Winners In Vegas & LA, Boston & DC

Scene from Life Of Pi. Given that the tiger, a main character, is completely computer generated, we can expect to see more of this trending in the next one to two years; whether that trend lasts beyond that isn't really a question because because new technology will be developing to meet increasing demands for decreased filming costs with heightened visual effects.

LA Critics have kept to their reputation.
Numbering around 60 professional critics based in the LA area, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (founded 1975) gave their Best Picture award to Amour with The Master receiving the Runner-Up status; in another upset, The Master's Paul Anderson won for Best Director with Kathryn Bigelow getting the Runner Up honor for Zero Dark Thirty. The Master won yet another award in Joaquin Phonenix, honored with their Best Actor award and Holy Motors' Denis Lavant got Runner-Up; it's a tie for Best Actress, Amour's Emmanuelle Riva sharing with Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook.

Amy Adams won Best Supporting Actress for The Master, Anne Hathaway getting Runner-Up for her work in both The Dark Knight Rises and Les Miserables; Dwight Henry won for Beasts OF the Southern Wild, with Django Unchained Christopher Waltz getting the Runner-Up; Skyfall gets the award of Best Cinematography and Argo wins for Best Screenplay.
Let's go across the desert to Vegas, baby,...

Emmaunelle Riva in Amour.

The 16 members making up the Las Vegas Film Society (which is only 16 years old) really supported Life Of Pi:

Best Picture

“Life of Pi”

Best Actor

Daniel Day Lewis, “Lincoln”

Best Actress

Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Best Supporting Actor

Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”

Best Supporting Actress

Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables”

Best Director

Ang Lee, “Life of Pi”

Best Screenplay

Rian Johnson, “Looper”

Best Cinematography

Claudio Miranda, “Life of Pi”

Best Film Editing

William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor, “Zero Dark Thirty”

Best Costume Design

Jacqueline Durran, “Anna Karenina”

Best Art Direction

Alex Cameron, “Prometheus”

Best Visual Effects

“Life of Pi”

Best Score

Mychael Danna, “Life of Pi”

Best Song

“Skyfall”

Best Documentary

“Bully”

Best Animated Film

“Paranorman”

Best Foreign Film

“Amour” (Germany)

Youth in Film

Suraj Sharma, “Life of Pi”

Breakout Filmmaker of the Year

Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Best DVD (Packaging, Design and Content)

“Hitchcock Collection – Masterpiece Collection” (Blu-Ray)

William Holden Lifetime Achievement Award

Alan Arkin

LVFCS Top 10 Films of 2012

1. Life of Pi

2. Zero Dark Thirty

3. Argo

4. Silver Lining Playbook

5. Lincoln

6. Moonrise Kingdom

7. The Impossible

8. Les Miserables

9. Beasts of the Southern Wild

10. The Master

Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty.

On the other side of the United States' coast Zero Dark Thirty is the big winner again:
In Boston, the Society Of Film Critics choose:

Best Film: "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Screenplay: Tony Kushner, "Lincoln"

Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"

Best Supporting Actress: Sally Field, "Lincoln"

Best Supporting Actor: Ezra Miller, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower"

Best Cinematography: Mihai Malaimare Jr., "The Master" 

Best Documentary: "How to Survive a Plague"

Best Animated Film: "Frankenweenie"

Best Foreign Film: "Amour"

Best Editing: William Goldenberg & Dylan Tichenor, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best New Filmmaker: David France, "How to Survive a Plague"

Best Ensemble Cast: "Seven Psychopaths"

Best Use of Music in a Film: "Moonrise Kingdom"

In Washington DC, the Critics said:

Best Film: Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Supporting Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

Best Acting Ensemble: Les Misérables

Best Adapted Screenplay: David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Original Screenplay: Rian Johnson (Looper)

Best Animated Feature: ParaNorman

Best Documentary: Bully

Best Foreign Language Film: Amour

Best Art Direction: Uli Hanisch, Hugh Bateup - Production Designers; Peter Walpole, Rebecca Alleway - Set Decorators (Cloud Atlas)

Best Cinematography: Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi)

Best Score: Jonny Greenwood (The Master)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Youth Performance: Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

And, putting in their two-cents-worth, the New York Online Film Critics critics wanted everyone to know what they think:

Best Film: "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Screenplay: Mark Boal, "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"

Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"

Breakthrough Performer: Quvenzhané Wallis, "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Best Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, "Life of Pi"

Best Documentary: "The Central Park Five"

Best Animated Film: "Chico and Rita"

Best Foreign Language Film: "Amour"

Best Music or Score: "Django Unchained"

Best Ensemble Cast: "Argo"

... Well,... that's a whole lotta information about several movies most of us haven't had a chance to see yet. I am seeing the 3 hour long The Hobbit today, and desperately trying to get up some important notes on JRR Tolkien's book because I think it's revealing what Tolkien was doing and what director Peter Jackson has changed. For Example, the sub-title: "An Unexpected Journey" is not what Tolkien wrote, rather his sub-title was "There And Back Again"; the difference? There And Back Again is biblical, for example, the way God led many of the Patriarchs away from their homeland, put them on an adventure, then led them back again to the land of their birth and fathers; on the other hand, An Unexpected Journey makes me--a now rabid anti-socialist--think of America's unexpected journey into communism,... It will take at least a day to get the post up, but I will tweet my initial reaction to the film via Twitter.