The Washington, D.C., Film Critics Association seconded the National Board of Review by naming Up in the Air the Best Film of 2009. Precious, The Hurt Locker, and Inglourious Basterds also won multiple prizes from the organization. In general, the DC critics went with established frontrunners for most of their picks. The full list of winners is below.
Best Film Up in the Air
Best Actor George Clooney, Up in the Air
Best Actress Carey Mulligan, An Education
Best Supporting Actor Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Best Supporting Actress Mo’Nique, Precious
Best Director Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Best Screenplay, Adapted Up in the Air
Best Screenplay, Original Inglourious Basterds
Best Breakthrough Performance Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Best Ensemble The Hurt Locker
Best Animated Film Up
Best Foreign Film Sin Nombre
Best Art Direction Nine
Best Documentary Food, Inc.
Sure, it’s nice to recognize “Best Breakthrough Performance” but they don’t have that category for the Oscars. Best start trying to figure out who is the better actress: Carey or Gabourey.
My vote is for Carey,,, Mariah Carey, that is. For Precious.
yea her 3 scenes are way more worthy than Mo’Nique’s entire gut wrenching performance or Julianne Moore’s heartbreaking in a single man… sarcasm alert!
Maserda,
Carey Mulligan actually acts in a film while Gabourey appears in the slasher porn version of a drama
Quick question manish? Have you even seen precious?
*sigh* How can “Up” win the best animated category?? It was trite, lifeless compared to Ponyo, safe compared to Coraline, and emotionally superficial compared to Fantastic Mr. Fox. It pushed the least boundaries artistically and story-wise. I mean, it even had the ‘talking animal for comic relief’ thing going on– how many films like that do we need, really? Disappointing.
I would be happy if the Oscar went to any of the three I’d mentioned, although FMF might be a hair better than the other two… (sacrilege?)
Huh? I thought you were going to say “how could it win best animated category … when it should be best picture.” That’s where I would have gone with that.
Ponyo??? Seriously???
That was Miyazaki’s worst film ever.
This honestly sounds like an joke, and if it’s not then I feel very sad for you if you truly think that. I don’t take somebody bashing on the best film of the year well usually, but I’m willing to agree with you that FMF, Ponyo, and Coraline are great films. Up is just better. I’d second guess myself if you find somebody who thinks otherwise.
Ama, that person has most likely not even seen Precious. It’s so strange that the film elicits such a visceral reaction from some folks based entirely on things that they’ve read or what they perceive it to be. Makes you wonder.
I’ve seen both An Education and Precious. I’d give it to Carey Mulligan without a second thought. An Education is a wonderful film. Precious has been overpraised to the high heavens, and while Sibide is fine, Mulligan is sensational.
absolutely agree with everything you said. i saw them both in the same day and i’d have to say i enjoyed both Carey and ‘An Education’ more than Gabourey and ‘Precious’.
Where’s Meryl? I’ve seen all these films and she’s superior. What’s the deal with critics’ associations looking down on comedies? Streep was more than Oscar worthy.
*sigh* Meryl suffers the curse of being the world’s greatest living actress: No matter who she’s up against, Meryl’s performance will always be the best, so that she ends up competing against herself. My theory about her for many years has been that she needs to turn in a performance equivalent to Sophie’s Choice in a year of otherwise uninspired actresses. She almost had it last year with Doubt, until the Weinsteins shoved Kate Winslet down everyone’s throats (granted, she was amazing).
I saw Up in the Air last night, and I’d give it a good solid B+. What is with all the “Best of” awards? I mean, good performances and all, but it’s not a movie I’m going to remember.
Go Karthyn Bigelow!!!
f’real! Ive been fascinated by this woman as a film maker making “boys” movies.. she rocks
Yep. I’ve been a fan of hers since Strange Days. She takes material which could easily end up as Michael Bayish testosterone goulash and makes it three-dimensional wonderfulness.
Kathryn Bigelow is not a ‘female director’. Kathryn Bigelow is a masterful storyteller.
she really knows how to do action scenes… honestly Point Break had an amazing chase scene
Good choices. Would have liked to have seen Colin Firth recognized for his outstanding performance in The Single Man.
This is shaping up to be one of the least interesting Oscar races ever. What’s going to stop any of those major winners from repeating for the rest of the derby? Pretty much nothing at this point.
NINE is absolutely brilliant and should be sweeping every year end award. Though I did love Up in the Air and Clooney in it, there is something cinematically majestic about NINE. So far the best of the year – NINE, Up in the Air, A Single Man, Every Little Step, Broken Embraces, Carey Mulligan, Meryl, Colin, Vera Farmiga, Mo’Nique, Gabourey Sidibe, Clooney of course, Julianne Moore. Go see NINE!
I admit I haven’t seen Up in the Air yet, but I just can’t imagine that George Clooney gave a more powerful performance than Jeremy Renner did in The Hurt Locker. Renner was frakkin’ AMAZING. Since seeing HL, I’ve devoured almost everything Renner has been in, and he’s been great in even the cheesiest, most low-budget of movies– hello Monkey Love!
Jeremy Renner totally deserves recognition for The Hurt Locker.
The best film of the year was “UP”, not “Up In The Air”. Maybe they are confusing the two titles? Hee hee…
I was actually hoping to see some love for District 9 on at least a few critics’ “best of” lists. It wasn’t a perfect movie by any stretch, but I found it suprisingly moving, very intelligent, and I thought Sharlto Copley was fantastic in the lead role.