The Iraq War drama The Hurt Locker was chosen as the year s best picture Sunday by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. The film also won the group s best-director honor for Kathryn Bigelow. The group named Jeff Bridges as best actor for the country-music tale Crazy Heart and Yolande Moreau as best actress for the French film Seraphine. The lead-actor runners-up were Colin Firth for A Single Man and Carey Mulligan for An Education. Mo Nique won the supporting-actress award for Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push by Sapphire and Christoph Waltz earned the supporting-actor prize for Inglorious Basterds. The runners-up for the supporting honors were Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air and Peter Capaldi for In the Loop. The critics prizes are among early honors on Hollywood s long run-up to the Academy Awards on March 7. Oscar nominations come out Feb. 2. The awards are part of a flurry of honors - among them the New York Film Critics Circle prizes Monday and the Golden Globe nominations Tuesday - that help shape the Oscar picture by reinforcing front-runners or calling attention to overlooked films and performances. While audiences generally have shied away from war-on-terror dramas, The Hurt Locker did solid business and earned glowing reviews. The film stars Jeremy Renner as a US bomb technician in Iraq so addicted to his dangerous job that he puts the lives of colleagues at risk. George Clooney s comedy Up in the Air was runner-up for best picture. Clooney s busy year did produce a win, though, as the critics picked his Fantastic Mr. Fox as the year s best animated film. The blockbuster Up was the animation runner-up. Up in the Air director Jason Reitman and writer Sheldon Turner shared the screenplay prize. The runners-up were Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci and Tony Roche for In the Loop. The French family tale Summer Hours was named as best foreign-language film, with the Austrian drama The White Ribbon earning the runner-up honor. The critics group gave its New Generation award to Neill Blomkamp, director of the surprise summer hit District 9. Among other winners: Music/score: T Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton, Crazy Heart. Runner-up, Alexandre Desplat, Fantastic Mr. Fox. Production design: Philip Ivey, District 9. Runner-up, Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg, Avatar. Cinematography: Christian Berger, The White Ribbon. Runner-up, Barry Ackroyd, The Hurt Locker. Documentary/nonfiction film: The Beaches of Agnes and The Cove (tie). -AP
