The town once labeled as "isolated" by Ben Lyons due to its lack of direct social communication with the celebrities they refer to as actors and filmmakers threw their hat into the awards ring this morning. And as a member and Vice President of the group, I could not be prouder. The Chicago Film Critics Association announced the nominees for their 22nd Annual Awards and it was an interesting mix of old favorites and some long lost friends. Old referring to the nominees that have been burning up the lists since the weekend and a few welcome wrinkles to hopefully shake up the monotony a little. Leading the nominees with six is one of the many awards favorites, Jason Reitman's Up In The Air. But hold on just a moment. It has a co-pilot. Also riding a wave of six nominations is Spike Jonze's adaptation of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, which divided critics upon its release between those that loved it and others who forgot all their crabbing about wanting intelligent kid's pictures.

Joining both films in the Best Picture race from Chicago are Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (each with five nominations) and Joel & Ethan Coen's A Serious Man with 4. Just 25 of Chicago's last 45 nominations have received an Oscar nod and even with a traditional 5-pic race, at least three of these choices would be looking like prime fodder. With ten slots to fill, like most critic's groups, these percentages are bound to begin a steady increase. A Serious Man is currently hovering around the bottom of the Oscar list for Best Picture and Where the Wild Things Are is still an underdog at best. Will other groups follow suit to hopefully make the Academy take notice?

As the ballots were being tallied in Chicago, their neighbors to the East in Indiana had just awarded Jonze Best Director and gave it a runner-up prize for the Screenplay. They also bestowed upon it their "Original Vision Award" (with runner-up District 9) which seems strange since both are based on previous work. The Broadcast Film Critics Association had nominated the film for several technical merits including Costumes, Score, and Song but couldn't go the extra mile into the major categories. Probably because they didn't consider it a serious Oscar contender. How serious should Chicago's critics be taken when it comes to perhaps a wee-bit of influence in the big picture? At least as much as the other two major markets on the coasts. Maybe a bit more.

In the Directing category, Chicago has matched up their choices for Best Film with the Director directly responsible. Bigelow, The Coens, Jonze, Reitman and Tarantino face off with a 65% shot of getting a nod past the numbers from the last decade. 30 of Chicago's last 46 nominees in this category got a shot at a rematch on Oscar night. And 7 of the group's last 10 winners proved to be victorious (including the last three), better than the 50% record from both New York and Los Angeles.

The Actors have even a better shot with both lead categories going 34-of-46 (74%) for a nomination and 8-of-10 after winning. Over on the man's side you have assumed locks George Clooney (Up In The Air) and Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) on the list. Critical favorite Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) gets his fourth nomination of the season (and a victory from Boston.) Matt Damon follows up after noms from Detroit and the Golden Globes for his hilarious turn as nefarious whistle blower Mark Whitacre in The Informant! And Michael Stuhlbarg got his second nomination for A Serious Man. Both Stuhlbarg and Damon were recognized in the Comedy portion of the Globes nominees, putting them at a 14% shot at an Oscar nod. We won't know who wins Chicago until next Monday (Dec. 21) but the number watchers can look at the group's 80% nomination rate for the victor over L.A.'s 42% (5-of-12 with Bridges winning) and N.Y.'s 30% (with Clooney).

Over on the dames' side, L.A., N.Y. and Chicago are all hitting an 80% nomination rate with their winner. There was little surprise in seeing the three front-runners for a nod - Carey Mulligan (An Education), Meryl Streep (Julie & Julia) and Gabourey Sidibe (Precious) - on the list. But there were some nice additions. Maya Rudolph who received some recognition with nods from the D.C. and St. Louis critics also received some love from the Windy City for her work in Sam Mendes' Away We Go. And the all but forgotten Bright Star from Jane Campion this season grabbed a pair of nominations from Chicago, not just for its Cinematography but for Abbie Cornish as John Keats' lover/muse Fanny Brawne. The only previous nod for the film (not counting the Golden Satellites or the British Indies) was a nod to the Costumes from the BFCA.

Down to the Supporting categories, Chicago is just barely besting the coasts 70%-60% and added to the love for Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds), Christian McKay (Me and Orson Welles) and Woody Harrelson (The Messenger). Stanley Tucci's work as the neighborhood killer in The Lovely Bones is rapidly picking up steam and after L.A. named Peter Capaldi (In The Loop) runner-up in the category, Chicago has given him a 1-in-5 shot to pull off a victory. With the Actresses the usual suspects are on hand with Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick from Up In The Air, Mo'Nique Dearest (Precious) and Julianne Moore (A Single Man), Chicago looked past other favorites popping up here and there like Penelope Cruz (Nine) and Samantha Morton (The Messenger) and produced a real surprise. No stranger to the occasional left field pleasantry like their inclusion of Ellen DeGeneres (2003 - Finding Nemo) and Leslie Mann (2007 - Knocked Up), the CFCA this year nominated Natalie Portman in Brothers, joining its two Golden Globe nominations yesterday for her on-again/off-again dead husband Tobey Maguire and U2's closing theme for the film.

