Can any movie other than The Social Network pick up a critics’ prize this year? After winning Best Picture honors from the National Board of Review and the Washington, D.C. Film Critics Association, David Fincher’s film has added three more awards to its arsenal with today’s announcements from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Boston Society of Film Critics, and the New York Film Critics Online. Aaron Sorkin also swept the three prizes for his screenplay, as did Toy Story 3 for Best Animated Film. Black Swan‘s Natalie Portman won two Best Actress awards, while three different actors—The King’s Speech‘s Colin Firth, 127 Hours‘ James Franco, and The Social Network‘s Jesse Eisenberg—each picked up a Best Actor prize. Check out all the winners after the jump.
LOS ANGELES
Picture The Social Network
Director Olivier Assayas, Carlos, and David Fincher, The Social Network (tie)
Actor Colin Firth, The King’s Speech
Actress Kim Hye-Ja, Mother
Supporting Actor Niels Arestrup, A Prophet
Supporting Actress Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom
Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Foreign-Language Film Carlos
Animation Toy Story 3
Documentary Last Train Home
Cinematography Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Music Alexandre Desplat, The Ghost Writer, and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network (tie)
Production Design Guy Hendrix Dyas, Inception
New Generation Lena Dunham, Tiny Furniture
BOSTON
Picture The Social Network
Director David Fincher, The Social Network
Actor Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network
Actress Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter
Supporting Actress Juliette Lewis, Conviction
Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Documentary Marwencol
Foreign-Language Film Mother
Animated Film Toy Story 3
Cinematography Roger Deakins, True Grit
Editing Andrew Weisblum, Black Swan
New Filmmaker Jeff Malmberg, Marwencol
Ensemble Cast The Fighter
Music Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, The Social Network
NEW YORK ONLINE
Picture The Social Network
Director David Fincher, The Social Network
Actor James Franco, 127 Hours
Actress Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Supporting Actor Christian Bale, The Fighter
Supporting Actress Melissa Leo, The Fighter
Breakthrough Performer Noomi Rapace, The Millennium Trilogy
Debut Director John Wells, The Company Men
Ensemble Cast The Kids Are All Right
Screenplay Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
Documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop
Foreign Language I Am Love
Animated Toy Story 3
Cinematography Matthew Libatique, Black Swan
Music Clint Mansell, Black Swan
Top 10 Films 127 Hours, Another Year, Black Swan, Blue Valentine, The Ghost Writer, Inception, The Kids Are All Right, The King’s Speech, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, The Social Network
The social network deserves to win every award possible!
I agree. Great movie, great director, great writer, great score, all acting great. Well deserved.
I disagree, I think it was a decent movie, but by no means great, it felt like a made for tv movie, nothing terribly special about it.
@Freddie: Wow, I thought the same thing when I saw The Blind Side.
Great movie all around. But I’m wondering why Restrepo isn’t getting more praise under the documentary category. It’s the best war doc I’ve ever seen.
agreed!!!
When has there ever been a TV movie that had dialogue and acting comparable to The Social Network? If there is one, I’d love to see it.
As much as I loved Social Network, I just rewatched Inception and for my money Inception is easily the best picture of the year.
Don’t be so quick to say that when you probably have not seen any of the other movies this year. Wait until True Grit comes out. Make sure you go see Black Swan and The King’s Specch. Don’t forget Blue Valentine or Winter’s Bone.
Very happy for ‘The Social Network’ and Natalie Portman.
I’m glad Mother (Korean movie) is getting some love. That movie is absolutely amazing.
Agreed! I thought that actress and film were amazing.
the social network is amazinggg and deserves it all.
i love jesse eisenberg wins also cus he was amazing, but i know he has a ton of competition there.
but natalie portman should sweep for black swan!
Looks like BSA is shaping up to be a Weaver VS. Leo battle.
I say more power to ‘em. Glad to see a race that’s not just focused on young’ins.
That being said, congrats to all of the winners so far!
Inception I guess was just too cerebral for critics to understand, so that’s why it’s getting shafted time and again. It’ll be the Avatar of this movie season; clearly the best film being overlooked by a slightly inferior product.
Or maybe because The Social Network is a better film than Inception. And are you really saying that Avatar was the best film last year?
I’ll make my case for Avatar being better. Why did it succeed when every film makes it’s haul in the first week, then drops 50, 55, 60% in it’s second weekend? Avatar didn’t. I attribute it to four things; the 3d visual effects, sure. But also to it’s direction, acting….and its *story*. I had a great story that kept attracting people again and again. Name another film this decade that was #1 for 7 weeks in a row. The last one? Titanic. For every ADD-fueled turkey like Transformers, sometimes we get it right. And we got it right with Avatar. The Oscars didn’t. Stuff happens. We got it right with Inception, too. But critics groups are going to get it wrong;they already have, and we’ve a long way to go, still.
