It’s that time of year when critics groups start handing out their awards, and everyone figures out which movies are legitimate contenders for an Oscar. Seriously, that’s the only reason anyone pays attention to any of it, as a precursor to the Academy Awards. One of the first to announce its 2006 awards is the National Board of Review.

Though no one seemed to like Flags of our Fathers, it looks like they at least, liked the second half of his Iwo Jima project, Letters from Iwo Jima a lot better. Clint Eastwood’s retelling of the battle of Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective took Best Film. Predictably, Helen Mirren won Best Actress for The Queen (expect to see a lot of that in coming weeks), and Forest Whitaker won Best Actor for The Last King of Scotland. Best Director went to Martin Scorsese for The Departed. Could this finally be the movie that wins him an Oscar? Let’s hope so.

The full list of 2006 National Board of Review winners is below:

Best Film - Letters From Iwo Jima Best Foreign Film - Volver Best Actor - Forest Whitaker, The Last King Of Scotland Best Actress - Helen Mirren, The Queen Best Supporting Actor - Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond Best Supporting Actress - Catherine O'hara, For Your Consideration Best Acting By An Ensemble - The Departed Breakthrough Performance - Male - Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson Breakthrough Performance - Female - (2) Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls and Rinko Kikuchi, Babel Best Director - Martin Scorsese, The Departed Best Directorial Debut - Jason Reitman, Thank You For Smoking Best Adapted Screenplay - Ron Nyswaner, The Painted Veil Best Original Screenplay - Zach Helm, Stranger Than Fiction Best Documentary - An Inconvenient Truth Best Animated Feature - Cars