Since Monday‘s opening round of top tens, awards nominations and the like, capped later that night by the Gotham Awards, Little White Lies editor-at-large David Ehrlich has given us the first thrilling 2014 supercut, a countdown of 25 of the year’s best. “As always,” he writes, “this was both a blast to cut together and also just an unspeakably catastrophic waste of time.” Not at all. I’ve embedded it below; watch, and then we’ll move on to today’s lists and awards.
I’ve updated the entry on the Sight & Sound poll with the newly announced readers‘ top ten. They knock the critics’ #1, Boyhood, down to #2 and replace it with Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin.
The National Board of Review, an “organization of 126 New York film fans,” as Variety describes it, has surprised more than a few with its choices this year:
- 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 and 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 and 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.
Click here to see the NBR’s lists of its top ten films, top five foreign language films, top five docs and top ten independent films.
As Anne Thompson reports, after a preliminary round of voting, the Academy now has a shortlist of fifteen films eligible for nomination in Oscar’s Documentary Feature category:
- Sam Cullman, Jennifer Grausman and Mark Becker’s Art and Craft.
- Ben Cotner and Ryan White’s The Case Against 8.
- Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s Citizen Koch.
- Laura Poitras‘s Citizenfour.
- John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s Finding Vivian Maier.
- Brian Knappenberger’s The Internet’s Own Boy.
- Frank Pavich’s Jodorowsky’s Dune.
- Alan Hicks’s Keep On Keepin’ On.
- Dan Krauss’s The Kill Team.
- Rory Kennedy’s Last Days in Vietnam.
- Steve James’s Life Itself.
- Jesse Moss’s The Overnighters.
- Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and Wim Wenders’s The Salt of the Earth.
- Nick Broomfield’s Tales of the Grim Sleeper.
- Orlando von Einsiedel’s Virunga.
“Variety has chosen its 10 Directors to Watch for 2015, selecting cinematic storytellers who hail from corners as far removed as Australia and Argentina, representing a diverse mix of genres and visions, but all of whom are expected to go on to great things in Hollywood and abroad.” And they are:
- Sean Baker (Tangerine).
- Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Spring).
- Ava DuVernay (Selma).
- Shlomi Elkabetz and Ronit Elkabetz (Gett, the Trial of Viviane Amsalem).
- Jeremy Garelick (The Wedding Ringer).
- Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler).
- Marielle Heller (Diary of a Teenage Girl).
- Ruben Östlund (Force Majeure).
- Damian Szifron (Wild Tales).
- Leigh Whannell (Insidious: Chapter 3).
“The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts unveiled its nominees for Oz’s equivalent to the Oscar and the Emmy today with sci-fi thriller Predestination leading the pack of feature films at nine mentions,” reports Nancy Tartaglione for Deadline. “That group also includes Russell Crowe’s directorial debut, The Water Diviner, which scored eight nominations including Best Film and Best Actor. Following with seven nods is David Michôd’s The Rover which will vie in the directing category as well as in Best Actor for Guy Pearce and Best Supporting Actor for Robert Pattinson…. The Babadook; Rolf de Heer’s Foreign Language Oscar entry, Charlie’s Country; Colin Firth/Nicole Kidman-starrer The Railway Man; and John Curran’s Tracks also received multiple mentions.”
Empire‘s best-of-2014 list goes to 50. Here are the top ten:
- Boyhood.
- Nightcrawler.
- The Wolf of Wall Street.
- Inside Llewyn Davis.
- Guardians of the Galaxy.
- Edge of Tomorrow.
- The Grand Budapest Hotel.
- What We Do in the Shadows.
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.
- Her.
TIFF’s announced the lineup for its 14th annual Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival.
Guardian countdown, Day 2. Catherine Shoard on #9, Wes Anderson‘s The Grand Budapest Hotel.
The Playlist writes up—and samples—the “15 Best Film Scores Of 2014.”
Best albums: Gorilla vs. Bear, NME, Paste, Rolling Stone and Stereogum.
The New York Times has published its list of the “100 Notable Books of 2014.”
The 2014 Lists and Awards Index. For news and tips throughout the day every day, follow @KeyframeDaily. Get Keyframe Daily in your inbox by signing in at fandor.com/daily.
