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Friday, December 3, 2010

The National Board of Review: The Social Network Dominates

I know I'm late to this party, but yesterday the National Board of Review announced its winners, effectively being the first major organization to kick off Oscar season. They really loved The Social Network (my thoughts, if you've forgotten), which confirms what we already knew: the film will be a big player this season. When it comes to accurate predicitions, though, the NBR hasn't always been on spot: for Best Picture, it picked Quills in 2000 (Gladiator won the Oscar), Finding Neverland in 2004 (Million Dollar Baby), and most recently Up in the Air last year (The Hurt Locker was Oscar's champion).
There are some surprises though. Black Swan, The Kids Are All Right, Rabbit Hole, Blue Valentine, Biutiful, and 127 Hours are nowhere to be seen, not even in the Top 11. And the trio from The King's Speech failed to be recognized here (in fact, Helena Bonham Carter, the supposed frontrunner for Best Supporting Actress, has yet to receive so much as a nomination from any organization).
Here are your winners:
Best Picture: The Social Network
Best Director: David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actor: Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Best Actress: Lesley Manville, Another Year
Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress: Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom (See? I wasn't crazy for picking her!)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Best Original Screenplay: Chris Sparling, Buried (Nobody could have seen that one coming.)
Best Foreign Film: Of Gods and Men, France
Best Documentary: Waiting for "Superman"
Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
Best Ensemble Cast: The Town
Breakthrough Performance: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
Spotlight Award for Directoral Debut: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, Restrepo
Special Filmmaking Achievement: Sofia Coppola, Somewhere
William K. Everson Film History Award: Leonard Maltin
NBR Freedom of Expression: Fair Game, Conviction, Howl
Top 11 Films (in alphabetical order):
  • Another Year
  • The Fighter
  • Hereafter
  • Inception
  • The King's Speech
  • Shutter Island
  • The Social Network
  • The Town
  • Toy Story 3
  • True Grit
  • Winter's Bone
Top 10 Independent Films
  • Animal Kingdom
  • Buried
  • Fish Tank
  • The Ghost Writer
  • Greenberg
  • Let Me In
  • Monsters
  • Please Give
  • Somewhere
  • Youth in Revolt
Top 6 Foreign Films
  • I Am Love
  • Incendies
  • Life Above All
  • Of Gods and Men
  • Soul Kitchen
  • White Material
Top 6 Documentaries
  • A Film Unfinished
  • Inside Job
  • Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
  • Restrepo
  • The Tillman Story
  • Waiting for "Superman"

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