2012 Critics Choice Awards Winner Predictions

I am currently sitting in my room at the W hotel, only two blocks away from the Hollywood Palladium where tonight I will be attending the 17th annual Critics Choice Awards. It will be my first awards show and I cannot wait, but on top of that this is the first time I have ever attempted to predict the winners at the Critics Choice Awards, an award show I actually was part of the nomination and winner process.

Taking a look at the field I notice I’m only predicting six of the categories to match up with my actual votes.

As for my predictions, my big winners for the night, should my predictions hold true, will be The Descendants and The Help, each going home with four awards, with The Artist coming in close behind with three awards. However, one prediction I’m not entirely sure of is in Original Screenplay, which could very easily go to The Artist instead of Midnight in Paris, which would create a four-way tie if these predictions prove true.

I must say, though, these predictions are a total crap shoot. I haven’t studied past Critics Choice winners to know how they vote and this was my first full year as a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, so I don’t have a lot of experience with the voting process.

I did, however, take a look at the first 16 years of Best Picture winners from the Critics Choice Awards compared to the eventual Oscar Best Picture winner and nine of the last 12 years the winners matched up after the first four years didn’t. Of course, last year was one of the misses as the Critics Choice Award went to The Social Network while The King’s Speech went on to win the Oscar.

As for the odds, nine out of the last twelve sounds pretty good to me, which means tomorrow night’s awards may give us something of a sign as to what to expect in February.

I’ve noted my predictions in bold and red below and I’m interested to hear where you differ. Also, I will do my best to post some tweets from the award show floor from my Twitter account right here and you can look for me at Table 38 (wherever that is) on Thursday, January 12 at 8:00 PM ET/PT on VH-1. It should be a great night and hopefully you’ll be able to enjoy it with me.

I’ll post the winners for those of you that can’t watch the show most likely on Friday morning.

BEST PICTURE

  • The Artist
  • The Descendants
  • Drive
  • Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
  • The Help
  • Hugo
  • Midnight in Paris
  • Moneyball
  • The Tree of Life
  • War Horse

BEST ACTOR

  • George Clooney (The Descendants)
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (J. Edgar)
  • Jean Dujardin (The Artist)
  • Michael Fassbender (Shame)
  • Ryan Gosling (Drive)
  • Brad Pitt (Moneyball)

BEST ACTRESS

  • Viola Davis (The Help)
  • Elizabeth Olsen (Martha Marcy May Marlene)
  • Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady)
  • Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin)
  • Charlize Theron (Young Adult)
  • Michelle Williams (My Week With Marilyn)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

  • Kenneth Branagh (My Week With Marilyn)
  • Albert Brooks (Drive)
  • Nick Nolte (Warrior)
  • Patton Oswalt (Young Adult)
  • Christopher Plummer (Beginners)
  • Andrew Serkis (Rise of the Planet of the Apes)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

  • Berenice Bejo (The Artist)
  • Jessica Chastain (The Help)
  • Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
  • Carey Mulligan (Shame)
  • Octavia Spencer (The Help)
  • Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

  • Asa Butterfield (Hugo)
  • Elle Fanning (Super 8)
  • Thomas Horn (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)
  • Ezra Miller (We Need to Talk About Kevin)
  • Saoirse Ronan (Hanna)
  • Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

  • The Artist
  • Bridesmaids
  • The Descendants
  • The Help
  • The Ides of March

BEST DIRECTOR

  • Stephen Daldry (Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close)
  • Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist)
  • Alexander Payne (The Descendants)
  • Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive)
  • Martin Scorsese (Hugo)
  • Steven Spielberg (War Horse)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

  • The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius
  • 50/50 – Will Reiser
  • Midnight in Paris – Woody Allen
  • Win Win – Screenplay by Tom McCarthy, Story by Tom McCarthy & Joe Tiboni
  • Young Adult – Diablo Cody

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

  • The Descendants – Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
  • Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close – Eric Roth
  • The Help – Tate Taylor
  • Hugo – John Logan
  • Moneyball – Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, Story by Stan Chervin

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

  • The Artist – Guillaume Schiffman
  • Drive – Newton Thomas Sigel
  • Hugo – Robert Richardson
  • The Tree of Life – Emmanuel Lubezki
  • War Horse – Janusz Kaminski

BEST ART DIRECTION

  • The Artist – Production Designer: Laurence Bennett, Art Director: Gregory S. Hooper
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – Production Designer: Stuart Craig, Set Decorator: Stephenie McMillan
  • Hugo – Production Designer: Dante Ferretti, Set Decorator: Francesca Lo Schiavo
  • The Tree of Life – Production Designer: Jack Fisk, Art Director: David Crank
  • War Horse – Production Designer: Rick Carter, Set Decorator: Lee Sandales

BEST EDITING

  • The Artist – Michel Hazanavicius and Anne-Sophie Bion
  • Drive – Matthew Newman
  • The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
  • Hugo – Thelma Schoonmaker
  • War Horse – Michael Kahn

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

  • The Artist – Mark Bridges
  • The Help – Sharen Davis
  • Hugo – Sandy Powell
  • Jane Eyre – Michael O’Connor
  • My Week With Marilyn – Jill Taylor

BEST MAKEUP

  • Albert Nobbs
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
  • The Iron Lady
  • J. Edgar
  • My Week With Marilyn

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
  • Hugo
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes
  • Super 8
  • The Tree of Life

BEST SOUND

  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
  • Hugo
  • Super 8
  • The Tree of Life
  • War Horse

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

  • The Adventures of Tintin
  • Arthur Christmas
  • Kung Fu Panda 2
  • Puss in Boots
  • Rango

BEST ACTION MOVIE

  • Drive
  • Fast Five
  • Hanna
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes
  • Super 8

BEST COMEDY

  • Bridesmaids
  • Crazy, Stupid, Love
  • Horrible Bosses
  • Midnight in Paris
  • The Muppets

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

  • In Darkness
  • Le Havre
  • A Separation
  • The Skin I Live In
  • Where Do We Go Now

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

  • Buck
  • Cave of Forgotten Dreams
  • George Harrison: Living in the Material World
  • Page One: Inside the New York Times
  • Project Nim
  • Undefeated

BEST SONG

  • “Hello Hello” – performed by Elton John and Lady Gaga/written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin – Gnomeo & Juliet
  • “Life’s a Happy Song” – performed by Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – The Muppets
  • “The Living Proof” – performed by Mary J. Blige/written by Mary J. Blige, Thomas Newman and Harvey Mason, Jr. – The Help
  • “Man or Muppet” – performed by Jason Segel and Walter/written by Bret McKenzie – The Muppets
  • “Pictures in My Head” – performed by Kermit and the Muppets/written by Jeannie Lurie, Aris Archontis and Chen Neeman – The Muppets

BEST SCORE

  • Ludovic Bource (The Artist)
  • Cliff Martinez (Drive)
  • Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo)
  • Howard Shore (Hugo)
  • John Williams (War Horse)

Movie News

Marvel and DC

X