'AMERICAN HUSTLE,' '12 YEARS A SLAVE,' AND MORE

Following a round of duly impressive victories from the Gotham Awards institution on Monday night, we see the New York Film Critics Circle grant their top picks for 2013, honoring a few titles that are more closely in line with the ideologies of the Academy we all know and love. Although the public has yet to get a taste of David O. Russell's super-heist period piece American Hustle, we can't really express any shock over its triumph as the NYFCC's Best Picture — it's got all the right ingredients for the slot. Past winners of the award have gone to Oscar Best Picture winners or noteworthy contenders like Zero Dark Thirty,The Artist, The Social Network, The Hurt Locker, Milk, and No Country for Old Men.

Academy conversation pieces like Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Jennifer Lawrence, and Cate Blanchett have also earned the Circle's favor,