NATIONAL BOARD OF REVIEW

The National Board of Review announced their winners yesterday. The announcement is the unofficial start to the Oscar season. THE SOCIAL NETWORK won big including Best Film. There are a few surprises like the winner for Best Actress Lesley Manville for ANOTHER YEAR and THE TOWN for Best Ensemble Cast. Best Original Screenplay for BURIED also came out of nowhere. 127 HOURS, BLACK SWAN and THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT were completely shut out. Here is the entire list of winners:

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 Adapted Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin, “The Social Network”

Best Original Screenplay
Chris Sparling, “Buried”

Best Foreign Language 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”

Debut Directors
Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington, “Restrepo”

Spotlight Award
Sylvain Chomet, Jacques Tati, “The Illusionist”

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award
Sofia Coppola, “Somewhere”

William K. Everson Film History Award
Leonard Maltin

NBR Freedom of Expression
“Conviction,” “Fair Game,” “Howl”

Production Design Award
Dante Ferretti, “Shutter Island”

Ten Best Films
“Another Year”
“The Fighter”
“Hereafter”
“Inception”
“The King’s Speech”
“Shutter Island”
“The Town”
“Toy Story 3″
“True Grit”
“Winter’s Bone”

Five Best Documentaries
“A Film Unfinished”
“Inside Job”
“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work”
“Restrepo”
“The Tillman Story”

Top 10 Independent Films
“Animal Kingdom”
“Buried”
“Fish Tank”
“The Ghost Writer”
“Greenberg”
“Let Me In”
“Monsters”
“Please Give”
“Somewhere”
“Youth in Revolt”