National Board of Review Winners

The National Board of Review is the first major award that indicates how the awards season will go. In fact in the past two years, this organization awarded the eventual Best Picture winners (Slumdog Millionaire and No Country for Old Men) as their Best Film of the Year. This year that honors goes to Up in the Air.

The list itself has a few surprise inclusions, but people will be talking more about what didn't make it in i.e. Precious, Nine, The Lovely Bones, Avatar, A Single Man, The Last Station, etc. But no fret. Not getting a win here doesn't really mean those film's Oscar chances are dim, but it IS good news for those films/actors that did get the win.

For me, it just means I really need to see Up in the Air, like, right now. I'm also very pleased to see some of my favorite films on the listed below such as (500) Days of Summer, Star Trek, Up, Where the Wild Things Are, District 9, Goodbye Solo, and Julia. Will this mean Oscar love in a few months? For some, sure. For others, they'll be lucky to get some tech awards. I'll be pulling for them.

Best Film
Up In The Air

Top Ten Films
(500) Days Of Summer
An Education
A Serious Man
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
The Messenger
Star Trek
Up
Where The Wild Things Are

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Invictus

Best Actor (tie)
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
George Clooney, Up In The Air

Best Actress
Carey Mulligan, An Education

Best Supporting Actor
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

Best Supporting Actress
Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air

Best Ensemble Cast
It’s Complicated

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Best Animated Feature
Up

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut (tie)
Duncan Jones, Moon
Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Marc Webb, (500) Days of Summer

Best Original Screenplay
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up In The Air

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award
Wes Anderson, The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Top Ten Independent Films
Amreeka
District 9
Goodbye Solo
Humpday
In The Loop
Julia
Me And Orson Welles
Moon
Sugar
Two Lovers

Best Foreign Film
A Prophet

Five Best Foreign Films
The Maid
Revanche
Song Of Sparrows
Three Monkeys
The White Ribbon

Best Documentary
The Cove

Five Best Documentary Films
Burma Vj
Crude
Food, Inc.
Good Hair
The Most Dangerous Man In America

William K. Everson Film History Award
Jean Picker Firstenberg

NBR Freedom of Expression
Burma Vj
Invictus
The Most Dangerous Man In America