Ready, Set, Awards Season!

My dormant blog usually comes alive with the approach of awards season, but this year I'm a bit late in writing my thoughts on the various award bodies that have already given out their kudos and nominations. With today's SAG Awards nominations and tomorrow's Golden Globes announcement, I thought it was better start now or else get hopelessly behind.

The Spirit Awards started things off pre-Thanksgiving, which suddenly feels like a long time ago except it's actually been less than two weeks. Their nods got me pumped for the season ahead citing not only two Oscar front-runners Spotlight and Carol but also an animated film (Anomalisa), a Netflix film (Beasts of No Nation), and an iPhone-shot film about transgender hookers (Tangerine). That last film is also one of my favorite films of the year and I was also happy they further decided to honor it with a Best Director and two acting nominations for its two ladies, Mya Taylor and Kiki Rodriguez. Other nods that made me smile include Sean Baker for directing It Follows and Brie Larson in Room though I wish Larson's on-screen partner Jacob Tremblay could've made it in.

The first day of December then brought us the winners of the National Board of Review which have been more miss than hit in terms of an early Oscar predictor, but why does that really matter anyway? In any case, they threw down the gauntlet picking Mad Max; Fury Road as the best film of the year and at this point in time, I'm hesitant to disagree. Another fan-favorite film, The Martian, took home Director, Screenplay, and Actor (Matt Damon) while Brie Larson, Sylvester Stallone, and Jennifer Jason Leigh picked up the other acting awards. Their top ten films for the year included Bridge of Spies, Creed, The Hateful Eight, Inside Out, The Martian, Room, Sicario, Spotlight, and Straight Outta Compton.

Then came a flurry of critic awards with three of the biggest and oldest (NYFCC, LAFCA, and BFCS) also giving us their picks. First, NYFCC went with Carol and its director Todd Haynes as well as Michael Keaton (Spotlight), Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn), Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies), and Kristen Stewart (Clouds of Sils Maria) with that last pick being quite a surprise to everyone. BFCS showed Stewart wasn't a fluke and also showed Rylance might just be the guy to beat in his category. BFCS also picked Haynes, but went for Spotlight for Best Film, Charlotte Rampling (45 Years) for Actress, and a tie for Actor with Paul Dano (Love & Mercy) and Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant). Finally, LAFCA also went with Spotlight (early critic's favorite?) and Rampling but picked director George Miller, Michael Fassbender (Steve Jobs), Michael Shannon (99 Homes), and Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina) giving ALL of their films a much-needed awards season boost. Of course as I write this another regional critic awards has probably been given out somewhere. There will be more.

Thoughts on today's SAG Awards nominations and tomorrow's Golden Globes coming this weekend! But even from just the first two weeks of the season it's all feeling a bit wacky and open-ended. Things will get clearer with more and more organizations putting forth their picks, but this year does seem like there's a lot more up in the air which, frankly, is damn refreshing.

National Board of Review Winners

It's still early days this awards season but it's so far looking like an actual race to the Oscars this year with recent winners from critic groups like New York and Boston Online as well as the Gotham Awards not yet coalescing into a sweeper, which is good all around. In fact, I hope this season in particular the critic groups take a page from Boston Online and really go crazy and champion smaller out-there films. With that said, the same could be said about this past week's National Board of Review winners. Yes, they did their usual Clint Eastwood worshiping and some of their choices were downright odd, but bully for them!

Best Film
A Most Violent Year

Top Ten Films
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
Fury
Gone Girl
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The LEGO Movie
Nightcrawler
Unbroken

Only industry insiders and intrepid film fans have actually seen A Most Violent Year which releases for the general public on the last day of the year (ugh) so I think more than a few people were surprised by its big win here topping Oscar front-runners Birdman, Boyhood, and The Imitation Game which all made it in. Their Eastwood obsession continues with American Sniper and Brangelina are well represented, but can we just talk about the inclusion of The LEGO Movie? I really liked the film, but who knew? Does this mean there's a chance Chris Pratt could actually be in a Best Picture nominee for four years in a row (Moneyball, Zero Dark Thirty, Her)? Fun, if remote, possibility!

Best Actor (TIE)
Oscar Isaac, A Most Violent Year
Michael Keaton, Birdman

Best Actress
Julianne Moore, Still Alice

Best Supporting Actor
Edward Norton, Birdman

Best Supporting Actress
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year

Breakthrough Performance
Jack O'Connell, Starred Up and Unbroken

Best Ensemble
Fury

Last year, this group's acting winners went on to collect in total just one Oscar nomination, but I have a feeling it's going to be different this year with Moore, Norton, and Keaton seemingly locks for their respective categories. This does give a much-needed boost for Isaac and Chastain. As for O'Connell, I think this will be just one of many, many breakthrough awards he wins this season. I don't think it's enough to catapult him into Best Actor race, but it won't be for lack of films on his part!

