Austin Film Critics Loved Hugo, Drive, Take Shelter

The Austin Film Critics Association, made up of local critics from The Austin Chronicle, the Austin-American Statesman, Slackerwood and various other blogs and news outlets, today announced Martin Scorsese’s Hugo to be its best film of the year.

Other top awards went to Nicolas Winding Refn for Best Director (Drive), Michael Shannon for Best Actor (Take Shelter) and Tilda Swinton was recognized as Best Actress for We Need to Talk About Kevin.

The films on the list of 10 don’t stray too far from other major year-end rundowns; Hugo has earned pretty widespread praise, as have darker films like Take Shelter and Drive (among most culture blogs, anyway -- organizations like the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, who name the Golden Globe winners, were more impressed with celebrity vehicles like Ides of March than they were with these).

We're glad to see that the AFCA recognized less commercial projects like Attack The Block (wonderful) and Martha Marcy May Marlene (existentially frightening but also wonderful), and overall find much to agree upon here.

Check out the entire list below, and take a look at our reviews and coverage of some of the films recognized, including Melancholia, Drive and Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Top 10 Films

1. Hugo
2. Drive
3. Take Shelter
4. Midnight in Paris
5. Attack the Block
6. The Artist
7. Martha Marcy May Marlene
8. I Saw the Devil
9. 13 Assassins
10. Melancholia