Tag: New York Film Critics Online

New York Film Critics Online: Best Picture of 2015 is ‘Spotlight’

On By chrisbarsantiIn Film - AwardsLeave a comment
Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Brian d'Arcy James, Michael Keaton, and John Slattery in 'Spotlight' (Open Road Films)
Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, Brian d’Arcy James, Michael Keaton, and John Slattery in ‘Spotlight’ (Open Road Films)

New York Film Critics Online, which generously includes yours truly among its membership, voted today on our best films of 2015. Unlike some years, when the opinion coalesces around two or three different films, this time only one film garnered multiple awards. That would be Tom McCarthy’s incredible eye-opener Spotlight, about the Boston Globe reporters who uncovered the Catholic Church’s decades-long coverup of widespread abuse by Boston priests. It won in four categories, including best picture.

Herewith the full list:

  • PICTURE: Spotlight 
  • DIRECTOR: Tom McCarthy, Spotlight
  • SCREENPLAY: Tom McCarthy, Josh Singer, Spotlight
  • ACTRESS: Brie Larson, Room
  • ACTOR: Paul Dano, Love & Mercy
  • SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Rooney Mara, Carol
  • SUPPORTING ACTOR: Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies
  • CINEMATOGRAPHY: John Seale, Mad Max: Fury Road
  • FOREIGN LANGUAGE PICTURE: Son of Saul
  • DOCUMENTARY: Amy
  • ANIMATED FEATURE: Inside Out
  • ENSEMBLE CAST: Spotlight
  • DEBUT AS DIRECTOR: Alex Garland, Ex Machina
  • USE OF MUSIC: Love & Mercy; Atticus Ross, Composer; Featuring the Music of Brian Wilson
  • BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE: Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina, The Danish Girl

And here is our list of the year’s 10 best films, in alphabetical order (yes, that’s right, one of them is Mad Max, as it should be):

  • 45 Years 
  • The Big Short 
  • Bridge of Spies
  • Brooklyn 
  • Carol
  • Mad Max: Fury Road 
  • Sicario
  • Spotlight 
  • Steve Jobs 
  • Trumbo

Department of Awards: ‘Boyhood’ the Best Film of 2014

On By chrisbarsantiIn Film - Awards, Film - NewLeave a comment
Dreaming of greatness, or just dreaming, in 'Boyhood' (IFC Films)
Dreaming of greatness, or just dreaming, in ‘Boyhood’ (IFC Films)

Earlier today, New York Film Critics Online—a group that quite generously includes yours truly in its membership—met to hash out the most notable films, filmmakers, and performers in various categories during 2014.

In short, Richard Linklater’s 12-years-in-the-making Boyhood won for best picture and in two other categories, with Alejandro Inarritu’s meta-fictional satire Birdman tied at three wins. Other films like The Imitation Game and particularly The Grand Budapest Hotel received many votes in particular categories but ultimately couldn’t pull out a win. (Note that last year, NYFCO chose 12 Years a Slave as best film, and it went on to win the Oscar … just saying.)

The Hollywood Reporter noted the proceedings, as did award news mavens GoldDerby and The Wrap.

Here’s the full reckoning of what we as a group liked best from 2014, broken down first by category and then our annual Top 10 list; note that several of them (Unbroken, A Most Violent Year, Selma, and Two Days, One Night) won’t get released until Christmas or later this year:

  • Best Picture — Boyhood
  • Best Director — Richard Linklater, Boyhood
  • Best Actor — Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
  • Best Actress — Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
  • Best Supporting Actor — J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
  • Best Supporting Actress — Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
  • Best Screenplay — Birdman
  • Best Cinematography — Birdman
  • Best Breakthrough Performance — Jack O’Connell, Starred Up and Unbroken
  • Best Use of Music — Get On Up
  • Best Debut Director — Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
  • Best Ensemble Cast — Birdman
  • Best Foreign Language Film — Two Days, One Night
  • Best Documentary — Life Itself
  • Best Animated Film — The Lego Movie

The Top 10 Films of 2014

  • Birdman
  • Boyhood
  • Guardians of the Galaxy
  • The Imitation Game
  • A Most Violent Year
  • Mr. Turner
  • Selma
  • The Theory of Everything
  • Under the Skin
  • Whiplash

Department of Awards: ‘Zero Dark Thirty’ Best Film of 2012?

On By chrisbarsantiIn Film - New, Film - Upcoming, Omnicultural1 Comment

zerodarkthirty1This afternoon, the New York Film Critics Online (an august group that I am glad to be a member of) announced their awards for films released in 2012. Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow’s film about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, led a fairly scattered pack, with three awards. Steven Spielberg’s biopic Lincoln and debut filmmaker Benh Zeitlin’s magic-realist Beasts of the Southern Wild were tied at two awards each.

Herewith the full list:

  • Picture – Zero Dark Thirty
  • Actor – Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
  • Actress – Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
  • Director – Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
  • Best Supporting Actor – Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
  • Best Supporting Actress – Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
  • Breakthrough Performer – Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
  • Debut Director – Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
  • Ensemble Cast – Argo
  • Screenplay – Zero Dark Thirty
  • Documentary – The Central Park Five
  • Foreign Language – Amour
  • Animated – Chico and Rita
  • Cinematography – Life of Pi
  • Film Music or Score – Django Unchained

This gives Bigelow’s war film an early lead in the oddsmaking for Oscar contention (and for good reason, despite whatever idiot musings come from Bret Easton Ellis these days), as the NYFCO joins other critics groups like New York Film Critics Circle, National Board of Review, and the Boston Film Critics Society in naming it film of the year. Of course, that still leaves plenty of time and other awards to allow early favorites like Les Miserables and Argo to make up some room.