The event is held shortly after New Year’s Day in the cavernous Palm Springs Convention Center, with some 2,400 guests spread across tables in front of  giant stage backed by three huge screens.

 

Miley Cyrus

The Oscar hopefuls, the people accepting the awards and the people who they have asked to present them, have to rush back as soon as the show is over in to be back in L.A. for Sunday (Jan. 4) Critics Choice Award (CCA), of which I have been an active member since 1999.

They also attend because several hundred members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Oscar voters, have a home or second home in the Coachella Valley, and the Awards Gala takes place just days before voting for the Oscars begins (Jan. 12-16 this year).

Hamnet

For many, the biggest “winner” of the night was Focus Features’ primary contender. which received the Vanguard Award that was shared its principal talent, co-writer/director Chloé Zhao and stars Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal).

It landed the rare sort of presenter who is a living legend who loved the film, two-time Oscar wnner Jane Fonda, who’s 88.

Best Actor Hopefuls

Four best actor hopefuls received individual recognition at the Awards Gala — Blue Moon’s Ethan Hawke (Career Achievement Award), Marty Supreme’s Timothée Chalamet (Spotlight Award), Sinners’ Michael B. Jordan (Icon Award – Actor) and One Battle After Another’s DiCaprio.

The career-encompassing montage that followed Oscar winner Mahershala Ali’s introduction of Hawke and that preceded Hawke’s acceptance offered a reminder of just how long this guy has been around and just how great he has been, from 1989’s Dead Poets Society to 2001’s Training Day to the Before trilogy (1995-2013).

That, along with particularly eloquent speech by Hawke that name-checked past collaborators, including the late River Phoenix to Sidney Lumet, as artists who “will always be a part of me,” may well have been enough to titillate a reluctant voter into taking a chance on Hawke’s latest offering.

Hawke was named Best Actor earlier by the orestigious National Society of Film Critics (NSFC)

Chalamet

Michael Jordan, Sinners

As for Michael Jordan, both his presenter, Colman Domingo, and his montage, showed what a challenge it was for the actor to have to play twins in Sinners. The film’s writer-director, Ryan Coogler, who has cast Jordan in every one of his films, declared, “I feel this is his best work.”

Jordan accepted his honor with humility, and explained that his film, which some might dismiss as zombie movie, was actually deeply serious and personal to him, as prior generations of his own family had lived through the Jim Crow era in the same part of the country. “This is my tribute to their courage,” he said.

DiCaprio, One Battle After Another

When it came time for DiCaprio’s award, the audience was bummed to learn that he had not been able to make it to the event. A no-fly-zone around Venezuela following the American operation that led to the capture of Nicolás Maduro on Saturday morning — never mentioned during the Awards Gala — prevented DiCaprio from flying to Palm Springs from holiday vacation in St Barth’s.

Adam Sandler, Supp. Actor, Jay Kelly

His costar Laura Dern, who presented him the award, argued that he should be appreciated for his work on both sides of the ledger. She said: “Adam has made the world more joyful.” She also spoke about his “total fearlessness and absolute sincerity” in his dramatic work, and how, during Jay Kelly, she experienced something exciting, which is to look into costar’s eyes during scenes and totally believe them.