The Boston Online Film Critics Go Their Own Way

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Boston Online Film Critics have announced their picks for the best of 2014!

(While I doubt that this will lead to Snowpiercer becoming a major player in the Oscar race, the Boston Online Film Critics do have excellent taste in film…)

BEST PICTURE:
SNOWPIERCER

BEST DIRECTOR:
Alejandro González Iñárritu, BIRDMAN

BEST ACTOR:
Brendan Gleeson, CALVARY

BEST ACTRESS:
Marion Cotillard, TWO DAYS ONE NIGHT

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Edward Norton, BIRDMAN

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Tilda Swinton, SNOWPIERCER

BEST SCREENPLAY:
John Michael McDonagh, CALVARY

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
TWO DAYS ONE NIGHT

BEST DOCUMENTARY:
LIFE ITSELF

BEST ANIMATED FILM:
THE LEGO MOVIE

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
BIRDMAN

BEST EDITING:
James Herbert & Laura Jennings, EDGE OF TOMORROW

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Mica Levi, UNDER THE SKIN

THE TEN BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR:
1. SNOWPIERCER
2. UNDER THE SKIN
3. BOYHOOD
4. ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE
5. THE BABADOOK
6. TWO DAYS ONE NIGHT
7. BIRDMAN
8. CALVARY
9. INHERENT VICE
10. SELMA

Here are the 10 Semi-finalists for The Best Visual Effects Oscar!

Posted on December 5, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Earlier today, the Academy announced the 10 semi-finalists for this year’s Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

Not on the list: Noah, Exodus, Edge of Tomorrow, or April Rain.

Here’s what made the cut:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Godzilla

Guardians of the Galaxy

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies

Interstellar

Maleficent

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

Transformers: Age of Extinction

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Here Are The 15 Semi-Finalists For The Best Documentary Feature Oscar!

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Earlier today, the Motion Picture Academy announced the 15 semi-finalists for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. These 15 movies were selected from 134 eligible documentaries. Next month, of course, 5 final nominees will be selected from the 15 possibilities listed below.

Unfortunately, I have only seen four of the movies listed below: Art and Craft, Finding Vivian Maier, Jodorowsky’s Dune, and Life Itself.

And they’re all more than worth making the effort to see!

Here are the 15 semi-finalists!

“Art and Craft,” Purple Parrot Films
“The Case against 8,” Day in Court
“Citizen Koch,” Elsewhere Films
“CitizenFour,” Praxis Films
“Finding Vivian Maier,” Ravine Pictures
“The Internet’s Own Boy,” Luminant Media
“Jodorowsky’s Dune,” City Film
“Keep On Keepin’ On,” Absolute Clay Productions
“The Kill Team,” f/8 filmworks
“Last Days in Vietnam,” Moxie Firecracker Films
“Life Itself,” Kartemquin Films and Film Rites
“The Overnighters,” Mile End Films West
“The Salt of the Earth,” Decia Films
“Tales of the Grim Sleeper,” Lafayette Film
“Virunga,” Grain Media

A Most Violent Year Is A Most Unexpected National Board Of Review Winner!

Posted on December 2, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The National Board of Review has spoken! They named their picks for the best of 2014 earlier today and — to the shock of many (especially me) — they picked JC Chandor’s crime drama A Most Violent Year as the best film of the year!

I love surprises!

Now, a lot of us were expecting A Most Violent Year to be an Oscar contender, with practically everyone expecting Jessica Chastain to either be nominated for best actress or supporting actress. (The NBR named her best supporting actress.) But I think a lot of us were expecting to see the NBR select Boyhood, Birdman, or maybe Selma.

Also of note is that Clint Eastwood won best director for American Sniper, which appears to be coming on strong as a potential Oscar nominee as well.

(Also of note: Foxcatcher was totally ignored by the NBR.)

Here are the NBR winners!

BEST PICTURE
“A Most Violent Year”

BEST DIRECTOR
Clint Eastwood, “American Sniper”

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”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, “The Lego Movie”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson, “Inherent Vice”

BEST ENSEMBLE
“Fury”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Wild Tales”

BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Life Itself”

SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Chris Rock for writing, directing, and starring in “Top Five”

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCES
Jack O’Connell, “Starred Up” and “Unbroken”

DEBUT DIRECTOR
Gillian Robespierre, “Obvious Child”

WILLIAM K. EVERSON FILM HISTORY AWARD
Scott Eyman

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
“Rosewater”
“Selma”

BEST PICTURE NOMINEES (alphabetical)
“American Sniper”
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“Fury”
“Gone Girl”
“The Imitation Game”
“Inherent Vice”
“The Lego Movie”
“Nightcrawler”
“Unbroken”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE NOMINEES (alphabetical)
“Force Majeure”
“Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem”
“Leviathan”
“Two Days One Night”
“We Are the Best!”

