The usually soft, mediocre and unimportant National Board of Review did something hip and cool today. They named Spike Jonze's new-aged romance
Her Best Film and Jonze also won Best Director. Having not seen the film, and having so many films yet to see (i.e.
Nebraska, Inside Llewyn Davis, American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street and
Her), I am extremely happy with this choice. The film has been receiving rave reviews since it's premiere at the New York Film Festival. I deeply and truly love Steve McQueen's
12 Years a Slave but will be thrilled if
Her or the Coen's
Inside Llewyn Davis wins awards. I also really enjoyed
Gravity and
All Is Lost. However, it is surprising that
12 Years a Slave did not win anything... If Lupita Nyong'o does not win for
12 Years a Slave then I hope that Octavia Spencer does for
Fruitvale Station for Best Supporting Actress. She did here and is in one of the most emotionally powerful scenes I have seen all year. Holds everyone together, while keeping strong within. She is brilliant and amazing in that film. A knockout! It is weird how
Blue Is the Warmest Colour is not in the Top Five Foreign Language Films. Curious? Here is a list of the winners. Enjoy.
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 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Past d. Asghar Farhadi
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wind Rises d. Hayao Miyazaki
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Stories We Tell d. Sarah Polley
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Joel & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street
BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT
Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
BEST ENSEMBLE
Prisoners
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE - ACTRESS
Adele Exarchopoulus, Blue Is the Warmest Colour
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE - ACTOR
Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
WILLIAM K. EVERSON AWARD FOR FILM HISTORY
George Stevens, Jr
CREATIVE INNOVATION IN FILMMAKING AWARD
Gravity
SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Career Collaboration of Martin Scorsese & Leonardo DiCaprio
NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Wadjda d. Haifaa Al_Mansour
TOP TEN FILMS (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 TEN INDEPENDENT FILMS (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
TOP FIVE FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS
Beyond the Hills
Gloria
The Grandmaster
A Hijacking
The Hunt
TOP FIVE DOCUMENTARIES
20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
After Tiller
Casting By
The Square