"Oppenheimer," Christopher Nolan's epic movie about the creation of the atomic bomb, cleaned up at the Critics Choice Awards on Sunday, winning best picture and seven other prizes over its rivals as the Oscars race heats up.
The $1 billion-grossing movie, now the clear frontrunner for the Academy Awards in March, also won for best director, supporting actor, cinematography, score, ensemble, editing, and visual effects.
Collecting his prize for directing, Nolan thanked the critics who "helped with convincing mainstream audiences that a film about quantum physics and apocalypse could be worth their time."
Robert Downey Jr. thanked his fellow "Oppenhomies'" as he followed up his Golden Globe win with another best supporting actor prize.
Despite the dominance of "Oppenheimer," the remaining acting categories rewarded other films at the gala -- one of a raft of major awards shows in the run-up to the Academy Awards, which take place this year on March 10.
Emma Stone won best actress for "Poor Things," a surreal dark comedy in which she plays a Victorian reanimated corpse with the brain of an infant, who gradually learns about the world but refuses to pander to its social mores and hierarchies.
"Playing Bella was one of the greatest joys of my life. I got to unlearn a lot of things in playing her -- unlearn parts of shame, and societal stuff that gets put on us," she said.
"I'm very grateful to the critics... but I'm just learning not to care what you think," Stone joked.
The award is her latest after she won at last weekend's Globes -- as did Paul Giamatti, who famously celebrated his victory by taking a late-night trip with his trophy to California's popular fast-food chain In-N-Out Burger.
