Spielberg's The Post crowned year's best by NBR

NEW YORK - Steven Spielberg's newspaper drama The Post was named the year's best film by the National Board of Review, which also lavished its top acting honors on the film's stars, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.

The group announced its picks on Tuesday on Twitter. Though the organization spread its awards around, it reserved three of its top slots for Spielberg's upcoming period film about The Washington Post's publishing of the Pentagon Papers. Streep plays Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and Hanks plays editor Ben Bradlee in the film, one of the year's last-arriving awards contenders.

The National Board of Review, a collection of film enthusiasts and academics founded in 1909, is better known for packing its annual awards dinner (to be hosted by Willie Geist on Jan 9) with big names than for predicting Oscars. Its last three winners were Manchester By the Sea, Mad Max: Fury Road and A Most Violent Year, none of which went on to win best picture.