BEST DOCUMENTARY NOMINEES (alphabetical)
“Art and Craft”
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”
“Keep On Keepin’ On”
“The Kill Team”
“Last Days in Vietnam”

BEST INDEPENDENT FILMS (alphabetical)
“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”

Here are The Gotham Winners

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Concluding tonight’s awards roundup, here are the winners of the Gotham Awards! (Click here for a full list of nominees.)

Best Feature — Birdman

Best Actress — Julianne Moore in Still Alice

Best Actor — Michael Keaton in Birdman

Best Documentary — CitizenFour

Breakthrough Director — Anna Lilly Amirpour for A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night

Breakthrough Actor — Tessa Thompson for Dear White People

Spotlight on Women Filmmakers “Live the Dream” Grant — Chloe Zhao for Songs My Brothers Taught Me

The Nominees for the 42nd Annual Annie Awards Have Been Announced

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 42nd Annual Annie Nominations (honoring the best in animation) were announced today! You can see a full list of nominees here. Below are the nominations for best animated feature film, television series, and video game.

(Hopefully, at some point in the future, the Academy will finally start to give out an award for Best Voice Over Performance, which will make the Annies even more of an important precursor to the Academy Awards.)

Best Animated Feature
“Big Hero 6”
“Cheatin’”
“How to Train Your Dragon 2”
“Song of the Sea”
“The Book of Life”
“The Boxtrolls”
“The LEGO Movie”
“The Tale of The Princess Kaguya”

Best General Audience Animated Television/Broadcast Production
“Archer”
“Back To Backspace”
“Bob’s Burgers”
“Rick and Morty”
“Mike Tyson Mysteries”
“Regular Show”
“The Simpsons”

Best Video Game
“Forza Horizon 2”
“Valiant Hearts: The Great War”
“Child of Light”

Here Are The 19th Annual Satellite Nominations!

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

While the NYFCC were announcing their picks for the best of 2014, the International Press Association were announcing the nominees the 19th annual Satellite Awards. The Satellites aren’t really considered to be much of a precursor but they’re usually interesting. Because they generally nominate more films and performers than the Oscars, they’re always a nice mix of the expected and a few out-of-nowhere surprises.

Below you’ll find the film nominees. You can find a full list of Satellite nominees (including the television nominations) by clicking here.

Motion Picture
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash
Mr. Turner
Selma
Gone Girl
Birdman
Love is Strange
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Actor in a Motion Picture
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Miles Teller, Whiplash
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
David Oyelowo, Selma

Actor in a Supporting Role
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Edward Norton, Birdman
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher,
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Andy Serkis, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Actress in a Motion Picture
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Anne Dorval, Mommy
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night

Actress in a Supporting Role
Emma Stone, Birdman
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Laura Dern, Wild
Tilda Swinton, Snowpiercer
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Katherine Waterston, Inherent Vice

Art Direction & Production Design
George DeTitta Jr., Kevin Thompson, Stephen H. Carter, Birdman
Andrew Menzies, Peter Russell, Fury
Debra Schutt, Mark Friedberg, Noah
Dylan Cole, Frank Walsh, Gary Freeman, Maleficent
Adam Stockhausen, Anna Pinnock, Stephan Gessler, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Maria Djurkovic, Nick Dent, The Imitation Game

Best Ensemble
Into the Woods

Cinematography
Hoyte Van Hoytema, Interstellar
Dick Pope, Mr. Turner
Emmanuel Lubezki, Birdman
Robert Elswit, Inherent Vice
Benoît Delhomme, The Theory of Everything
Jeff Cronenweth, Gone Girl

Costume Design
Anushia Nieradzik, Belle
Milena Canonero, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Colleen Atwood, Into the Woods
Anna B. Sheppard, Maleficent
Michael Wilkinson, Noah
Anais Romand, Saint Laurent

Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game
Ava DuVernay, Selma

Film Editing
Sandra Adair, Boyhood
Gary Roach, Joel Cox, American Sniper
Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione, Birdman
William Goldenberg, AThe Imitation Game
Dody Dorn, Jay Cassidy, Fury
Stan Salfas, William Hoy, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Motion Picture, Animated or Mixed Media
Big Hero 6
Song of the Sea
The Boxtrolls
The Lego Movie
Wrinkles
The Book of Life
How to Train Your Dragon 2

Motion Picture, Documentary
Red Army
Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq
Art and Craft
Citizenfour
Finding Vivian Maier
Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Keep On Keepin’ On
Magician: The Astonishing Life and Work of Orson Welles
Virunga

