servers.

waiter/waitress was retired some time ago I believe.

flight attendant.

All five of the nominees in the category of Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role will, indeed, be actors --female actors.

Each of them is also a person, though I am not so certain you are clear on that.

doctor and nurse

Madam and Pimp

They are all actors absolutely. And of course they are a whole person, worthy of being treated by the golden rule. Hope that clears it up.

Nope.

You posted this:

Do you want to just go ahead and clear things up by stating clearly that you consider KS Gascon to be an actress, a female actor, just as much as Moore and Madison are?

Otherwise, we all know what you are saying about how you regard the gender status of trans individuals.

Interesting. Actors seem to have a big issue with AI being used for in Hollywood. I wonder if they’ll have the same issue if AI helps them get an Oscar nomination/win?

This use of AI is not unlike singers using auto tune, imo, or visual effects being used to alter an actor's appearance. I can see where it could alter someone's opinion of a performance, but this is not AI replacing actors.

He'll be nominated for sure. Whether he wins or not might be partially decided by this. Is using AI accent enhancements any worse than lip synching in key scenes that helped Jamie Foxx and Rami Malik win Oscars? I wouldn't think so, but you're right, AI has to be pretty concerning to 21st Century actors.

Gold Derby now has it a two person race between Moore and Madison with two sets of odds for both

Moore at 2.7 or 2.55 to 1
and Madison at 2.7 or 2.57 to 1

I wish I had put some money on Moore back when she was a longshot

Some expected winners, a few surprises and a couple of WTF's from the Critics Choice Awards.

Critics Choice Awards 2025 Winners List

FILM

Best Picture

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

Best Actor

Adrien Brody, The Brutalist — WINNER
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 — WINNER

Best Supporting Actor

Yura Borisov, Anora
Kieran Culkin, A Real Pain — WINNER
Clarence 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, Wicked
Margaret Qualley, The Substance
Isabella Rossellini, Conclave
Zoe Saldaña, Emilia Pérez — WINNER

Best Young Actor / Actress

Alyla Browne, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Elliott Heffernan, Blitz
Maisy Stella, My Old Ass — WINNER
Izaac Wang, Didi
Alisha Weir, Abigail
Zoe Ziegler, Janet Planet

Best Acting Ensemble

Anora
Conclave — WINNER
Emilia Pérez
Saturday Night
Sing Sing
Wicked

Best Director

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

Best Original Screenplay

Sean Baker, Anora
Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum, & Alex David, September 5
Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold, The Brutalist
Jesse Eisenberg, A Real Pain
Coralie Fargeat, The Substance — WINNER
Justin Kuritzkes, Challengers

Best Adapted Screenplay

Jacques Audiard, Emilia Pérez
Winnie Holzman & Dana Fox, Wicked
Greg Kwedar & Clint Bentley, Sing Sing
RaMell Ross & Joslyn Barnes, Nickel Boys
Peter Straughan, Conclave — WINNER
Denis Villeneuve & Jon Spaihts, Dune: Part Two

Best Cinematography

Jarin Blaschke, Nosferatu — WINNER
Alice Brooks, Wicked
Lol Crawley, The Brutalist
Stéphane Fontaine, Conclave
Greig Fraser, Dune: Part Two
Jomo Fray, Nickel Boys

Best Production Design

Judy Becker & Patricia Cuccia, The Brutalist
Nathan Crowley & Lee Sandales, Wicked — WINNER
Suzie Davies & Cynthia Sleiter, Conclave
Craig Lathrop & Beatrice Brentnerova, Nosferatu
Arthur Max, Jille Azis, & Elli Griff, Gladiator II
Patrice Vermette &Shane Vieau, Dune: Part Two

Best Editing

Sean Baker, Anora
Marco Costa, Challengers — WINNER
Nick Emerson, Conclave
David Jancso, The Brutalist
Joe Walker, Dune: Part Two
Hansjörg Weißbrich, September 5

Best Costume Design

Lisy Christl, Conclave
Linda Muir, Nosferatu
Massimo Cantini Parrini, Maria
Paul Tazewell, Wicked — WINNER
Jacqueline West, Dune: Part Two
Janty Yates & Dave Crossman, Gladiator II

Best Hair and Makeup

Christine Blundell, Lesa Warrener, & Neal Scanlan, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Hair and Makeup Team, Dune: Part Two
Stéphanie Guillon, Frédérique Arguello, & Pierre-Olivier Persin, The Substance — WINNER
Frances Hannon, Sarah Nuth, & Laura Blount, Wicked
Traci Loader, Suzanne Stokes-Munton, & David White, Nosferatu
Mike Marino, Sarah Graalman, & Aaron Saucier, A Different Man

