•  Alexandra Peers has the scoop on Julian Schnabel's latest art exhibit, "Navigations," amidst critical and industry kudos for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." [Vulture]

•  Dave Karger sits down with "In the Valley of Elah" and "No Country for Old Men" star Tommy Lee Jones. [Entertainment Weekly]

•  NBC is set to loose a bundle due to cancellation of the Golden Globes telecast. [Wall Street Journal]

•  The soundtrack to "Juno" lands at #8 on the Billboard charts. ("Sonic Youth sucks.  It's just noise.") [Extended Play]

•  The People's Choice Awards weren't much of a hit with the "people." [Variety]

•  "No Country" wins yet another Best Picture award, this time from the Online Film Critics Society. [Variety]

•  Jeffrey Wells is four-square behind "I drink your milkshake" as a marketing must for Paramount Vantage's "There Will Be Blood" Oscar campaign. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  David Poland talks to "Sweeney Todd" helmer Tim Burton. [The Hot Blog]

•  Nathaniel Rogers launches a new podcast series, beginning with the heart-stopping Marisa Tomei.  (Hey, she stops my heart.) [The Film Experience]

•  Oh yeah...Gurus 2.0. [Movie City News]

•  "Hairspray" surprisingly left off of makeup bake-off list.  But they dug fat suits, given the presence of "Norbit." [Awards Daily]

•  Lame. [Variety]

•  Jeffrey Wells responds to yesterday's ASC announcement, wonders if Deakins will split the vote in favor of Elswit. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Diablo Cody didn't show last night because of strike confusion?  That's the scoop Tom O'Neil heard in the press room. [Gold Derby]

•  Nathaniel Rogers responds to the BFCA winners. [The Film Experience]

•  Lou Lumenick live blogs the awards. [New York Post]

Obviously, no live blogging happened this evening.  I was busy dealing with Dewer's rather than Jameson, but regardless, "No Country for Old Men" clearly had a dominant position at the end of the night.  Three wins, including Best Picture (I was one of the poor bastards on stage presenting the award -- top right corner...check your TiVo).

It's hard to consider the Coen brothers' film anything other than the frontrunner at this point, but there was also a clear air of "Into the Wild" respect in the room.  And with due cause, given that the Sean Penn film led the field of nominees.  Hal Holbrook in particular got a massive round of applause when his clip came up in the Best Supporting Actor category.

The only standing ovation, other than for Don Cheadle and the presentation of the first annual Joel Siegel Award, was for Daniel Day-Lewis, who gave one of the most heart-felt and honest acceptance speeches I think I've ever seen.  Half the room stood up to clap when his name was called.

The pre-show was tame to say the least, as red carpet arrivals weren't exactly earth-shattering.   George Clooney was the only star to cross the street and make time for the fans in the bleechers, a classy move from a classy guy.  Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie showed up with minutes to spare, and even had to wait in the wings to be seated after the first commercial break.

The after-party was also somewhat muted.  I bumped into Julian Schnabel, congratulated him, tried to find out why so many people think he's an asshole and came up totally digging the guy.  Don Cheadle, Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Paul Dano were milling about, but on the whole, it seemed most people checked out early.  I know for sure that Sean Penn, Eddie Vedder and Daniel Day-Lewis took off to enjoy each other's company.

And how about Day-Lewis?  The guy flew in from Dublin for the Palm Springs Film Festival Saturday (his plane broke down in Dublin and held him up considerably).  Then he flies out to New York Sunday for the presentation of the NYFCC awards, only to fly right back to Los Angeles for this evening's ceremony.  The guy hasn't slept all weekend.  What a trooper.

Anyway, the BFCA has always been a decent indicator of the eventual Oscar outcome (as you were consistently reminded of throughout the telecast).  This leaves many thinking "No Country for Old Men" has it in the bag, but even tonight there were industry people doubting its chances for a nomination...industry people who know from an Oscar season.  I'm not brave enough to say that much, but I do think this is going to be the first year in a while where the BFCA Best Picture winner didn't match up with Oscar.  But we'll see.  There's still plenty of time left for this film or that to turn up the campaign heat.

