'No Country for Old Men' takes top critics prize
LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Crime thriller "No Country for Old Men" cemented its status as a front-runner for Oscars glory after scooping three honors including best picture at the Critics Choice Awards Monday.
The bleak adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel about a drug deal gone wrong and its violent aftermath took the top prize as well as the best director award for film-making brothers Joel and Ethan Coen.
Spanish star Javier Bardem won a best supporting actor award for his role in the film as cold-blooded hitman who specializes in executing his victims with a slaughterhouse bolt gun.
"No Country for Old Men" has already won a handful of critics awards and has been nominated for best picture at Sunday's Golden Globes.
The Critics Choice Awards are handed out annually by the Broadcast Film Critics Association, a grouping of 200 critics based in the United States and Canada which is the largest association of its kind.
Other winners at Monday's awards included British actor Daniel Day-Lewis for his role as a ruthless oil prospector in Paul Thomas Anderson's epic "There Will be Blood."
Julie Christie took the best actress award for her portrayal of a woman with Alzheimer's disease in "Away From Her."
The night's big loser was "Into the Wild", actor-director Sean Penn's film about a young man who ventures into the Alaskan wilderness on a voyage of self-discovery with tragic consequences.
The film had been nominated in seven awards but finished the show empty-handed.
Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada, one of the child stars from "The Kite Runner" who was relocated to the United Arab Emirates from Afghanistan because of concern about his safety, was named best young actor.
