National Board of Review

PICTURE: Her

Top Ten of 2013:
(in alphabetical order)

• 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 

DIRECTOR: Spike Jonze, Her
ACTOR: Bruce Dern, Nebraska
ACTRESS: Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Will Forte, Nebraska
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale Station
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Inside Llewyn Davis- Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Wolf of Wall Street- Terence Winter
ENSEMBLE CAST: Prisoners
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE (male): Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE (female): Adéle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
DIRECTORIAL DEBUT: Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
ANIMATED FEATURE: The Wind Rises
FOREIGN FILM: The Past

Top Five Foreign Films of 2013:

• Beyond the Hills
• Gloria
• The Grandmaster
• A Hijacking
• The Hunt

DOCUMENTARY: Stories We Tell

Top Five Documentaries of 2013:

• 20 Feet From Stardom
• The Act of Killing
• After Tiller
• Casting By
• The Square

Top Ten Independent Films of 2013:

• 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 

SPOTLIGHT AWARD: Career collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio
CREATIVE INNOVATION IN FILMMAKING AWARD: Gravity
NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AWARD: Wadjda
WILLIAM K. EVERSON FILM HISTORY AWARD: George Stevens, Jr.  

National Board of Review

FILM: Zero Dark Thirty

Ten Best Films of 2012:

• Argo
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Django Unchained
• Les Miserables
• Lincoln
• Looper
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Promised Land
• Silver Linings Playbook

DIRECTOR: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
ACTOR: Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Leonardo DiCarprio, Django Unchained
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Ann Dowd, Compliance
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Looper- Rian Johnson
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Silver Linings Playbook- David O. Russell
BREAKTHROUGH ACTOR: Tom Holland, The Impossible
BREAKTHROUGH ACTRESS: Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild 
DIRECTORIAL DEBUT: Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild 
ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE: Les Miserables 
ANIMATED FEATURE: Wreck-It-Ralph

DOCUMENTARY: Searching for Sugarman 

Top 5 Documentaries of 2012:

• Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
• Detropia
• The Gatekeepers
• The Invisible War
• Only the Young

FOREIGN FILM: Amour

Top 5 Foreign Films of 2012:

• Barbara
• The Intouchables
• The Kid with the Bike
• No
• War Witch

SPOTLIGHT AWARD: John Goodman, Argo, Flight, ParaNorman, The Trouble With Curve
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN FILMMAKER: Ben Affleck, Argo
NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Central Park Five, Promised Land
WILLIAM K. EVERSON FILM HISTORY AWARD: 50 Years of Bond

Top Ten Independent Films of 2012:
Arbitrage
Bernie
Compliance
End of Watch
Hello I Must Be Going
Little Birds
Moonrise Kingdom
On the Road
Quartet
Sleepwalk with Me

National Board of Review

PICTURE: Hugo
Top Ten of 2011 (in alphabetical order):

• The Artist
• The Descendants
• Drive
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
• Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• The Ides of March
• J. Edgar
• The Tree of Life
• War Horse

DIRECTOR: Martin Scorcese, Hugo
ACTOR: George Clooney, The Descendants
ACTRESS: Tilda Swinton, We Need to Talk About Kevin
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christopher Plummer, Beginners
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: 50/50- Will Reiser
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Descendants- Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
ANIMATED FEATURE: Rango

FOREIGN FILM: A Separation

Top Five Foreign Films of 2011:
13 Assassins
Elite Squad: The Enemy Within
Footnote
Le Havre
Point Blank

DOCUMENTARY: Paradise Lost 3, Purgatory

Top Five Documentaries of 2011:
Born to be Wild
Buck
George Harrison: Living in the Material World
Project Nim
Senna

TOP TEN INDEPENDENT FILMS OF 2011:
50/50
Another Earth
Beginners
A Better Life
Cedar Rapids
Margin Call
Shame
Take Shelter
We Need to Talk About Kevin
Win Win

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE: Felicity Jones, Like Crazy and Rooney Mara, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
BREAKTHROUGH FILMMAKER: J.C. Chandor, Margin Call
ENSEMBLE: The Help
SPOTLIGHT AWARD: Michael Fassbender (X-Men: First Class, Shame, A Dangerous Method, Jane Eyre)
NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION: Crime After Crime and Pariah
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT IN FILMMAKING: The Harry Potter franchise

There's always a few given with the National Board of Review, for the first year settling for the second organization out of the gate in annual awards giving (shaking fist at the New York Film Critics...aarrgh!), one thing is that whenever Clint Eastwood has a new picture, it will show up somewhere no matter how middling the reviews or popular consensus might be (and J. Edgar is one of least doted on in quite some time), the other is George Clooney will come into play as well...this is his third Best Actor mention (previously cited for Michael Clayton and Up in the Air)...his directorial effort The Ides of March even made the top ten.  Still it's a pleasant enough surprise that Hugo, Scorcese's most daring undertaking in a while (a 3-D family film\ode to le cinema) took top honors, as well as the directors prize.  And on a happy note, whatever you may think individually or collectively, it's also pleasant enough that none of the top awards were the same given out by the New York Film Critics...let's keep this up!

