Best Movies 2012: 'Zero Dark Thirty' Continues Oscar 2013 Momentum with Washington Critics Win

Zero Dark Thirty further solidified its status as the Best Picture frontrunner with a win from the Washington DC Film Critics.

The win is the sixth for Kathryn Bigelow's Osama Bin-laden manhunt film as it has already been bestowed with the top prize from the National Board of Review, New York Film Critics, Boston Film Critics, Boston Online Film Critics, and New York Online Critics. No other film has won more than two awards from the critics circles, which are essential to Oscar buzz for contenders. The only other films to win Best picture from critics are Amour (Los Angeles Critics, European Film Academy ) and Moonrise Kingdom (Gotham Awards).

Bigelow also picked up her sixth win as Best Director. In the Acting categories, Daniel Day-Lewis won his fifth Best Actor award and seems to be running away with the award. Jessica Chastain added to Zero Dark Thirty's winning streak with her third Best Actress laurel while Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Master) and Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables) helped their respective campaigns for Oscar glory. Hathaway has been winning a great deal of critics circles but this is the first win for Hoffman who had been losing steam.

The Master picked up two critical wins, including Hoffman's supporting actor victory. The other major win was for Best Score.

The critics circles will continue to announce this week. The Screen Actors Guild and Critics Choice Award nominations will also be announced in coming days. On Thursday the Golden Golbes also announce their slate of the top films of 2012.

Complete List of Washington Critics Awards

 Best Film: "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis for "Lincoln"

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty"

Best Supporting Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman for "The Master"

Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway for "Les Miserables"

Best Acting Ensemble: "Les Miserables"

Best Adapted Screenplay: David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook"

Best Original Screenplay: Rian Johnson for "Looper"

Best Animated Feature: ParaNorman

Best Documentary: "Bully"

Best Foreign Language Film: "Amour"

Best Art Direction: "Cloud Atlas"

Best Cinematography: "Life of Pi"

Best Score: "The Master"

The Joe Barber Award for Best Youth Performance: Quvenzhané Wallis for "Beasts of the Southern Wild"