Critics Groups Rundown

With the end of the year coming hard and fast a few more critics groups have chimed in with their picks of the best in film. The groups represented below are the following:

San Diego Film Critics Society (SDFCS), African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA),Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association (DFWFCA), Las Vegas Film Critics Society (LVFCS), Detroit Film Critics Society (DFCS), Houston Film Critics Society (HFCS), Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA), Florida Film Critics Circle (FFCC), St. Louis Film Critics Association (SLFC)

You can check out last week's critics groups tally here.

BEST PICTURE

• The Social Network - AAFCA, DFWFCA, LVFCS, DFCS, HFCS, CFCA, FFCC, SLFC
• Winter's Bone - SDFCS

BEST DIRECTOR

• David Fincher - DFWFCA, LVFCS, HFCS, CFCA, FFCC, SLFC
• Christopher Nolan - AAFCA
• Darren Aronofsky - SDFCS
• Danny Boyle - DFCS

BEST ACTOR

• Colin Firth - DFCS, CFCA, FFCC, SLFC
• James Franco - DFWFCA, LVFCS
• Jesse Eisenberg - HFCS,
• Mark Wahlberg - AAFCA
• Colin Farrell - SDFCS

BEST ACTRESS

• Natalie Portman - DFWFCA, LVFCS, HFCS, CFCA, FFCC, SLFC
• Jennifer Lawrence - SDFCS, DFCS
• Halle Berry - AAFCA

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Christian Bale - DFWFCA, LVFCS, DFCS, HFCS, CFCA, FFCC, SLFC
• John Hawkes - SDFCS
• Michael Ealy - AAFCA

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Melissa Leo - DFWFCA, FFCC, SLFC
• Hailee Steinfeld - HFCS, CFCA
• Amy Adams - LVFCS, DFCS,
• Kimberly Elise - AAFCA
• Lesley Manville - SDFCS

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Inception - CFCA, FFCC
• The King's Speech - SLFC
• Four Lions - SDFCS

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Social Network - SDFCS, DFWFCA, LVFCS, HFCS, CFCA, FFCC, SLFC
• Night Catches Us - AAFCA

BEST ANIMATED FILM

• Toy Story 3 - SDFCS, DFWFCA, LVFCS, HFCS, CFCA, SLFC

Last week's tally of critics put The Social Network, its director, and its writer ahead of the pack. It's pretty much the same story this week. The bigger story is probably the dominance of three actors--Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, and Christian Bale--in the acting races. Like I said last week, all will be nominated, but don't confuse critical dominance with automatic Oscar win. While Firth looks as if he has more competition than Portman and Bale, he's actually more likely to win based on the fact that his assumed competition are too "new" to win. Meanwhile, Portman and Bale should have stiffer competition for the gold statue in the form of veteran actors Annette Bening and Geoffrey Rush which may be more the Academy's bread and butter. As for the Best Supporting Actress race, it's damn competitive with Melissa Leo and Hailee Steinfeld leading the pack when coupled with last week's results.

All of the names I just mentioned were also honored with SAG nominations, so they all have lots of buzz and momentum going into the new year.