Biggest winners:  Aside from Hugo, which now some legitimacy to play with...The Descendants came out strong (as expected eventually), the surprise screenplay mention for 50/50 may make an impression (however last year the NBR gave it's Original Screenplay nod to Buried, which proved not very much), Margin Call continues to be showing strong stealing away small prizes that should be bestowed to Martha Marcy May Marlene.  Acting wise the biggest winner is Tilda Swinton, whose We Need to Talk About Kevin, a dark and disturbing drama will need all the help it can get, as it will only net a tiny limited engagement run starting next week.  Clooney and Woodley need no such help, but Christopher Plummer's Supporting Actor mention for Beginners is a nice ease for what should hopefully prove a fruitful awards season for the seasoned vet.

Biggest losers: Martha Marcy May Marlene can't get arrested...the Indie Spirits were kind, but this kind of film will need help to weather the next couple of months, and is deserving of such...not be cruel but Elizabeth Olsen's performance is so vastly superior to other salivated-over breakthrough Felicity Jones in Like Crazy, I can't quite fathom the snub. Shame was relegated to indie top ten only, plus a shared honor to Michael Fassbender's tremendous year-- may spell trouble down the road, hopefully the films release this weekend will reverse this.  Glenn Close may be in trouble as the early organizations have all ignored her labor of love project Albert Nobbs.

National Board of Review

The beginning of the madness; here are the winners:

BEST PICTURE
The Social Network

Top Ten of 2010
(in alphabetical order)

• Another Year
• The Fighter
• Hereafter
• Inception
• The King's Speech
• Shutter Island
• The Town
• Toy Story 3
• True Grit
• Winter's Bone

BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher, The Social Network

BEST ACTOR
Jesse Eisenberg, The Social Network

BEST ACTRESS
Lesley Manville, Another Year

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Christian Bale, The Figher

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jacki Weaver, Animal Kingdom

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Buried- Chris Sparling

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Social Network- Aaron Sorkin

BEST FOREIGN FILM
Of Gods and Men

Top Five Foreign Film of the 2010

• I Am Love
• Incendies
• Life, Above All
• Soul Kitchen
• White Material

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Waiting for 'Superman'

Top Five Documentaries of 2010

• A Film Unfinished
• Inside Job
• Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work
• Restrepo
• The Tillman Story

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Toy Story 3

BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
The Town

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Jennifer Lawrence, Winter's Bone

BEST DIRECTOR DEBUT
Sebastian Junger & Tim Hetherington, Restrepo

SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Sylvain Chomet & Jacques Tati, The Illusionist

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Shutter Island- Dante Ferretti

SPECIAL FILMMAKING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Sofia Coppola, for writing, directing and producing Somewhere

NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Fair Game, Conviction, Howl

WILLIAM K. EVERSON FILM HISTORY AWARD
Leonard Malton

Top Ten Independent Films

• Animal Kingdom
• Buried
• Fish Tank
• The Ghost Writer
• Greenberg
• Let Me In
• Monsters
• Please Give
• Somewhere
• Youth in Revolt

The Social Network gets the upper hand in the first big prize of the season, which is wonderful since it's one of the best of the year.  It's the first of what I assume will be many prizes coming its way; the critics lurved it!  While The Social Network's awards heaping doesn't surprise, the Eisenberg mention does-- he's fantastic in the role, but it's such a scathing, unlikable portrayal; of course his win here elevates his Oscar chances ten fold, as well as the chances of already likely nominees Lesley Manville and Christian Bale; great to see Jacki Weaver get the boost as well.

NBR continues it's tradition of spreading their love in odd ways (Buried for best original screenplay; The Town as best ensemble) as well as continuing their "I Love Clint Eastwood" ass kissing in full tilt-- Hereafter, despite a major critical and popular drubbing was on their top 10, or top 11.

