Last year's best actor, according to almost everyone in America, was Philip Seymour Hoffman. This year's is Forest Whitaker. But who is the better of the two? Luckily in the U.S., critics don't have to damage their brains deciding. In London, however, critics do. Thanks to later release dates in the UK, Capote is considered a 2006 movie there. So are Good Night, and Good Luck, The Squid and the Whale and The Upside of Anger. All four are featured among the nominees for the London Film Critics Circle awards, which will be presented February 8.

At least Hoffman hasn't been pit against Toby Jones, the other portrayer of Truman Capote, in Infamous. The former is in the Actor race while the latter is recognized in the British Actor category.

Neither Capote nor Good Night, and Good Luck, both of which were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar were considered by the London critics for Film of the Year. Their five picks were limited to more current releases, including The Queen, which received the most nominations, with seven.

Is it obvious that The Queen is recognized so well by the Brits? Well, considering it is a British film, it qualifies for more categories than other top contenders for the major awards. It is the only title to be listed in the Film of the Year and British Film ("The Attenborough Award") categories and Helen Mirren has been nominated for Actress and British Actress, an honor she shares with Judi Dench. Without the double mentions, The Queen would be tied with The Last King of Scotland for five noms.

Noah Baumbach, whose The Squid and the Whale was one of the best American films of 2005, has signed some pretty big names for unnamed follow-up film. According to wire reports this morning, Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh (AKA Mrs. Baumbach) will costar in the project. Though details about the movie are currently hard to come by, it's known that the two will play sisters, and that the film is, not surprisingly, a comedy-drama. The story will explore the relationship between the sisters over the course of a weekend, during which one takes her son to visit the other.

Despite the lack of detail about its content, the combined success of Squid - as an independent film, its box office returns have been small, but it garnered universally positive reviews and has received a pile of awards - and the stature of its stars render this project an awfully exciting one. Frustratingly, there's no word yet on when production will get underway.