Critics Groups Rundown

Time to start keeping track of what those darn critics groups are saying about what their favorite films and performances have been this year. So far only six groups out of the bazillion groups have chimed in so we're still in that fun first phase when every movie and actor still think they have a chance for some glory. The groups to have already announced are the following:

New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC), New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO), Boston Online Film Critics Association (BOFCA) Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA)

The results for the major categories are below along with a few films/actors also in discussion (for now). NBR winners are marked with an asterisk.

BEST PICTURE

• Zero Dark Thirty* - NYFCC, BSFC, NYFCO, BOFCA, WAFCA
• Amour - LAFCA
• Lincoln
• Argo
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Les Misérables
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Moonrise Kingdom
• The Master

BEST DIRECTOR

• Kathryn Bigelow* - NYFCC, BSFC, NYFCO, BOFCA, WAFCA
• Paul Thomas Anderson - LAFCA
• Steven Spielberg
• Tom Hooper
• Ben Affleck
• Michael Haneke
• Benh Zeitlin
• David O. Russell
• Wes Anderson

BEST ACTOR

• Daniel Day-Lewis - NYFCC, BSFC, NYFCO, BOFCA, WAFCA
• Joaquin Phoenix - LAFCA
• Bradley Cooper*
• Hugh Jackman
• Denis Lavant
• John Hawkes
• Denzel Washington

BEST ACTRESS

• Emmanuelle Riva - LAFCA, BSFC, NYFCO
• Jessica Chastain* - BOFCA, WAFCA
• Jennifer Lawrence - LAFCA
• Rachel Weisz - NYFCC
• Quvenzhane Wallis
• Naomi Watts
• Marion Cotillard

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Tommy Lee Jones - NYFCO, BOFCA
• Matthew McConaughey - NYFCC
• Philip Seymour Hoffman - WAFCA
• Dwight Henry - LAFCA
• Ezra Miller - BSFC
• Leonardo DiCaprio*
• Christoph Waltz
• John Goodman
• Javier Bardem
• Robert DeNiro

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Anne Hathaway - NYFCO, BOFCA, WAFCA
• Sally Field - NYFCC, BSFC
• Amy Adams - LAFCA
• Ann Dowd*
• Helen Hunt
• Samantha Barker
• Nicole Kidman
• Maggie Smith

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Zero Dark Thirty - NYFCO
• Looper* - WAFCA
• Moonrise Kingdom
• The Master
• Amour
• Django Unchained

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Lincoln - NYFCC, BSFC, BOFCA
• Silver Linings Playbook* - WAFCA
• Argo - LAFCA
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Les Misérables
• Life of Pi
• Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Anna Karenina

I didn't really keep track of these critics group so closely until about three years ago when The Hurt Locker and its director Kathryn Bigelow dominated the critical landscape. Fast forward to the present-day and it's feeling a little déjà vu, isn't it? Time will tell if Bigelow and film can repeat their Oscar glory of yore. The good news so far is that the rest of the categories, with the exception of Best Actor, seems to be pretty open still. How Oscar predictive these awards have been can vary greatly by category and this early on, it's even more difficult to say anything with any certainty. A few more big groups--Broadcast Film Critics, Screen Actors Guild, and the Hollywood Foreign Press (Golden Globes)--are set to chime in with their nominations in the next few days putting awards season more in focus.