Celebrating film’s finest

DiCaprio, who has been jested at for his zero wins so far at the Oscars, won best comedy actor for The Wolf of Wall Street. PHOTOS: FILE

The 19th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards celebrated the finest in cinematic achievement on January 16 in Santa Monica, California.

Amid the top winners were actors Cate Blanchett and Matthew McConaughey and historical drama film 12 Years a Slave, who bagged the awards for Best Actress, Actor and Picture respectively, reports Reuters.

The all-star film American Hustle about 1970s corruption, which has received ten Oscar nominations, was named Best Comedy Film, with Amy Adams winning Best Comedy Actress. The 281-member Broadcast Film Critics Association, which is the largest film critics’ organisation in the United States and Canada, also gave the film its best acting ensemble prize at the event.

The awards virtually mirrored the top winners at this year’s Golden Globes. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who has been jested at for his zero wins so far at the Oscars, won best comedy actor for The Wolf of Wall Street. Blanchett, who also won the Globe and is favoured for the Oscar, was honoured for Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine.

Jared Leto won Best Supporting Actor for his role of a transsexual fighting AIDS in Dallas Buyers Club. He dedicated his award to “all the people around the world who are living with HIV (and) all the people who have lost their lives to this horrific disease.” Both McConaughey and Leto won Golden Globes on Sunday and were nominated for the Oscars on Thursday.

Lupita Nyong’o, who plays slave Patsey in 12 Years a Slave, won Best Supporting Actress, prevailing over  A-list fellow nominees in the category, like Julia Roberts and Oprah Winfrey.

Mexican film-maker Alfonso Cuarón was named Best Director for the outer space hit Gravity, which also took prizes for Visual Effects, Film Editing and Cinematography. Actor Sandra Bullock also won Best Actress in an action film, calling Gravity “a movie that should not have worked — but did.”

Twenty-year-old Adèle Exarchopoulos was named Best Young Actor or Actress for Blue Is the Warmest Colour. The Disney hit Frozen won Best Animated Feature, and Idina Menzel’s Let It Go from the same film took the award for Best Song.

The writing awards went to Her for Original Screenplay and 12 Years a Slave for Adapted Screenplay.

Awards season in officially in full swing, and we eagerly await the Oscars that are scheduled to be held on March 2.