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, American Sniper

Best Directorial Debut
Gillian Robespierre, Obvious Child

Best Adapted Screenplay
Inherent Vice

Best Original Screenplay
The LEGO Movie

Best Animated Feature
How to Train Your Dragon 2

There's a lot of intriguing choices here. Again, their Eastwood love is showing hard with that pick, but Robespierre's small film did well to show up here and The LEGO Movie winning a major award like this outside of Animation is pretty shocking. At the moment, it IS the frontrunner to win Animated Film at the Oscars so it is curious to see it lose to How to Train Your Dragons 2 here.

Top 10 Independent Films
Blue Ruin
Locke
A Most Wanted Man
Mr. Turner
Obvious Child
The Skeleton Twins
Snowpiercer
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
Starred Up
Still Alice

Great list with some inspired choices in Locke, Obvious Child, Skeleton Twins, and Snowpiercer all of which I've seen and loved. It'd be great if critic groups (and the major award bodies) actually champion these smaller films more.

Best Foreign Language Film
Wild Tales

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
Force Majeure
Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem
Leviathan
Two Days, One Night
We Are the Best!

Best Documentary
Life Itself

Top Five Documentary Films
Art and Craft
Jodorowsky's Dune
Keep On Keepin' On
The Kill Team
Last Days in Vietnam

Unfortunately, I haven't seen any of these films and even more shamefully I've only really heard of four of them including the Cannes-winning Force Majeure and the Rogert Ebert documentary Life Itself. Time to step up my screening game!

Spotlight Award
Chris Rock for writing, directing and starring in Top Five
William K. Everson Film History Award
Scott Eyman

NBR Freedom of Expression Award
Rosewater
Selma

As I said up top, it's still at the point where anything and everything can happen. I hope that it does.

National Board of Review Winners

American Hustle had a big day yesterday winning Picture, Screenplay, and Supporting Actress from the New York Film Critics Circle, but, in what I hope is a sign to come this awards season, the National Board of Review went a different way altogether.

Best Film
Her

Top Ten Films
12 Years a Slave
Fruitvale Station
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor
Nebraska
Prisoners
Saving Mr. Banks
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
The Wolf of Wall Street

Her also won Best Director giving much needed boost to Jonze's film, but it must be said that for the past few years the winner of the Academy Awards tended to come from the top 10 rather than the pick for best film. The usual suspects are all here with American Hustle and Captain Phillips missing. Out of the 11 films cited here, I've only so far seen three (12 Years, Fruitvale, and Gravity) so I'm looking forward to seeing the others in the next few weeks.

Best Actor
Bruce Dern, Nebraska

Best Actress
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

Best Supporting Actor
Will Forte, Nebraska

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale Station

Breakthrough Performances
Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color

Best Ensemble
Prisoners

Spotlight Award
Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio

An acting win here means more regarding getting an Oscar nomination rather than winning an Oscar, but this certainly gives all of these actors a boost, especially Dern in a packed field (and Spencer and Forte in largely unshaped fields). Jordan and Exarchopoulos seem to be in line in sharing the bulk of Breakthrough awards in the coming months. Can those translate Oscar? We'll see. Slightly shocked to see Prisoners pick up Ensemble thinking that would've been an easy win for 12 Years a Slave.

Best Director
Spike Jonze, Her

Best Directorial Debut
Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station

Best Original Screenplay
Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis

Best Adapted Screenplay
Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Animated Feature
The Wind Rises

Creative Innovation in Filmmaking Award
Gravity

As I said before it was a big day for Jonze winning here, but Coogler's accomplishment also shouldn't be forgotten. Though I wonder how steep that competition is this year. The Screenplay awards look solid, but it's too early to say if it all means anything yet. The Wind Rises is out front though winning here as well as the NYFCC over Frozen. Can Miyazaki win the Oscars?

Top 10 Independent Films
Ain't Them Bodies Saints
Dallas Buyers Club
In a World...
Mother of George
Much Ado About Nothing
Mud
The Place Beyond the Pines
Short Term 12
Sightseers
The Spectacular Now

Pretty great list, mostly because I've seen half of the films and pretty much really liked them all with top honors going to Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing. Curious to see Frances Ha or Before Midnight not mentioned here though.