For tonight, in any case, the Coens rule the season.

I'll be making my way over toward Santa Monica here in a few.  I considered live blogging the event, but then forgot the thing will be live for you all to see on VH1.  I still might make a few posts from the event, but I can't vouch for the alcohol intake -- so promises aren't smart.  Enjoy the show.

The following statement arrived from the BFCA yesterday evening.  Good thing my fellow journalists aren't going to be the only ones set to see me decked out in my Sunday's finest tonight (or in this case, Monday's finest):

The 13th annual Critics' Choice Awards gala is happening on Monday, January 7, as scheduled.  With a green light coming from the Screen Actors Guild, the stars are coming, including Sean Penn, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and George Clooney, who will present Don Cheadle with the inaugural Joel Siegel Award.  The BFCA is thrilled to be able to shine our light on the finest in cinematic achievement, with our friends in the creative community in attendance.

VH1 is broadcasting the festivities, starting with a live hour from the Red Carpet at 8 ET/PT.  The two-hour Critics' Choice Awards ceremony will be broadcast at 9 ET/PT.  Now is the time for us to shout it from the rooftops and get millions of television viewers to enjoy what seems sure to be a fabulous show.

•  More awards talk from The Paper of Record as Dennis Lim digs into the audio details and silent eccentricities of the "No Country for Old Men" soundtrack... [New York Times]

•  ...Mark Harris spotlights the benefits of seamless editing... [New York Times]

•  ...and production designer Jack Fisk offers up some of his sketches for "There Will Be Blood." [New York Times]

•  John Horn gets into the box office of "Charlie Wilson's War" and the neccessity of a light-hearted stance to get it there. [Los Angeles Times]

•  Nathaniel Rogers takes in a conversation between Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson in NYC.  Kris Tapley is jealous.  So jealous. [The Film Experience]

•  Anne Thompson rounds up the awards announcements of the week, plus looks at Buzzmeter and Gurus o' Gold updates, with a dash of her own speculation thrown in for good measure. [Thompson on Hollywood]

•  Tom O'Neil has some DGA thoughts on tomorrow's announcement. [Gold Derby]

•  Edward Copeland surveys the hisory of Best Actor Oscar winners from worst to best. [Edward Copeland on Film]

•  Sasha Stone previews tonight's Critics Choice Awards. [Awards Daily]

•  Tom O'Neil has a little inside scoop from yesterday's National Society of Film Critics awards voting. [Gold Derby]

•  Sasha Stone, meanwhile, perhaps jumps the gun by insisting "There Will Be Blood" is the Best Picture frontrunner (with nothing to go on but critical awards and one nomination in the guild arena thus far). [Awards Daily]

•  Speaking of which, Ed Pilkington sits down with "Blood" helmer Paul Thomas Anderson. [Guardian]

•  Jeffrey Wells talks "Sweeney Todd" with the "affable" Tim Burton. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  The Oscar season gets a hard look from the Gray Lady's critics, starting with a love letter to "Zodiac" from Manohla Dargis. [New York Times]
    
     Dargis' original review of the film dated Mar. 2, 2007. [New York Times]

•  A.O. Scott, meanwhile, digs back into Alexander Supertramp and "Into the Wild." [New York Times]
    
     Scott's original review of the film, dated Sept. 27, 2007. [New York Times]

•  And Stephen Holden goes "Across the Universe" one more time for good measure (thinking a little more outside the Oscar box than his colleagues). [New York Times]
    
     Holden's original review, dated Sept. 14, 2007. [New York Times]

•  David Carr, meanwhile, takes a look at the WGA strike's implications on Oscar. [New York Times]

•  And finally, Caryn James digs into the career of Best Actor hopeful George Clooney. [New York Times]

•  Some photos from thee Palm Springs International Film Festival, well underway. [The Envelope]

•  First looks at Demian Bichir in next year's Oscar hopefuls "The Argentine" and "Guerilla" (both from Steven Soderbergh). [Ain't It Cool News]

•  Ah, the great interview ops -- Scott Bowles corners Morgan Freeman on a schooner off of Marina Del Rey. [USA Today]

