Since the last “Lists and Awards” roundup was posted over the weekend, our own fearless editor, Susan Gerhard, has tallied votes from around 100 critics and friends of Keyframe. Topping the list of 25 great features in 2014 is Richard Linklater‘s Boyhood. You can be sure there are more lists to come, but for now, here’s what’s been going on elsewhere since Saturday.
Used to be, the weekly magazine New York had a nifty little corner of its “website” called Vulture. Now, it seems, at least to those of us on the outside looking in, Vulture‘s a full-blown and bustling digital mothership that puts out a handsomely printed family scrapbook every two weeks. Vulture‘s been rolling out its “Year in Culture 2014” lists and Boyhood, which Linklater “began with what sounds like just a gimmick” and turned into something that “feels like no other film,” tops David Edelstein‘s list of the “11 Best Movies of 2014.”
Matt Zoller Seitz, who, probably before any other film critic of his stature, was arguing that cinephiles best pay mind to what was happening on the small screen, the boob tube, the end of civilization as we knew it, has, now vindicated many times over, written an annotated list of the “10 Best TV Shows of 2014.” His #1: Hannibal. “Bryan Fuller’s TV adaptation of Thomas Harris’s fiction is a total vision—mournfully expressionist, shockingly violent, and strangely tender.”
More lists at Vulture so far: Jerry Saltz on the “19 Best Art Shows,” Lindsay Zoladz‘s “32 Best Pop Albums,” Jesse Green‘s “9 Best Plays (And 1 Best Musical)” and Kathryn Schulz‘s “10 Best Books of 2014.”
While we eagerly await Slant‘s list of films, we can listen to their “25 Best Singles” and read about the “25 Best Video Games” and the “25 Best TV Shows of 2014.” #1 on that last list is, FWIW, my own personal favorite, The Americans.
The Playlist‘s editors, staffers, contributors and contributing writers have voted up their “20 Best” and “20 Worst Films of 2014.” The best of the best, evidently “by an enormous margin,” is Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin. Plus: The 15 best soundtracks.
2014 Year in Review from scott ewing
The Guardian‘s countdown inches ahead with Catherine Shoard on #5, Andrei Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan and #4, Damien Chazelle‘s Whiplash and Xan Brooks on #3, Paul Thomas Anderson’s Inherent Vice.
Today’s personal lists. #1 for Indiewire‘s Eric Kohn is Boyhood; and topping his list of “Best Undistributed Films” is Lav Diaz’s From What Is Before. For Vanity Fair‘s Richard Lawson, the year’s best film is Ira Sachs‘s Love Is Strange. And for Calum Marsh at Details: “Alex Ross Perry has apprehended the Roth sensibility—his style and his voice—and in that sense Listen Up Philip is a truer realization of his work than any straight adaptation could be.”
Specialty lists. Nick Schager tells Esquire readers how to catch up with “the best films you probably missed this year.” Anthony Kaufman revisits “Top 12 Documentaries of 2014.” At the House Next Door, Clayton Dillard discusses the year’s best movie posters. Flavorwire‘s Jason Bailey argues the cases for “10 Incredible, Underrated Film Performances.” And at RogerEbert.com, Alan Zilberman looks back on the year in science fiction, focusing on Charlie McDowell’s The One I Love, James Ward Byrkit’s Coherence and Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow as prime examples of “how to make the genre truly exciting again.”
Back to TV. HitFix has conducted a poll of around 50 critics and the results are in:
- Fargo.
- The Good Wife.
- Game of Thrones.
- Transparent.
- True Detective.
- The Americans.
- Mad Men.
- A tie: Louie and Broad City.
They’ve also voted on the best new TV shows and performances.
#1 for Slate‘s Willa Paskin is Broad City; and for Matt Brennan at Thompson on Hollywood, it’s Mad Men.
More music! AV Club, Fact, Gorilla vs. Bear, NPR, PopMatters and The Wire.
One of my favorites each year: Casual Optimist Dan Wagstaff has posted his 50 favorite book covers and designs for series.
Bill Hader tells Esquire about his ten favorite discoveries of the year. All categories are game.
“Mine for yours,” writes novelist Dennis Cooper: “My favorite fiction, poetry, nonfiction, music, film, art & internet of 2014.” And the lists-as-comments are rolling in.
AWARDS
For the first time in its history, the American Film Institute has named eleven rather than ten best movies of the year. In alphabetical order:
- American Sniper.
- Birdman.
- Boyhood.
- Foxcatcher.
- The Imitation Game.
- Interstellar.
- Into the Woods.
- Nightcrawler.
- Selma.
- Unbroken.
- Whiplash.
And the TV programs of the year:
- The Americans.
- Fargo.
- Game of Thrones.
- How to Get Away with Murder.
- Jane the Virgin.
- The Knick.
- Mad Men.
- Orange Is the New Black.
- Silicon Valley.
- Transparent.
“Birdman led the way in SAG nominations with four, followed by Boyhood, The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything with three each,” reports Dave McNary for Variety, where he’s got the full lists for both movies and television—and where Ramin Setoodeh sorts through the “Biggest Snubs and Surprises.” The Screen Actors Guild Awards will be presented and broadcast on TBS and TNT on January 25.
The African American Film Critics Association has announced its top ten…
- Selma.
- The Imitation Game.
- The Theory of Everything.
- Birdman.
- Belle.
- Top Five.
- Unbroken.
- Dear White People.
- Get On Up.
- Black and White.
… and its awards:
- Best Actor: David Oyelowo, Selma.
- Best Actress: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle.
- Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, Black and White.
- Best Supporting Actor: (tie) Tyler Perry, Gone Girl and J.K. Simmons, Whiplash.
- Best World Cinema: Timbuktu.
- Breakout Performance: Tessa Thompson, Dear White People.
- Best Director: Ava Duvernay, Selma.
- Best Screenplay: Gina Prince-Bythewood, Beyond the Lights.
- Best Music: John Legend/Common, “Glory” (Selma soundtrack).
- Best Ensemble: Get On Up.
- Best Independent Film: Dear White People.
- Best Animation: The Boxtrolls.
- Best Documentary: Life Itself.
Cinema Eye Honors has announced five nominees for its Cinema Eye Heterodox Award, which “honors a narrative fiction film that imaginatively incorporates nonfiction strategies, content and/or modes of production.” And they are: Boyhood, Josh and Benny Safdie‘s Heaven Knows What, Ben Rivers and Ben Russell‘s A Spell to Ward Off the Darkness, Roberto Minervini’s Stop the Pounding Heart and Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin.
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.
