“No Country for Old Men” took home three prizes at the 13th annual Critics’ Choice Award held Monday at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, for best picture, best director (Joel and Ethan Coen) and best supporting actor (Spanish actor Javier Bardem).

The Critics’ Choice edition should give us a hint on some of the Academy Award winners this year, as it has been the case for the past 12 years.However, the 2001 Oscar nominee Bardem said after the ceremony: “I don’t think about Academy Awards, or anything. I’m from Spain.”

The film is based on Cormac McCarthy’s novel, who inspired the name of his book from Yeats’ “Sailing to Byzantium”, and follows a series of events at the United States – Mexico border in 1980, where a drug deal gone bad changes the lives of three people, Llewellyn Moss, a Vietnam veteran, sheriff Ed Tom Bell and Anton Chigurh, a sociopath hired to recover the $2.4 million cash lost during the drug deal.

Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild” left the awards empty-handed, despite of the seven nominations it had received, while the Coen’s brothers’ movie took three of the five nominations. “There Will Be Blood” starring Daniel Day Lewis also won two awards, for best actor and best soundtrack (Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood).

The musical comedy “Hairspray” took its turn on the Critics’ Choice Award stage, with best acting ensemble and best young actress (Nikki Blonsky). The teenage pregnancy drama “Juno” was declared best comedy, while Diablo Cody was declared the best first-time screenwriter.

The Joel Siegel Award, honoring those whose actions “both on- and offscreen inspires and contributes to the good of humanity” has been granted to Don Cheadle by his “Ocean’s Thirteen” co-star George Clooney, who couldn’t help but noticing the effects of the WGA strike: “This is one-industry town and when a strike happens it’s not just writers and actors, it’s restaurants and hotel and agencies.” The Critics’ Choice Award took place the same day the upcoming Golden Globes ceremony was canceled as a result of the WGA strike, who fortunately did not affect them as well.