2014-2015 Awards Season

Cafe Society
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This can be a catch-all thread if anyone’s interested. The first major nominations came out, for the 2015 Film Independent Spirit Awards. It doesn’t always parallel other awards, like the Golden Globes or the Oscars, but sometimes it does. Last year 12 Years A Slave won at both the Spirits and the Oscars. Precursors might help if you’re the go-to person for your Oscar pool.

If you just want to bitch about Hollywood, Awards shows, Movies you never heard of or whatever else people who aren’t into movies bitch about this time of year, go start your own thread and don’t threadshit in this one. Please.

**2015 Film Independent Spirit Awards
** (link goes to IMDB page with links to all the movies and players)

Best Feature

Nominees:

Birdman (2014)

Boyhood (2014/I)

Love Is Strange (2014)

Selma (2014)

Whiplash (2014)
Best Director

Nominees:

Damien Chazelle for Whiplash (2014)

Ava DuVernay for Selma (2014)

Alejandro González Iñárritu for Birdman (2014)

Richard Linklater for Boyhood (2014/I)

David Zellner for Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014)
Best First Feature

Nominees:

Dear White People (2014): Justin Simien, Effie Brown, Ann Le, Julia Lebedev, Angel Lopez, Lena Waithe

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014): Ana Lily Amirpour, Justin Begnaud, Sina Sayyah

Nightcrawler (2014): Dan Gilroy, Jennifer Fox, Tony Gilroy, Jake Gyllenhaal, David Lancaster, Michel Litvak

Obvious Child (2014): Gillian Robespierre, Elisabeth Holm

She’s Lost Control (2014): Anja Marquardt, Mollye Asher, Kiara Jones
Best Female Lead

Nominees:

Marion Cotillard for The Immigrant (2013)

Rinko Kikuchi for Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014)

Julianne Moore for Still Alice (2014) (she will win here and at the Oscars)

Jenny Slate for Obvious Child (2014)

Tilda Swinton for Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)
Best Male Lead

Nominees:

André Benjamin for Jimi: All Is by My Side (2013)

Jake Gyllenhaal for Nightcrawler (2014)

Michael Keaton for Birdman (2014)

John Lithgow for Love Is Strange (2014)

David Oyelowo for Selma (2014)
Best Supporting Female

Nominees:

Patricia Arquette for Boyhood (2014/I)

Jessica Chastain for A Most Violent Year (2014)

Carmen Ejogo for Selma (2014)

Emma Stone for Birdman (2014)

Andrea Suarez Paz for Stand Clear of the Closing Doors (2013)
Best Supporting Male

Nominees:

Riz Ahmed for Nightcrawler (2014)

Ethan Hawke for Boyhood (2014/I)

Alfred Molina for Love Is Strange (2014)

Edward Norton for Birdman (2014)

J.K. Simmons for Whiplash (2014)
Best Screenplay

Nominees:

Big Eyes (2014): Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski

Love Is Strange (2014): Ira Sachs, Mauricio Zacharias

A Most Violent Year (2014): J.C. Chandor

Nightcrawler (2014): Dan Gilroy

Only Lovers Left Alive (2013): Jim Jarmusch
Best First Screenplay

Nominees:

Appropriate Behavior (2014): Desiree Akhavan

Dear White People (2014): Justin Simien

Little Accidents (2014): Sara Colangelo

She’s Lost Control (2014): Anja Marquardt

The One I Love (2014): Justin Lader
Best Cinematography

Nominees:

Birdman (2014): Emmanuel Lubezki

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014): Lyle Vincent

It Felt Like Love (2013): Sean Porter

Selma (2014): Bradford Young

The Immigrant (2013): Darius Khondji
Best International Film

Nominees:

Ida (2013): Pawel Pawlikowski

Leviathan (2014): Andrey Zvyagintsev

Mommy (2014/I): Xavier Dolan

Norte, the End of History (2013): Lav Diaz

Force Majeure (2014): Ruben Östlund

Under the Skin (2013/I): Jonathan Glazer
Best Documentary

Nominees:

