'Birdman,' 'Boyhood' and 'Imitation Game' Lead the 2014 Golden Globe Nominations

The Hollywood Foreign Press weighed in today and essentially seemed to rubber stamp the expected heavyweights (Birdman led with 7 noms, Boyhood and Imitation right behind it with 5), giving a little more of a boost to some other films coming up on the outside, particularly The Grand Budapest Hotel, which was nominated for Picture, Director, Actor and Screenplay. The big showing for the Wes Anderson hit helps its visibility a lot going forward, as we'll have to see if the coming guilds remember it fondly as well (like SAG did yesterday). The thing about the HFPA is that there is no direct overlap with industry voters, this is simply the taste of under 90 foreign journalists, but lately they seem to be trying to make their selections in order to be taken a little more seriously, and an example of that today shows in the total shutout of Angelina Jolie and Unbroken, while they embraced Selma in Picture, Director and Actor, helping that film quite a bit after it's poor SAG showing yesterday.

Best Motion Picture - Drama
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything

Best Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Into the Woods
Pride
St. Vincent

Best Director
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Ava DuVernay, Selma
David Fincher, Gone Girl
Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Best Actress - Drama
Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best Actor - Drama
Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nighcrawler
David Oyelowo, Selma
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Best Actress - Comedy
Amy Adams, Big Eyes
Emily Blunt, Into the Woods
Helen Mirren, The Hundred Foot Journey
Julianne Moore, Maps to the Stars
Quvenzhané Wallis, Annie

Best Actor - Comedy/Musical
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Bill Murray, St. Vincent
Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice
Christoph Waltz, Big Eyes

Best Supporting Actress
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Kiera Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Best Supporting Actor
Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Best Screenplay
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Gone Girl
Birdman
Boyhood
The Imitation Game

Best Foreign Film
Force Majeure
Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem
Ida
Leviathan
Tangerine Manderin

Best Animated Feature
Big Hero 6
Book of Life
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Boxtrolls
The Lego Movie

Best Original Score
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything
Gone Girl
Birdman
Interstellar

Best Original Song
"Big Eyes" – Big Eyes (Lana Del Ray)
"Glory" – Selma (John Legend, COmmon)
"Mercy Is" – Noah (Patti Smith, Lenny Kaye)
"Opportunity" – Annie
"Yellow Flicker Beat" – The Hunger Games, Mockingjy Pt 1 (Lorde)

There were some typically wacky Globes choices in here (10-year-old Wallis for Annie? Really?), but the fact that they nominated Gone Girl in Director and Screenplay is pretty cool, and overall I'd say their nominees this year are fairly respectable. I still wouldn't read anything into Jake Gyllenhaal and Jennifer Aniston showing up again- those two remain long shots for Oscar noms, because they're in small films that few will see (it's easier to court the tiny HFPA group than the actor's branch of the Academy), but they do have some precursor support behind them to try for a bigger campaign if they wanted to (I'm sure Aniston will). Frankly, I think that ever since the Hollywood Foreign Press was publicly roasted by Ricky Gervais for nominating The Tourist a few years ago, it's put them off their usual celebrity worship reputation and that explains the Jolie rejection here- these guys are obviously trying to change their image. But hey, that's a good thing- why should she be recognized for making a shitty movie just because they want her to come to their awards ceremony? If she's only as good a director as she is an actress (ahem) no one should really be nominating her for anything. The Globes are taking place Jan 11th on NBC.

TRAILER: "Mad Max: Fury Road"

A new look at next year's Mad Max movie with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron. I'm noticing all the excessive CG in this one, that's a little worrying. The original two Mad Max movies were these low budget, bare, gritty and brutal action flicks- but then the third one became all about the extravagant sets and you could tell the Hollywood money kind of dwarfed the essence of the originals. Now, I'm worried this one could do the same thing (George Miller's the same guy who's done all three, but we saw how he could get carried away before). It's coming out next summer.

TRAILER: "Inside Out"

The trailer for Pixar's new movie Inside Out is here- at least it looks a lot more ambitious than anything they've done in long time (not another sequel to one of their old favorites). It's also from the the director of Up, so maybe there's some hope for this one. Based on this look at it though, it's hard for me to see how they make a full length feature out of it, but they must have something.

2014 Screen Actor's Guild Nominations

Well, finally we get our first industry/guild awards group, or in other words, one that actually matters. It matters because the guilds have major overlap with the Academy, unlike critics awards, and the guilds are going to tell us for sure which movies and actors are popular within the industry and which ones aren't. Birdman leads with four nominations, but right behind it with three each are Boyhood, The Imitation Game and The Theory of Everything. Theory was the big surprise here, getting into Ensemble (or SAG's equivalent of Best Picture) despite the minimal cast, which shows that love for the film is very strong. