I received a press release moments ago from the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association who have chosen the best of 2011. They aren’t the most predictive group out there, only Supporting Actor (Christopher Plummer) and Screenplay (The Descendants) have had four of five comparable results with the Academy. On the nominations side, their winners have gone on to Oscar nominations quite frequently with all of the acting categories (George Clooney, Michelle Williams, Plummer, Shailene Woodley), Animated Feature (Rango), Director (Alexander Payne) and Screenplay (The Descendants) all picking up Oscar nominations. I don’t see any problem with that trend continuing this year.

In addition to the nominees and/or winners listed below, this year, we’re giving you a quick background on each individual precursor including founding year, first awards year and a glimpse at how many predictions the group has gotten right in the last five years. This data can be found below.

Awards Tallies

(5) The Descendants

The Awards

Top Ten Films

1. The Descendants
2. The Artist
3. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
4. Midnight in Paris
5. The Tree of Life
6. Hugo
7. 50/50
8. Drive
9. Shame
10. Moneyball

Best Animated Film

1. Rango
2. The Adventures of Tintin

Best Director

1. Alexander Payne – The Descendants
2. Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist
3. Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life
4. Martin Scorsese – Hugo
5. Woody Allen – Midnight in Paris

Best Actor

1. George Clooney – The Descendants
2. Jean Dujardin – The Artist
3. Michael Fassbender – Shame
4. Brad Pitt – Moneyball
5. Michael Shannon – Take Shelter

Best Actress

1. Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
2. Tilda Swinton – We Need to Talk About Kevin
3. Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady
4. Charlize Theron – Young Adult
5. Kristen Dunst – Melancholia

Best Supporting Actor

1. Christopher Plummer – Beginners
2. Albert Brooks – Drive
3. Max von Sydow – Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
4. Armie Hammer – J. Edgar
5. Kenneth Branagh – My Week with Marilyn

Best Supporting Actress

1. Shailene Woodley – The Descendants
2. Bérénice Bejo – The Artist
3. Octavia Spencer – The Help
4. Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids
5. Carey Mulligan – Shame

Best Screenplay

1. The Descendants
2. Midnight in Paris

Best Cinematography

1. The Tree of Life
2. War Horse

Best Foreign Language Film

1. A Separation
2. The Skin I Live In
3. Incendies
4. 13 Assassins
5. Of Gods and Men
5. Certified Copy

Best Documentary

1. Cave of Forgotten Dreams
2. Project Nim
3. The Interrupters
4. Page One: Inside the New York Times
5. Buck

Russell Smith Award (best low-budget, cutting-edge independent film)

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Data

First Awards: 1993 (19)

Precursor Accuracy (Awards)

KEY:

• Winner won the corresponding Oscar
• Winner was nominated for the corresponding Oscar
• Winner was not nominated for a corresponding Oscar
• Total (2010-2009-2008-2007-2006)

Picture: 2 (0-0-1-1-0) W / 4 (1-1-1-1-0) N / 1 (0-0-0-0-1) I
Animated Feature: 5 (1-1-1-1-1) W / 5 (1-1-1-1-1) N / 0 (0-0-0-0-0) I
Director: 3 (0-0-1-1-1) W / 5 (1-1-1-1-1) N / 0 (0-0-0-0-0) I
Actor: 3 (0-0-1-1-1) W / 5 (1-1-1-1-1) N / 0 (0-0-0-0-0) I
Actress: 2 (1-0-0-0-1) W / 5 (1-1-1-1-1) N / 0 (0-0-0-0-0) I
Supporting Actor: 4 (1-1-1-1-0) W / 5 (1-1-1-1-1) N / 0 (0-0-0-0-0) I
Supporting Actress: 3 (1-1-0-1-0) W / 5 (1-1-1-1-1) N / 0 (0-0-0-0-0) I
Original/Adapted Screenplay: 4 (1-0-1-1-1) W / 5 (1-1-1-1-1) N / 0 (0-0-0-0-0) I
Cinematography: 0 (0-0-0-0-0) W / 2 (0-0-1-1-0) N / 3 (1-1-0-0-1) I
Foreign Language Film: 0 (0-0-0-0-0) W / 1 (1-0-0-0-0) N / 4 (0-1-1-1-1) I
Documentary Feature: 3 (0-1-1-0-1) W / 3 (0-1-1-0-1) N / 2 (1-0-0-1-0) I

Precursor Accuracy (Rankings)

KEY:

• Nominee was nominated for the corresponding Oscar
• Nominee was not nominated for a corresponding Oscar
• Total (2010-2009-2008-2007-2006)

Picture: 32 (9-9-4-5-5) N / 18 (1-1-6-5-5) I
Animated Feature: 10 (2-2-2-2-2) N / 0 (0-0-0-0-0) I
Director: 19 (3-4-4-3-5) N / 6 (2-1-1-2-0) I
Actor: 20 (3-5-5-3-4) N / 5 (2-0-0-2-1) I
Actress: 20 (5-4-2-4-5) N / 5 (0-1-3-1-0) I
Supporting Actor: 18 (3-3-4-5-3) N / 7 (2-2-1-0-2) I
Supporting Actress: 20 (4-4-4-4-4) N / 5 (1-1-1-1-1) I
Original/Adapted Screenplay: 10 (2-2-2-2-2) N / 0 (0-0-0-0-0) I
Cinematography: 8 (1-1-2-3-1) N / 4 (1-1-0-0-2) I
Foreign Language Film: 4 (1-0-1-0-2) N / 21 (4-5-4-5-3) I
Documentary Feature: 9 (2-2-1-2-2) N / 17 (3-4-4-3-3) I