'The Social Network' Wins Three Online Film Critics Society Awards

As we move into the New Year and more and more awards are given out, the Oscar race should begin to get clearer. And while many categories are up for grabs, one film seems to have taken the lead when it comes to Best Picture, adding another win to its impressive resume.

"The Social Network" took home the Best Picture award from the 14th annual Online Film Critics Society Awards, beating out films like "Inception", "Toy Story 3", "True Grit" and "Winter's Bone". The film also won some other major awards, including best director (David Fincher) and best adapted screenplay (Aaron Sorkin).

The awards for acting went to Colin Firth in "The King’s Speech" for best actor, Natalie Portman in "Black Swan" for best actress, Christian Bale in "The Fighter" for best supporting actor and Hailee Steinfield in "True Grit" for best supporting actress. One of my favorite films of the year, "Inception", won two awards, including Christopher Nolan for best original screenplay, and one for its editing work, which was phenomenal.

While winning this particular award won't emphatically prove that "The Social Network" will win the Oscar for Best Picture, based on how many awards its been winning the past couple months, that's starting to look like a real possibility.

I've seen the movie twice already, and I think it's a genius piece of filmmaking. For anyone who thinks the movie is just about Facebook, that's like saying "The Sopranos" was only about the mafia. The acting is completely superb, especially Andrew Garfield and Jesse Eisenberg, and David Fincher's direction is just perfect in all the right ways.

It remains to be seen how many awards "The Social Network" will win following this batch, but it's clear that we have the Oscar front runner on our hands here.

Nominations for the Academy Awards will be given out bright and early on January 25, 2011.

"Social Network" Dominates NBR Awards

Back when I first heard about "The Social Network" I admit I was fairly skeptical with the idea of a film about Facebook.

But then David Fincher joined on as director and Aaron Sorkin as the writer, and I began to get extremely intrigued about what it could be. After the cast came together with one of my favorite actors (Jesse Eisenberg) as the lead, I truly thought the film would be something special.

After seeing it in theaters it did not disappoint me one bit, and the National Board of Review seems to agree. Yes folks, it's true, awards season is upon us. The critics award race got started off last week as "The Social Network" pretty much dominated The Nation Board of Review awards, taking in four of the main categories.

"The Social Network" won awards for Best Film, Director (David Fincher), Actor (Jesse Eisenberg) and Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin). While there were a number of excellent nominees this year, including films like "The Town" and "Inception", I can't disagree with any of the awards the film won.

I honestly felt like it was a "Best Picture" worthy movie when I saw it, mainly due to the fantastic script and excellent direction by Fincher. On top of that the entire cast was excellent alongside Eisenberg, including Andre Garfield and Justin Timberlake.

Eisenberg plays Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg in the film, which has won critical praise and earned more than $180 million worldwide at the box office. I'm really glad he picked up the award, because although I think he is worthy for an Academy Award nomination later on, I think Colin Firth will take that home for "The Kings Speech", so its good to see the young actor take home some hardware that is truly deserving.

The National Board of Review has had a decent track record the past few years in predicting the Oscar outcome. In the past three years, the National Board of Review winner has twice gone on to win best picture at the Oscars: "No Country for Old Men" in 2007 and "Slumdog Millionaire" in 2008. Last year's winner was "Up in the Air."

The awards will keep coming as the year draws to a close, but it's clear that we'll be hearing a lot more about "The Social Network" in the coming months.