•  A bit of a stretch, but we come up with nine "scandals" this Oscar season nonetheless. [The Envelope]

•  James McAvoy talks to "Atonement" star James McAvoy. [The Envelope]

•  Creative Screenwriting's Jeff Goldsmith gets some quality time with "Lars and the Real Girl" scribe Nancy Oliver. [The Envelope]

•  Amy Adams, Jennifer Garner and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" make some serious leaps at the Buzzmeter. [The Envelope]

•  Speaking of Adams, David Poland makes mention of the current media "crush" on the actress. [The Hot Blog]

•  Tom O'Neil thinks the Alliance of Film Journalists' decision to go with the macho-heavy "No Country for Old Men" is unexpected to say the least. [Gold Derby]

•  Jeffrey Wells takes in a Denzel Washington event at Harvard. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  Nathaniel Rogers sits down with "Margot at the Wedding" star Jennifer Jason Leigh. [The Film Experience]

•  New York Magazine closes up the year by giving Judd Apatow more publicity. [Vulture]

•  T.L. Stanley responds to Patrick Goldstein's latest blind swing at the "evil" Oscar bloggers -- more on that later. [Gold Rush]

•  Michael Wood talks to Golden Globe nominee John C. Reilly about "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." [Los Angeles Times]

The Alliance of Women Film Journalists (yes, the Alliance of Women Film Journalists) tapped "No Country for Old Men" as their Best Picture today as part of an awards slate that includes designations such as "Best Depiction of Nudity or Sexuality" and "Most Egregious Age Difference Between Leading Man and Love Interest."  Here's the rundown.

I came across this image over at The Envelope today and it made me laugh out loud.  Of course, anyone who's flipping through the channels at one in the morning is bound to come across reruns of "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air."  Mr. Smith's former gig will never leave the collective consciousness.  But suddenly I remembered that last year, not only was The Fresh Prince nominated in the Best Actor category for "The Pursuit of Happyness," but Marky Mark landed Best Supporting Actor honors, rising to the top of "The Departed"'s funky bunch.

Surreal.

It isn't out of bounds to think we may one day see Lil' Jon nominated for Best Actor in a remake of "The Defiant Ones," at this rate.  Of course he'll be going by his given name, Jonathan Smith, by then, perhaps have a few Paul Haggis collaborations under his belt, maybe even a long-running suporting gig on "Law & Order: Seasonal Investigatory Specialists Department" that nearly yielded an Emmy nomination or two.

America, land of opportunity.  Or should that be Oscar, land of opportunity?

Anyway, yeah, slow news day...unless you're particularly interested in the Southeastern Film Critics, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics or the Golden Satellite Awards -- a triumverate of "No Country for Old Men" victories this morning.

I just ran across a list of London Film Critics nominations over at Awards Daily.  I, of course, immediately lept into the air upon seeing that "The Bourne Ultimatum" was cited for Best Picture.  Niiiicceee...

The list of winners from this year's Chicago Film Critics Awards:

Best Picture: "No Country for Old Men"
Best Director: Joel and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
Best Actress: Ellen Page, "Juno"
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"
Best Adapted Screenplay: "No Country for Old Men"
Best Original Screenplay: "Juno"
Best Original Score: "Once"
Best Cinematography: "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Best Foreign-Language Film: "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
Best Documentary: "Sicko"
Best Animated Feature: "Ratatouille"
Most Promising Performer: Michael Cera, "Juno"/"Superbad"
Most Promising Filmmaker: Ben Affleck, "Gone Baby Gone"

Click here for the full list of nominees, which were announced on Monday.

Now that the morning's BFCA announcement is out of the way, I thought it would be appropriate to point out the group's plans in its new partnership with VH1.  There will, of course, be the live broadcast of the awards ceremony next month, but also of note is a round table discussion that was filmed this week for an upcoming broadcast.

