Awards Season: It's All Happening

The film industry announced today how it would likely pat itself on the back this year. Last year, I decided that it was time to stop caring about the Academy Awards, but I am interested in what an actually impartial group -- the film critics -- thought about the year's movies. The New York Film Critics Circle held its ceremony on Monday night, along with several other critics' groups in the past couple weeks. The NYFCC choices, the best indicator of the movies you should have seen, are listed below.

The critics focused more on Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, and The Master as the best picture of the year, while the Academy's list includes Amour, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Argo, Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Silver Linings Playbook, and -- God help us -- Les Misérables. Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) was the critics' runaway favorite for Best Actor, and he seems highly favored among the Oscar nominees (Bradley Cooper, Joaquin Phoenix, Denzel Washington, and -- God help us -- Hugh Jackman for Les Misérables). For Best Actress, the critics favored Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) and Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), with some interest in Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) and Rachel Weisz (The Deep Blue Sea), while the Academy gave additional nods to Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and Naomi Watts (The Impossible). Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master) and Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln) were at the top for Best Supporting Actor, while Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables) seems inevitable for Best Supporting Actress. Look for thoughts on the movies in competition between now and February 24.

NYFCC AWARDS:
BEST PICTURE: Zero Dark Thirty BEST ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln BEST ACTRESS: Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Sally Field, Lincoln BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Matthew McConaughey, Bernie and Magic Mike BEST DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty	BEST SCREENPLAY: Tony Kushner, Lincoln BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER: Greig Fraser, Zero Dark Thirty BEST ANIMATED FILM: Frankenweenie BEST DOCUMENTARY: The Central Park Five BEST FOREIGN FILM: Amour BEST FIRST FILM: David France, How to Survive a Plague