Another day, another round of awards, another instance where THE SOCIAL NETWORK seems like the monster to beat.

Yesterday, The L.A. Film Critics announced their year-end awards. It appeared to be business-as-usual with THE SOCIAL NETWORK taking the top prize as best picture. It likewise landed David Fincher an award for best director, an honour he will share with CARLOS director Oliver Assayas (they tied). Best Actress was given to Kim Hye-ja for MOTHER. Best Actor went to Colin Firth for THE KING’S SPEECH. As for the supporting players, Niels Arestrup won for UN PROPHETE, and Jacki Weaver won for ANIMAL KINGDOM.

Just before that bit of news was the announcement of The AFI’s films of the year, which is contained to just a shortlist (they don’t hand out a best picture). Their year-end ten looks like so…

127 HOURS
BLACK SWAN
THE FIGHTER
INCEPTION
THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
THE SOCIAL NETWORK
THE TOWN
TOY STORY 3
TRUE GRIT
WINTER’S BONE

Finally in the wee hours this morning, The Braodcast Film Critics named their award nominees. Their almost identical list of contenders for Best Picture would be…

127 HOURS
BLACK SWAN
THE FIGHTER
INCEPTION
THE KING’S SPEECH
THE SOCIAL NETWORK
THE TOWN
TOY STORY 3
TRUE GRIT
WINTER’S BONE

So this makes two early groups calling THE SOCIAL NETWORK top dog, which has to nudge it ahead of THE KING’S SPEECH at this stage for the pole position. These lists are likewise a bit of validation for films trying to grab a chair at the grown-ups table, namely THE TOWN, TOY STORY 3, and WINTER’S BONE.

(Sidenote: I beg all awards junkies out there to pay as little attention as possible to The Golden Globes…they’re only an excuse for fans with less professionalism than we in this community have to hang out with celebrities).

Barring a wicked departure from form by the guilds, it would seem as though about seven or eight of the ten spots are spoken for. What the guilds will help clarify is which five of those are the ones that are really in the hunt for the prize.

The full list of BFCA award nominees can be found below. Anyone ready to go out on a limb and start making predictions yet?

BEST ACTOR
Jeff Bridges – “True Grit”
Robert Duvall – “Get Low”
Jesse Eisenberg – “The Social Network”
Colin Firth – “The King’s Speech”
James Franco – “127 Hours”
Ryan Gosling – “Blue Valentine”

BEST ACTRESS
Annette Bening – “The Kids Are All Right”
Nicole Kidman – “Rabbit Hole”
Jennifer Lawrence – “Winter’s Bone”
Natalie Portman – “Black Swan”
Noomi Rapace – “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”
Michelle Williams – “Blue Valentine”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale – “The Fighter”
Andrew Garfield – “The Social Network”
Jeremy Renner – “The Town”
Sam Rockwell – “Conviction”
Mark Ruffalo – “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush – “The King’s Speech”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams – “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter – “The King’s Speech”
Mila Kunis – “Black Swan”
Melissa Leo – “The Fighter”
Hailee Steinfeld – “True Grit”
Jacki Weaver – “Animal Kingdom”

BEST DIRECTOR
Darren Aronofsky – “Black Swan”
Danny Boyle – “127 Hours”
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen – “True Grit”
David Fincher – “The Social Network”
Tom Hooper – “The King’s Speech”
Christopher Nolan – “Inception”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Another Year” – Mike Leigh
“Black Swan” – Mark Heyman and Andres Heinz and John McLaughlin
“The Fighter” – Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson (Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson)
“Inception” – Christopher Nolan
“The Kids Are All Right” – Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
“The King’s Speech” – David Seidler

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“127 Hours” – Simon Beaufoy and Danny Boyle
“The Social Network” – Aaron Sorkin
“The Town” – Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Sheldon Turner
“Toy Story 3” – Michael Arndt (Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich)
“True Grit” – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
“Winter’s Bone” – Debra Granik and Anne Rosellini