After a year of raking celebrities over the coals, it always surprises me that the stars show up for the Critics Choice Awards, which for the first time, combined the best of both film and television, as voted for by the Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) and the Broadcast Television Journalists Association (BTJA). I’m a voting member of both organizations, and look at the awards ceremony as a chance to praise exceptional talent, and to thank and honor them for their efforts. The nominees must see it that way too, as they’re surprisingly warm and cordial to us cranky old critics.

But those involved with film also see the Critics Choice Awards as an important lead up to the Oscars — the gold standard. A Critics Choice Award gives them momentum. And as for the TV stars? Of course they enjoy recognition, especially now when there’s more programming than ever and it’s easy to get lost in the channel shuffle. Christian Slater and Rami Malek from Mr. Robot, for example, were over the moon with their wins. If you haven’t seen this cutting edge series, by the way, take advantage of one of these long winter weekends and indulge yourself in a binge. It’s definitely worth it!

This year’s show was one of the best ever, which surprised me, because it’s difficult to sustain interest for a whopping three hours. The Critics Choice Awards had previously aired in two separate, two hour shows, one for TV and one for film. With so much ground to cover this year, there was hardly time to catch your breath during commercial breaks, and rookie host T.J. Miller from Silicon Valley was able to keep things moving nicely.

Spotlight was the evening’s biggest winner, being named Best Picture and garnering two additional wins including Best Acting Ensemble and Best Original Screenplay. But Mad Max: Fury Road, the most nominated film of the evening, won nine awards including Best Director for George Miller, Best Production Design for Colin Gibson, Best Editing for Margaret Sixel, Best Costume Design for Jenny Beavan, Best Hair & Makeup, Best Visual Effects, Best Action Movie, Tom Hardy for Best Actor in an Action Movie, and Charlize Theron for Best Actress in an Action Movie.

 Leonardo DiCaprio was named Best Actor for his turn in The Revenant, and accepted via a video, because he was in Europe promoting his film. Brie Larson took home the Best Actress trophy for her role in Room.  In the supporting categories, Sylvester Stallone won for his return as the iconic Rocky Balboa in Creed, and Alicia Vikander was recognized for her work in The Danish Girl.

On the television side of thing, Fargo (FX Networks) was nominated for eight awards, the most of any series, and took home four trophies including Best Movie Made for Television or Limited Series.  Kirsten Dunst won for Best Actress in a Movie Made for Television or Limited Series, Jesse Plemons for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie Made for Television or Limited Series, and Jean Smart for Best Supporting Actress in a Movie Made for Television or Limited Series. Mr. Robot (USA) followed close behind with three wins for Best Drama Series, Best Actor in a Drama Series (Rami Malek), and Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (Christian Slater). Master of None (Netflix) won for Best Comedy Series.

Amy Schumer received the “Critics’ Choice MVP Award” celebrating her acclaimed work on both television and film, which was presented to the actress, writer and producer by Judd Apatow.  J.J. Abrams presented the “Critics’ Choice Genius Award” to Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), which was recognized for its 40 years of revolutionizing filmmaking.

Schumer, Apatow and little Jacob Tremblay, who won Best Young Actor for his work in Room, gave the best speeches of the night–if you recorded the awards, don’t miss them when fast forwarding through.

You’ll find a full list of all the winners below, following this outrageously self indulgent display of personal photos from the evening’s event. Hey, they were highlights for me, and this IS a personal blog, so your indulgence is requested:

Rachel McAdams participated in the win for Spotlight’s Best Acting Ensemble

The lovely Liv Tyler was on hand representing The Leftovers, which got a TV nomination.

My husband, who was taking the photos, is a big Bradley Whitford fan.

Bryan Cranston was nominated for Best Actor for his work in Trumbo.

Constance Zimmer won for Best Supporting Actress in a drama, UNReal, which is also extremely binge worthy, if you haven’t seen it yet.

Anthony Anderson was nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy Series for Black-ish.

Jim was thrilled to meet eight-time Academy Award nominated songwriter Diane Warren, who collaborated with Lady Gaga on ‘Til It Happens to You’ from the documentary Hunting Ground. The song was nominated for a Critics Choice Award.

21^ST ANNUAL CRITICS’ CHOICE AWARDS Winners

FILM:

BEST PICTURE – “Spotlight”

BEST ACTOR – Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant”

BEST ACTRESS – Brie Larson, “Room”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – Sylvester Stallone, “Creed”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – Alicia Vikander, “The Danish Girl”

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS – Jacob Tremblay, “Room”

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE – “Spotlight”

BEST DIRECTOR – George Miller, “Mad Max: Fury Road”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY – Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy, “Spotlight”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY – Charles Randolph and Adam McKay, “The Big Short”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY – Emmanuel Lubezki, “The Revenant”

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN – Colin Gibson, “Mad Max: Fury Road”

BEST EDITING – Margaret Sixel, “Mad Max: Fury Road”

BEST COSTUME DESIGN – Jenny Beavan, “Mad Max: Fury Road”

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP – “Mad Max: Fury Road”

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS – “Mad Max: Fury Road”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE – “Inside Out”

BEST ACTION MOVIE – “Mad Max: Fury Road”

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE – Tom Hardy, “Mad Max: Fury Road”

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE – Charlize Theron, “Mad Max: Fury Road”

BEST COMEDY – “The Big Short”

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY – Christian Bale, “The Big Short”

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY – Amy Schumer, “Trainwreck”

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE – “Ex Machina”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM – “Son of Saul”

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE – “Amy”

BEST SONG – “See You Again”, Charlie Puth and Wiz Khalifa, “Furious 7”

BEST SCORE – Ennio Morricone, “The Hateful Eight”

TELEVISION:

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES – Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent, Amazon

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES – Rami Malek, Mr. Robot, USA

BEST ACTOR IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES – Idris Elba, Luther, BBC America

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES – Rachel Bloom, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The CW

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES – Carrie Coon, The Leftovers, HBO

BEST ACTRESS IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES – Kirsten Dunst, Fargo, FX Networks

BEST COMEDY SERIES – Master of None, Netflix

BEST DRAMA SERIES – Mr. Robot, USA

BEST GUEST ACTOR/ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES – Timothy Olyphant, The Grinder, Fox

BEST GUEST ACTOR/ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES – Margo Martindale, The Good Wife, CBS

BEST MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES – Fargo, FX Networks

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES – Andre Braugher, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Fox

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES – Christian Slater, Mr. Robot, USA

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES – Jesse Plemons, Fargo, FX Networks

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES – Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory, CBS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES – Constance Zimmer, UnREAL, Lifetime

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION OR LIMITED SERIES – Jean Smart, Fargo, FX Networks

BEST ANIMATION SERIES – BoJack Horseman, Netflix

BEST REALITY SHOW – COMPETITION – The Voice, NBC

BEST REALITY SHOW HOST – James Lipton, Inside the Actors Studio, Bravo

BEST STRUCTURED REALITY SHOW – Shark Tank, ABC

BEST TALK SHOW – Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, HBO

BEST UNSTRUCTURED REALITY SHOW – Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown, CNN

See more pix and get more info at CriticsChoice.com. See all the nominees by clicking here.

The 2016 Critics Choice Awards Winners — Mugging With the Stars