85th Annual National Board of Review Awards

The National Board of Review (NBR) announced their awards on December 4th, 2013 with giving away the Best Film award to HER, directed and produced by Spike Jonze who also won the Best Director award. To be honest, I wasn't expecting it at all, especially after yesterday's NYFCC awards. Spike is a talented and innovative filmmaker and it's very nice of the board to appreciate his work.

All the wins are actually kind of amazing especially the Wolf of Wall Street's Adapted Screenplay award and the Secret Life of Walter Mitty (a genuine surprise - I so want to watch this film now) making it to the list of top 10 films. These are the first honors for both of these movies this award season and I'm sure the best is yet to come.

Last year, only 2 out of 11 (not counting those categories that are not recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) NBR winners actually won the Oscar, i.e. Best Documentary for Searching for Sugar Man and Best Foreign Language Film for Amour. Let's see what happens this year.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Film: HER

Best Director: Spike Jonze (HER)

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)

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

Breakthrough Actor: Michael B. Jordan (FRUITVALE STATION)

Breakthrough Actress: Adele Exarchopoulos (BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR)

Best Directorial Debut: Ryan Coogler (FRUITVALE STATION)

Best Foreign Language Film: THE PAST

Best Documentary: STORIES WE TELL

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

Best Ensemble: PRISONERS

Spotlight Award: Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio

NBR Freedom of Expression Award: WADJDA

Creative Innovation in Filmmaking Award: GRAVITY

Top Films (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

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order):

• Beyond the Hills


• Gloria


• The Grandmaster


• A Hijacking


• The Hunt

Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order):

• 20 Feet from Stardom


• The Act of Killing


• After Tiller


• Casting By


• The Square

Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order):

• 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

84th Annual National Board of Review Awards

84th National Board of Review (NBR) Awards took place yesterday, December 5th, 2012 with giving away the BEST FILM prize to Kathryn Bigelow’s ZERO DARK THIRTY, obviously. My predictions were that either Ben Affleck’s ARGO, Tom Hooper’s LES MISÉRABLES or Steven Spielberg’s LINCOLN would win the BEST FILM award but NBR gave it away to Zero Dark Thirty. I’m still not disappointed by their decision because I’m pretty sure Kathryn Bigelow has done a wonderful job just like she did with THE HURT LOCKER.

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Film:  ZERO DARK THIRTY

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow (ZERO DARK THIRTY)

Best Actor: Bradley Cooper (SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK)

Now, this is a bit surprising. I wasn’t hoping to see that Cooper would win this award with so many strong contenders with their strong and powerful performances. But I’m quite happy that Cooper won the award, he is a talent actor and can perform really well, either it is comedy or drama.

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain (ZERO DARK THIRTY)

Best Supporting Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio (DJANGO UNCHAINED)

If it means something then it means that DiCaprio is getting a nomination in the 85th Academy Awards, for sure. And maybe, he’d win it as well.

Best Supporting Actress: Ann Dowd (COMPLIANCE)

Best Original Screenplay: Rian Johnson (LOOPER)

I cannot explain how happy I am to see Looper winning an award for Original Screenplay. Would it be too much if I hope to see Looper in Academy Awards and Golden Globes nomination for the Original Screenplay? I don’t think so.

Best Adapted Screenplay: David O. Russell (SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK)

Best Animated Feature: WRECK-IT RALPH

Special Achievement in Filmmaking: Ben Affleck (ARGO)

My wish has come true, I wanted Affleck to win a Special Achievement award in NBR and he finally won!

Breakthrough Actor: Tom Holland (THE IMPOSSIBLE)

Breakthrough Actress: Quvenzhané Wallis (BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD)

Best Directorial Debut: Benh Zeitlin (BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD)

Mr. Zeitlin deserves all the appreciation for directing such a beautiful film.

Best Foreign Language Film: AMOUR

Best Documentary: SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN

William K. Everson Film History Award: 50 YEARS OF BOND FILMS

Best Ensemble: LES MISÉRABLES (very obvious)

Spotlight Award: John Goodman (ARGO, FLIGHT, PARANORMAN, TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE)

NBR Freedom of Expression Award: THE CENTRAL PARK FIVE

NBR Freedom of Expression Award: PROMISED LAND

These two Freedom of Expression awards are given to the deserving films. Promised Land discusses the topic of fracking while The Central Park Five is an outstanding documentary about a girl who was raped by five black and Latino teenagers in 1989.

Following are the lists of TOP films selected by the National Board of Review:

Top Films (In Alphabetical Order):
ARGO
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LES MISÉRABLES
LINCOLN
LOOPER
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
PROMISED LAND
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

(TOTALLY SATISFIED WITH THEIR TOP FILMS SELECTION FOR 2012)

Top 5 Foreign Language Films (In Alphabetical Order):
BARBARA
THE INTOUCHABLES
THE KID WITH A BIKE
NO
WAR WITCH

Top 5 Documentaries (In Alphabetical Order):
AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY
DETROPIA
THE GATEKEEPERS
THE INVISIBLE WAR
ONLY THE YOUNG

Top 10 Independent Films (In Alphabetical Order):
ARBITRAGE
BERNIE
COMPLIANCE
END OF WATCH
HELLO I MUST BE GOING
LITTLE BIRDS
MOONRISE KINGDOM
ON THE ROAD
QUARTET
SLEEPWALK WITH ME

(REALLY HAPPY TO SEE ARBITRAGE, END OF WATCH, BERNIE AND MOONRISE KINGDOM IN TOP 10 INDEPENDENT FILMS)

As it is now clear that Zero Dark Thirty is the strongest contender this year, followed by Lincoln and maybe Les Misérables. Another interesting point is that LIFE OF PI haven’t won anything yet, either they are saving the film for the BIG win or they’re just not impressed with the work of Ang Lee. Well, let’s see what happens in upcoming awards.