Tag Archives: The Climb

The National Board of Review Honors Da 5 Bloods

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

In the past, the National Board of Review were considered to be a big deal because they were the first of the critics groups to announce their yearly awards and winning with the NBR could help to generate momentum for a film going into the awards season.  No one was really sure just who exactly the NBR voters were but they were the first to announce and that was all that mattered.

However, that all changed when the Academy decided to extend the year’s eligibility window and to also hold off on announcing the Oscar nominations into February.  The National Board Of Review followed suit and decided to hold off on handing out their awards until late January, presumably so that they could continue to be seen as Academy influencers.  As a result of bunch of regional critics got the jump on the NBR and now Nomadland and Promising Young Woman have so much momentum that it’s kind of hard to really care that the NBR honored Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods instead.

(That said, it is kind of interesting that Nomadland is kind of underrepresented as far as the NBR rewards are concerned.  It won for for Joshua James Richards’s cinematography and it was included as one of the “top films of the year,” but otherwise, it was pretty much ignored in favor of Da 5 Bloods, Promising Young Woman, Minari, and Sound of Metal.  Nomadland didn’t even pick up the award for Best Adapted Screenplay, instead losing out to News of the World, a film that otherwise really hasn’t been a huge factor in 2020’s extended awards season.)

Anyway, for what their worth, here are the winners from the National Board of Review:

Best Film: “Da 5 Bloods”
Best Director: Spike Lee – “Da 5 Bloods”
Best Actor: Riz Ahmed – “Sound of Metal”
Best Actress: Carey Mulligan – “Promising Young Woman”
Best Supporting Actor: Paul Raci – “Sound of Metal”
Best Supporting Actress: Youn Yuh-jung – “Minari”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Greengrass & Luke Davies – “News of the World”
Best Original Screenplay: Lee Isaac Chung – “Minari”
Breakthrough Performance: Sidney Flanigan – “Never Rarely Sometimes Always”
Best Directorial Debut: Channing Godfrey Peoples – “Miss Juneteenth”
Best Animated Feature: “Soul”
Best Foreign Language Film: “La Llorona”
Best Documentary: “Time”
NBR Icon Award: Chadwick Boseman
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: “One Night in Miami”
NBR Spotlight Award: Radha Blank for writing, directing, producing and starring in “The Forty-Year-Old Version”
Best Ensemble: “Da 5 Bloods”
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Joshua James Richards – “Nomadland”

Top Films (in alphabetical order):
First Cow
The Forty-Year-Old Version
Judas and the Black Messiah
The Midnight Sky
Minari
News of the World
Nomadland
Promising Young Woman
Soul
Sound of Metal

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order):
Apples
Collective
Dear Comrades
The Mole Agent
Night of the Kings

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order):
All In: The Fight for Democracy
Boys State
Dick Johnson is Dead
Miss Americana
The Truffle Hunters

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order):
The Climb
Driveways
Farewell Amor
Miss Juneteenth
The Nest
Never Rarely Sometimes Always
The Outpost
Relic
Saint Frances
Wolfwalkers

The Denver Film Critics Society Honors The Trial of The Chicago 7

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Somehow, I guess I missed the Denver Film Critics Society announcing their nominations.  Oh well, no worries!  We’ve got both their nominations and their winners listed below!  (The winners are in bold.)

The Denver Film Critics Society decided to buck the trend a little bit by giving their best picture award to Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7 as opposed to Nomadland.  However, they still gave their best director award to Chloe Zhao.  For some reason, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the same thing happen at the Oscars.  In fact, if The Trial of The Chicago 7 does somehow win best picture, I’m hoping that Zhao or someone other than Sorkin win Best Director.  There’s only so many Aaron Sorkin speeches that one can take during the course of one night.

Among the other winners in Denver: Carey Mulligan won Best Actress of Promising Young Woman, Chadwick Boseman took Best Actor for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Ellen Burstyn won Best Supporting Actress for Pieces of a Woman while Sacha Baron Cohen won Best Supporting Actor for The Trial of the Chicago 7.

Here’s the full list:

Best Picture
“Minari”
“Nomadland”
“The Trial of the Chicago 7”
“First Cow”
“Soul”

Best Director
Chloe Zhao – “Nomadland”
David Fincher – “Mank”
Aaron Sorkin – “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Pete Docter – “Soul”
Lee Isaac Chung – “Minari”

Best Actress
Frances McDormand – “Nomadland”
Viola Davis – “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Carey Mulligan – “Promising Young Woman”
Elisabeth Moss – “The Invisible Man”
Vanessa Kirby – “Pieces of a Woman”

Best Actor
Chadwick Boseman – “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Gary Oldman – “Mank”
Delroy Lindo – “Da 5 Bloods”
Riz Ahmed – “Sound of Metal”
Steven Yuen – “Minari”

Best Supporting Actress
Olivia Colman – “The Father”
Amanda Seyfried – “Mank”
Ellen Burstyn – “Pieces of a Woman”
Youn Yuh-jung – “Minari”
Maria Bakalova – “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”

Best Supporting Actor
Bill Murray – “On the Rocks”
Chadwick Boseman – “Da 5 Bloods”
Bo Burnham – “Promising Young Woman”
David Strathairn – “Nomadland”
Sacha Baron Cohen – “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Best Sci-Fi/Horror
“The Vast of Night”
“Possessor”
“The Invisible Man”
“Tenet”
“Freaky”

Best Animated Feature
“Wolfwalkers”
“Soul”
“The Wolf House”
“Onward”
“Over the Moon”

Best Comedy
“The Personal History of David Copperfield”
“The Climb”
“Palm Springs”
“Birds of Prey”
“The Forty-Year-Old Version”

Best Visual Effects
“Tenet”
“The Midnight Sky”
“The Invisible Man”
“Greyhound”
“Birds of Prey”

Best Original Screenplay
Aaron Sorkin – “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Radha Blank – “The Forty-Year-Old Version”
Pete Docter, Mike Jones & Kemp Powers – “Soul”
Lee Isaac Chung – “Minari”
Emerald Fennell – “Promising Young Woman”

Best Adapted Screenplay
Jonathan Raymond & Kelly Reichardt – “First Cow”
Chloe Zhao – “Nomadland”
Ruben Santiago-Hudson – “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”
Kemp Powers – “One Night in Miami”
Charlie Kaufman – “I’m Thinking of Ending Things”

Best Documentary
“Boys State”
“All In: The Fight for Democracy”
“The Social Dilemma”
“The Truffle Hunters”
“Dick Johnson Is Dead”

Best Original Song
“Poverty Porn” – “The Forty-Year-Old Version”
“Speak Now” – “One Night in Miami”
“Wear Your Crown” – “The Prom”
“Rocket to the Moon” – “Over the Moon”
“Hear My Voice” – “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Best Original Score
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – “Soul”
Alexander Desplat – “The Midnight Sky”
Terence Blanchard – “One Night in Miami”
Ludwig Goransson – “Tenet”
Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross – “Mank”

Best Non-English Language Feature
“The Life Ahead”
“Martin Eden”
“Another Round”
“Minari”
“I’m No Longer Here”

Here Are The 2019 Independent Spirit Award Nominees!

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here are the 2019 Indie Spirit Award nominations!  These nominations are meant to honor the best independent films of 2019 and their announcement marks the official beginning of awards season (at least as far as this sight is concerned!)  I hate to say it but I still need to see quite a few of the films nominated below so, for now, I’ll hold off on any editorial commentary.

For those looking for some sort of evidence of how the Oscar nominations can go, the Independent Spirit Awards can be an iffy precursor, just because several of the expensive, major studio contenders aren’t eligible to nominated.  (For instance, neither The Irishman nor Once Upon A Time In Hollywood were eligible.)  That said, for the record, the two biggest Spirit nominees are The Lighthouse and Uncut Gems.  Waves and The Farewell, which have been the center of considerable Oscar speculation, did not do as strongly in the nominations as many people apparently expected.  Make of that what you will!

Here are the nominees!

Best Supporting Female

  • Jennifer Lopez – HUSTLERS
  • Taylor Russell – WAVES
  • Zhao Shuzhen – THE FAREWELL
  • Lauren “Lolo” Spencer – GIVE ME LIBERTY
  • Octavia Spencer – LUCE
  • Best Supporting Male
  • Willem Dafoe – THE LIGHTHOUSE
  • Noah Jupe – HONEY BOY
  • Shia Labeouf – HONEY BOY
  • Jonathan Majors – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
  • Wendell Pierce – BURNING CANE

Best Screenplay

  • Noah Baumbach – MARRIAGE STORY
  • Jason Begue, Shawn Snyder – TO DUST
  • Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
  • Chinonye Chukwu – CLEMENCY
  • Tarell Alvin Mccraney – HIGH FLYING BIRD

