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National Board of Review Names Up in the Air Best Film

Boom! It had been discussed as an Oscar front-runner this season before anybody had seen it, and now it’s landed its first big precursor award: Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air was just named the year’s Best Film by the National Board of Review, the body that’s correctly predicted the Academy Award for Best Picture the past two years (its track record before that was a little spotty). Air’s George Clooney tied with Invictus’s Morgan Freeman for Best Actor, and Anna Kendrick took Best Supporting Actress. Also important: Clint Eastwood won Best Director and Carey Mulligan, Best Actress.

Ten Best Films
(in alphabetical order)
“An Education”
“(500) Days of Summer”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Invictus”
“The Messenger”
“A Serious Man”
“Star Trek”
“Up”
“Where the Wild Things Are”

Best Director: Clint Eastwood, “Invictus”

Best Actor: (tie) Morgan Freeman, “Invictus” and George Clooney, “Up In The Air”

Best Actress: Carey Mulligan, “An Education”

Best Supporting Actor: Woody Harrelson, “The Messenger”

Best Supporting Actress: Anna Kendrick, “Up In The Air”

Best Foreign Film: “A Prophet”

Best Documentary: “The Cove”

Best Animated Feature: “Up”

Best Ensemble Cast: “It’s Complicated”

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor: Jeremy Renner, “The Hurt Locker”

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress: Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious”

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut: (tie) Duncan Jones, “Moon,” Oren Moverman, “The Messenger” and Marc Webb, “(500) Days of Summer”

Best Original Screenplay: Joel & Ethan Coen, “A Serious Man”

Best Adapted Screenplay: Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, “Up In The Air”

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Wes Anderson, “The Fantastic Mr. Fox”

William K. Everson Film History Award: Jean Picker Firstenberg

NBR Freedom of Expression:
“Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country”
“Invictus”
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”

Five Best Foreign-Language Films
(in alphabetical order)
“The Maid”
“Revanche”
“Song of Sparrows”
“Three Monkeys”
“The White Ribbon”

Five Best Documentaries
(in alphabetical order)
“Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country”
“Crude”
“Food, Inc.”
“Good Hair”
“The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers”

Top Ten Independent Films:
(in alphabetical order)
“Amreeka”
“District 9″
“Goodbye Solo”
“Humpday”
“In the Loop”
“Julia”
“Me and Orson Welles”
“Moon”
“Sugar”
“Two Lovers”

‘Up in the Air’ wins big at NBR [In Contention]

National Board of Review Names Up in the Air Best Film