Los Angeles Film Critics Also Name 'Hurt Locker' Best of 2009
However, this could be seen as bad news...
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.
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It's a good day for Mo'Nique and Waltz. Also, apparently Avatar won BP from the New York Critics…
freakin crazy heart. FANTASTIC MR. FOX ALL THE WAY!
I'm glad that Mo'Nique and Waltz are getting some awards…well deserved. I hope that the oscars dont overlook Waltz.
The Hurt Locker is incredibly overrated.
@PinstripedJon: How so? I found that flim to not be overrated in the least.
I'm happy to see Beaches of Agnes and Summer Hours get some much deserved love.
@Dylan: It was the New York Film Critics Online, not the NYFCC.
@Garrett: Yes, a VERY important distinction.
It seems like a lot of the normal "Oscar season" type contenders are disappointing, so people are remembering movies that were released earlier in the year like Inglourious Basterds and The Hurt Locker. With no clear runaway favorite this year, I have absolutely no problem with The Hurt Locker winning the big awards. It isn't my favorite movie of the year, but it is certainly one of the best.
@Cody Nelson:
Sadly, I agree with PinstripedJon. I was disappointed with "The Hurt Locker," and so was my brother. Though my brother isn't the type to go for awards films, so that doesn't say much. Personally, I thought each scene in "The Hurt Locker" was built well, individually. But put together, they didn't seem to create a very strong story. I didn't see much character development, and in the end the whole point of the film either wasn't very clear or wasn't very strong. Good directing, maybe even great directing. Great acting, maybe even excellent acting. Great action scenes. But good screenplay? Not really. And it's the story that matters the most, before anything else.
Great news. It would be amazing if Bigelow became the first woman to win the director prize at the oscars. Bridges is also starting to look a little bit more solid for best actor, though part of me thinks that he'll get it in the future for the Cohens version of True Grit. I know it's stupid to make that prediction for a movie that hasn't even been made yet, lol. Can't wait for the BFCA's nominees tomorrow. Does anyone know when the New York Critics Circle gives out there awards?