Critics Choice Announces Honorees for Latino Cinema & Television Celebration on Oct. 24

Critics Choice Announces Honorees for Latino Cinema & Television Celebration on Oct. 24

The Critics Choice Association has announced the full slate of honorees for the 5th annual Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television, taking place on Oct, 24,  in Beverly Hills. The Celebration honors standout performances and work, both onscreen and offscreen, from the Latino entertainment community.

Honorees for this year’s Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television will include the following:

Civil rights icon Dolores Huerta will receive the Icon Award for her lifelong dedication to social justice and advocacy, honoring her legacy that has inspired artists, filmmakers, and changemakers for over seven decades. As co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union and one of the most influential labor leaders in American history,

Dolores Huerta

Dolores has spent her entire career fighting for the rights of farmworkers, women, and marginalized communities which continues today through her Dolores Huerta Foundation and her Peace and Justice Cultural Center. Her powerful rallying cry, “Sí, se puede” (“Yes, we can”), has become a universal call to action, and at 95 years young with a desire to inspire the next generation of activists and organizers to get off the sidewalks and onto the streets, she will share her extraordinary life story to be made into a feature film co-written by Barbara Martinez Jitner and Gregory Nava who will also direct.

Academy Award nominee Andy Garcia will be honored with the Vanguard Award in recognition of his outstanding body of work, including his most recent role in Paramount+’s Landman. Throughout his career, Andy has delivered unforgettable performances in tites such as The Godfather Part III, When a Man Loves a Woman, and Ocean’s Eleven.

Academy Award nominee and Emmy, SAG and Critics Choice Award winner America Ferrera will be honored with the Trailblazer Award in recognition of her extraordinary body of work and most recently for her starring role in Apple Original Films’ The Lost Bus. Throughout her career, America has been a tireless advocate for authentic Latino representation in Hollywood, with landmark performances in Real Women Have Curves, Ugly Betty, Barbie, and more.

Oscar Isaac

Critics Choice and Emmy Award nominee Oscar Isaac will accept the Actor Award for Film for his performance in Netflix’s Frankenstein, directed by Guillermo del Toro.  The Guatemalan-born actor debuted two highly praised films at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Frankenstein and In the Hand of Dante. Past credits include Inside Llewyn Davis, Dune, Scenes From A Marriage, and many more.

Kleber Mendonça Filho will receive the Director Award for his work on The Secret Agent (NEON). The Brazilian filmmaker was recently honored with Best Director at the 78th Cannes Film Festival for the film, in addition to receiving the FIPRESCI International Critics Prize.

Emmy Award winner Frida Perez will be recognized with the Showrunner Award for her work on Apple TV+’s The Studio. Frida co-created the critically acclaimed series, which broke the record for the most Emmy wins for a comedy series in a single year, garnering 13 wins with 23 nominations. Frida also made history as the first Latina ever to win an Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and Writing for a Comedy Series.

Grammy winner and Emmy nominee Anthony Ramos will receive the Supporting Actor Award for Film for his role in Kathryn Bigelow’s A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE (Netflix). Anthony first rose to prominence with his breakout role in Broadway’s Hamilton and has since built a dynamic screen career with standout performances including In the Heights, Twisters, and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.

Gabriel Luna will be honored with the Supporting Actor Award for Series for his performance in Peacock’s Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy. Gabriel recently wrapped production on the second season of The Terminal List opposite Chris Pratt, which follows his powerhouse performance as ‘Tommy’ in season two of The Last of Us.

Frida Perez, showrunner and Emmy winner for “The Studio.”

Tonatiuh will be recognized with the Breakthrough Actor Award for his outstanding performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman (Roadside Attractions). Alongside his cast, this talented Mexican-American actor debuted Bill Condon’s visionary new adaptation of the Golden Age musical drama at the Sundance Film Festival. This is his first major film role.

Camila Perez will receive the Breakthrough Actress Award for her work on the hit Apple TV+ series Acapulco, a Critics Choice Awards Best Foreign Language Series nominee last year. Camila bid farewell to her scene-stealing character this year during the series’ fourth and final season.

“It is a true privilege to celebrate this extraordinary group of honorees,” said Critics Choice Association Board Member and Co-Programmer Clayton Davis. “At a time when Latinos are too often vilified or overlooked, their artistry stands as proof of our brilliance, resilience, and undeniable influence. These stories reflect our community and elevate the global cultural fabric.”

