LOS ANGELES - Hurt Locker, a low-budget independent Iraq war drama, was named the best film of the year Monday by three influential groups.
The thriller about a bomb disposal unit at the start of the war was named top film by The New York Film Critics Circle, The Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the American Film Institute.
The recognition comes at the start of the award season which has already seen George Clooney's Up in the Air named as the year's best film by the National Board of Review.
Quentin Tarantino's World War II thriller Inglourious Basterds and Rob Marshall's 1960s Italian musical cinema tribute Nine each garnered 10 nominations for the Critics Choice Awards (CCAs) Monday.
The awards are handed out by the 235 members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the largest film critics' organization in the United States and Canada, representing television, radio and online critics.
Also scoring high marks was Avatar with nine nominations, followed by Up in the Air and Hurt Locker which earned eight nods apiece. All five films were nominated in the best picture category, together with An Education; Invictus; Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire; A Serious Man; and Up.
The CCAs will be presented on January 15. They are generally thought to be a good predictor for Oscar awards which will be presented on March 7, 2010.
