Best Picture

• Hamnet Shakespeare never goes out of style. But it’s remarkable that 400 years after his death, we’re still finding fresh, compelling angles on the playwright’s life. Academy Award–winner Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) directs this timeless drama about love and loss, starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal.

• A House of Dynamite Kathryn Bigelow, 74, the Oscar-winning director of The Hurt Locker, returns with this nail-biting war-room thriller about a stray missile that’s been launched at the United States, featuring Idris Elba, 53, and Rebecca Ferguson.

• One Battle After Another Director Paul Thomas Anderson, 55, unspools a wonderfully shaggy, dark comedy about an off-the-grid political radical (Leonardo DiCaprio, 51) who comes out of hiding to save his kidnapped daughter.

• Sinners Michael B. Jordan does double duty playing twin brothers in the 1930s who return to their Mississippi hometown only to find unexpected evil waiting for them, in director Ryan Coogler’s stunning horror tale.

• Train Dreams Based on a classic Denis Johnson novella, this soulful, poignant look at what’s left of the American frontier at the dawn of the 20th century stars a never-better Joel Edgerton, 51.

Best Director

• Paul Thomas Anderson, 55, One Battle After Another The former Boogie Nights (1997) wunderkind proves that he has matured into one of our most talented and character-driven filmmakers with this wildly ambitious screwball gem.

• Kathryn Bigelow, 74, A House of Dynamite The director confirms once again why she’s the master of contemporary political action-thrillers.

• Scott Cooper, 55, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere Cooper already showed us that he knows how to spin music into drama, with 2009’s Crazy Heart, but he outdoes himself with this vivid portrait of the Boss during his darkest hours of self-doubt.

• Guillermo del Toro, 61, Frankenstein The Mexican maestro of the macabre returns to his horror roots for this gorgeously haunting take on Mary Shelley’s gothic classic.

• Spike Lee, 68, Highest 2 Lowest The Do the Right Thing director delivers his best film in years with this fast-paced kidnap thriller (loosely adapted from Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low) about a New York music mogul (Denzel Washington, 70) struggling to … do the right thing.

Best Actor

• George Clooney, 64, Jay Kelly Clooney reveals the insecurities behind the Tinseltown facade of an aging movie star who travels to Europe to be honored alongside his longtime manager (Adam Sandler).

• Leonardo DiCaprio, 51, One Battle After Another DiCaprio leans into both the comedy and the pathos of a burned-out political idealist who can’t stay on the sidelines any longer when his family is threatened.

• Joel Edgerton, 51, Train Dreams The Aussie actor delivers a master class in resilience and introspection as a man trying to make sense of a rapidly changing world in this quietly profound character study.

• Ethan Hawke, 55, Blue Moon Is there anything Hawke can’t do? The actor goes deep with a transformative turn as the bitterly jealous Broadway lyricist Lorenz Hart in this richly rewarding biopic about ambition, jealousy and the Great White Way.

• Dwayne Johnson, 53, The Smashing Machine In his most immersive acting feat to date, the former wrestler taps into his past profession to play a mixed martial arts fighter struggling with the challenges of life outside the ring.

Best Actress

• Laura Dern, 58, Is This Thing On? Let’s face it: Dern is pretty fantastic in everything she tackles on-screen. Even so, she practically soars in Bradley Cooper’s bittersweet tale about a man (Will Arnett, 55) trying to navigate a midlife crisis through stand-up comedy.

• Jodie Foster, 63, A Private Life Not only does the two-time Oscar winner serve up yet another staggering performance here; she does it while speaking French(!) in this twisty thriller about a psychiatrist looking into the mysterious death of one of her patients.

• Lucy Liu, 57, Rosemead Best known (until now) for her big-screen turn as one of Charlie’s Angels, Liu reveals compelling new layers as an ailing mother trying to protect her troubled teenage son.

• Julia Roberts, 58, After the Hunt Roberts is a long way from America’s-sweetheart territory in this tricky he said/she said about a college professor forced to take sides when a female student (Ayo Edebiri) claims she was assaulted by one of the professor’s closest colleagues (Andrew Garfield).

• June Squibb, 96, Eleanor the Great All hail June Squibb, who, in her 90s, is proving she’s at the top of her acting game, thanks to her deliciously funny and emotionally complex performance in Scarlett Johansson’s feature directorial debut about a woman attempting to deal with grief.