Best First Screenplay

  • Fredrica Bailey, Stefon Bristol – SEE YOU YESTERDAY
  • Hannah Bos, Paul Thureen – DRIVEWAYS
  • Bridget Savage Cole, Danielle Krudy – BLOW THE MAN DOWN
  • Jocelyn Deboer, Dawn Luebbe – GREENER GRASS
  • James Montague, Craig W. Sanger – THE VAST OF NIGHT

Best Cinematography

  • Todd Banhazl – HUSTLERS
  • Jarin Blaschke – THE LIGHTHOUSE
  • Natasha Braier – HONEY BOY
  • Chananun Chotrungroj – THE THIRD WIFE
  • Pawel Pogorzelski – MIDSOMMAR

Best Editing

  • Julie Béziau – THE THIRD WIFE
  • Ronald Bronstein, Benny Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
  • Tyler L. Cook – SWORD OF TRUST
  • Louise Ford – THE LIGHTHOUSE
  • Kirill Mikhanovsky – GIVE ME LIBERTY

Best International Film

  • INVISIBLE LIFE, Brazil
  • LES MISERABLES, France
  • PARASITE, South Korea
  • PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE, France
  • RETABLO, Peru
  • THE SOUVENIR, United Kingdom

Best Documentary (Award given to the director and producer)

  • AMERICAN FACTORY
  • APOLLO 11
  • FOR SAMA
  • HONEYLAND
  • ISLAND OF THE HUNGRY GHOSTS

The John Cassavetes Award is presented to the best feature made for under $500,000 and is given to the writer, director, and producer. 2020 #SpiritAwards Nominees are:

  • BURNING CANE
  • COLEWELL
  • GIVE ME LIBERTY
  • PREMATURE
  • WILD NIGHTS WITH EMILY

Best Female Lead

  • Karen Allen – COLEWELL
  • Hong Chau – DRIVEWAYS
  • Elisabeth Moss – HER SMELL
  • Mary Kay Place – DIANE
  • Alfre Woodard – CLEMENCY
  • Renée Zellweger – JUDY

Best Male Lead 

  • Chris Galust – GIVE ME LIBERTY
  • Kelvin Harrison  Jr., – LUCE
  • Robert Pattinson – THE LIGHTHOUSE
  • Adam Sandler – UNCUT GEMS
  • Matthias Schoenaerts – THE MUSTANG

Best First Feature (Award given to the director and producer)

  • BOOKSMART
  • THE CLIMB
  • DIANE
  • THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO
  • THE MUSTANG
  • SEE YOU YESTERDAY

Best Feature [award given to the producer(s)]

  • A HIDDEN LIFE
  • CLEMENCY
  • THE FAREWELL
  • MARRIAGE STORY
  • UNCUT GEMS

Best Director

  • Robert Eggers – THE LIGHTHOUSE
  • Alma Har’el – HONEY BOY
  • Julius Onah – LUCE
  • Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie – UNCUT GEMS
  • Lorene Scafaria – HUSTLERS

The Robert Altman Award is given to the ensemble cast, director & casting director of one film: MARRIAGE STORY – Noah Baumbach, Douglas Aibel, Francine Maisler, Alan Alda, Laura Dern, Adam Driver, Julie Hagerty, Scarlett Johansson, Ray Liotta, Azhy Robertson, Merritt Wever

The Truer Than Fiction Award, in its 25th year, is for emerging directors of non-fiction features and includes an unrestricted grant. Finalists:
Khalik Allah – BLACK MOTHER
Davy Rothbart – 17 BLOCKS
Nadia Shihab – JADDOLAND
Erick Stoll & Chase Whiteside – AMÉRICA

The Producers Award, now in its 23rd year, honors emerging producers who demonstrate creativity, tenacity and vision, despite highly limited resources. The award includes an unrestricted grant. These are the finalists:
Mollye Asher
Krista Parris
Ryan Zacarias

The Someone To Watch Award, in its 26th year, recognizes a talented filmmaker of singular vision and includes an unrestricted grant. The finalists are:
Rashaad Ernesto Green – PREMATURE
Ash Mayfair – THE THIRD WIFE
Joe Talbot – THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO

The Bonnie Award will recognize a mid-career female director with a $50,000 unrestricted grant. The 2020 Film Independent #SpiritAwards Bonnie Award finalists are:
MarielleHeller
KellyReichardt
LuluWang