According to VH1:

"'The Critics' Choice: Best Movies of 2007' is a debate and inside look at the nominees for the upcoming Critics' Choice Awards. Our moderator Sam Rubin, from KTLA's 'Good Day LA,' will preside over a four-person panel of BFCA critics that includes Pete Hammond, a film critic for Maxim Magazine as well as awards columnist for the Los Angeles Times, Jeanne Wolf, a widely respected critic and entertainment journalist for Parade Magazine, Carrie Keagan, the naughty critic from NO GOOD TV and the hyper-opinionated entertainment anchor from CW31's "Good Day Sacramento," Mark S. Allen.  The critics will debate about the best films and performances of 2007, while giving viewers the inside track on who has the best shot at winning a Critics’ Choice Award™ – the most historically reliable predictor of OSCAR™ GOLD!"

So, there you have it.  The program will premiere Saturday, December 15 at 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT).  Select footage from the roundtable will be available at http://criticschoice.vh1.com on December 18.

Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" led the BFCA nominations tally today with seven tips of the hat, including nods for Best Director, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay and, of course, a spot in the group's top ten list.

Jason Reitman's "Juno" wasn't far behind with six nods, while "Atonement," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men" and "Sweeney Todd" each managed five.

The morning's announcement was a huge boost -- nay, a shot in the arm for "Wild," one of a trio of Paramount Vantage hopefuls in this year's race.  Combined with a number of key mentions in yesterday's Chicago Film Critics nominations and the fact that, as far as I can tell, no film has ever solely led the BFCA field and missed out on a Best Picture nomination with the Academy, I'd say the Sean Penn effort is looking better than ever for a slot in the big five come January.

"Juno"'s tally of six was also exactly what Fox Searchlight's comedy hopeful needed to silence nay-sayers regarding its Academy potential.  It's clearly a formiddable contender.

Surprises included Best Actor mentions for Ryan Gosling ("Lars and the Real Girl") and Viggo Mortensen ("Eastern Promises"), as well as supporting actress berths for Catherine Keener in "Into the Wild" (a quiet contender this season) and Vanessa Redgrave in "Atonement" (for all of five minutes of screentime).

Casey Affleck, meanwhile, grabbed some more steam for his supporting portrayal in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," perhaps on his way to securing the same nod with the Academy.  And Amy Adams finally makes a significant appearance this awards season for her performance in "Enchanted."

A definite nod of note is Cate Blanchett's citation for Best Actress in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age."  It might perhaps be read as Oscar tea leaf reading on the BFCA's part more than anything, given how critically reviled the film was, yet how undeniably Academy friendly the performance might still be perceived.

Finally, six composers were allowed room to wiggle in that category, including the first notices of the season for Marco Beltrami ("3:10 to Yuma"), Clint Eastwood ("Grace is Gone") and Alan Menken ("Enchanted").

The BFCA tends to be the best precursor for predicting the eventual Oscar turn-out, mostly due to a list of ten Best Picture contenders and a willingness to nominate across a wide spectrum of categories.  This year they seem to have spread the wealth evenly enough to have a decent prediction percentage yet again.

The BFCA's ten Best Picture nominees (with vote totals):

"American Gangster" (2)
"Atonement" (5)
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (4)
"Into the Wild" (7)
"Juno" (6)
"The Kite Runner" (2)
"Michael Clayton" (5)
"No Country for Old Men" (5)
"Sweeney Todd" (5)
"There Will Be Blood" (3)

The full list of nominees can be found on the BFCA website.  The awards will be broadcast live on VH1 on Monday, January 7, 2008, LIVE at 9:00 p/m. (e.s.t.).

According to Awards Daily, the San Francisco Critics Circle named "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" the Best Picture of 2007.  Now we're talking.

Erik Childress' "Oscar Eye" column has the full list of Chicago Film Critics nominations mixed in with his tally of who's won what.  You have to kind of pick things out, but the full list is there.

"No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood" continue to show up, but the group went out of its way to personally champion "Once" in more than a few areas, including Best Picture.

Casey Affleck popped up again for his supporting turn in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," while Viggo Mortensen found some Best Actor love for his work in David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises."  Frank Langella also made another appearance in the lead field for "Starting Out in the Evening."

Another key contender showing up in the nominations is "Zodiac," which managed citations for Best Director (david Fincher) and Best Adapted Screenplay.

