'Air' tops NBR list of year's best films

NEW YORK, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- "Up in the Air" won several U.S. National Board of Review awards Thursday, including one for best picture.

George Clooney, the film's star, took the prize for best actor, Anna Kendrick earned the award for supporting actress and Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner snagged the honor for best adapted screenplay.

Clooney shares the best actor award with Morgan Freeman, star of "Invictus," a movie that also earned Clint Eastwood the best director title.

Carey Mulligan won the best actress gong for her work in "An Education," Woody Harrelson garnered the honor for best supporting actor for his performance in "The Messenger," and brothers Joel and Ethan Coen took the trophy for best original screenplay for "A Serious Man."

The stars of "It's Complicated" were named the best ensemble cast, while "The Hurt Locker's" Jeremy Renner earned the prize for breakthrough performance by an actor and "Precious's" Gabourey Sidibe was honored with the award for breakthrough performance by an actress.

"Up" was declared the best animated feature, "A Prophet" won the award for best foreign-language film and "The Cove" was named best documentary.

NBR's top films of 2009 are "An Education," "(500) Days of Summer," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds," "Invictus," "The Messenger," "A Serious Man," "Star Trek," "Up," and "Where the Wild Things Are."

The board said its list of best independent films includes "Amreeka," "District 9," "Goodbye Solo," "Humpday," "In the Loop," "Julia," "Me and Orson Welles," "Moon," "Sugar" and "Two Lovers."