The first year-end critics awards is now in and though I may not recall how many times The National Board of Review's best film matches that of the Oscars, I'm thinking that No Country for Old Men is easily the hands on favorite. Curiously, I'm looking at the list below and only 2 films among all the winners were shown in theaters before the month of September – with only an animated Rat Pixar and Julie Christie's tour-de-force perf in Sarah Polley's Away From Her. The board had a lot of people supporting the Affleck brothers work this year – younger bro got recognition for his work in the Jesse James picture and Affleck Sr. got kudos for his directing skills in GBG. Below you'll find the complete list of winners commencing with Best Film.
Director: Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Actor: George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Actress:
Julie Christie, “Away From Her”
Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, Gone, Baby, Gone
Foreign Film: The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Documentary:“Body Of War”
Animated Feature: Ratatouille
Ensemble Cast: No Country for Old Men
Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Emile Hirsch, Into the Wild
Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Ellen Page, Juno
Best Directorial Debut: Ben Affleck, Gone, Baby, Gone
Best Original Screenplay (tie):
Diablo Cody, Juno and Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl
Best Adapted Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men
NBR's top ten including NCFOM, in alphabetical order:
“The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford”
“Atonement”
“The Bourne Ultimatum”
“The Bucket List”
“Into The Wild”
“Juno”
“The Kite Runner”
“Lars And The Real Girl”
“Michael Clayton”
“Sweeney Todd”