"Michael Clayton" led the way with seven nominations.  "Blood" wasn't far behind with six.  Nothing for "The Kite Runner" or "Sweeney Todd."

Best Picture
"Into the Wild"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men"
"Once"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Director
Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"
Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, "No Country for Old Men"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
David Fincher, "Zodiac"
Jason Reitman, "Juno"

Best Actor
George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
Ryan Gosling, "Lars and the Real Girl"
Frank Langella, "Starting Out in the Evening"
Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises"

Best Actress
Julie Christie, "Away from Her"
Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Angelina Jolie, "A Mighty Heart"
Laura Linney, "The Savages"
Ellen Page, "Juno"

Best Supporting Actor
Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"
Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"
Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton"

Best Supporting Actress
Cate Blanchet, "I'm Not There"
Jennifer Jason Leigh, "Margot at the Wedding"
Leslie Mann, "Knocked Up"
Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton"

Best Adapted Screenplay
"Atonement"
"Into the Wild"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"
"Zodiac"

Best Original Screenplay
"Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"Ratatouille"
"The Savages"

Best Cinematography
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
"Atonement"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Score
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
"Atonement"
"Lust, Caution"
"Once"
"There Will Be Blood"

Best Animated Feature
"Beowulf"
"Meet the Robinsons"
"Persepolis"
"Ratatouille"
"The Simpsons Movie"

Best Foreign Film
"4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"La Vie en Rose"
"Lust, Caution"
"The Orphanage"

Best Documentary
"Darfur Now"
"The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters"
"Lake of Fire"
"No End in Sight"
"Sicko"

Promising Director
Ben Affleck, "Gone Baby Gone"
John Carney, "Once"
Craig Gillespie, "Lars and the Real Girl"
Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"
Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"

Promising Performer
Nikki Blonsky, "Hairspray"
Michael Cera, "Juno"/"Superbad"
Glen Hansard, "Once"
Carice van Houten, "Black Book"
Tang Wei, "Lust, Caution"

I'm just going to throw this one out there...

All these career achievement and lifetime achievement awards Sidney Lumet is pulling down this season seem kind of disrespectful, I think.  "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" is a film perhaps worthy of more than an "Oh, Lumet made a good one!  Let's give him an honorary salute," kind of thing.

The New York Film Critics Circle had absolutely no surprises in store today, handing "No Country for Old Men" four awards, including one for Best Pic.

Daniel Day-Lewis and Robert Elswit represented Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood," which swept the LA critics' awards yesterday, while Julie Christie positioned herself again as the competition for Marion Cotillard in the Best Actress race (where's Ellen Page been this whole time?).  Amy Ryan also continues to scorch the earth as THE supporting actress frontrunner of the year.

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" was surprisingly snubbed throughout.  Nothing, also, for Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," a Gotham film if there ever was one.  The director did, however, pick up a lifetime achievement award.

This weekend's activity and today's awards have put "No Country' and "Blood" at the top of everyone's rontrunner lists for Oscar, two brutal, cold films that are not the Academy pedigree at all.  But perhaps the critics will muscle them into the dance if this continues to be the case, each of them constantly duking it out.  Tomorrow, the Broadcast Film Critics Association announces its list of nominees, always a pretty good indication of where the Academy will ultimately go.

The full list of NYFCC winners:

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: Julie Christie, "Away from Her"
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Best Screenplay: "No Country for Old Men"
Best Cinematographer: Robert Elswit, "There Will Be Blood"
Best Documentary: "No End in Sight"
Best First Film: Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"
Best Animated Film: "Persepolis"
Best Foreign Film: "The Lives of Others"
Lifetime Achievement Award: Sidney Lumet
Special Critics' Award: Charles Burnett, "Killer of Sheep"

•  The Envelope ponders the red carpet stretching across picket lines at this year's Golden Globes ceremony. [The Envelope]

•  Speaking of strikes, Gregg Kilday recalls a bit of Oscar history -- going way back to 1967. [The Hollywood Reporter]

•  Gerard Kennedy talks to composers Dario Marianelli ("Atonement") and Mark Isham ("In the Valley of Elah," "Lions for Lambs," "Reservation Road"). [In Contention]

•  With the actress racking up precursor awards, Jeffrey Wells says uncle to the prospects of Amy Ryan as a frontrunner in the Best Supporting Actress race. [Hollywood Elsewhere]

•  David Poland gives his reactions to yesterday's events. [The Hot Blog]

•  Scott Feinberg does the same. [And the Winner Is...]

