Chicago Film Critics Association

PICTURE: Zero Dark Thirty
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Amy Adams, The Master
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Zero Dark Thirty- Marc Boal
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Lincoln- Tony Kushner
ANIMATED FEATURE: ParaNorman
DOCUMENTARY: The Invisible War
FOREIGN FILM: Amour
CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Master
ART DIRECTION: Moonrise Kingdom
FILM EDITING: Zero Dark Thirty
SCORE: The Master
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER: Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
BREAKTHROUGH FILMMAKER: Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Chicago Film Critics Association

PICTURE

The Social Network

DIRECTOR
David Fincher, The Social Network

ACTOR
Colin Firth, The King's Speech

ACTRESS
Natalie Portman, Black Swan

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Fighter

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit

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This marks the fifth critics prize, and highest profile win for both Steinfeld and True Grit, which has been oddly separated from the awards race as of late, in spite of it's leading stature.  As discussed, I'm far from a fan, but Steinfeld's steadfast and strong leading performance is one of the strengths.  I'm a case of pure, unadulterated category fraud, she's been saddled in the supporting category.  A number of reasons: supporting actress is far weaker than leading this year (which distributor Paramount appears acutely aware of) and the factor of age.  She's a teenager, and a she's a she.  A strong performance to be sure, but she's stealing away prizes from my favorite, true supporting performers like Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom) who unlike Steinfeld doesn't have a lofty, big-scaled Christmas release date.  I expect at this point that the bigger guilds and such would buy into such category frauds, but the critics should be shrewder!

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Inception- Christopher Nolan

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Social Network- Aaron Sorkin

ANIMATED FEATURE

Toy Story 3

DOCUMENTARY

Exit Through the Gift Shop

FOREIGN FILM

A Prophet

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Inception- Wally Pfister

ORIGINAL SCORE

Black Swan- Clint Mansell

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER

Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone

MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER

Derek Cainfrance, Blue Valentine

Chicago Film Critics Assocation

PICTURE: The Hurt Locker
DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
ACTOR: Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
ACTRESS: Carey Mulligan, An Education
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Mo'Nique, Precious
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: The Hurt Locker- Mark Boal
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Up in the Air- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner
FOREIGN FILM: The White Ribbon
ANIMATED FEATURE: Up
DOCUMENTARY: Anvil! The Story of Anvil
CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Hurt Locker- Barry Aykroyd
SCORE: Up- Michael Giacchino
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER: Carey Mulligan, An Education
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER: Neil Blomkamp, District 9

Chicago Film Critics Association

PICTURE: WALL-E
DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
ACTOR: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler
ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Kate Winslet, The Reader
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: WALL-E- Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Slumdog Millionaire- Simon Beaufoy
FOREIGN FILM: Let the Right One In
DOCUMENTARY: Man on Wire
ANIMATED FEATURE: WALL-E
CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Dark Knight- Wally Pfister
ORIGINAL SCORE: WALL-E- Thomas Newman
MOST PROMISING PERFORMER: Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire
MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER: Tomas Alfredson, Let the Right One In

Chicago Film Critics Assocation

BEST PICTURE
No Country For Old Men

BEST DIRECTOR

Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, No Country For Old Men

BEST ACTOR

Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood

BEST ACTRESS

Ellen Page, Juno

I'm thrilled to see her in the big catagory and not just relegated by Most Promising-- it's such a vibrant, relevatory performance it belongs here.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Juno- Diablo Cody

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

No Country For Old Men- Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

BEST FOREIGN FILM

4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Ratatouille

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Sicko

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford- Roger Deakins

YAY! I'm torn as which Deakins creation I'm most impressed by-- the beauty of Jesse James or the gritty coldness of No Country-- it's like Sophie's Choice. It really is.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Once- Glen Hansard & Market Irglova

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER

Michael Cera, Juno & Superbad

MOST PROMISING DIRECTOR

Ben Affleck, Gone Baby Gone