National Board of Review Awards

The Board is one the most prominent New York societies that have a say in the movie business. It was established as early as in 1909. The ballots for the awards are distributed among 110 members of the society, and the members are selected from film enthusiasts, academics, filmmakers and students. Of course, it's not the same as the Academy, but surely it mirrors the actual worth of a film more than the Oscars. 

Based on the results, it seems that Kathryn Bigelow is sure to get a few Oscars nominations for her film and a couple more awards on the way. This would be absolutely unprecedented. Never in the history was a female-director so successful. Way to go! Other nods include Ben Affleck - really, serious repertoire does good by him, and "Silver Linings Playbook," so far the biggest mystery, as it only premiered in the US.

More on the Awards here.

This year's winners are:

Best Film: "ZERO DARK THIRTY"

Best Director: Kathryn BIGELOW for "ZERO DARK THIRTY"

New York Film Critics Circle Award

New York Film Critics Circle Award is one of the most prominent awards given by one of the most prominent professional society there is. The Circle was established in 1936 and started giving out its Awards, which is just 7 years after the first Oscars were awarded. That is one of the reasons why is it of such importance to have a look at this year's winners. Obviously, since the Oscars is a commercial party for masses, the Circle Award should celebrate the art of making films, and so it does. In my opinion, most of the motion pictures recognised by the NYCC might not stand a chance of winning an Oscar, which, according to  the popular belief is still (and unjustly) the crown jewel of all awards.
Even for that purpose it is important to list the winners.

New York Film Critics Circle Award 2012:

Best Picture: ZERO DARK THIRTY
"For a decade, an elite team of intelligence and military operatives, working in secret across the globe, devoted themselves to a single goal: to find and eliminate Osama bin Laden. Director-producer Kathryn Bigelow and writer-producer Mark Boal unite for the story of history's greatest manhunt for the world's most dangerous man." (distributor's material)
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong, James Gandolfini, Mark Duplass
Review.

European Film Awards 2012

Although Michael Haneke's "Love" has caused relative stir among audiences around the world, noone would have guessed, that it might get so many awards in Europe this year during European Film Awards 2012. Especially not when so many other wonderful movies have stood against it for the main prizes. To me, a fanatic of Mads Mikkelsen and Thomas Vinterberg dream duo ("Jagten") or Michael Fassbender - Steve McQueen's "Shame" it came as a surprise that none of these films actually got the most important nods. Hopefully this march for awards does not end here for them, it might only be a beginning of a wonderful journey for recognition. If you wish to have a look at the whole list of nominees, it's already in the blog here. Variety writes about it as well, The Hollywood Reporter and The Guardian follow.

European Film 2012: "AMOUR" dir. Michael Haneke
Director: Michael HANEKE for "AMOUR"
Actress: Emmanuelle RIVA for "AMOUR"
Actor: Jean-Louis TRINTIGNANT for "AMOUR"