The New York Critics Circle surprised awards prognosticators by skipping Oscar front-runners Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) and Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) and awarding Rachel Weisz the Best Actress for her performance as the unfaithful wife in Terence Davies’ drama The Deep Blue Sea. The film, that earned her the same honour from the London critics a year ago, had a limited release in the US this March.

The group gave the Best Picture of 2012 to Zero Dark Thirty, which follows the true events leading to the killing of Al Qaeda’s leader Osama Bin Laden. The director of the movie Kathryn Bigelow was honored as the Best Director and Greig Fraser as the Best Cinematographer. Bigelow won the same award in 2009 for The Hurt Locker.

The Best Actor award went to British actor Daniel Day-Lewis, who is the favourite to win the Oscar for portraying Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. His co-star, Sally Field was named the Best Supporting Actress for playing the First Lady. The scribe of the movie, Tony Kushner, won the Best Screenplay.

Matthew McConaughey received the Best Supporting Actor for his performances in two movies: as a Texas D.A. in Bernie and a male stripper in Magic Mike.

Michael Haneke’s Cannes Film Festival winner, Amour, about an octogenarian Parisian coping with his wife’s debilitating illness, won the Best Foreign Film.

Tim Burton’s 3-D stop animation comedy-horror story Frankenweenie took the Best Animation. The film tells the story of a boy who brings his dog back to life.

The New York critics group’s choices, which were announced today, are the first of the awards season. Among the strong Oscar contenders missing in their awards were Argo, Flight, Hobbit, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, The Master, Silver Linings Playbook and Rust and Bones.