Avatar was a box-office hit, we can all agree on that, but that doesn’t indicate that it deserved the best picture award. Also, the story and dialogue of Avatar was lacking in many ways in which I will not get into. James Cameron got what he deserved. Also, The Social Network FTW!
Avatar was nowhere near being the best film of last year. Overrated and overpraised.
Please never compare Inception to Avatar. Such an insult to Inception.
??????
@m1…What is so confusing about Woot’s statement?
@Adam: It wasn’t confusing. I just don’t understand why Avatar is getting this constant bashing. Sure, it wasn’t last year’s best film, but it was certainly good. How is comparing anything to Avatar an insult to the other film?
Well in my opinion, Avatar was predictable, cliched, far too formulaic, had some poor dialogue, and some characters were extremely one-dimensional. Inception, on the other hand, was the opposite. Which is why I have to somewhat agree with Woot’s sentiment. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed Avatar and I was entertained, but that list of issues is too great to warrant the praise the film was given.
And just to be clear, I also don’t think Inception was the very best film of this year, but it is certainly one of the best and I think it deserves the praise it has received.
Yes, that’s so insulting to Nolan & company. I loved “Inception” and I am still hoping it’ll figure in the big awards. This is just the beginning.
@adam
Inception had some of the hammiest dialogue and one-dimensional characters I’ve seen on screen this year. To suggest that the reason for Inception’s popularity extends beyond its impressive visuals and convoluted plot is ludicrous.
Inception was a good film but that doesn’t mean it is the best film of the year. I personally was wowed by Tangled but am under no delusions it will win best anything. The Social Network, while not my favorite, deserves everything it gets.
And Avatar deserved to be snubbed in every category but visual. The writing and acting were severely lacking.
I’m so glad Inception lost out! It will be this year’s Color Purple. Tons of nods and no Oscar.
Wow Paul. Do you watch any movies that don’t rake in $100 million? And Inception was actually quite easy to follow for anyone I’ve ever talked to about it because yes, it was a good and well-made movie. But “clearly the best film”? Watch some more film.
I hope Christian Bale wins an Oscar. It’s certainly his time.
Since when?
Empire of the Sun, American Psycho, The Machinist, Rescue Dawn, The Dark Knight.
I don’t know about winning yet, but I think he deserved an Oscar nomination countless times before… ever since he made his film debut in “Empire of the Sun” back in 1987.
Since he has consistently been giving A-level performances like in The Machinist and Rescue Dawn. He’s a hardcore method actor (how much weight did he lose for The Fighter?) rivaled only by Russell Crowe
Yay Scott Pilgrim!
So happy to see Scott Pilgrim getting some recognition. I think both this movie and The Social Network will be looked back upon as movies that were indicative of the culture they were released in.
All good movies. But the sad part is that it was a not-great year for film and it seems like quality
is going down. There is a reason people say, “I will wait for the dvd.” Too many movies just aren’t worth the cost of admission.
Agreed. It can be crazy expensive to go see a movie and it seems less and less films are worth the trouble. Where I live two adults can’t go to the theater and get popcorn and drinks for less than $50. Unless it’s something I’m dying to see immediately it can wait until I can watch it in the comfort of my own home with reasonably priced snacks, and without the rude people on phones!
I think it was a better year than last year. There are at least ten films that deserve to be nominated for best picture.
I think there were 10 films last year that deserved to be nominated too, but the Oscars just didn’t get it right, so it seemed like there weren’t enough good movies.
So happy for Natalie Portman. I hope she can ride this to an Oscar win.
Looking good for Natalie Portman and not very good for Annette Benning.
Annette Bening should have been open to Best Supporting Actress (nom). Julianne’s role was actually larger. If Bening had agreed to Supporting Actress, she would have been nominated and I think she would have beaten anyone.
Some people are over-exaggerating Avatar’s overrated-ness. It wasn’t a bad movie by any means, and neither were Inception.
Avatar may not have been bad, and Inception was definitely a great movie. But it neither were the best picture of their years by any means.
Interesting to look at the films that appear on multiple lists:
Film: Social Network
Actress: Natalie Portman
Supporting Actor: Christian Bale
Screenplay: Andrew Sorkin
Cinematography: Black Swan
Animated: Toy Story 3
Music: The Social Network
Black Swan, The Social Network, and Toy Story 3 are looking strong.
ummm, you know its Aaron, right?
Sorry but Inception is definitely Best Picture in my opinion. The Social Network was entertaining but I feel Inception was a highly superior and original film!