Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" leads all films in nominations for the Critics Choice Movie Awards, setting a new record by picking up 13 noms to top "Les Miserables" by two and "Silver Linings Playbook" by three, the Broadcast Film Critics Association announced on Tuesday.
Of course, records are relative at the CCMA, which in recent years has increased the number of categories and also gone to six rather than five nominees in most of the marquee categories, providing more opportunities for nominations than at any other time in the show's 18-year history.
"Lincoln" scored in the categories of Best Picture, Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Best Supporting Actor and Actress (Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field), Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was also nominated for its cinematography, art direction, editing, costume design, makeup and score.
"Les Miserables" received 11 nominations, while "Silver Linings Playbook" received 10, "Life of Pi" nine and "Argo," "The Master" and "Skyfall" seven each.
In the Best Picture category, "Lincoln," "Les Miz," "Silver Linings," "Life of Pi," "Argo" and "The Master" are going up against "Beasts of the Southern Wild," "Django Unchained," "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Zero Dark Thirty."
The Critics Choice Movie Awards are chosen by the members of the BFCA, the largest film critics organization in the United States with more than 270 television, radio and online critics. (Full disclosure: I am a member.)
It has been giving out awards since 1995, and prides itself on being the most accurate predictor of Oscar success – though with 10 Best Picture nominees and now with six nominees in six different acting categories as well as in director, original screenplay, animated feature and documentary, it casts such a wide net that it would be hard-pressed to miss any of the key Oscar contenders.
Last year, all nine of the Oscar Best Picture nominees were first nominated by the BFCA, though only 12 of the 20 acting nominees and three of the five directing nominees were.
The most notable films not included among the CCMA nominations are "Flight," "The Dark Knight Rises," "The Impossible" and "Anna Karenina" in the Best Picture category. Naomi Watts ("The Impossible") and Keira Knightley ("Anna Karenina") are missing from the Best Actress category, while the biggest omissions in the supporting categories include Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz from "Django Unchained," Eddie Redmayne and Russell Crowe from "Les Miz" and Maggie Smith from "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."
With a new home on the CW Network, the CCMAs added a number of more TV-friendly categories clearly designed to feature nominated films that moviegoers might have seen. In addition to adding acting awards in the action-movie and comedy genres, the BFCA added a category for Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie, in which the nominees are "Looper," "The Cabin in the Woods" and "Prometheus."
The reshuffling led to a field in which "21 Jump Street" received as many nominations as "Amour" (two), and "The Avengers" received as many as "Beasts of the Southern Wild" (three) and more than "Django," "Flight" and "The Sessions."
The film that has been winning most of the critics' awards over the past week, Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty," received a relatively paltry five nods, though they were in the high-profile categories of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing.
The 18th annual Critics Choice Movie Awards will take place on Jan. 10 at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, CA and will be broadcast on the CW Network.
BEST PICTURE
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
BEST ACTOR
Bradley Cooper – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day-Lewis – “Lincoln”
John Hawkes – “The Sessions”
Hugh Jackman – “Les Misérables”
Joaquin Phoenix – “The Master”
Denzel Washington – “Flight”
BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain – “Zero Dark Thirty”
Marion Cotillard – “Rust and Bone”
Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle Riva – “Amour”
Quvenzhané Wallis – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Naomi Watts – “The Impossible”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin – “Argo”
Javier Bardem – “Skyfall”
Robert De Niro – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Philip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones – “Lincoln”
Matthew McConaughey – “Magic Mike”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – “The Master”
Judi Dench – “Skyfall”
Ann Dowd – “Compliance”
Sally Field – “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway – “Les Misérables”
Helen Hunt – “The Sessions”
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS
Elle Fanning – “Ginger & Rosa”
Kara Hayward – “Moonrise Kingdom”
Tom Holland – “The Impossible”
Logan Lerman – “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”
Suraj Sharma – “Life of Pi”
Quvenzhané Wallis – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
Argo
The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
BEST DIRECTOR
Ben Affleck – “Argo”
Kathryn Bigelow – “Zero Dark Thirty”
Tom Hooper – “Les Misérables”
Ang Lee – “Life of Pi”
David O. Russell – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Steven Spielberg – “Lincoln”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Quentin Tarantino – “Django Unchained”
John Gatins – “Flight”
Rian Johnson – “Looper”
Paul Thomas Anderson – “The Master”
Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola – “Moonrise Kingdom”
Mark Boal – “Zero Dark Thirty”
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Chris Terrio – “Argo”
David Magee – “Life of Pi”
Tony Kushner – “Lincoln”
Stephen Chbosky – “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”
David O. Russell – “Silver Linings Playbook”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Les Misérables” – Danny Cohen
“Life of Pi” – Claudio Miranda
“Lincoln” – Janusz Kaminski
“The Master” – Mihai Malaimare Jr.
