Image Credit: Merrick MortonThe Social Network has won the first major pre-Oscar Best Picture prize of the awards season, earning honors from the National Board of Review. The acclaimed film also won awards for Best Director (David Fincher), Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin). Last year’s winner, Up in the Air, ended up as an Oscar nominee but lost to The Hurt Locker; in other recent years, the NBR winner has lined up with the eventual Oscar winner (Slumdog Millionaire, No Country for Old Men). Missing from the group’s top 10: 127 Hours, The Kids Are All Right, and Black Swan — though it’s worth noting that four of last year’s 10 Oscar nominees weren’t recognized by the NBR either. The King’s Speech, meanwhile, made the top 10 list but failed to win any awards. Perhaps the biggest surprise (and a very pleasant one at that) is Jacki Weaver’s supporting actress victory for the amazing Australian drama Animal Kingdom. She and Eisenberg, along with Another Year‘s Best Actress winner Lesley Manville, pick up the biggest boosts in the overall awards race. The full list of winners is below.
Best Film The Social Network
Top 10 Films
Another Year
The Fighter
Hereafter
Inception
The King’s Speech
Shutter Island
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone
Best Director David Fincher, The Social Network
Best Actor Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Best Actress Lesley Manville, Another Year
Best Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter
Best Supporting Actress Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Best Foreign Film Of Gods and Men
Top Five Foreign Films
I Am Love
Incendies
Love, Above All
Soul Kitchen
White Material
Best Documentary Waiting for “Superman”
Top Five Documentaries
A Film Unfinished
Inside Job
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Restrepo
The Tillman Story
Best Animated Feature Toy Story 3
Best Ensemble Cast The Town
Breakthrough Performance Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone
Best Directorial Debut Tim Hetherington & Sebastian Junger, Restrepo
Best Original Screenplay Chris Sparling, Buried
Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Special Filmmaking Achievement Award Sofia Coppola, Somewhere
Top 10 Independent Films
Animal Kingdom
Buried
Fish Tank
The Ghost Writer
Greenberg
Let Me In
Monsters
Please Give
Somewhere
Youth in Revolt
Check out my interview with NBR winners Eisenberg and Sorkin, along with their castmates Andrew Garfield, Armie Hammer, and Justin Timberlake. And follow me on Twitter (@davekarger) for awards updates.
More TNT promos please!
holy cow I know right? Every page! Even sitting there and watching it doesn’t stop it from playing again on the next page! Annoying, EW.com, very annoying!
Glad to see The Town get some love! I think it’s very good, and a lock for one of the 10 Best Picture nominations, but people seem to be counting it out.
It’s definitely not a lock, but making top 10 lists like this will help it make the cut of 10.
This is an outrage! How can the National Board reward such a misogynistic film. Social Network hates women. Aaron Sorkin hates women. David Fincher hates women!
Just stop talking Amanda
Amanda literally regurgitating the opinions she as read
man I loved The Town it was really good.
The Town was one of my favorite movies of the year. Ben Affleck has directed two awesome back to back movies. GIve him some recognition!
The Town was a major disappointment for me after liking Gone Baby Gone.
MCullenHightopp on October 20, 2011 Well.. John Lennon got kicked outta gelloce, originally not even having good enough grades to get in And he even got an airport named after him!
Shutter Island? Hereafter? I don’t see how those could have beaten out 127 Hours?
Totally agree. Or beaten out Black Swan or The Kids Are All Right.
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i was thinking the EXACT same thing
I don’t see how Hereafter could have beaten out anything…. Come on, folks, just because it’s Clint Eastwood doesn’t mean it’s good!
Ditto Scorsese. Sh*tter Island was SO BAD.
Glad Eisenberg got a push. With many pundits seeing True Grit this week, he was ready to fall to the could-be-snubbed 4th place in the Best Actor race (behind Firth, Franco, and Bridges).
The biggest surprise has to be Buried winning screenplay–I had never heard of the movie before!
They officially hate Fox Searchlight.
You say that as if it were a *bad* thing.
It’s a very bad thing!!!
Awsome movie!! I wthaced this movie as my University exam is regarding the effects of media in modern culture, as a second year sociology student, I would recommend anyone and everyone to watch this movie.
I was hoping Sam Rockwell would win
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I am surprised that ‘Shutter Island’ wound up in the Top 10. It came out so long ago, I think most people might forget about it. Leonardo DiCaprio also had his two big star vehicles this year (‘Island’ and ‘Inception’) nominated. Big year for him.
I, too, am surprised to see Shutter Island on here. I saw it in the theater and really liked it. Then I watched it again a couple nights ago and was completely blown away that it was even better on second viewing. Movies of its type rarely improve under scrutiny and this one absolutely held up. I now feel it deserves some awards consideration so it’s great to see it on this list.
The Social Network is a very good movie but Toy Story 3 is a great movie. This type of voting represents a continued bias against animated movies. TS3 was the best movie of the year. Hopefuly, other critics groups will acknowledge that.
I have a feeling that none of the four winners for the acting prizes will get Oscar nominations. I don’t consider any of them to be “the best” performances this year – purely political posturing by the NBR to give underdogs a push.
Tom, currently Eisenberg and Bale are on several shortlists to be nominated for the Oscar in their category, many are even predicting Bale will win.
Weaver and Manvile though are a totally different story, I can agree with you on those two.
I think you’re way off the mark on that one. Weaver’s been in the mix for some time. Have you actually seen Animal Kingdom or another Year or indeed, every other in contention performance? If so then yes, perhaps you’d be qualified to comment upon what constitutes “the best” of the year
I’ve seen Eisenberg and I believe he deserved that award.
The others, like I said, were based off several shortlist that I’ve been seeing.
The NBR winners are almost always Oscar nominees-for example, 19 of the last 20 supporting actor nominees went on to get an Oscar nomination (at least).
The win is a nice boost for Weaver, Eisenberg, and Manville. Bale didn’t need it. He’s was already the predicted winner on easily half of the lists (and a competitive no 2 on the rest). And his buzz has just began.
All you need to know about how legitimate (or not) the NBR’s are is this: Buried over Inception for Original Screenplay. Buried??? BURIED????? Are you effin’ kidding me? Dude’s in a coffin for 90 minutes with his cell phone (predictably) going to run out. BURIED????? This POS film didn’t even break $1.1m at the boxoffice.
Did you see it?
Yes, on CSI a season and change ago.
Did it better.
forget the social network – I know, I’m in the minority, thinking it one of the most overrated, not to mention dullest film of the year – but I am so in love that the nbr rewarded Jacki Weaver in the true tour de force of the year for Animal Kingdom….I hope this traction goes all the way to oscar!
Jackie Weaver winning the Oscar next year would be just about the most awesome thing ever
Animal Kingdom deserves to get multiple Oscar nominations. Maybe Jacki Weaver’s NBR win will give it a push.
shutter island???? ugh. that movie could have been really good…if stanley kubrick directed it.
big love for animal kingdom. i’ve been telling you karves, it’s the dark horse to watch out for.
as for the social netowrk, i LOVE david fincher but the movie is just…meh. i’m banking on a lot of nominations (who knows why) and hopefully no wins.
and big props to bale for a supporting win! here’s noping he takes that all the way to oscar. anger managment or not, the guy’s way overdue for some love.
love manville’s win too. hoping the best actress race gets more cred this year than the one vs one feel over the past few years. sorry benning and portman, may not be yours to lose…
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Shutter Island?
Hereafter?
The Ghost Writer?
and Youth in Revolt?
Really?
Definitely rolled my eyes at Hereafter. They just love Clint. I still think Black Swan will get a nomination.