NBR loves Up in the Air

Since 1920, the National Board of Review has selected its top ten best films of the year in December, naming one winner from the ten. They have since expanded their ceremony to include a full set of categories, including the usual Best Actor and Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Actress, and Best Director.

This year, Up in the Air has been selected as their winner for Best Picture (the film also nabbed Best Adapted Screenplay for Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner). This is great news for the film, as only one of the past ten NBR winners have failed to receive a Best Picture nomination from AMPAS (Quills, in 2001). And while I don't have a solid statistic off the top of my head, their top tens are often a good estimate of what we might see in January when the nominations are announced.

So what's surprising here? Well, you may notice that Nine, The Lovely Bones, and Precious are absent from the list. And while I'm not convinced that this will hurt Precious *that* much in the race, it certainly does not bode well for the other two titles. I say that mostly because the NBR tends to be drawn to flashier, visual films (see their inclusion of Star Trek and Where the Wild Things Are), and Precious is neither of those things. Though, their snubbing Mo'Nique for Best Supporting Actress stings a bit.

Don't be too alarmed by the Eastwood lovin'. NBR is notorious for handing out undeserved recognition to Clint.

Full list of winners after the cut.


Best Picture
Up in the Air by Jason Reitman

Ten Best Films
(in alphabetical order)
An Education
(500) Days of Summer
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Star Trek
Up
Where the Wild Things Are

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Invictus

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

Best Actress
Carey Mulligan, An Education

Best Supporting Actor
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

Best Supporting Actress
Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air

Best Foreign Film
A Prophet

Best Documentary
The Cove

Best Animated Feature
Up

Best Ensemble Cast
It’s Complicated

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

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

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

William K. Everson Film History Award
Jean Picker Firstenberg

NBR Freedom of Expression
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
Invictus
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellseberg and the Pentagon Papers

Five Best Foreign-Language Films
(in alphabetical order)
The Maid
Revanche
Song of Sparrows
Three Monkeys
The White Ribbon

Five Best Documentaries
(in alphabetical order)
Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
Crude
Food Inc.
Good Hair
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellseberg and the Pentagon Papers

Top Ten Independent Films
(in alphabetical order)
Amreeka
District 9
Goodbye Solo
Humpday
In the Loop
Julia
Me and Orson Welles
Moon
Sugar
Two Lovers