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Irish actor Michael Fassbender could be on course for Oscar recognition after being named best actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Fassbender was honoured for his year's work in films including Shame and X-Men: First Class.

The Descendants, starring George Clooney as a man trying to re-connect with his daughters, was named best film.

Christopher Plummer was named best supporting actor for Beginners.

Jessica Chastain won best supporting actress for her roles in Coriolanus, The Debt and Tree of Life - for which filmmaker Terence Malick picked up best director.

Malick's film, co-starring Brad Pitt as a stern father in 1950s America, also won a prize for cinematography.

The best actress award went to Yun Jung-hee from South Korea for Poetry, in which she plays a woman facing Alzheimer's disease.

British dance artists The Chemical Brothers picked up the best music score for Joe Wright's film Hanna, about a teenage assassin.

Gore Verbinksi's Rango beat off competition from Steven Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin to be named best animation.

There were also awards for A Separation, City of Life and Death and Martin Scorsese's Hugo - which was honoured for production design.

German film-maker Werner Herzog won best documentary for Cave of Forgotten Dreams - a 3D journey into the Chauvet Cave in southern France, which contains the earliest known cave paintings.

Film veteran Doris Day was also presented with a career achievement award.

Meanwhile, the Boston Society of Film Critics named silent film The Artist as the best of the year.

Brad Pitt picked up best actor for his portrayal of a baseball manager in Moneyball and Michelle Williams won best actress for her turn as screen siren Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn.