The critics have weighed in, and the consensus is overwhelming: director David Fincher’s riveting, impeccably written and ambitiously topical powerhouse of a film, The Social Network, is the Best Picture of 2010.
Perhaps the most influential critics’ association is the New York Film Critics Circle, which according to insiders, voted in astounding numbers on Monday afternoon for The Social Network as their pick for 2010’s very Best Film, also awarding the film’s helmsman, David Fincher, as Best Director. The New York Film Critics spread the wealth around a little though, rescuing The Kids Are All Right’s Annette Bening’s chances for a Best Actress Oscar with a Best Actress nod, injecting Kids’ Mark Ruffalo into the Best Supporting Actor race with a Best Supporting Actor award, and surprising everyone with a Best Screenplay award for Kids director Lisa Cholodenko and co-screenwriter, Stuart Blumberg. The full awards slate is available here.
Meanwhile on Sunday just past, the members of the somewhat more wacky (or should that read: more independently-minded) Los Angeles Film Critics Association went their own way, awarding South Korea’s Kim Hye-ja Best Actress for her work in Mother, and A Prophet’s Niels Arestrup Best Supporting Actor. When it came to Best Picture, though, the august body lined up behind The Social Network (and, by the way, Mr. Turan, the lead actor’s name is Jesse Eisenberg … whose viscerally watchable performance makes him a lock for a Best Actor Oscar nomination come January 25th).
First out of the gate on Sunday were the Boston Society of Film Critics, and they too gave The Social Network a little love: Jesse Eisenberg won Best Actor, David Fincher won Best Director, and Aaron Sorkin took the Best Screenplay Award. There was also a little love for Best Actress winner Natalie Portman for her work in Black Swan, Christian Bale for his portrayal of the crack-addicted Dickie Eklund in The Fighter, and an amazing Juliette Lewis for her scungy performance as a low-life booze hound in Conviction.
Just yesterday I was talking to a cashier at Home Depot, and she said she couldn’t wait to see Burlesque, a barely watchable piece of trash. Why would someone choose to see detritus like Burlesque, when there are movies like Tony Goldwyn’s wonderfully watchable and moving Conviction, starring multiple Best Actress Oscar winner, Hilary Swank; or, certain Best Picture nominee, The Fighter (opening this Friday in wide release); certain Best Director nominee Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan; The Social Network; one of the most raved about films of the year, The King’s Speech; the Coen brothers’ latest opus, True Grit (opening wide on Wednesday, December 22nd); the reportedly spectacularly wonderful, Blue Valentine; best thing Oscar winner Nicole Kidman has done in years, Rabbit Hole (opening Christmas Day); and lest we forget, the stylish, moving, kinetic, brilliant … 127 Hours. Why settle for a McDonald’s burger when you can have a candle lit gourmet dinner served by a world renowned chef presented in a warm, unhurried and reassuring setting where the servers actually respect you? There are so many great films out there at the moment. Do yourself a favour, see one, two, ten or twenty, see them with friends and loved ones.
Okay, enough of the lecture. After the jump, we’ll get into the other critics associations, and what they awarded (of course, The Social Network was right there in the winning column with all the other critics’ associations).

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