Best Foreign Language Film
The Past

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
Beyond the Hills
Gloria
The Grandmaster
A Hijacking
The Hunt

Best Documentary
Stories We Tell

Top Five Documentary Films
20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
After Tiller
Casting By
The Square

Out of the 12 films here, I've only seen exactly one, the beautiful documentary Stories We Tell and I do hope that one goes all the way. I have only heard good stuff about The Past, The Hunt, 20 Feet from Stardom, and The Act of Killing.

William K. Everson Film History Award
George Stevens, Jr.

NBR Freedom of Expression Award
Wadjda

There's not much to say at the moment. Every film and performances cited here obviously get a boost, but it's all still too early. We're at the honeymoon phase where anything and everything can still happen.

National Board of Review Winners

Like last year, the National Board of Review is chiming in second to the New York Film Critics Circle with their picks of the best films and performances of the year. But things seems to be coalescing early for one particular film which both groups picked for the top film of the year.

Best Film
Zero Dark Thirty

Top Ten Films
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Looper
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Promised Land
Silver Linings Playbook

Repeating its NYFCC win, Zero Dark Thirty looks like the film to beat so far this awards season, but it's still super early and especially in recent years, the winners of this award has gone on to lose including last year's Hugo and two years ago with The Social Network. The entire list is a bit more indicative as to which films we're going to be seeing over and over again this season, which is why the absence of supposed frontrunners Life of Pi and The Master must be slightly worrying to their fans. With that said, it allowed the organization to branch out a bit from the usual slate giving much needed boosts to film like Looper and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I've seen 6 of the 10 films so far.

Best Actor
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Best Supporting Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress
Ann Dowd, Compliance

Breakthrough Performances
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Tom Holland, The Impossible

Best Ensemble Cast
Les Misérables

Spotlight Award
John Goodman (Argo, Flight, Paranorman, Trouble with the Curve)

An acting win here doesn't automatically mean they are Oscar-bound, but it definitely increase one's chances for a nomination. This is a big win then for Bradley Cooper and Ann Dowd who will need some big industry support to catapult them to their first Oscar nominations. This also helps DiCaprio and Wallis especially with increased competition in their respective categories. Finally, we have yet to see an acting win for the Les Miz cast this season including presumed Best Supporting Actress front-runner Anne Hathaway, but the Best Ensemble win here more than helps their cause.

Best Director
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Debut Director
Behn Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Original Screenplay
Rian Johnson, Looper

Best Adapted Screenplay
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award
Ben Affleck, Argo

Best Animated Feature
Wreck-It Ralph

Like her film, Kathryn Bigelow right now is dominating the awards buzz. Can she repeat her unprecedented sweep through awards season the way she did a few years ago leading up to her Oscar win for The Hurt Locker? Time will tell! Honors for Behn Zeitlin and Ben Affleck may signal them joining Bigelow for Oscar nominations. That Screenplay win for Looper is another refreshing pick from the group. Finally, score one for Wreck-It Ralph in the all-too competitive and difficult to predict Animated race.

Top Ten Independent Films
Arbitrage
Bernie
Compliance
End of Watch
Hello I Must Be Going
Little Birds
Moonrise Kingdom
On the Road
Quartet
Sleepwalk With Me

Seeing as I've only seen one of these films, the delightful Moonrise Kingdom, I don't have much to say except to chastise myself for not seeing more films. The past two years I would've at least seen 4 of these films by now. Any recommendations which ones I should check out right away?

Best Foreign Film
Amour

Top Five Foreign Films
Barbara
The Intouchables
The Kid with a Bike
No
War Witch

Best Documentary
Searching for Sugar Man

Top Five Documentary Films
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
Detropia
The Gatekeepers
The Invisible War
Only the Young

I've only heard good things about Amour, The Intouchables, and Searching for Sugar Man, but unfortunately I've seen exactly none of these films so I have nothing much to say.

William K. Everson Film History Award
50 Years of Bond Films

NBR Freedom of Expression Award
Central Park Five
Promised Land

So in summary, Zero Dark Thirty rules while Les Miz, Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, and Beasts of the Southern Wild are also out in front. Well, at least until the next organization chimes in with their picks and changes the whole story yet again.

National Board of Review Winners

The National Board of Review has always been one of the first major precursors to the Academy Awards and even if the NYFCC beat them to the punch by a couple of days the fact that they went in several different directions just shows how volatile and possibly exciting the awards season will be this year. At least I'm hoping!

And this year's NBR winners are...