Best Visual Effects

Mark Bakowski, Pietro Ponti, Nikki Penny, & Neil Corbould, Gladiator II
Pablo Helman, Jonathan Fawkner, Paul Corbould, & David Shirk, Wicked
Paul Lambert, Stephen James, Rhys Salcombe, & Gerd Nefzer, Dune: Part Two — WINNER
Luke Millar, David Clayton, Keith Herft, & Peter Stubbs, Better Man
Bryan Jones, Chervin Shafaghi, Pierre Olivier-Persin, & Jean Miel, The Substance
Erik Winquist, Stephen Unterfranz, Paul Story, & Rodney Burke, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Best Animated Feature

Flow
Inside Out 2
Memoir of a Snail
Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot — WINNER

Best Comedy

A Real Pain — WINNER (TIE)
Deadpool & Wolverine — WINNER (TIE)
Hit Man
My Old Ass
Saturday Night
Thelma

Best Foreign Language Film

All We Imagine as Light
Emilia Pérez — WINNER
Flow
I’m Still Here
Kneecap
The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Best Song

“Beautiful That Way,” The Last Showgirl – Andrew Wyatt, Miley Cyrus and Lykke Li
“Compress / Repress,” Challengers – Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, Luca Guadagnino
“El Mal,” Emilia Pérez – Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Camille — WINNER
“Harper and Will Go West,” Will & Harper – Kristen Wiig
“Kiss the Sky,” The Wild Robot – Maren Morris
“Mi Camino,” Emilia Pérez – Selena Gomez

Best Score

Volker Bertelmann, Conclave
Daniel Blumberg, The Brutalist
Kris Bowers, The Wild Robot
Clément Ducol & Camille, Emilia Pérez
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Challengers — WINNER
Hans Zimmer, Dune: Part Two

I swear it’s so weird to give Best Picture to Anora but not Best Actress to Mikey Madison. The whole movie is about her. If she’s not the best actress this year, if the critics don’t feel she gave the best performance, if they don’t deem Sean Baker was either the best director or writer of the best original screenplay this year, that it was neither the best shot nor the best edited film, and they don’t feel it was the best acting ensemble overall, then WHY did they feel it was the Best Picture of the year?

It's not worth trying to make sense of any awards body that gives best director to Jon M. Chu.

DGA winners:

DGA and PGA both went to Anora.

Gotta be the favorite for best picture now

But not Best Actress? Weird year indeed.

It was his turn, since he has been snubbed not only for Step Up 3D, but also G.I. Joe: Retaliation and Jem and the Holograms.

Anora, Conclave, Brutalist have always been considered the top 3 in the Best Picture race. I think Brutalist will ultimately win out because the general voting body will go for its big themes and importance.

I think that with its premiere at Cannes, and then roll out through film festivals previous to its release, critics were praising 'Anora' to the heavens as the best film of the year. Part of it is that critics LOVE movies that surprise them, show them something/someone new, and exceed/defy expectations.

And so when it came time to name a Best Picture, many months later, they were not inclined to back off of the movie that they fell in love with.

But drilling down into the separate categories, they turned on their more analytical brains.

I'm going to guess that they were impressed with Chu taking a stage musical production and a book, and then turning those pieces into a fully realized cinematic world. The movie is not just a filmed version of the stage musical, nor is it just a film adaptation of the book.

Whatever you want to say about "Wicked" it is an amazing vision translated onto the screen.

Has a movie that won the PGA and DGA lost Best Picture? The Critic’s Choice awards are pretty meaningless, but yesterday shook up the odds for sure.

Got my answer :
Apollo 13 (Braveheart)
Saving Private Ryan (Shakespeare In Love)
Brokeback Mountain (crash)
La La Land (Moonlight)
1917 (Parasite)

So it happens, but it’s the rare shockers.

A month ago I posted this when you were insisting Madison would win Best Actress and I said it would be Moore

So, I'll just say the same thing on February 9th, I think "The Brutalist" will win. If I am wrong, I'll own up.

btw, Moonlight beating La La Land was A24 beating the movie that every predictor thought would win. If The Brutalist beating Anora would now be considered an upset, don't count A24 out.

It’s so weird. It’s been a shift away from Madison and towards Anora. Makes no sense.
If Moore wins the SAG, that race is all but over.

I thought the movie looked like garbage and only one, maybe two of the numbers jumped out as being particularly well staged or choreographed. The two lead performances are good, but even then I didn't think the movie's take on Elphaba totally worked. I put that on Chu. Bottom line is I'm not sure whatv exactly Chu did that was awards worthy. The lack of an Oscar or DGA nomination tells me I'm not alone.