Sponsors and partners include Milagro Tequila, NEP Sweetwater and FIJI Water.

The Critics Choice Association’s Celebration of Latino Cinema & Television will be produced by Javier Infante and Madelyn Hammond of Madelyn Hammond & Associates.

Follow the Critics Choice Association on Instagram and X @CriticsChoice, on TikTok @OfficialCriticsChoice, and on Facebook/CriticsChoiceAwards.

Cover Photo: Tonatiuh

Samara Weaving Only Bright Spot in Action Thrill Ride ‘Eenie Meanie’

Samara Weaving Only Bright Spot in Action Thrill Ride ‘Eenie Meanie’

By Lynn Venhaus

“Eenie Meanie” is the latest Quentin Tarantino-Guy Ritchie wannabe that is derivative of “Baby Driver,” “Drive,” “Fast and Furious” franchise and other pedal to the metal adrenaline rush movies heavy on blood-splattered action and light on logic and depth.

First-time director Shawn Simmons has assembled a recognizable cast headed by charismatic Samara Weaving, but the rest of the characters woefully lack any thoughtful development and are not interesting enough to spend an entire film with – and the main conflict is repellent.

 It’s as if this cast is plopped straight into a B-movie heist plot without any indication if they are either the good or the bad guys, mostly idiots and all caricatures. And each actor seems to be in a different movie.

Weaving is Edie, nicknamed Eenie Meanie, first shown as a glum, nervous teen with awful parents, who later endured a harsh life of foster homes and has a criminal past as a getaway driver.

Samara Weaving and Karl Glusman in “Eenie Meanie”

She’s a very good driver, nevertheless. After the opening scene, depicting how irresponsibly foolish her parents are (Steve Zahn, Chelsey Crisp), the film fasts forward to 14 years later.

Now a single bank clerk going to community college, her roommate is a longtime supportive friend Baby Girl (Kyanna Simone). Edie, spinning her wheels, has a loser boyfriend, among other tough-life dramas. Therefore, given choices, she usually goes with the wrong one.

John, the dippy bad luck-magnet boyfriend, is played by Karl Glusman. They are on-again, off-again, and she’d be much better off without him, because all indications are he’s a Bad Idea.

Gusman, part of ensemble casts in “The Bikeriders,” “Civil War,” and “Greyhound,” among others, tries to make John have some redeeming qualities, but the part is a screw-up, so…

He has screwed up a casino heist scheme by her old boss Nico (Andy Garcia wasted in tough-guy mode). Reluctantly, it’s Edie to the rescue – because she is always cleaning up everyone’s messes.

Marshawn Lynch is a getaway driver, so is Samara Weaving in “Eenie Meanie.”

She finds out she is pregnant, compounding the situation, so she helps the doofus avoid getting beaten to a pulp.  They take off on the run, squealing tires in zippy car chases where they mostly escape danger that keeps popping up.

The couple, who have some interesting exchanges, click on screen as they are pursued by an assortment of cliched quirky characters that are standard in these types of films.

Because of that, the screenplay is less thrilling because it’s a cluttered, clustered mishmash. Is she destined not to get anything she wants in life? That’s very sad.

Her new path is on hold while she deals with these peculiar, mostly unsavory, people. They are all in a never-ending toxic cycle – and why should we care? You feel for Edie because life has given her a big bag of lemons, and she can’t seem to make lemonade, no matter how hard she tries.

Randall Park is misused in a brief, persnickety role, while ex-pro running back Marshawn Lynch appears in a flashier but tiny part as another driver for Nico.  

Hopefully, Weaving will have a better choice of roles in her future. Without a fresh spin, “Eenie Meanie” can’t rise above its hackneyed plot and trite characters, unable to cross the finish line.

“Eenie Meanie” is a 2025 action-crime thriller directed by Shawn Simmons and starring Samara Weaving, Karl Glusman, Andy Garcia, Marshawn Lynch, Jermaine Fowler, Kyanna Simone, Steve Zahn, Chelsey Crisp, and Randall Park. It is rated R for violence/bloody images, pervasive language, nudity, some sexual material and brief drug use, and run time is 1 hour, 46 minutes. It started streaming on Hulu Aug. 22. Lynn’s Grade: C-.