20,000 Days on Earth (2014): Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard, Dan Bowen, James Wilson

Citizenfour (2014): Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy, Dirk Wilutzky

Stray Dog (2014): Debra Granik, Anne Rosellini

The Salt of the Earth (2014): Juliano Ribeiro Salgado, Wim Wenders, David Rosier

Virunga (2014): Orlando von Einsiedel, Joanna Natasegara
John Cassavetes Award

Nominees:

Blue Ruin (2013): Jeremy Saulnier, Richard Peete, Vincent Savino, Anish Savjani

It Felt Like Love (2013): Eliza Hittman, Shrihari Sathe, Laura Wagner

Land Ho! (2014): Aaron Katz, Martha Stephens, Christina Jennings, Mynette Louie, Sara Murphy

Man from Reno (2014): Dave Boyle, Joel Clark, Michael Lerman, Ko Mori

Test (2013/I): Chris Mason Johnson, Chris Martin
Truer Than Fiction Award

Nominees:

Approaching the Elephant (2014): Amanda Wilder

Evolution of a Criminal (2014): Darius Clark Monroe

The Kill Team (2013): Dan Krauss

The Last Season (2014): Sara Dosa
Someone to Watch Award

Nominees:

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014): Ana Lily Amirpour

H. (2014/I): Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia

The Retrieval (2013): Chris Eska
Producers Award

Nominees:

Chad Burris

Elisabeth Holm

Chris Ohlson
Robert Altman Award

WINNER

Inherent Vice (2014): Paul Thomas Anderson, Cassandra Kulukundis, Josh Brolin, Martin Donovan, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Joaquin Phoenix, Eric Roberts, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Serena Scott Thomas, Benicio Del Toro, Katherine Waterston, Michael Kenneth Williams, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon
Best Editing

Nominees:

Boyhood (2014/I): Sandra Adair

Whiplash (2014): Tom Cross

Nightcrawler (2014): John Gilroy

A Most Violent Year (2014): Ron Patane

The Guest (2014/I): Adam Wingard
Special Distinction Award

WINNER

Foxcatcher (2014): Bennett Miller, Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, Mark Ruffalo, E. Max Frye, Dan Futterman, Anthony Bregman, Megan Ellison, Jon Kilik

The movies nominated don’t have to be primarily independent. They do have to be primarily American. A lot of movies were not eligible because their budgets were too high. I think the cutoff is $20 million. Even so, they gave Inherent Vice and Foxcatcher special awards to say, “We really really REALLY wish we could have given these films all kinds of nominations, but we can’t, sorry.”

Out of the 46 nominated films, I’ve only seen 14, but most haven’t opened here yet. I’ve seen:

Birdman
Blue Ruin
Boyhood
Dear White People
Force Majeure
Foxcatcher
Ida
The Immigrant
Land Ho!
Nightcrawler
Obvious Child
Only Lovers Left Alive
Under The Skin
Whiplash
I’ll see Love Is Strange on Thursday. I’m thrilled to see Only Lovers Left Alive and Under The Skin get some recognition. They’re still my two favorite movies of the year so far, and they came out in the spring. I think 4 of the 5 Best Feature nominees will also be nominated for Oscars. I don’t think Love Is Strange will make it. I think I’m most happy for André Benjamin, a surprise nomination for Jimi: All Is by My Side, even though I didn’t see it. I wanted to see it but I missed it because it opened and closed in about 10 minutes. Now maybe it will come back for a spell. I just really like him.

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These don’t have much to do with anything, but I still saw and liked many of the nominations, and where else am I going to put a link? I’m very happy to see Calvary, Pride and Belle represented somewhere this awards season.

2014 British Indie Film Award nominations.

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I was hoping The Grand Budapest Hotel would be nominated for any award.

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It wasn’t eligible for either that I posted. It was too expensive for the Spirits. I’m guessing that it will get some Golden Globe nominations since they have separate categories for comedy and drama. Oscar nominations are iffier. Maybe it’ll get a screenplay and/or production design. I like it too.