Best TV Series or Limited Series

• Adolescence Stephen Graham’s Emmy-​festooned series about a family being turned upside down when their 13-year-old son is arrested for killing a classmate remains a devastating and nuanced meditation on every parent’s worst nightmare.

• Hacks Jean Smart, 74, keeps her hit show fresh by delving even deeper into her stand-up-comic character’s intergenerational love-hate relationship with her protégée (Hannah Einbinder).

• The Pitt ER star Noah Wyle, 54, slipped back into his scrubs and single-handedly revived the small-screen medical procedural, thanks to this tick-tock about the chaos and crises at a Pittsburgh hospital.

• The Studio Seth Rogen’s hilariously barbed satire of Hollywood’s dream factory juggles inside-baseball jokes, terrific A-list cameos and craven movie studio politics, and turns it all into a bone-dry martini of a series.

• The White Lotus When is paradise not paradise? When it springs from the mind of Lotus creator Mike White, 55. The latest season (set in Thailand) was one of the year’s most buzzworthy watercooler shows for a reason.

Best Actor, Television

• Walton Goggins, 54, The White Lotus With his wolfish smirk, tropical-print shirts and self-destructive vendetta, Goggins guided the most recent season of this delirious dark comedy into a must-watch phenomenon.

• Stephen Graham, 52, Adolescence The British acting veteran has finally become a bona fide star on this side of the Atlantic with this harrowing family drama that examines sin, redemption and an almost biblical level of tragedy.

• Gary Oldman, 67, Slow Horses Oldman’s performance is a ferocious tour de force in this stunningly matter-of-fact espionage series, which couldn’t be further away from the glitz and glamour of James Bond.

• Pedro Pascal, 50, The Last of Us Pascal may have been the busiest man in Hollywood this past year, but for our money, his greatest achievement was his turn in this haunting postapocalyptic survival saga.

• Noah Wyle, 54, The Pitt The ER vet is back in scrubs, which means all hell is about to break loose. His stressed-out physician, Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, desperately tries to balance compassion and cynicism without losing his carefully composed armor of cool.

Best Actress, Television

• Kathy Bates, 77, Matlock In a role that couldn’t be more of a bespoke fit, Bates not only gives a hypnotic, whip-smart performance as a crusading lawyer; she makes you forget there was ever another attorney who shared her last name.

• Kathryn Hahn, 52, The Studio Hahn is a master of smarter-than-you sarcasm. And she puts that talent to work (and then some) as a soulless, BS-slinging marketing exec in Seth Rogen’s blistering parody of 21st-century Hollywood.

• Catherine O’Hara, 71, The Studio A true ensemble show, The Studio carves out at least a half dozen roles that would be the lead on any other series. The scene-stealing Emmy- and Golden Globe–winning O’Hara shines as an exec on the way out who slowly realizes that without power, there isn’t much there there.

• Parker Posey, 57, The White Lotus Posey’s chewy Southern accent was the subject of countless memes this year. But let’s not forget all the other shades she brought to her pill-popping, diva-like matriarch: She contains multitudes.

• Jean Smart, 74, Hacks What’s left to say about Smart’s career-defining run as Deborah Vance on Hacks? No one wears the twin masks of comedy and tragedy better.

AWARDS SHOW HOST ALAN CUMMING

The mischief-loving host of the hit reality series The Traitors, Cumming, 60, has lent his signature Scottish brogue to performances that have garnered multiple Emmys, an Olivier and a BAFTA. You won’t want to miss his playful show-tune send-ups and the other surprises he’ll have up his natty sleeve at the Movies for Grownups Awards.

MOVIES FOR GROWNUPS CAREER ACHIEVEMENT WINNER ADAM SANDLER

At 59, Sandler retains his childlike sense of humor. But in the past year alone, our Career Achievement winner has displayed the sort of versatility few actors can claim. He returned to one of his most beloved movie characters in Happy Gilmore 2 and stretched into more rarefied dramatic air opposite George Clooney in Jay Kelly. Many comedians aren’t satisfied until they’re recognized as “serious” actors. Sandler pulled that off years ago in Punch-Drunk Love and Uncut Gems, yet he keeps pushing himself harder and further to perform.