Argo Takes Top Honors at 18th Annual Critics Choice Awards

The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA)–of which ComingSoon.net’s Edward Douglas is a member–gave out their 18th Annual Critics Choice Movie Awards earlier this evening, less than 14 hours after the announcement of the 85th Annual Academy Award nominations.

Ben Affleck had a much better night after being sorely snubbed as director by the Academy for his third movie, Argo (Warner Bros.), which won the top honor for Best Picture as well as Affleck winning for Best Director. Affleck received a standing ovation from the critics when he went up to accept his award, realizing these were some of the same critics he previously had a tentative relationship with in the past.

Even so, David O. Russell’s comedy Silver Linings Playbook (The Weinstein Co.) was the big winner of the night having received four Critics Choice Awards, one for its Ensemble Cast, then sweeping the comedy category, winning for Best Comedy after Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence received awards in the new Actor and Actress in a Comedy categories. With her inclusion in the Ensemble Cast, Jennifer Lawrence actually won three Critics Choice awards, because she also took home the honor in the new Actress in an Action Movie category for her performance in THe Hunger Games.

Otherwise, the awards were fairly spread out with Jessica Chastain winning Best Actress for her performance in Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty (Sony), while Daniel Day-Lewis took home the corresponding Actor category for playing the 16th U.S. President in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln (DreamWorks).

Tony Kushner’s screenplay for the latter won in the Adapted Screenplay category, while Quentin Tarantino was honored for his Original Screenplay for Django Unchained (The Weinstein Company).

Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master (The Weinstein Company) only received one award for Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Supporting Actor performance and the same was true about Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables (Universal), which was only honored with one award, going to Anne Hathaway for Supporting Actress.

Ang Lee’s Life of Pi (20th Century Fox) won two awards, for Best Visual Effects and Cinematography, while Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis’ Cloud Atlas (Warner Bros.) received an award for its Make-Up. Rian Johnson’s

Looper won in the brand-new Sci-Fi/Horror category.

The 23rd James Bond movie Skyfall (Sony) was honored three times, winning in the Action category, as well as one for Daniel Craig as Actor in an Action Movie and Adele’s original song “Skyfall.” John Williams was honored for his score for Spielberg’s Lincoln.

Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph (Walt Disney Pictures) won in the highly competitive Animated category, while Michael Haneke’s Amour (Sony Pictures Classics) continued to receive love on the same day it received five Oscar nominations, winning the Critics Choice award in the Foreign Language category. Searching for Sugar Man, also from Sony Pictures Classics, won in the Documentary category.

Here’s the full list of winners (thanks to Awards Daily):

WINNERS OF THE 18TH ANNUAL CRITICS’ CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS

Best Picture – Argo

Best Actor – Daniel Day-Lewis

Best Actress – Jessica Chastain

Best Supporting Actor – Philip Seymour Hoffman

Best Supporting Actress – Anne Hathaway

Best Young Actor/Actress – Quvenzhane Wallis

Best Acting Ensemble – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Director – Ben Affleck

Best Original Screenplay – Quentin Tarantino

Best Adapted Screenplay – Tony Kushner

Best Cinematography – Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi)

Best Art Direction – Sarah Greenwood/Katie Spencer (Anna Karenina)

Best Editing – William Goldenberg/Dylan Tichenor (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Costume Design – Jacqueline Durran (Anna Karenina)

Best Makeup – Cloud Atlas

Best Visual Effects – Life of Pi

Best Animated Feature – Wreck-It Ralph

Best Action Movie – Skyfall

Best Actor in an Action Movie – Daniel Craig

Best Actress in an Action Movie – Jennifer Lawrence

Best Comedy – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Actor in a Comedy – Bradley Cooper

Best Actress in a Comedy – Jennifer Lawrence

Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie – Looper

Best Foreign Language Film – Amour

Best Documentary Feature – Searching for Sugarman

Best Song – Skyfall

Best Score – John Williams