Critics' Choice Awards: 'Spotlight' wins best picture, TV awards show a changing industry

Big winners at this year’s Critics’ Choice Awards included the movie “Spotlight,” “The Room” actress Brie Larson, and Leonardo DiCaprio of “The Revenant.” 

“Spotlight” was named best picture, while Larson picked up the best actress award, and Alicia Vikander won the best supporting actress prize for her work in “The Danish Girl.” DiCaprio was the recipient of the best actor award for his work in “Revenant,” while Sylvester Stallone of “Creed” took the best supporting actor prize. 

The selection by critics of “Spotlight” as the best movie of the year followed a Golden Globes in which “Spotlight” was considered the frontrunner but “Revenant” took the best drama movie prize over the other film. 

What does this signal for the Oscars?

History favors 'Spotlight.' Since 2006, only two of the films the critics selected as best picture have not gone on to take the Oscars prize as well. 

DiCaprio, Larson, and Stallone all won the Golden Globes in their respective categories as well. It will be interesting to see if they also take the prizes at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, which will be held at the end of the month. 

This year for the first time, the Critics’ Choice Awards brought their TV awards into Sunday's movie awards ceremony, and the critics selected USA’s “Mr. Robot” as the best drama series of the year, echoing the Hollywood Foreign Press Assocation’s selection in this category at the recent Golden Globes. Meanwhile, the Netflix series “Master of None,” also a new show, took the best comedy series prize.

The other nominees this year and the recent past TV winners selected by the CCAs show how quickly TV has changed.

Nominees for the best drama prize this year included such programs as the show “Rectify,” which is a SundanceTV program, and the show “Unreal,” which airs on Lifetime. So many networks are offering original programming now, and a show from Lifetime or SundanceTV (where “Rectify” is their first original scripted TV ongoing series) becoming so acclaimed would no doubt have been surprising to a TV viewer even five years ago. 

The TV prizes were first given out in 2011 and since then, the best drama series category has been dominated by cable networks like HBO, AMC, Showtime, and FX, with programs like HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” Showtime’s “Homeland,” and FX’s “The Americans” dominating the category. 

This year, more networks disrupted this pattern than ever before. While HBO and Showtime got nods for their programs “The Leftovers” and “Penny Dreadful,” respectively, the rest of the category consisted of programs from USA (“Mr. Robot”), Fox (“Empire”), Cinemax (“The Knick”), SundanceTV (“Rectify”), and Lifetime (“Unreal”), showing an acclaimed show can come from anywhere.

Here's the full Critics' Choice list of awards:

MOTION PICTURE WINNERS:

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 Bevan, "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: Wiz Khalifa for "See You Again" from "Furious 7."

Best Score: Ennio Morricone, "The Hateful Eight."

TELEVISION:

Best Actor in a Comedy Series: Jeffrey Tambor, "Transparent."

Best Actor in a Drama Series: Rami Malek, "Mr. Robot."

Best Actor in a Movie Made for Television: Idris Elba, "Luther."

Best Actress in a Comedy Series: Rachel Bloom, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend."

Best Actress in a Drama Series: Carrie Coon, "The Leftovers."

Best Actress in a Movie Made for Television or Limited Series: Kirsten Dunst, "Fargo."

Best Comedy Series: "Master of None."

Best Drama Series: "Mr. Robot."

Best Guest Actor/Actress in a Comedy Series: Timothy Olyphant, "The Grinder."

Best Guest Actor/Actress in a Drama Series: Margo Martindale, "The Good Wife."

Best Movie Made for Television or Limited Series: "Fargo."

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series: Andre Braugher, "Brooklyn Nine-Nine."

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series: Christian Slater, "Mr. Robot."

Best Supporting Actor in a Movie Made for Television or Limited Series: Jesse Plemons, "Fargo."

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series: Mayim Bialik, "The Big Bang Theory."

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series: Constance Zimmer, "UnREAL."

Best Supporting Actress in a Movie Made for Television or Limited Series: Jean Smart, "Fargo."

Best Animation Series: "BoJack Horseman."

Best Reality Show: "The Voice."

Best Reality Show Host: James Lipton, "Inside the Actors Studio."

Best Structured Reality Show: "Shark Tank."

Best Talk Show: "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver."

Best Unstructured Reality Show: "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown."

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MVP Award: Amy Schumer.

Genius Award: Industrial Light & Magic.