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Hopefully you’re okay if others post updates here… The NY Film Critics announced their winners, and the most interesting results were in the acting categories: Timothy Spall won for yet another biopic, “Mr. Turner”, which hasn’t released yet in the US (but which has screened at a million festivals and released in Europe); and Marion Cotillard won for a couple of films that have had low visibility in the US. Nice outcomes both, I think.

Best Film
Boyhood

Best Actor
Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner

Best Actress
Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant; Two Days, One Night

Best Director
Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Best Supporting Actor
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood

Best Foreign Language Film
Ida (Poland, dir. Pawel Pawlikowski)

Best Animated Film
The Lego Movie (dirs. Phil Lord, Christopher Miller)

Best Screenplay
The Grand Budapest Hotel (dir. Wes Anderson)

Special Award
Adrienne Mencia

Best Cinematography
Darius Khondji, The Immigrant

Best First Film
Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook

Best Non-fiction Film (Documentary)
Citizenfour (dir. Laura Poitras)

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Yes, I’m more than fine with others posting nominations and results, thank you. I’m happy for Boyhood. It’ll be nominated for many more awards, but if this is the only thing it actually wins, it’s a good win. I thought Julianne Moore would sweep all the awards, but I’m very happy for Marion. I only saw The Immigrant and she’s very deserving just for that alone. Yay for Linklater, Spall, Arquette, Lego and Budapest. I hated Whiplash, but Simmons is deserving I guess. I love him, but it’s easy to play an asshole. I hated Ida too, when I saw it back in March, but I knew it was going to be a critics’ favorite. I can’t wait to see The Babadook. I saw a preview a couple of weeks ago and it looks like scary fun

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Gotham Awards

Well, so Julianne Moore did get some love here:
Best Feature
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Best Actress
Julianne Moore in Still Alice

Best Actor
Michael Keaton in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)

Best Documentary
CITIZENFOUR

Gotham Independent Film Audience Award
Boyhood

Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Award
Ana Lily Amirpour for A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night (Kino Lorber)

Breakthrough Actor
Tessa Thompson in Dear White People (Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions)

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J.K. Simmons was amazing in Whiplash. I would put money on him being nominated for an Oscar, and would not be at all surprised if he won. He’s a great actor, and I’m always happy to see him in movies, but he was great in this. And Whiplash is a great and intense movie overall. I hope the awards recognition gets more people to go see it.

I’m also glad to see The Babadook get some recognition. It’s a great movie, and it made me happy that it’s a female director and made me impressed that it’s her first film. It’s a scary movie, but it’s different than a lot of them. Pretty much everything about it is perfect. I can’t recommend it enough. I look forward to what Jennifer Kent does next.

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Thick and fast they came at last…with some surprises!

National Board of Review

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

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Wow, that puts Violent Year into the mix. Thanks for keeping up with these.

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You’re welcome…I certainly like playing along, given this is one of my favorite times of the movie year. And how about A Most Violent Year? I wasn’t even aware it had screened anywhere. Also, the NBR Choice for original screenplay is amusing…

I’m also glad to see that Ebert documentary pop up. I’m hoping that it wins best documentary this year.

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Speaking of the Ebert doc, it’s on the short list that the Oscar nominees will come from. (I can’t seem to link but I got this list at Deadline)

“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
I’ve only seen The Case Against 8, Finding Vivian Maier, The Internet’s Own Boy, Jodorowsky’s Dune, and Life Itself, all of which I liked a lot.

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We have a Bake Off list for Visual Effects now. The final 5 will come from this list. From Hit Fix:

There area a lot of critics’ groups nominations/awards coming up. From now on I’m going to put them in spoilers, just to avoid a couple dozen long long lists people have to scroll through. As always, the same names come up again and again and again, but to me it’s still fun to look through them to see fresh names/titles pop up. Here, we get some Under The Skin action. Not enough, since I love that movie, but it wasn’t forgotten anyway. Note Andy Serkis for Apes. That’s great!

