Anna Kendrick, George Clooney in Up in the Air (Dale Robinette / Paramount)
Up in the Air bagged one more US film critics' award: The St. Louis Film Critics have chosen it as the best film of 2009. The runner-up was the Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker.
George Clooney was voted best actor for Up in the Air, with Patton Oswalt for Big Fan coming in second place. The Best Actress was Carey Mulligan for her London school student ready to have her first sexual experience with a man about twice her age in Lone Scherfig's An Education. Mulligan was followed by Gabourey Sidibe's illiterate pregnant teen in Lee Daniels' Precious.
Nothing new among the supporting category winners. The Best Supporting Actor was Christoph Waltz for Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, followed by Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones. Mo'Nique was the Best Supporting Actress winner for Precious; the runner-up in this category was Marion Cotillard in Rob Marshall's musical Nine.
The Best Director award went to Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker. There was a tie for runner-up between Jason Reitman for Up in the Air and Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds. The Best Screenplay was Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber's (500) Days of Summer, followed by Reitman and Sheldon Turner's Up in the Air.
The Best Documentary was Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story, followed by the rockumentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil. The Best Animated Film was Pete Docter's Up and the runner-up was Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox. Red Cliff was the Best Foreign Film, followed by Treeless Mountain.