Another pair of trophies for Zero Dark Thirty for Best Picture and Best Director and a first for star Jessica Chastain. The awards to Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ann Dowd are the first for each this season (as was Chastain’s). The National Board of Review isn’t the best of predictors, but it’s interesting to see what pages they are on with regard to the films they picked. Many of the names we’ve expected to see are on the list with the exception of Life of Pi, The Master and The Hobbit. Neither of those last two omissions is particularly surprising. The NBR refused to recognize any of The Lord of the Rings trilogy even during the juggernaut final year; and in 2007 Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood was also missing. However, Life of Pi probably should have been on this list if anywhere. Ang Lee’s Lust, Caution nabbed a spot on the Best Foreign Language Film roster in 2007; however, the NBR may just have a problem with the fantasy genre in general (as evinced by the Lord of the Rings avoidance).

Award Tallies

(3) Zero Dark Thirty
(2) Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Compliance, Silver Linings Playbook

The Awards

Best Picture

Zero Dark Thirty

Best Animated Film

Wreck-It Ralph

Best Director

Kathryn Bigelow – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty

Best Supporting Actor

Leonardo DiCaprio – Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress

Ann Dowd – Compliance

Best Original Screenplay

Looper

Best Adapted Screenplay

Silver Linings Playbook

Best Foreign Film

Amour

Best Documentary

Searching for Sugar Man

Best Ensemble

Les Misérables

Best Breakthrough Actor

Tom Holland – Compliance

Best Breakthrough Actress

Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Directorial Debut

Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Special Filmmaking Achievement

Ben Affleck – Argo

Freedom of Expression

The Central Park Five
Promised Land

Spotlight Award

John Goodman – Argo, Flight, ParaNorman, Trouble With the Curve

Top Films of 2012

• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Misérables
• Lincoln
• Looper
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Promised Land
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

Top Independent Films of 2012

• Arbitrage
• Bernie
• Compliance
• End of Watch
• Hello I Must Be Going
• Little Birds
• Moonrise Kingdom
• On the Road
• Quartet
• Sleepwalk With Me

Top Foreign Films of 2012

• Amour
• Barbara
• The Intouchables
• The Kid With a Bike
• No
• War Witch

Top Documentaries of 2012

• Ai Weiwie: Never Sorry
• Detropia
• The Gatekeepers
• The Invisble War
• Only the Young
• Searching for Sugar Man

National Board of Review Data

Year Founded: December 24, 1908
First Awards: 1929 (84)