If history holds true I wouldn’t count on The Hurt Locker winning Best Picture at the Oscars considering the last time the Los Angeles Film Critics and the Oscars matched Best Picture winners it was 1993 and Schindler’s List. However, my thoughts that Jason Reitman was the current front-runner for Best Director have changed as Kathryn Bigelow has emerged today as what is looking like a sure-fire front-runner after winning with the Boston Critics and Los Angeles Critics. Such an award gives the Academy a chance to honor a female director with the top nod for the first time, and the fact it is truly deserving makes it all the better.
There’s a happy surprise in the Best Animated Film category as Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox bests Pixar’s Up. I think both are great films, but Fantastic Mr. Fox may end up being my favorite film of the year.
The biggest surprise is probably the awarding of Yolande Moreau the Best Actress honors for her performance in Seraphine with An Education star (and current Oscar front-runner) Carey Mulligan taking runner-up.
Stay tuned as this is just the start of awards news this week, or even today as we will soon have the AFI’s top ten films of the year. Tomorrow we get the New York Film Critics Circle announcements. Tuesday are the Golden Globe nominations and Thursday are the Screen Actors Guild nominations. Lots to look forward to.
The complete list of Los Angeles Film Critics awards is directly below.
Best Picture
WINNER: The Hurt Locker
RUNNER-UP: Up in the Air
Best Director
WINNER: Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker
RUNNER-UP: Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon
Best Actor
WINNER: Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart
RUNNER-UP: Colin Firth for A Single Man
Best Actress
WINNER: Yolande Moreau for Séraphine
RUNNER-UP: Carey Mulligan for An Education
Best Supporting Actor
WINNER: Christoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterds
RUNNER-UP: Peter Capaldi for In the Loop
Best Best Supporting Actress
WINNER: Mo’Nique Precious
RUNNER-UP: Anna Kendrick for Up In the Air
Best Animated Film
WINNER: Fantastic Mr. Fox
RUNNER-UP: Up
Best Foreign Language Film
WINNER: Summer Hours
RUNNER-UP: The White Ribbon
Best Screenplay
WINNER: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner for Up in the Air
RUNNER-UP: Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche for In the Loop
Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film
WINNER: The Beaches of Agnès and The Cove (TIE)
Best Cinematography
WINNER: The White Ribbon (Christian Berger)
RUNNER-UP: The Hurt Locker (Barry Ackroyd)
Best Production Design
WINNER: District 9 (Philip Ivey)
RUNNER-UP: Avatar (Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg)
Best Music Score
WINNER: Crazy Heart (T-Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton)
RUNNER-UP: Fantastic Mr. Fox (Alexandre Desplat)
Douglas E. Eddwards Independent/Experimental Film/Video
The Anchorage (Anders Edström and C.W. Winter)
Remember, you can stay up to date with all the year end award lists in my “The Contenders” section right here.
