Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society Summer Movie Awards Winners Include John Cho, Spike Lee, 'Mission: Impossible – Fallout', And More

By Ben Pearson/Sept. 4, 2018 9:30 am EST

Film festival season is officially underway, and while movies that emerge from fests like Venice, Toronto, and Telluride often become Oscar contenders, the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society isn't ready to look that far ahead just yet. Instead, they've looked back at the films of the past few months and issued their Summer Movie Awards, with Mission: Impossible – Fallout and performers like John Cho (Searching), Toni Collette (Hereditary), and Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) winning big.

Take a look at the full list of winners below.

The movies eligible for competition in these Summer Movie Awards had to be released between May 1, 2018 and August 31, 2018. Factoring that requirement into their decisions, the Los Angeles Online Film Critics Society (which includes /Film's own Peter Sciretta as a member) awarded the following films across ten categories:

Best Summer Blockbuster:

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Best Summer Actor:

John Cho – Searching

Best Summer Actress: (Tie)

Toni Collette – Hereditary

Constance Wu – Crazy Rich Asians

Summer Supporting Actor:

Adam Driver – Blackkklansman

Summer Supporting Actress:

Awkwafina – Crazy Rich Asians

Summer Sequel, Prequel or Spin-Off:

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Summer Documentary:

Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Summer Indie:

Eighth Grade

Summer Director:

Spike Lee – Blackkklansman

Summer Screenplay:

Bo Burnham – Eighth Grade

It's no surprise that Mission: Impossible – Fallout won both the blockbuster and sequel/prequel/spin-off category, because it's easily one of the best mainstream Hollywood action films of the past 10 years. Bo Burnham's Eighth Grade taking the summer screenplay award, on the other hand, is a bit of a surprise since that film is more of a contemplative character study than a narrative-heavy story you might expect to win such a prize.

In the acting categories, it's nice to see Constance Wu getting some recognition for Crazy Rich Asians; the whole film hinges on the growth of her character, and in a movie with such a fun supporting cast (including fellow winner Awkwafina), Wu had a deceptively tough task playing Rachel. I haven't seen many people praise Adam Driver's work in BlacKkKlansman (though he is very good in the film), so his supporting win was another surprise for me.

I love that John Cho took home the best actor award for Searching, because his presence is so important to that movie working as well as it does. And hopefully this isn't the last time Toni Collette is given an award for her jaw-dropping work in Hereditary – I have my fingers crossed that her outstanding performance will earn her an Oscar nomination in a few months.