He may have been passed over many a time, but local Leonardo DiCaprio is finally up for a best actor award. Next month, he may be a winner at the Critics’ Choice Super Awards. Unlike the Academy Awards, the Supers are a celebration of totally different genres. It’s a tribute to all things Superhero, Fantasy, Sci-fi, Action, and Horror.
Leo is up for his outstanding performance in a Science Fiction or Fantasy movie. His widely popular flick “Don’t Look Up” is also up for Best Science Fiction or Fantasy movie. On the more conventional side, it’s also up for four Oscars, including Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
Others in the running on the Supers side include “Dune,” “Free Guy,” “Swan Song,” and “The Green Knight.” “The Mitchells vs. the Machines,” produced by Malibu’s Phil Lord, is up for a Super. It’s also up for an Oscar.
Joining Leo in the Best Actor for Science Fiction or Fantasy is Mahershala Ali (“Swan Song”), Timothee Chalamet (“Dune”), Tom Hanks (“Finch”), Dev Patel (“The Green Knight”), and Ryan Reynolds (Free Guy.)
As for the ladies, it’s Jennifer Lawrence and Cate Blanchett in “Don’t Look Up,” Jodie Comer (“Free Guy,”) Rebecca Ferguson (“Dune,”) McKenna Grace (“Ghostbusters: Afterlife”) and Alicia Vikander in “The Green Knight.”
“Don’t Look Up” may be the favorite. It is about two low-level astronomers who embark on a massive media tour to warn fellow earthlings that their beloved planet is about to be destroyed by an incoming meteorite. Another popular film is in the Best Picture division is for Action movies. It is the latest from James Bond in “No Time to Die.” Best Action Actor nominee Daniel Craig, who plays 007, is up against Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in another save the earth flick called “Jungle Cruise” and Guinness forklift operator turned Oscar nominee Liam Neeson is in for “The Ice Road,” among others.
Best Actress Action nods include Cuban beauty Ana de Armas in “No Time to Die,” young hitwoman Karen Gillan in “Gunpowder Milkshake,” and Oscar winner Regina King for “The Harder They Fall.”
Which brings us to Superheroes. The list has John Cena and Idris Elba from “The Suicide Squad,” Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and Tony Leung and Simu Liu in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” All these films were nominated for Best Superhero Movie along with “Black Widow,” “Eternals,” and “Justice League.”
When it comes to women with booty-kicking abilities, the rundown goes like this: lovely Gal Gadot gets right in there with the boys as Wonder Woman in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League,” and there’s Scarlett Johansson, who looks delightfully lethal in “Black Widow.” Her co-star Florence Pugh is also up for honors.
In “The Suicide Squad,” Margot Robbie is in the thick of it with the movieland’s biggest supervillains on a search and destroy mission with the most sophisticated high-tech weapons a superhero or bad guy can lay their hands on. Also up is Michelle Yeoh in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and Zendaya in the box office smash “Spider-Man: No Way Home.”
And finally, there’s horror in the house. The best in spine tinglers are supernatural slasher “Candyman,” the creepy time-traveling journey “Last Night in Soho,” and the grisly murder-filled “Malignant.” “The Night House,” “A Quiet Place Part II” and “Titane” round out the list.
So if you like your films a little offbeat, mark your super ballots now.
The winners will be announced on March 17.