“Skyfall” – Roger Deakins
BEST ART DIRECTION
“Anna Karenina” – Sarah Greenwood/Production Designer; Katie Spencer/Set Decorator
“The Hobbit” – Dan Hennah/Production Designer; Ra Vincent & Simon Bright/Set Decorators
“Les Misérables” – Eve Stewart/Production Designer; Anna Lynch-Robinson/Set Decorator
“Life of Pi” – David Gropman/Production Designer; Anna Pinnock/Set Decorator
“Lincoln” – Rick Carter/Production Designer; Jim Erickson/Set Decorator
BEST EDITING
“Argo” – William Goldenberg
“Les Misérables” – Melanie Ann Oliver and Chris Dickens
“Life of Pi” – Tim Squyres
“Lincoln” – Michael Kahn
“Zero Dark Thirty” – William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“Anna Karenina” – Jacqueline Durran
“Cloud Atlas” – Kym Barrett and Pierre-Yves Gayraud
“The Hobbit” – Bob Buck, Ann Maskrey and Richard Taylor
“Les Misérables” – Paco Delgado
“Lincoln” – Joanna Johnston
BEST MAKEUP
Cloud Atlas
The Hobbit
Les Misérables
Lincoln
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Avengers
Cloud Atlas
The Dark Knight Rises
The Hobbit
Life of Pi
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Brave
Frankenweenie
Madagascar 3
ParaNorman
Rise of the Guardians
Wreck-It Ralph
BEST ACTION MOVIE
The Avengers
The Dark Knight Rises
Looper
Skyfall
BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Christian Bale – “The Dark Knight Rises”
Daniel Craig – “Skyfall”
Robert Downey Jr. – “The Avengers”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Looper”
Jake Gyllenhaal – “End of Watch”
BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE
Emily Blunt – “Looper”
Gina Carano – “Haywire”
Judi Dench – “Skyfall”
Anne Hathaway – “The Dark Knight Rises”
Jennifer Lawrence – “The Hunger Games”
BEST COMEDY
Bernie
Silver Linings Playbook
Ted
This Is 40
21 Jump Street
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Jack Black – “Bernie”
Bradley Cooper – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Paul Rudd – “This Is 40”
Channing Tatum – “21 Jump Street”
Mark Wahlberg – “Ted”
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Mila Kunis – “Ted”
Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Shirley MacLaine – “Bernie”
Leslie Mann – “This Is 40”
Rebel Wilson – “Pitch Perfect”
BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE
The Cabin in the Woods
Looper
Prometheus
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Amour
The Intouchables
A Royal Affair
Rust and Bone
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Bully
The Central Park Five
The Imposter
The Queen of Versailles
Searching for Sugar Man
West of Memphis
BEST SONG
“For You” – performed by Keith Urban/written by Monty Powell & Keith Urban – Act of Valor
“Learn Me Right” – performed by Birdy with Mumford & Sons/written by Mumford & Sons – Brave
“Skyfall” – performed by Adele/written by Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth – Skyfall
“Still Alive” – performed by Paul Williams/written by Paul Williams – Paul Williams Still Alive
“Suddenly” – performed by Hugh Jackman/written by Claude-Michel Schonberg & Alain Boublil & Herbert Kretzmer – Les Misérables
BEST SCORE
“Argo” – Alexandre Desplat
“Life of Pi” – Mychael Danna
“Lincoln” – John Williams
“The Master” – Jonny Greenwood
“Moonrise Kingdom” – Alexandre Desplat