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Brad Pitt, left, and Jonah Hill star in "Moneyball."
George Clooney's considered a top Oscar favorite. Ryan Gosling's considered no slouch himself.
But it was Brad Pitt who claimed the first major best actor win of awards season courtesy the New York Film Critics Circle, which honored the star for the outside-the-lines baseball movie, "Moneyball," and the arty epic, "The Tree of Life."
The best actress pick, meanwhile, didn't shock. At all.
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Meryl Streep won the critics' approval for "The Iron Lady," a biopic about former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
But while it seems Streep always wins, because she does, she hasn't won an Oscar since the 1982 ceremony. Tuesday's win could be the sign her relative bad run is about to end. Right now, oddsmakers give her the best overall shot at best actress.
Pitt isn't considered as heavy an Oscar favorite as Clooney and perhaps Gosling, but he's in the game, and Tuesday's win is his first significant one as a leading man.
Elsewhere, Albert Brooks made good on his budding Oscar buzz with a best supporting actor win for "Drive," where the acclaimed comic does very unfunny things.
Jessica Chastain, the newcomer who's everywhere on the strength of six 2011 releases, was named best supporting actress for work in three of those films, including "The Tree of Life," in which she plays Pitt's wife.
"The Tree of Life" was the most-honored film, being named in three categories, but it lost best picture and best director to French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius' throwback silent, "The Artist."
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The New York Film Critics Circle Awards are critics' awards, so make of the results what you will. That said, the East Coast writers are often in sync with Hollywood.
The group's awards are the first major critics pronouncements of the fall. The winners of the Gotham Independent Film Awards were named last night, but, outside of The Tree of Life, which was named best film, along with the geriatric coming-out dramedy, "Beginners," none of its other favorites look to figure prominently at the Oscars.
Here's the complete list of winners from the 2011 New York Film Critics Circle Awards: Film: The Artist. Actor: Brad Pitt, "Moneyball" and "The Tree of Life." Actress: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady." Supporting Actor: Albert Brooks, "Drive." Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, "The Tree of Life," "The Help" and "Take Shelter." Director: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist." Screenplay: "Moneyball." Cinematography: "The Tree of Life." Documentary: "Cave of Forgotten Dreams." Foreign-Language Film: "A Separation." First Feature: "Margin Call." Special Award: Raoul Ruiz.
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They are all very talented, no reason to try and make one look less worthy of an actor.
Ryan Gosling is a much better, more interesting actor than Brad Pitt.
Not like either one of them is better than DeNiro or Nicholson.
Bingo! Add Pacino to those two.
Different class, hands down. You can only deliver epic performances when you've been in the business that long and learned as much as they have, not to mention, most of the older actors all went to just a few schools and learned acting from some of the greats who just aren't around anymore to teach-it's not entirely fair to compare a 20-year or so age gap. The film industry makes great advances in technology, but probably not so in acting education. It's rare I find an actor in Pitt's range or below that I actually have any high esteem for in the levels that I have for Cary Grant, Lawrence Olivier, Katherine Hepburn-I think half they time they're picked for what can be changed about their looks nowadays.
I like both Gosling and Pitt, but thought Pitt acted better & in better roles (The Tree Of Life and Moneyball). He gets my vote for Best Actor.
Ryan Gosling is a wooden actor in my view. Pitt has been held back because he's a pretty boy but in my view he's a much better actor.
If Pitt' seems "held back" these days it's because he probably chooses not to do a movie-in the old days, studios used to have contracts with movie stars where they could specify how many movies the actor would to with them before they went to a different studio. These days stars can turn down movie roles left and right. I do agree that he's better than Gosling though-people are remembering The Notebook and how much they loved it and they're trying to see the same quality in everything new that he does, because it was a great book and was made into a movie with the right actors. You can only carry your breakout movie so far before you have to start fresh.
Michael Moore is a better actor than many current so-called "stars".
Ryan who?
I want to know why msnbc.com doesn't allow comments on some entertainment articles but it does others.
I don't care about this contest of egos. I just wanted to express my condolences to comedian Patrice O'Neil's family and friends. He died and there's an article here, but no comments. I always thought he was a great comedic talent.
I have ALWAYS wondered that too!