The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures was founded in 1909 after New York City Mayor, George B. McClellan revoked all moving-picture exhibition licenses in December of 1908, only 13 years after the cinema was born. NBR Members are conformed by select film enthusiasts, filmmakers, academics, and film students in New York. Each year, a hundred of those members receive ballots to determine the award winners and the Awards Jury helps decide whom the special achievement awards will go to.
This year, the winners were announced on December 2, 2014 and a special gala hosted by Lara Spencer will be held on January 6, 2015, to celebrate the honorees.
With some surprises within the winners, we can say “A Most Violent Year” was a clear favorite as it took the grand prize for Best Film, amongst others. There was a tie in the Best Actor category, earning both, Oscar Isaac and Michael Keaton, the award for “A Most Violent Year” and “Birdman” respectively. The honor of Best Director went to veteran Clint Eastwood for “American Sniper” and the award for Best Directorial Debut went to Gillian Robespierre for “Obvious Child.”
Julianne Moore won Best Actress for “Still Alice” and Jessica Chastain took the Best Supporting Actress award for “A Most Violent Year”, while Edward Norton took the award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in "Birdman."
Other Awards included, 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 in “Starred Up & Unbroken”; 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” and the two NBR Freedom of Expression Awards went to “Rosewater” and “Selma.” Other films which made it onto NBR’s four prestigious lists, were:
Top Films: “American Sniper”, “Birdman”, “Boyhood”, “Fury”, “Gone Girl”, “The Imitation”, “Game”, “Inherent Vice”, “The Lego Movie”, “Nightcrawler” and “Unbroken.”
Top 5 Foreign Language Films: “Force Majeure”, “Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem”, “Leviathan”, “Two Days, One Night” and “We Are the Best!”
Top 5 Documentaries: “Art and Craft”, “Jodorowsky’s Dune”, “Keep On Keepin’ On”, “The Kill Team” and “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” and “Still Alice.”
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