Looking over the Screenplay categories, how about a hand for Dave Eggers? After Sandra Bullock, Matt Damon and Meryl Streep got lots of press yesterday for receiving a pair of Golden Globe nominations apiece, let's give a little love to a screenwriter for a change who jumped into the game in 2009 and received two CFCA nominations for his work on Away We Go (with wife Vendela Vida in the Original category) and Where the Wild Things Are (with Spike Jonze in Adapted.) Let's not look into his history as a native of Lake Forest as any sort of influence. These are two of the year's best films and it's great to see them recognized. Joining him in the Original list are Mark Boat (The Hurt Locker), Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds), The Coens (A Serious Man) and Bob Peterson (Up) and then Nick Hornby (An Education), the foursome of Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche (In The Loop), Scott Z. Burns (The Informant!) and Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner (Up In The Air) in Adapted. Since splitting the Screenplay category into two in 2006, 11 of the CFCA's 15 nominations in the Original category went on to an Oscar nod and 10-of-15 in Adapted.

James Cameron's Avatar only received two nominations for Cinematography and Score while Rob Marshall's Nine, Clint Eastwood's Invictus and Nancy Meyers' It's Complicated were completely shut out. Here is the entire list of nominations.

BEST PICTURE

The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
A Serious Man
Up in the Air
Where the Wild Things Are

BEST DIRECTOR

Kathryn Bigelow (-) The Hurt Locker
Joel & Ethan Coen (-) A Serious Man
Spike Jonze (-) Where the Wild Things Are
Jason Reitman (-) Up in the Air
Quentin Tarantino (-) Inglourious Basterds

BEST ACTOR

Jeff Bridges (-) Crazy Heart
George Clooney (-) Up in the Air
Matt Damon (-) The Informant!
Jeremy Renner (-) The Hurt Locker
Michael Stuhlbarg (-) A Serious Man

BEST ACTRESS

Abbie Cornish (-) Bright Star
Carey Mulligan (-) An Education
Maya Rudolph (-) Away We Go
Gabourey Sidibe (-) Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Meryl Streep (-) Julie & Julia

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Peter Capaldi (-) In the Loop
Woody Harrelson (-) The Messenger
Christian McKay (-) Me and Orson Welles
Stanley Tucci (-) The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz (-) Inglourious Basterds

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Vera Farmiga (-) Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick (-) Up in the Air
Mo'Nique (-) Precious
Julianne Moore (-) A Single Man
Natalie Portman (-) Brothers

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Away We Go (-) Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida
The Hurt Locker (-) Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds (-) Quentin Tarantino
A Serious Man (-) Joel & Ethan Coen
Up (-) Bob Peterson

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

An Education (-) Nick Hornby
In the Loop (-) Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci & Tony Roche
The Informant! (-) Scott Z. Burns
Up in the Air (-) Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner
Where the Wild Things Are (-) Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Anvil!: The True Story of Anvil
Capitalism: A Love Story
The Cove
Food, Inc.
Tyson

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

Broken Embraces
Red Cliff
Sin Nombre
Summer Hours
The White Ribbon

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Coraline
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Ponyo
The Princess and the Frog
Up

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Avatar (-) Mauro Fiore
Bright Star (-) Greig Fraser
The Hurt Locker (-) Barry Ackroyd
Inglourious Basterds (-) Robert Richardson
Where the Wild Things Are (-) Lance Acord

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Avatar (-) James Horner
Fantastic Mr. Fox (-) Alexandre Desplat
The Informant! (-) Marvin Hamlisch
Up (-) Michael Giacchino
Where the Wild Things Are (-) Carter Burwell & Karen Orzolek

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER

Sharlto Copley (-) District 9
Christian McKay (-) Me and Orson Welles
Carey Mulligan (-) An Education
Max Records (-) Where the Wild Things Are
Gabourey Sidibe (-) Precious

MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER

Neill Blomkamp (-) District 9
Scott Cooper (-) Crazy Heart
Cary Fukunaga (-) Sin Nombre
Duncan Jones (-) Moon
Marc Webb (-) (500) Days of Summer