•  Ryan C. Adams does some number crunching regarding the top 250 at IMDb and a correlation with Oscar. [Awards Daily]

•  With all these critics' winner announcements, the Tibilisi festival winners flew under the radar (the what??). [Variety]

•  Ditto the Cairo fest winners. [Variety]

•  T.L. Stanley summons her inner Rosie the Riveter, sicks the LA Times for doubling up on the "stripper" moniker when discussing Diablo Cody. [Gold Rush]

•  Anne Thompson offers some thoughts on "I Am Legend." [Thompson on Hollywood]

•  Perhaps previewing a contender for next year's awards, Anthony Breznican gets the scoop on the upcoming "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."  I still think they should kick it old school and simply title the film "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull."  Imagine that in the Indy adventure font!  Okay, I geeked out a little there. [USA Today]


(The New York Film Critics Circle will announce later this afternoon.  Stay tuned.)

Awards Daily has the list of winners for the New York Film Critics Online, which includes a tie for Best Pic between "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and "There Will Be Blood" (which won four other awards) and a screenplay win for "The Darjeeling Unlimited," of all things.  Javier Bardem won Best Supporting Actor for "No Country for Old Men," though the film didn't turn up anywhere else.

Check out the list here.

The Envelope grabbed the scoop on the LAFCA winners.

First and foremost, Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood" got a giant kiss and a HUGE Oscar boost from the group, taking down four wins, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor.

There was no love for "No Country for Old Men," which stuns me, frankly.  Not even in the runner-up arenas.  I spoke to a colleague last week who predicted the critics groups might shy away from the film with the NBR tapping it as the best film of the year, but I shrugged that thought off in a hurry.

Anyway, regardless of all of that, this show of solidarity for Anderson's film is significant to say the least.  The film came pretty close to sweeping, grabbing three runner-up mentions in addition to the four wins.

Also, Amy Ryans grabbed her third supporting actress win in as many awards announcements.  Nothing so far for the perceived frontrunner coming into the season, Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There" (aside from a runner-up mention from the LAFCA).

"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" looks to have been the group's second-place fave, coming in just behind "Blood" in the Best Picture and Best Director categories.  And as expected, the LAFCA went against the grain (typically willful) by going with Vlad Ivanov's supporting performance in "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days."  It's a good choice, because Ivanov is so unsettling in the film.

Variety has a write-up.  Here's the full list of winners:

Best Picture: "There Will Be Blood"
(runner-up: "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly")

Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood"
(runner-up: Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly")

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"
(runner-up: Frank Langella, "Starting Out in the Evening")

Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
(runner-up: Anamaria Marinca, "4 Months, 3 Months and 2 Days")

Best Supporting Actor: Vlad Ivanov, "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
(runner-up: Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild")

Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone" and "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"
(runner-up: Cate Blanchet, "I'm Not There")

Best Screenplay: Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages"
(runner-up: Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood")

Best Animation: (tie -- boooo) "Persepolis"/"Ratatouille"

Best Foreign Language Film: "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days"
(runner-up: "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly")

Best Documentary/Non-fiction Film: "No End in Sight"
(runner-up: "Sicko")

Best Production Design: Jack Fisk, "There Will Be Blood"
(runner-up: Dante Ferretti, "Sweeney Todd")

Best Music: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, "Once"
(runner-up: Jonny Greenwood, "There Will Be Blood")

Best Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
(runner-up: Robert Elswit, "There Will Be Blood")

Best Douglas Edwards Indie Award: "Colossal Youth" directed by Pedro Costa 

Best Career Achievement: Sidney Lumet

With Boston out of the way, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association will be announcing their winners next -- probably later in the afternoon.

Sasha Stone has a list of predictions from various Oscar pundits up over at Awards Daily.  Tom O'Neil has some thoughts up on what to expect as well.  I never got around to sending off my picks, but I'm banking on a second major win for "No Country."

