Zero Dark Thirty Named Best Picture By National Board Of Review

You can debate all day how important the National Board of Review is, as a body of awards-giving film fans or as a factor in the overall awards race. But they're only the second group of critics to announce their film prizes for the year overall, and by rubber-stamping the New York Film Critics Circle's choice for Best Picture, they may have just given us an Oscar frontrunner. The NBR has named Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty their Best Film, also naming Bigelow Best Director and the film's star Jessica Chastain Best Actress. That's the most honors for any film in their lineup.

The NBR, known for being an older group, made room for plenty of surprises this year, handing Best Actor to Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook and Best Supporting Actress to Ann Dowd, who I'd argue is actually the lead actress in Compliance but who deserves all the attention she can get. Leonardo DiCaprio, whose performance in Django Unchained remains largely unseen by critics, won Best Supporting Actor, which adds another fascinating wrinkle to the race. And while the group didn't snub Lincoln, including it on their list of the year's top films, they didn't hand it any individual prizes, which surely must come as a shock to the team behind Steven Spielberg's critically beloved hit.

The full list of NBR winners is included below, and for more discussion of what all these winners might mean, check out this afternoon's Oscar Eye column later on today.

Best Film:  ZERO DARK THIRTY
Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, ZERO DARK THIRTY
Best Actor: Bradley Cooper, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, ZERO DARK THIRTY
Best Supporting Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, DJANGO UNCHAINED
Best Supporting Actress: Ann Dowd, COMPLIANCE
Best Original Screenplay: Rian Johnson, LOOPER
Best Adapted Screenplay: David O. Russell, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Best Animated Feature: WRECK-IT RALPH
Special Achievement in Filmmaking: Ben Affleck, ARGO
Breakthrough Actor: Tom Holland, THE IMPOSSIBLE

Breakthrough Actress: Quvenzhané Wallis,  BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Best Directorial Debut: Benh Zeitlin, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Best Foreign Language Film:  AMOUR
Best Documentary: SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN
William K. Everson Film History Award: 50 YEARS OF BOND FILMS
Best Ensemble: LES MISÉRABLES
Spotlight Award: John Goodman (ARGO, FLIGHT, PARANORMAN, TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE)
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: CENTRAL PARK FIVE
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: PROMISED LAND

TOP FILMS

(in alphabetical order)
ARGO
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LES MISÉRABLES
LINCOLN
LOOPER
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
PROMISED LAND
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

TOP FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS
(In Alphabetical Order)
BARBARA
THE INTOUCHABLES
THE KID WITH A BIKE
NO
WAR WITCH

TOP 5 DOCUMENTARIES
(In Alphabetical Order)
AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY
DETROPIA
THE GATEKEEPERS
THE INVISIBLE WAR
ONLY THE YOUNG

  TOP 10 INDEPENDENT FILMS
(In Alphabetical Order)
ARBITRAGE
BERNIE
COMPLIANCE
END OF WATCH
HELLO I MUST BE GOING
LITTLE BIRDS
MOONRISE KINGDOM
ON THE ROAD
QUARTET
SLEEPWALK WITH ME