Motion Picture, International Film
Greece, Little England
Israel, Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Poland, Ida
Sweden, Force Majeure
Russia, Leviathan
Canada, Mommy
Estonia, Tangerines
Mauritania, Timbuktu
Argentina, Wild Tales
Belgium, Two Days, One Night

Original Score
Antonio Sanchez, Birdman
Alexandre Desplat, The Imitation Game
Thomas Newman, The Judge
Steven Price, Fury
Hans Zimmer, Interstellar
Atticus Ross, Trent Reznor, Gone Girl

Original Song
“Everything is Awesome,” The Lego Movie
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You,” Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
“Split the Difference,” Boyhood
“I’ll Get What You Want,” Muppets Most Wanted
“What Is Love,” 127 Hours, Rio 2

Screenplay, Adapted
Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice
Graham Moore, The Imitation Game
Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
Anthony McCarten, The Theory of Everything
Jason Hall, American Sniper
Cheryl Strayed, Nick Hornby, Wild

Screenplay, Original
Paul Webb, Selma
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo, Nicolas Giabone, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias, Love is Strange
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Christopher Miller, Phil Lord, The Lego Movie

Sound (Editing and Mixing)
Craig Henighan, Ken Ishii, Skip Lievsay, Noah
Erik Aadahl, Ethan Van Der Ryn, Peter J. Devlin, Transformers: Age of Extinction
Anna Behlmer, Mark Holding, Taeyoung Choi, Terry Porter, Snowpiercer
Ben Wilkins, Craig Mann, Thomas Curley, Whiplash
Blake Leyh, John Casali, Michael Keller, Michael Prestwoood Smith, Renee Tondelli, Into the Woods
Ren Klyce, Steve Cantamessa, Gone Girl

Visual Effects
Eric Durst, Snowpiercer
Stephane Ceretti, Guardians of the Galaxy
Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter, Paul Franklin, Scott Fisher, Interstellar
Ben Snow, Burt Dalton, Dan Schrecker, Marc Chu, Noah
John Frazier, Patrick Tubach, Scott Benza, Scott Farrar, Transformers: Age of Extinction
Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, Matt Kutcher, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Here Are The New York Film Critics’ Circle Winners!

Posted on December 1, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Oscar season is upon us! December is the time of month when critics across the nation attempt to influence the Oscar race by announcing their picks for the best of 2014!

Up first, the New York Film Critics’ Circle! They announced their picks earlier today and, while no one is surprised to see Boyhood take best picture, a lot of observers (including me) were surprised for the awards for Timothy Spall and Marion Cotillard. Spall, of course, had been an early contender for his performance in Mr. Turner but, as of late, he had been overshadowed by Michael Keaton and others. As for Cotillard, she was on hardly anyone’s radar. It’ll be interesting to see if her win here is a fluke or if it’s the start of a successful nomination campaign.

Here are the winners!

BEST PICTURE
“Boyhood”

BEST DIRECTOR
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”

BEST ACTOR
Timothy Spall, “Mr. Turner”

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, “The Immigrant” and “Two Days, One Night”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”

BEST SCREENPLAY
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Darius Khondji, “The Immigrant”

BEST ANIMATED FILM
“The Lego Movie”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Ida” (Poland)

BEST NON-FICTION FEATURE
“CitizenFour”

BEST FIRST FEATURE
Jennifer Kent, “The Babadook”

SPECIAL AWARD
Adrienne Mancia

12 Things For Which I Am Thankful This Thanksgiving

Posted on November 27, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Hello there and Happy Thanksgiving! This is the time of year when we gather together, we look over the past few months, and we think about what we are thankful for. A lot of people online have also suggested that Thanksgiving is the perfect time to argue with relatives who hold different political views from you.

And sure — if you want to ruin Thanksgiving for everyone, go ahead and be that person. But for me, I’m just going to list 12 things that make me happy to be alive in 2014!

1) Dancing Groot! Actually, I’m thankful for all of the Guardians of the Galaxy but I’m especially happy that Groot is still around and he’s still dancing!

2) I’m thankful that Adult Swim is showing old Thanksgiving episodes of King of the Hill so that I’ll have an excuse not to watch any football games.

3) I’m thankful for all of The Hunger Games films and I’m thankful for the strength and empowerment that Jennifer Lawrence brings to the role of Katniss Everdeen.

4) I’m thankful that everything is awesome!

5) I’m thankful that this is the year that everyone else finally discovered that Shailene Woodley is one of the best actresses working today.

6) I’m thankful for Chris Pratt. (Who isn’t?)

7) I am especially thankful for sites like Awards Watch and Awards Circuit. These two sites provide some of the best Oscar coverage around and, unlike Awards Daily, they manage to do it while remaining fair, honest, and entertaining.