Films notable missing anywhere:
127 Hours
Black Swan
Blue Valentine
The Kids Are All Right
Rabbit Hole

National Board of Review

BEST PICTURE
Up in the Air

Top Eleven of 2009:
An Education
(500) Days of Summer
The Hurt Locker
Inglourious Basterds
Invictus
The Messenger
A Serious Man
Star Trek
Up
Where the Wild Things Are

BEST DIRECTOR
Clint Eastwood, Invictus

BEST ACTOR (tie)
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Morgan Freeman, Invictus

BEST ACTRESS
Carey Mulligan, An Education

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
A Serious Man-- Ethan Coen & Joel Coen

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Up in the Air-- Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Up

BEST FOREIGN FILM
The Prophet

Top Six Foreign Films:
The Maid
Revanche
Song of Sparrows
Three Monkeys
The White Ribbon

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Cove

Top Six Documentaries:
Burma Vj: Reporting From a Closed Country
Crude
Food, Inc.
Good Hair
The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg & the Pentagon Papers

BEST ENSEMBLE
It's Complicated

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCES
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire

SPOTLIGHT AWARD FOR DIRECTORIAL DEBUT (tie)
Duncan Jones, Moon
Oren Moverman, The Messenger
Marc Webb, (500) Days of Summer

SPECIAL FILMMAKING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Wes Anderson, Fantastic Mr. Fox

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AWARD
Burma Vj: Reporting From a Closed Country
Invictus
The Most Dangerous Man in the America: Daniel Ellsberg & the Pentagon Papers

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


And there you have it; the official start of the season. I was for the most part wrong, thinking strangely that Up in the Air wouldn't really come into the picture until the Golden Globes, but clearly it has taken control of the momentum (I plan to see it tomorrow), and surprisingly swept the NBR (picture, actor, supporting actress, screenplay)-- that's a sweep for NBR, which has always been a more share the love critics community. Boosted indefinitely are the profiles of Carey Mulligan, and more significantly Woody Harrelson (I'm really going to have to catch The Messenger; it's quietly becoming a forminable contender.) Again the NBR slobbered over Clint Eastwood (not shocking and frankly a bit boring), but ignored the Weinsteins (nothing for Nine or A Single Man-- both of which I thought had great NBR potential.)

Also snubbed everywhere: The Lovely Bones, The Last Station and Bright Star-- they're profiles are dwindling. Notable that Precious was snubbed everywhere except breakthrough performance, was that a mistake or is it not as strong a contender as believed.

Got to love they're curves that will probably lead nowhere:

-It's Complicated for best ensemble, ok!

-Three best directorial debuts is a bit pushing it, even if the three films in question are worthy.

-District 9 is considered an independent picture, odd seeing as it has a big studio distributor (Sony), a very non-independent producer (Peter Jackson), opened on a begillion screens--a movie with a $30 million budget is considered independent these days-- really?

-Star Trek and Where the Wild Things Are making their top top- I mean eleven- totally cool choices, Oscar won't bite however-- thanks for the few bits of individualism NBR!

Now a word of advice to the onslaught of critics groups taking over my life in the next couple of months: please follow your heart, and don't be swayed by the temptation of Oscar group think-- make your own choices (I don't care if I don't like them-- I love that too); I don't want to a see a list like this when again (not that it's bad), follow your heart, and keep the conversation of film going. Thank You!

National Board of Review: Review

The National Board of Review announces its winners on Thursday. It's significant because the NBR are the first real organization to name winners (the Gothams don't count), and because the track record between NBR and Oscar is totally relevant-- the first one out usually makes it to end, and with very few exceptions, the winner of the NBR is best picture nominated. Here's a look back at the last 25 years of NBR history:

2008: Slumdog Millionaire (Oscar winner)
2007: No Country for Old Men (Oscar winner)
2006: Letters From Iwo Jima (Oscar nominee)
2005: Good Night, & Good Luck (Oscar nominee)
2004: Finding Neverland (Oscar nominee)
2003: Mystic River (Oscar nominee)
2002: The Hours (Oscar nominee)
2001: Moulin Rouge! (Oscar nominee)
2000: Quills
1999: American Beauty (Oscar winner)
1998: Gods & Monsters
1997: L.A. Confidential (Oscar nominee)
1996: Shine (Oscar nominee)
1995: Sense & Sensibility (Oscar nominee)
1994: Pulp Fiction (Oscar nominee)
1993: Schindler's List (Oscar winner)
1992: Howard's End (Oscar nominee)
1991: The Silence of the Lambs (Oscar winner)
1990: Dances With Wolves (Oscar winner)
1989: Driving Miss Daisy (Oscar winner)
1988: Mississippi Burning (Oscar nominee)
1987: Empire of the Sun
1986: A Room With a View (Oscar nominee)
1985: The Color Purple (Oscar nominee)
1984: A Passage to India (Oscar nominee)

Typically they go for the Best Picture bridesmaid, but they've been on a roll the last two years starting the runaway sweeps for Slumdog Millionaire and No Country For Old Men.

Types they go for:

-Clint Eastwood-- they love him adore him (picture wins for Letters From Iwo Jima and Mystic River); top ten placements (Changeling; Gran Torino; Million Dollar Baby); acting win (for Gran Torino), they kickstarted the Million Dollar Baby buzz a month before the film opened! Expect some love for the Nelson Mandela bio Invictus.

