National Board Of Review Picks 'The Social Network' As Best Film Of 2010

The first round of critics awards has begun, as the National Board of Review, a non-profit group made up of 110 " film enthusiasts, academics, professionals, and students" has sent out its list of award winners for film achievement in 2010. The big winner is David Fincher's The Social Network, which took Best Film, Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Best Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin).

Films that did not score any NBR awards include 127 Hours, Black Swan, Blue Valentine and many more presumed awards favorites. The whole list of NBR awards is after the break.

I thought last year's round of awards was a little soft, with too much love for Invictus. (Keeping that love in mind makes the inclusion of Hereafter on this Top 11 list not at all surprising.) But this is a much more interesting set of nods, if only for the fact that the core awards neatly sidestep the awards consensus that always starts to coalesce at this time of year.

Best Film: The Social Network

Best Director:  David Fincher, The Social Network

Best Actor:  Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Best Actress:  Lesley Manville, Another Year

Best Supporting Actor:  Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress:  Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Best Foreign Film:  Of Gods and Men

Best Documentary:  Waiting For "Superman"

Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3

Best Ensemble Cast:  The Town

Breakthrough Performance: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, Restrepo

Best Original Screenplay:  Chris Sparling, Buried

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award: Sofia Coppola, for for writing, directing, and producing Somewhere

William K. Everson Film History Award: Leonard Maltin

NBR Freedom of Expression: Fair Game, Conviction, Howl

Top Eleven Films (In alphabetical order): Another Year, The Fighter, Hereafter, Inception, The King's Speech, Shutter Island, The Social Network, The Town, Toy Story 3, True Grit, Winter's Bone

Top Ten Independent Films (In alphabetical order): Animal Kingdom, Buried, Fish Tank, The Ghost Writer, Greenberg, Let Me In, Monsters, Please Give, Somewhere, Youth in Revolt

Top Six Foreign Films (In alphabetical order): I Am Love, Incendies, Life, Above All, Of Gods And Men, Soul Kitchen, White Material

Top Six Documentary Films (In alphabetical order):  A Film Unfinished, Inside Job, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, Restrepo, The Tillman Story, Waiting For "Superman"