8) I’m thankful William J. Mann’s excellent book Tinseltown, a wonderful look back at the Hollywood of the 1920s and the unsolved murder of director William Desmond Taylor.

9) I’m thankful for the haunting perfection of True Detective.

10) I’m thankful for the hilarious satire of Veep. Meyer in 2016!

11) I’m thankful that Richard Linklater spent 12 years making Boyhood.

12) And, most importantly, I’m thankful for you! Thank you for visiting this site! Thank you for reading our reviews! Thank you for leaving comments! Thank you for making all of this worthwhile!

And, most of all, here’s hoping you had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Love you!

Here Are The Independent Spirit Nominations!

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Independent Spirit Nominations were announced today! Over the course of the last few years, the Spirit Awards have turned into a fairly accurate Oscar precursor. That’s good news for Boyhood, Whiplash, and Selma. (Birdman was also nominated for a lot of Spirit Awards but everyone’s known that it’s going to be a definite Oscar contender for several months now.)

I was happy to see both Ethan Hawke and Jake Gyllenhaal nominated. Both of them are dark horses in the Oscar race and, hopefully, this will help both of them.

Among the more surprising snubs: The Imitation Game and Wild.

Also, please note that Foxcatcher, Inherent Vice, and The Grand Budapest Hotel were all ineligible for the Spirit Awards because of their budgets were deemed to be too high. Foxcatcher and Inherent Vice both receive honorary awards.

Check out the nominees below!

BEST PICTURE
“Birdman”
“Boyhood”
“Love is Strange”
“Selma”
“Whiplash”

BEST DIRECTOR
Damien Chazelle, “Whiplash”
Ava DuVernay, “Selma”
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
David Zellner, “Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter”

BEST ACTOR
André Benjamin, “Jimi: All Is By My Side”
Jake Gyllenhaal, “Nightcrawler”
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
John Lithgow, “Love is Strange”
David Oyelowo, “Selma”

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, “The Immigrant”
Rinko Kikuchi, “Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter”
Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
Jenny Slate, “Obvious Child”
Tilda Swinton, “Only Lovers Left Alive”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Riz Ahmed, “Nightcrawler”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Alfred Molina, “Love is Strange”
Edward Norton, “Birdman”
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
Jessica Chastain, “A Most Violent Year”
Carmen Ejogo, “Selma”
Andrea Suarez Paz, “Stand Clear of the Closing Doors”
Emma Stone, “Birdman”

BEST SCREENPLAY
Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski, “Big Eyes”
J.C. Chandor, “A Most Violent Year”
Dan Gilroy, “Nightcrawler”
Jim Jarmusch, “Only Lovers Left Alive”
Ira Sachs & Mauricio Zacharias, “Love is Strange”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Darius Khondji, “The Immigrant”
Emmanuel Lubezki, “Birdman”
Sean Porter, “It Felt Like Love”
Lyle Vincent, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”
Bradford Young, “Selma”

BEST EDITING
Sandra Adair, “Boyhood”
Tom Cross, “Whiplash”
John Gilroy, “Nightcrawler”
Ron Patane, “A Most Violent Year”
Adam Wingard, “The Guest”

BEST DOCUMENTARY
“20,000 Days on Earth”
“CitizenFour”
“Stray Dog”
“The Salt of the Earth”
“Virunga”

BEST INTERNATIONAL PICTURE
“Force Majeure” (Sweden)
“Ida” (Poland)
“Leviathan” (Russia)
“Mommy” (Canada)
“Norte, the End of History” (Philippines)
“Under the Skin” (United Kingdom)

BEST FIRST FEATURE
“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”
“Dear White People”
“Nightcrawler”
“Obvious Child”
“She’s Lost Control”

BEST FIRST SCREENPLAY
Desiree Akhavan, “Appropriate Behavior”
Sara Colangelo, “Little Accidents”
Justin Lader, “The One I Love”
Anja Marquardt, “She’s Lost Control”
Justin Simien, “Dear White People”

JOHN CASSAVETES AWARD (best feature made for under $500,000)
“Blue Ruin”
“It Felt Like Love”
“Land Ho!”
“Man From Reno”
“Test”

PIAGET PRODUCERS AWARD
Chad Burris
Elisabeth Holm
Chris Ohlson

SOMEONE TO WATCH AWARD
Ana Lily Amirpour, “A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”
Rania Attieh & Daniel Garcia, “H.”
Chris Eska, “The Retrieval”

TRUER THAN FICTION AWARD
Amanda Rose Wilder, “Approaching the Elephant”
Darius Clark Monroe, “Evolution of a Criminal”
Dan Krauss, “The Kill Team”
Sara Dosa, “The Last Season”