Best Film
Hugo

Top Ten Films
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2
The Ides of March
J. Edgar
Tree of Life
War Horse

Choosing Hugo was a bit unexpected, but that's what makes it the more exciting. That film should worry though since more often than not this past decade, the winner here has gone on to lose at the Oscars including last year's supposed front-runner The Social Network. We get the usual fan service to their favorites such as George Clooney and Clint Eastwood, but their inclusions of Dragon Tattoo, Harry Potter, and Drive are quite interesting. I am a bit disappointed to see Midnight in Paris miss out here and surprised to see Moneyball and The Help miss out as well. In any case I have seen 6 of the 10 films listed and will no doubt see the other four soon enough.

Best Actor
George Clooney, The Descendants

Best Actress
Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Best Supporting Actress
Shailene Woodley, The Descendants

Breakthrough Performance
Felicity Jones, Like Crazy
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Ensemble Cast
The Help

Spotlight Award
Michael Fassbender (A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre, Shame, X-Men: First Class)

Getting an acting win here, even for breakthrough performance, definitely increases one's chances of getting an Oscar nomination if the last few years are any indication. Translating those nominations into wins is a bit more dicey. The big winner here is perhaps Tilda Swinton and Shailene Woodley especially the latter since she's a newcomer. Speaking of newcomers, seems like Felicity Jones and Rooney Mara held off Elizabeth Olsen this time around. Neither Glenn Close nor Viola Davis won, but the latter (as well as Jessica Chastain) was buoyed by that Ensemble award. Finally, Michael Fassbender, the male equivalent of Chastain, won the Spotlight Award which he certainly deserved. I do wish he shared it with Ryan Gosling who has two films in the Top 10.

Best Director
Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Debut Director
J.C. Chandor, Margin Call

Best Original Screenplay
Will Reiser, 50/50

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, & Jim Rash, The Descendants

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award
Harry Potter Franchise

Best Animated Feature
Rango

NBR definitely gave Hugo, The Descendants, 50/50, and Harry Potter big boosts today. The latter especially for being in the Top 10 and getting a Special Achievement Award. It's also quite fun to see Jim Rash (Dean Pelton in Community) pop up in the Oscar race.

Top Ten Independent Films
50/50
Another Earth
Beginners
A Better Life
Cedar Rapids
Margin Call
Shame
Take Shelter
We Need To Talk About Kevin
Win Win

This was yet another huge blow for Martha Marcy May Marlene since it was expected to end up here. Two years ago, District 9 made this shortlist and ended up getting Oscar-nominated for Best Picture. I wonder if any of these films can do the same. For my part, I've only seen 4 of the 10 films here--50/50, Beginners, Cedar Rapids, and Win Win.

Best Foreign Film
A Separation

Top Five Foreign Films
13 Assassins
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
Footnote
Le Havre
Point Blank

Best Documentary
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Top Five Documentary Films
Born to be Wild
Buck
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Project Nim
Senna

NBR Freedom of Expression
Crime After Crime
Pariah

Not much to say about these last few categories since I haven't seen any of the films. I have only heard of good things regarding A Separation and Pariah so they'll be on top of my Netflix queue as soon as they're available there.

Basically, it's still anybody's game.

National Board of Review Winners

The National Board Review, one of the first major precursors to Oscars, has released the films, actors, and other filmmakers they loved during the past year. Note that last year, all of the acting winners were nominated, but ultimately didn't win the big prize at the Academy Awards. Furthermore, 8 of the last 10 Best Film winners have gone on to lose at the Oscars (Slumdog Millionaire and No Country For Old Men were the exceptions).

And the winners are...

Best Film
The Social Network

Top Ten Films
Another Year
The Fighter
Hereafter
Inception
The King’s Speech
Shutter Island
The Town
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

Out of the top 11 films listed, I've only seen 6 of them. Still not sure what that win for The Social Network means. Is it another No Country for Old Men or will be be another Up in the Air? At the very least, its Oscar nomination is pretty much locked already. The list itself isn't as shocking as year's past. They still love them some Clint Eastwood. Notable snubs include Blue Valentine, Black Swan, 127 Hours, and The Kids Are All Right.

Best Actor
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

Best Actress
Lesley Manville, Another Year

Best Supporting Actor
Christian Bale, The Fighter

Best Supporting Actress
Jackie Weaver, Animal Kingdom

Breakthrough Performance
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter’s Bone

Best Ensemble Cast
The Town

Again, an acting win here doesn't necessarily mean they're all now the front-runners in their respective categories, but it definitely helps get their names out there especially in a year where it seems like every category will be a fight to the death. At least that's what I'm hoping for. But man look at Jennifer Lawrence go. Also, great support for The Town.

