the Academy Awards. The telecast on VH1, though, was scheduled in such a way that many of the early categories presented were ones not included in the Oscars, including Best Ensemble Cast and Best Action Movie.
Several of the craft categories were announced on the show, but the winners did not accept their awards onscreen.
For the past three years, the film named Best Picture at the Critics Choice Awards has gone on to win the top Oscar as well. Friday’s results strengthen the hand of "The Hurt Locker" as a real alternative to "Avatar," which has been topping many Oscar prediction charts since it began its remarkable run at the box office.
The show was hosted by Kristin Chenoweth.
The full list of awards:
BEST PICTURE: "The Hurt Locker"
BEST DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow, "The Hurt Locker"
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Quentin Tarantino, "Inglourious Basterds"
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, “Up in the Air”
BEST ACTOR: Jeff Bridges, "Crazy Heart"
BEST ACTRESS: (tie) Sandra Bullock, "The Blind Side," and Meryl Streep, "Julie & Julia" (right; Getty Images)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz, "Inglourious Basterds"
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo’Nique, "Precious"
BEST YOUNG ACTRESS: Saoirse Ronan, "The Lovely Bones"
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE: "Inglourious Basterds"
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: "Avatar"
BEST EDITING: Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron, “Avatar”
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Sandy Powell, “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,” T Bone Burnett and Ryan Bingham, from “Crazy Heart”
BEST SCORE: Michael Giacchino, “Up”
See full list of nominees and winners.