Here are the Washington DC Area Film Critics Nominations

[spoiler]The 2014 WAFCA AWARD NOMINEES ARE:

Best Film:

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
Gone Girl
Selma
Whiplash

Best Director:

Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)
Ava DuVernay (Selma)
David Fincher (Gone Girl)
Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Best Actor:

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)
Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year)
Michael Keaton (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))
David Oyelowo (Selma)
Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)

Best Actress:

Scarlett Johansson (Under the Skin)
Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)
Julianne Moore (Still Alice)
Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)
Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

Best Supporting Actor:

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
Edward Norton (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))
Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)
Andy Serkis (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes)
J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Supporting Actress:

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)
Laura Dern (Wild)
Emma Stone (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))
Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer)

Best Acting Ensemble:

Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Into the Woods
Selma

Best Youth Performance:

Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood)
Mackenzie Foy (Interstellar)
Jaeden Lieberher (St. Vincent)
Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Noah Wiseman (The Babadook)

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)
Graham Moore (The Imitation Game)
Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice)
Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything)
Nick Hornby (Wild)

Best Original Screenplay:

Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr., Armando Bo (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (The LEGO Movie)
Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)

Best Animated Feature:

Big Hero 6
The Book of Life
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The LEGO Movie

Best Documentary:

Citizenfour
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Last Days in Vietnam
Life Itself
The Overnighters

Best Foreign Language Film:

Force Majeure
Ida
Mommy
Two Days, One Night
Wild Tales

Best Art Direction:

Production Designer: Kevin Thompson, Set Decorator: George DeTitta Jr., SDSA (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))
Production Designer: Adam Stockhausen, Set Decorator: Anna Pinnock (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Production Designer: Nathan Crowley, Set Decorator: Gary Fettis (Interstellar)
Production Designer: Dennis Gassner, Set Decorator: Anna Pinnock (Into the Woods)
Production Designer: Ondrej Nekvasil, Set Decorator: Beatrice Brentnerova (Snowpiercer)

Best Cinematography:

Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))
Robert Yeoman, ASC (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Hoyte Van Hoytema, FSF, NSC (Interstellar)
Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (Unbroken)
Daniel Landin, BSC (Under the Skin)

Best Editing:

Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione, ACE (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))
Sandra Adair, ACE (Boyhood)
Kirk Baxter, ACE (Gone Girl)
Lee Smith, ACE (Interstellar)
Tom Cross (Whiplash)

Best Original Score:

Antonio Sanchez (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))
Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross (Gone Girl)
Hans Zimmer (Interstellar)
Jóhann Jóhannsson (The Theory of Everything)
Mica Levi (Under the Skin)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC:

Anita
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Kill the Messenger
Selma
X-Men: Days of Future Past[/spoiler]

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Metacritic will be keeping track of End of Year lists and updating this page. I like these lists because it tells me what critics agree with me. :smiley:

Best of 2014: Film Critic Top Ten Lists (a work in progress)

I just noticed it’s on Washington, DC’s list too. It might get a surprise Oscar nom.

I like NBR’s film lists, which you didn’t post, so I will. They don’t include the movies already chosen, so A Most Violent Year is not in their Top films list. In other words, they choose 11. Slick.

National Board of Review’s…

So many great titles. I’m especially glad to see Locke, Nightcrawler, Obvious Child and We Are The Best!* on the their lists. I love the NBR. I have no idea who they are, but I don’t care. I love them.

  • This is a delightful film about a group of teenage girls who decide to start a punk band. Because, why not?!
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Even if you don’t care, you might actually love them more if you look them up on Wikipedia or on their own website…they’re pretty cool. Actually, here ya go:

Also, look at Selma continuing to show up. I obviously haven’t seen it yet, but I have a funny feeling it may be the sneak frontrunner.

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I give you the Boston Online Film Critics Awards…I guess there was some drinking involved here? But also some good choices.

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
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I like Boston!

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If you’re interested in a running list of various film critic’s choices for the ten best films of 2014, you can find it here:

As other critics announce their lists, their top tens will be added.

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Pssssst, post #14. :wink:

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Oops, sorry.