Best Director
David Fincher, The Social Network

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut
Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington, Restrepo

Best Original Screenplay
Chris Sparling, Buried

Best Adapted Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award
Sofia Coppola, Somewhere

Best Animated Feature
Toy Story 3

The Social Network really won big with the NBR. Along with Best Film and an acting coup for Eisenberg, the two "stars" of the film aka director Fincher and writer Sorkin were also honored by the group. No comment on the other awards except to ask where did Chris Sparling come from?

Top Ten Independent Films
Animal Kingdom
Buried
Fish Tank
The Ghost Writer
Greenberg
Let Me In
Monsters
Please Give
Somewhere
Youth in Revolt

Last year, District 9 made this list on its way to an Academy Award Best Picture nomination. Anything here looking to be that film? Again, I'm shocked not to see Blue Valentine or 127 Hours here. I mean, Youth in Revolt? I've only seen 4 of the 10 films listed--Youth in Revolt, Greenberg, Ghost Writer, & Please Give.

Best Foreign Film
Of Gods and Men

Top Five Foreign Films
I Am Love
Incendies
Life, Above All
Soul Kitchen
White Material

Best Documentary
Waiting For “Superman”

Top Five Documentary Films
A Film Unfinished
Inside Job
Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
Restrepo
The Tillman Story

Out of the 12 films in Documentary and Foreign Film, I've seen a total of 1 film and that is the Tilda Swinton star-vehicle Italian film I Am Love, which I very much enjoyed.

William K. Everson Film History Award
Leonard Maltin

NBR Freedom of Expression
Fair Game
Conviction
Howl

So in summary, NBR really loved The Social Network. The actors who won today should be happy though not TOO HAPPY if their end goal is to win an Oscar. It can still very much happen for any of them, but this awards season is a long one and anything goes. I mean did you know last year Sandra Bullock actually won an Oscar... for acting? I KNOW RIGHT?!

Anyways, don't forget to check out my thoughts from earlier this week on the Independent Spirit Award nominations. And for any other posts concerning the awards season, hit up the Awards Season tag in the coming weeks/months!

National Board of Review Winners

The National Board of Review is the first major award that indicates how the awards season will go. In fact in the past two years, this organization awarded the eventual Best Picture winners (Slumdog Millionaire and No Country for Old Men) as their Best Film of the Year. This year that honors goes to Up in the Air.

The list itself has a few surprise inclusions, but people will be talking more about what didn't make it in i.e. Precious, Nine, The Lovely Bones, Avatar, A Single Man, The Last Station, etc. But no fret. Not getting a win here doesn't really mean those film's Oscar chances are dim, but it IS good news for those films/actors that did get the win.

For me, it just means I really need to see Up in the Air, like, right now. I'm also very pleased to see some of my favorite films on the listed below such as (500) Days of Summer, Star Trek, Up, Where the Wild Things Are, District 9, Goodbye Solo, and Julia. Will this mean Oscar love in a few months? For some, sure. For others, they'll be lucky to get some tech awards. I'll be pulling for them.

Best Film
Up In The Air

Top Ten Films
(500) Days Of Summer
An Education
A Serious Man
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
The Messenger
Star Trek
Up
Where The Wild Things Are

Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Invictus

Best Actor (tie)
Morgan Freeman, Invictus
George Clooney, Up In The Air

Best Actress
Carey Mulligan, An Education

Best Supporting Actor
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

Best Supporting Actress
Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air

Best Ensemble Cast
It’s Complicated

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious

Best Animated Feature
Up

Spotlight Award for Best Directorial Debut (tie)
Duncan Jones, Moon
Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Marc Webb, (500) Days of Summer

Best Original Screenplay
Joel & Ethan Coen, A Serious Man

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, Up In The Air

Special Filmmaking Achievement Award
Wes Anderson, The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Top Ten Independent Films
Amreeka
District 9
Goodbye Solo
Humpday
In The Loop
Julia
Me And Orson Welles
Moon
Sugar
Two Lovers

Best Foreign Film
A Prophet

Five Best Foreign Films
The Maid
Revanche
Song Of Sparrows
Three Monkeys
The White Ribbon

Best Documentary
The Cove

Five Best Documentary Films
Burma Vj
Crude
Food, Inc.
Good Hair
The Most Dangerous Man In America

William K. Everson Film History Award
Jean Picker Firstenberg

NBR Freedom of Expression
Burma Vj
Invictus
The Most Dangerous Man In America