Smiling, with good reason: Clooney and the film he stars in get top honors from D.C. critics. The Washington Area Film Critics Association likes to be one of the earliest critics’ groups to get out their year-end picks. In fact, of the major critics’ associations, only the National Board of Review, which revealed its selections last week, gets theirs out earlier. Of course, this does mean that the picks are made before some of…

If it’s the second week in December, it’s time for the Washington Area Film Critics’ Association to announce its picks for the best films of the year. WAFCA traditionally likes to race to get its list out before all the other critics associations, and often ends up giving top honors to movies that are less likely to take home Oscar gold (although that wasn’t the case last year). This year WAFCA named Fox Searchlight’s Slumdog…