National Board of Review Picks A Most Violent Year

Leave it to the National Board of Review (NBR) to throw a spanner into the works of award season with the announcement of their annual awards. There were a few familiar names that have already been bandied about, but there clearly was one picture they loved about all others and that was J.C. Chandor’s period crime-thriller A Most Violent Year, starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain, who received top honors in the actor and supporting actress categories respectively.

Isaac actually tied for Best Actor with Michael Keaton for Alejandro Inarritu’s Birdman, the latter’s second win in the past 24 hours. Keaton’s co-star Edward Norton received his first nod in the supporting actor category, while Julianne Moore also followed last night’s Gotham Award win for Still Alice with NBR’s award for Best Actress.

Clint Eastwood has received many honors from the group and he was once again selected as the year’s Best Director for American Sniper, starring Bradley Cooper, his second NBR award in that category after 2009’s Invictus. Eastwood also won for Best Actor in 2008 for Gran Torino and his earlier film Letters from Iwo Jima was the group’s top film. When you consider that Million Dollar Baby got a Special Achievement Award and that all of this was after Eastwood’s 1999 Career Achievement Award, you have to figure that the NBR likes Clint Eastwood.. a lot.

Another odd choice was that NBR gave the Best Original Screenplay to Phil Lord and Christopher Miller for their animated The LEGO Movie, but awarded their actual Best Animated Feature to DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon 2

NBR will hold its annual awards gala dinner to dole out the honors will be held on January 6, 2015.

Here is the entire list of winners at this year’s awards including their Top 5 or 10 films in different categories:

Best FilmA Most Violent Year

Best Director:  Clint Eastwood for American Sniper

Best Actor (TIE):  Oscar Isaac for A Most Violent Year; Michael Keaton for Birdman

Best Actress: Julianne Moore for Still Alice

Best Supporting Actor:  Edward Norton for Birdman

Best Supporting Actress:  Jessica Chastain for A Most Violent Year

Best Original Screenplay:  Phil Lord & Christopher Miller for The Lego Movie

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Paul Thomas Anderson for Inherent Vice

Best Animated Feature:  How to Train Your Dragon 2

Breakthrough Performance:  Jack O’Connell for Starred Up & Unbroken

Best Directorial Debut:  Gillian Robespierre for 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

Top Films

American Sniper

Birdman

Boyhood

Fury

Gone Girl

The Imitation Game

Inherent Vice

The Lego Movie

Nightcrawler

Unbroken

Top 5 Foreign Language Films

Force Majeure

Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem

Leviathan

Two Days, One Night

We Are the Best!

Top 5 Documentaries

Art and Craft

Jodorowsky’s Dune

Keep On Keepin’ On

The Kill Team

Last Days in Vietnam

Top 10 Independent Films

Blue Ruin

Locke

A Most Wanted Man

Mr. Turner

Obvious Child

The Skeleton Twins

Snowpiercer

Stand Clear of the Closing Doors

Starred Up

Still Alice

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