The LA critics went with "Letters from Iwo Jima" last year, solidifying its Best Picture hopes after the National Board of Review win for the film.  The only three films to win Best Picture win the group and fail to match it up with the Academy were "American Splendor" in 2003, "About Schmidt" in 2002 and "Leaving Las Vegas" in 1995.  They tend to be a pretty safe precursor.

On the other hand, the group didn't give a single award to the eventual Oscar dominator, "The Departed."  Go figure.

The LA critics were the first to go for William Hurt and his 5 minutes of glory in 2005's "A History of Violence."  And in year's without definitive frontrunners, they like to annoint performers that wouldn't usually be singled out.  Vera Farmiga's win for 20045's "Down to the Bone" comes to mind.  Ditto Bill Nighy's four-square win for supporting actor in 2003.

I'm not going to bother predicting this thing.  With the above in mind, maybe they'll plant a flag in the ground for something like "Control" or "I'm Not There," maybe "The Band's Visit."  But at this point it would be foolhardy to look in direction other than the Coens'.

The Boston Society of Film Critics voted on their list of winners this afternoon.  Beginning what is likely to be a critics' group stampede, the Coen brothers' "No Country for Old Men" won Best Picture of the year.  It was one of two wins for the film.  Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" won three, including Best Director.

Frank Langella picked up some needed steam as the group's Best Actor choice.  Every lead actor winner from the group has gone on to an Oscar nomination since 2000's choice of Colin Farrell in "Tigerland" (unless you count Brian Cox for "L.I.E." in 2001, though he tied with Denzel Washington in "Training Day."

Marion Cotillard grabbed her first significant lead actress win of the season.  The last winner in that category to miss with Oscar was Scarlett Johansson for Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" four years ago.

Ultimately this isn't a necessarily great predictive precursor across the board unless a consensus has formed (like with last year's lead races).  They're Best Picture winners over the last couple of years have gone on to notices at the Academy, but there was also a stretch where "Trainspotting," "Out of Sight," "Almost Famous" and "Mulholland Dr." took down the big win.  None of them managed Best Picture nominations with the Academy.

Basically...perspective is key.  Nothing will truly be of consequence until the guilds start to speak up.  But this is no doubt the beginning of an impressive run of precursor awards for the Coen brothers film.

Variety has a BSFC write-up.  Stay tuned later today for the LAFCA announcement.

BSFC Winners:

Best Picture: "No Country for Old Men"
Best Director: Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Best Actor: Frank Langella, "Starting Out in the Evening"
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"
Best Screenplay: "Ratatouille"
Best Cinematography: Janusz Kaminski, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Best Documentary: "Crazy Love"
Best Foereign-Language Film: "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
Best New Filmmaker: Ben Affleck, "Gone Baby Gone"
Best Ensemble Cast: "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead"

I haven't bothered with the Oscarweb round-ups this weekend due to the upcoming awards explosion, but there will be plenty of reactions and spitballing worth linking to in the coming days.  For now, the Boston Society of Film Critics are updating their site as the voting comes down (I'll get a post up shortly), and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association will be announcing winners later this afternoon.

Members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association have to send off our ballots today for this year's nomiantions, which will be announced Tuesday.  I finished mine up earlier in the week, but already I'm kicking myself for forgetting a certain performance in my acting picks.  I wonder how common that is, not only with critics groups, but with the Academy.  Anyway, Marisa Tomei will be announcing the list of nominations on Tuesday.  VH1 will carry the announcement live at 8:30 a.m. e.s.t.

Judging by BFCA scores on the Association's official website, one would expect "The Bourne Ultimatum," "Juno," "Sicko," "No Country for Old Men" and "Ratatouille" to be the five nominees for Best Picture -- but things never work out like that.  I'd bank on one, maybe two of those getting in, but I probably shouldn't prognosticate for a group that includes me in the membership, so I'll leave it at that.

The BFCA tends to be one of the more accurate groups for guessing the eventual Oscar lineup.  They were also the first major precursor to give "The Departed" the win for Best Picture last year.