The Social Network is right up there with the Cubs this year.
The drama was named Best Picture of 2010 by the Chicago Film Critics Association, one of the leading three awards it picked up in the Windy City, adding to the accolades that have come before and the ones presumably still in the pipeline.
Also representing for the founding-of-Facebook drama were Best Director David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin, winner for Best Adapted Screenplay.
The Chicago critics also added fuel—which at this point is like tossing turpentine on a blazing inferno—to Colin Firth's Oscar campaign, naming him Best Actor for The King's Speech. They also agreed with the Boston Society of Film Critics in naming Natalie Portman Best Actress for Black Swan, perhaps a sign of good things to come as we move into the heavy-hitting 2011 portion of the 2010 awards season.
Black Swan's haunting original score was also named best of the bunch.
Christian Bale, whose yo-yo diet of a career served him well in The Fighter, was Best Supporting Actor, and 14-year-old Hailee Steinfeld snagged her first Best Supporting Actress win for True Grit.
It's pretty much common knowledge now that Toy Story 3 is the Best Animated Feature of the year—Chicago agrees—and Christopher Nolan's mindbending vision for Inception was tops in the Best Original Screenplay category.
Here's the complete list of winners from the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards:
• Best Picture: The Social Network
• Best Actor: Colin Firth, The King's Speech
• Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Black Swan
• Best Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, The Fighter
• Best Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit
• Best Original Screenplay: Christopher Nolan, Inception
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network
• Best Foreign Language Film: A Prophet
• Best Documentary: Exit Through the Gift Shop
• Best Animated Feature: Toy Story 3
• Best Cinematography: Wally Pfister, Inception
• Best Original Score: Clint Mansell, Black Swan
• Most Promising Performer: Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone
• Most Promising Filmmaker: Derek Cianfranco, Blue Valentine