-Films About Art, Writing or Music-- they're big on films about the artistic process, or about artistic people (Finding Neverland, about J.M. Barrie and Peter Pan; Gods & Monsters, about film director James Whale; Quills, about the Marquis de Sade; The Hours, it's all certained around Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway; Shine.) Acting wins for Annette Bening (for Being Julia) and Jamie Foxx (for Ray.)

-Musicals-- they love 'em, even when they're not that good-- Moulin Rouge! won best picture; Chicago and The Phantom of the Opera all got much love-- could bode well for Nine, which speaking of...

-The Weinsteins-- the producers of Nine\ Oscar hoggers extroadainaire-- they love these brothers a lot (Pulp Fiction, The Hours), but pretty much all they're Oscar hopefuls factor into the NBR somewhere, be it acting, top ten placement, made up awards the NBR likes to do, etc... could also bode well for The Road and A Single Man.

-Gay Films-- the NBR always has a sweet spot of specialized gay films (Milk, Brokeback Mountain, Capote, My Beautiful Laundrette, Gods & Monsters have all been well loved)-- expect some love for A Single Man, Tom Ford's new film, being distributed by the Weinsteins.

-Being First-- they purposely are first and obviously revel in it-- sometimes there's surprises in store, but the movies with the buzz at the moment usually make it at the top-- I'm thinking of Precious, The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, and A Serious Man-- I'd be very surprised if none of those didn't at least make their top ten-- I think all of them will.

We shall continue the conversation Thursday, December 3rd!

National Board of Review

BEST PICTURE
Slumdog Millionaire

Top Ten Films of 2008:
Burn After Reading
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Defiance
Frost/Nixon
Gran Torino
Milk
WALL-E
The Wrestler

BEST DIRECTOR
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button


BEST ACTOR
Clint Eastwood, Gran Torino

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Milk

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST
Doubt

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Gran Torino- Nick Schenk

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- Eric Roth
and
Slumdog Millionaire- Simon Beaufoy

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCES
Dev Patel, Slumdog Millionaire (male)
Viola Davis, Doubt (female)

BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River

SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Melissa Leo, Frozen River

BEST ANIMATED FILM
WALL-E

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Mongol

Top Five Foreign Films of 2008:
The Edge of Heaven
Let the Right One In
Roman de Gare
A Secret
Waltz With Bashir

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Man on Wire

Top Five Documentaries of 2008:
American Teen
The Betrayal
Dear Zachary
Encounters at the End of the World
Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired

Top 10 Independent Films of 2008:
Frozen River
In Bruges
In Search of a Midnight Kiss
Mr. Foe
Rachel Getting Married
Snow Angels
Son of Rambow
Wendy & Lucy
Vicky Cristina Barcelona
The Visitor

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

National Board of Review

BEST PICTURE

No Country For Old Men

No surprise here at all!

Top Ten Films (in alphabetical order): The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Atonement, The Bourne Ultamatum, The Bucket List, Into the Wild, Juno, The Kite Runner, Lars and the Real Girl, Michael Clayton, Sweeney Todd

BEST DIRECTOR

Tim Burton- Sweeney Todd

Huge surprise- could it? will it? I'm too huge of a Todd lover to get all worked up, but maybe, just maybe Burton got some of Ed Wood magic going on-- for no I will remain hopefully pessimistic.

BEST ACTOR

George Clooney- Michael Clayton

BEST ACTRESS

Julie Christie- Away From Her

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Casey Affleck- The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

This is total catagory fraud (he's a lead), but who cares, as long as this justly lauded performance gets something.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Ryan- Gone Baby Gone

Honestly surprised, by happily-- she did a great job.

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

No Country For Old Men

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (tie)

Juno- Diablo Cody
Lars and the Real Girl- Nancy Oliver

I love me some Juno (a lot more on my new obsession to come), but honestly Lars is a head scratcher.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

No Country For Old Men- The Coen Brothers

BEST FOREIGN FILM

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

Top Five Foreign Films (in alphabetical order): 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The Band's Visit, The Counterfeiters, La Vie en Rose, Lust, Caution

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Body of War

Top Five Documentaries (in alphabetical order): Darfur Now, In the Shadows of the Moon, Nanking, Taxi to the Darkside, Toots

Wow! No Sicko anywhere in the NBR list!

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Ratatouille

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCES

(male): Emile Hirsch- Into the Wild

(female): Ellen Page- Juno

I truly hope that the wonderously talented Ellen Page doesn't get relegated to the Breakthrough pit of the critics awards, so deserves the awards traction to lead to Oscar, besides her true breakthrough was Hard Candy, which was so creepy and frightening that watching Juno justs proves how amazing she is.

Top Ten Independent Films (in alphabetical order): Away From Her, Great World of Sound, Honeydripper, In the Valley of Elah, A Mighty Heart, The Namesake, Once, The Savages, Starting Out in the Evening, Waitress