Update: As expected, The Social Network, The Fighter The King’s Speech (particularly Best Actor winner Colin Firth) and Black Swan‘s Natalie Portman were the big-time winners at tonight’s Critics Choice Awards.

Network won for Best Picture, Best Director (David Fincher ) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Aaron Sorkin). Portman won for Best Actress. The Fighter ‘s Melissa Leo and Christian Bale won for Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, and the cast won the Best Ensemble award. The Original Screenplay award went to David Seidler for The King’s Speech.

Earlier: I’ll be semi-live blogging the Critics Choice Awards, which are about to begin in Los Angeles. I’ve never really watched this show but I’m a BFCA member, etc. A first time for everything. I think I’ll stay on this entry and expand as I go.

9:08 pm: Schwarzenegger’s monologue…meh. Montage of film clips from year’s best films…shrug. Ashton Kutcher‘s dismissive riff about Schwarzenegger…needlessly negative.

9:11pm: The Fighter wins the Best Ensemble Award. Works for me. Does this indicate a Best Supporting Actress win for Melissa Leo (who looks great, by the way, with darker hair and a black pants suit)?

9:14 pm: True Grit‘s Hailee Steinfeld wins for Best Younger Actor (or Young Emerging Actor or whatever it’s called). She’s the best thing about Joel and Ethan Coen‘s film so fine, cool.

9:20 pm: Eva Mendes presenting the Best Supporting Actor award. Gotta be Bale, gotta be Bale, gotta be, gotta be…Christian Bale for The Fighter. “Dickie’s winning this as well…for his buoyancy and passion for this…and for Alice…give it up for David O. Russell…Paramount, Relativity…every single crew member…such a good spirit…I couldn’t do this without my wife and my beautiful daughter.”

9:25 pm: Ed Helms presenting Best Action Movie award. Inception, right? Yes, Inception.

9:36 pm: Davis Guggenheim and Lesley Chilcott‘s Waiting for Superman wins for Best Documentary. Hope, inspiration and constructive positivism in the classroom triumphs over the the exacting true-bullet indictment that is Inside Job.

9:39 pm: I know that much of dramatic television is smarter and truer than the content of most feature films, but I’m going to bypass the winners in this realm. No offense.

9:49 pm: The winner of the Critics Choice Best Comedy award is…Easy A? Really? The winner of the Best No-Laugh-Funny Dramedy is Greenberg. (Kidding…although it really deserves to win something.) And the winner of the Best Animated Feature award, of course, is Toy Story 3. Director Lee Unkrich thanks everyone. Fine, solid, down with that.

10:13 pm: True Grit‘s Josh Brolin presenting the Best Supporting Actress award. Melissa Leo wins! Called it, felt it, knew it. Her speech was simple, dignified, honest.

10:18 pm: The Best Adapted Screenplay award goes, of course, to Aaron Sorkin for The Social Network. Best Original Screenplay award goes to David Seidler for The King’s Speech. “If you’ve been a stutterer and could not speak, it is wonderful to be heard.”

10:31 pm: Greg Kinnear presenting the Best Director award to David Fincher for The Social Network. Fincher isn’t there, Kinnear accepts for him. Right on top of this Jimmy Kimmel and Emily Blunt come out to present an altruism award — the Joel Siegel Award — to Matt Damon for www.water.org. “For just $25 you can bring clean water to a kid for life,” Damon says. “Feel free to join us.” Kimmel’s mock put-downs of Damon during the intro were the funniest lines of the show so far, and Damon zaps him back pretty nicely.

10:41 pm: Julianne Moore presenting the Best Actor award, and the Critics Choice award goes to — knock me down with a pinky push — Colin Firth for The King’s Speech. “Actors — I — have a need for attention and approval that borders on the infantile. I will be wearing this [award] around my neck as a talisman, to give me magical powers.”

10:51 pm: Kevin Spacey presenting the Best Actress award — suspense, suspense. And the award goes to Natalie Portman. A very gracious speech. Relaxed. Hits all the right notes. “Darren, you made me skinny and you’re also indirectly responsible for making me fat.” A tough world, Annette Bening — but there’s always the Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical.

10:59 pm: The great Jane Fonda presenting the Critics Choice Award for Best Picture. Of course…The Social Network! And the whole gang takes the stage. And producer Mike DeLuca — Mike! — has the honor of delivering the acceptance speech.