HOLLYWOOD - The Golden Globes may be over, but the Windy City critics are just starting.
The Chicago Film Critics Association has rolled out the nominees for its annual awards, and topping its list is the rock flick "Almost Famous," which took a field-best eight nominations, including best picture, best director and best screenplay for writer-helmer Cameron Crowe, best supporting actor (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and two best supporting actress nods (for both newly crowned Golden Globe winner Kate Hudson and Frances McDormand).
The film also qualified upstarts Patrick Fugit and Hudson for the most promising actor and actress awards.
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" came in with seven noms. The martial arts film will compete against "Almost Famous" in the best picture, best director, best supporting actress (Zhang Ziyi) and most promising actress (Ziyi) categories.
The swordsman epic -- which nabbed the best foreign film and director awards for Ang Lee at the Globes -- was also nominated in the best foreign film column.
Chicago critics also doted on "Traffic", showering the film with six nominations for best picture, best director (Steven Soderbergh), best screenplay (Golden Globe winner Stephen Gaghan), best cinematography (Soderbergh), best supporting actor (Golden Globe winner Benicio Del Toro) and best supporting actress (Catherine Zeta-Jones).
Winners will be announced on Feb. 26 at The Shakespeare Theatre at Navy Pier in Chicago.
The complete list of nominees is available on the organization's Web site www.chicagofilm.org.