2012 BFCA Critics’ Choice Movie Awards Winners

The Broadcast Film Critics Association's (BFCA) Critics' Choice Movie Awards are well-known to the public not just for the fact that they are seen on national television but also because they're considered to be among the most reliable indicators for the Oscars. The BFCA is the largest such organization in the United States and Canada, representing 250 television, radio and online critics. The very first opinion a moviegoer hears about new releases at the multiplex or the art house often comes from one of their members.

Top honors for Best Picture and Director went to Ben Affleck's Argo. In accepting his award, Affleck said, "I would like to thank the Academy. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. This is the one that counts." (He'd been snubbed in the Oscar nominations announced earlier in the day.) Steven Spielberg's Lincoln took home three awards, including Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Adapted Screenplay (Tony Kushner), and Score (John Williams). Best Actress went to Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty, which was also honored for Editing (William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor).

In the separate comedy category, Silver Linings Playbook took the trophy, along with the top acting categories -- Bradley Cooper for Best Actor in a Comedy and Jennifer Lawrence for Best Actress in a Comedy. Silver Linings Playbook also won Best Acting Ensemble. The versatile Ms. Lawrence also took home the trophy for Best Actress in an Action Movie for The Hunger Games. In the other acting categories, Philip Seymour Hoffman won Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Master while Anne Hathaway took home Supporting Actress honors for Les Misérables. The winner for Best Actor in an Action Movie was Daniel Craig for Skyfall, which also won Best Action Movie and Best Song ("Skyfall," performed by Adele, written by Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth). The award for Best Young Actor/Actress went to Quvenzhané Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild. In the one award chosen by the public, The Twilight Saga was voted Favorite Film Franchise.

I like to think of this as the awards show for films people actually saw. The Critics' Choice Award for Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie went to Rian Johnson's Looper. I attended the World Premiere and placed it on my 2010 Fantastic Fest Top 10 (see my review and photos of the Q&A). Best Foreign Language Film was Amour and the Best Documentary was Searching for Sugar Man. I covered the World Premiere of that film, as well, and placed it on my Top 10 from the Sundance Film Festival and my Best of 2012 list (see my review and photos of the Q&A). My Fantastic Fest Top 10 also included the World Premiere of Cloud Atlas, which won Best Makeup (see my review and photos of the Q&A).

Of the 17 Critics' Choice Awards for Best Picture, 10 have gone on to win the Oscar -- four out of the last five years. The Academy's choices for Best Actor have matched 11 of 17 times, Best Actress nine of 17.

Here is the complete list of nominees and winners (in bold) of the 18th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards:
 

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 FAVORITE FILM FRANCHISE (Voted by the public) "The Twilight Saga"