Well this throws a kink into things. Both the Gotham Awards and the NBR Awards have been announced and it’s a split decision. More importantly these awards don’t match up wit the recent choices for Boyhood as best film either. I still think Boyhood will ultimately end up on top, though I was expecting Birdman to win some awards as well. What I didn’t expect was for J.C. Chandor’s upcoming film, A Most Violent Year, to win at NBR. That film will only receive a limited release as of December 31st before getting a wider rollout later in 2015. Chandor has been on an upward swing with Margin Call and All is Lost, but I have to admit that him winning is a big surprise. I hope the film is worthy of it and I’m confident it will be a very good film.
Anyway, here’s the list of the awards winners for Gotham.
BEST FILM: Birdman
This beat out Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Love is Strange, and Under the Skin. Though Boyhood won the audience award. Foxcatcher also received a special award for ensemble performance for Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo.
BEST DOCUMENTARY: CITIZENFOUR
Hugely deserved. It should be noted that the Academy Awards put out the 15 film shortlist of those being considered for best doc. They are: Art and Craft, The Case against 8, Citizen Koch, CitizenFour, Finding Vivian Maier, The Internet’s Own Boy, Jodorowsky’s Dune, Keep On Keepin’ On, The Kill Team, Last Days in Vietnam, Life Itself, The Overnighters, The Salt of the Earth, Tales of the Grim Sleeper, and Virunga. I’ve bolded those I think are worthy of seeing aside from the obvious CitizenFour.
BEST ACTORL Michael Keaton
in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
He beat out Oscar Isaac, Ethan Hawke, Miles Teller, and Bill Hader.
Julianne Moore
in Still Alice .
Would’ve liked Patricia Arquette to take this but Moore is supposed to deliver a career performance in this. Seek it out when it comes in early 2015.
Breakthrough Director: Ana Lily Amirpour
for A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night .
Beats out the considerably older Dan Gilroy and Nightcrawler for this. Big win for the young Persian director.
And as for the NBR Awards they give out a much wider array of awards and spread them out considerably (a lot of the combinations just don’t make sense, perhaps they just want to acknowledge as much as they can), here they are:
Best Film: 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 & Christopher Miller – The Lego Movie
Best Adapted Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson – Inherent Vice
Best Animated Feature: How to Train Your Dragon 2
Breakthrough Performance: Jack O’Connell – Starred Up & Unbroken
Best Directorial Debut: Gillian Robespierre – Obvious Child
Best Foreign Language Film: Wild Tales
Best Documentary: Life Itself
William K. Everson Film History Award: Scott Eyman
Best Ensemble: Fury
Spotlight Award: Chris Rock for writing, directing, and starring in – Top Five
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Rosewater
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: Selma
Top Films
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
Fury
Gone Girl
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Lego Movie
Nightcrawler
Unbroken
Top 5 Foreign Language Films
Force Majeure
Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem
Leviathan
Two Days, One Night
We Are the Best!
Top 5 Documentaries
Art and Craft
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Keep On Keepin’ On
The Kill Team
Last Days in Vietnam
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
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