The critics have spoken, and once again they've come out in favor of "The Social Network."
The New York Film Critics Circle announced its 2010 winners on Monday, joining nearly all other critics' organizations in naming David Ficher's Facebook drama the best film of the year.
On the whole, the New York critics put together a remarkably mainstream selection of winners, steering well clear of the odd acting choices made by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association on Sunday.
Annette Bening and Colin Firth were named Best Actress and Best Actor for "The Kids Are All Right" and "The King's Speech," respectively, while Melissa Leo ("The Fighter") and Mark Ruffalo ("The Kids Are All Right") picked up honors in the supporting categories.
"The Kids Are All Right," which had been overlooked in some other critics awards, won three awards, two for its actors and one for the screenplay from Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg. "The Social Network" won two, Best Picture and Best Director for Fincher.
One of the few unexpected choices came in the Best Animated Film category, where the Sylvain Chomet's "The Illusionist" beat out Pixar's "Toy Story 3."
The cinematography award went to "Black Swan," the non-fiction film honor to "Inside Job," and the foreign-language award to "Carlos."
The Australian crime drama "Animal Kingdom" was honored as Best First Feature.
The win for "The Social Network" makes it one of the few films to be honored by both the New York and Los Angeles critics. The last film to win both was last year's Oscar champ, "The Hurt Locker." In recent years both groups also chose "Brokeback Mountain" and "Sideways," which were nominated for but did not win Best Picture.
The win gives Fincher's film another award to add to its wins from the Boston, Washington D.C., Indiana, Southeastern and New York Online critics groups. It has yet to lose a significant critical award.
NYFCC, which is made up of 33 critics for New York-based publications, is one of the longest-running critical groups in existence; it was established in 1935 and gave out its first awards in March, 1936, when it named John Ford's "The Informer" the year's best.
In the 75 years during which the NYFCC has been giving out awards, 30 of its winners have been named Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Over the past decade, the group's top film has gone on to win the Best Picture Oscar three times: "The Hurt Locker" last year, "No Country for Old Men" in 2007, and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" in 2004.
Winners that did not take home the top Oscar have included "Milk," "United 93," "Brokeback Mountain" and "Sideways" in the past decade, and "L.A. Confidential," "All the President's Men," "Amarcord," "A Clockwork Orange," "Five Easy Pieces," "High Noon" and "Citizen Kane" before that.
On its website, NYFCC says its awards are less harbingers of the Oscars than "a principled alternative to the Oscars, honoring esthetic merit in a forum that is immune to commercial and political pressures."
The winners:
Best Film: "The Social Network"
Best Director: David Fincher, "The Social Network"
Best Screenplay: "The Kids Are All Right"
Best Actress: Annette Bening, "The Kids Are All Right"
Best Actor: Colin Firth, "The King’s Speech"
Best Supporting Actress: Melissa Leo, "The Fighter"
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Ruffalo, "The Kids Are All Right"
Best Cinematography: "Black Swan"
Best Animated Film: "The Illusionist"
Best Non-fiction Film: “Inside Job"
Best Foreign Language Film: "Carlos"
Best First Feature: "Animal Kingdom"
