By Tyler Banark 

The Golden Globes and Critics’ Choice awards have come and gone with surprising results! It marks the start of one of the most wonderful times of the year, as it means we are inching closer and closer to the Super Bowl of movies. With said results comes turning heads and dropped jaws. Before the Oscar and BAFTA nominations are announced, and the Actor Awards are presented, here are my initial thoughts on all that’s gone down for the Globes and Critics’ Choice results. 

Starting with the Critics’ Choice awards, there was a mix of surprises, both good and bad. As the first major movie awards show of the season, Critics’ Choice cemented the frontrunners and heavy contenders in each category. In terms of good surprises that came out of this year’s results, we got Jacob Elordi winning Best Supporting Actor for his work in Frankenstein (a very much deserved win as he’s my personal favorite). I think a lot of people would say that was the biggest surprise win of the night. If anyone came close to being a second, it would be Amy Madigan winning Best Supporting Actress for her memorable work in Weapons. While I didn’t agree with this, especially since Ariana Grande and Teyana Taylor were right there, I see why Madigan won, as Aunt Gladys will go down as one of the most memorable characters of 2025. 

Furthermore, the biggest bad surprises came from Train Dreams winning Best Cinematography over a stacked lineup that included F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, One Battle After Another, and Sinners. There was also The Secret Agent winning Best Foreign Language Film over stronger films like It Was Just an Accident, No Other Choice, and my personal favorite of the nominees, Sirāt. In my opinion, The Secret Agent was okay, and the main positive takeaway was Wagner Moura carrying the movie on his shoulders with his stellar acting. The last bad surprise I had was The Naked Gun winning Best Comedy. While I haven’t seen that movie, I doubt it had the blissfulness of Eternity, one of the most original rom-coms in years, and felt like a big breath of fresh air. Regardless, Critics’ Choice made for an intriguing night and could only prepare us for what’s in store in the coming month. 

A week later, the Golden Globes rang in the noise for both film and TV! As the biggest awards show honoring both mediums, the only takeaway I had from the TV side was to check out the Netflix miniseries Adolescence, which won four awards. For film, here’s what we know now: if any movie has any chance at beating One Battle After Another for Best Picture, it’s Hamnet, Paul Thomas Anderson isn’t losing Best Director, Jessie Buckley will likely be the closest thing to a sweep amongst the acting categories, and we should expect KPop Demon Hunters to reign supreme in the Best Animated Film and Best Song categories. Stellan Skarsgard and Teyana Taylor proved they’re still in the fight for the supporting categories with their wins, and the former gave one of the best quotes of the night in his acceptance speech: cinema should be seen in the cinemas. 

When it comes to surprises, the biggest came in the form of Sinners. Getting its two wins in Best Score and Cinematic and Box Office Achievement suggests this movie may not be as strong an awards-season film as we expected. It’ll still make waves, but it’ll likely fall in line with the narrative of scoring big in their theatrical run and underperform during awards season. The only positive outlook I took from it was that we finally have an idea of what to expect from the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award going forward. Three years in, and I think we can all safely assume whoever wins this category is deserving, but will end awards season with little fanfare. It happened with Barbie and Wicked, so it may be safe to assume Sinners will follow. There was also Michael B. Jordan losing Best Actor-Drama to Wagner Moura, further cementing The Secret Agent as a possible wildcard through this win and taking Best Non-English Language Film. 

To sum it all up, the Critics’ Choice and Golden Globes have given us their two-cents of what’s to come in the next month or so. As we now head into the part of the awards season where everyone disperses into their respective fields, it’ll be time to see who thinks what movies had the best technical feats in certain fields. We won’t see another grand gathering like the Globes and CC before Oscar night until the BAFTAs on February 22nd. Between now and then, I hope to see more twists and turns instead of any repeated narratives. Then again, how will we know who to expect to gather wins to get the most traction possible going into the big night? That’s a question that can be answered either way, but in spite of everything, I’m happy to see this time of the year has come back around.