Critics groups go for 'No Country,' 'Blood'

The movie critics awards have been coming fast and furious over the last 24 hours, with no fewer than five groups announcing their winners. Far and away the big winner has been No Country for Old Men, which followed last week’s National Board of Review victory with Best Picture honors from three more associations: the New York, Boston, and Washington D.C. societies. The only dissenting voice was the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which named There Will Be Blood Best Picture, and the New York Film Critics Online, which split its prize between Blood and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

In the lead-acting races, Blood‘s Daniel Day-Lewis scooped up three Best Actor awards (from New York, L.A., and New York Online), while Away From Her‘s Julie Christie added three more Best Actress prizes to her arsenal. And the supporting categories now have two bona fide frontrunners, as No Country‘s Javier Bardem (pictured) and Gone Baby Gone‘s Amy Ryan each won four of the five just-announced awards. Including her NBR win last week, Ryan has now won five Best Supporting Actress honors, losing only the New York Online prize to I’m Not There‘s Cate Blanchett.

Speaking of I’m Not There, Todd Haynes’ take on Bob Dylan is one critical fave that seems to be underperforming in the early awards lists, landing only on the New York Online top 10. And both American Gangster and Charlie Wilson’s War have been virtually MIA from all the awards action so far. The next few days bring nominations from the Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Golden Globes: Those two big-ticket films will need to pick up multiple nods to stay in the Oscar race.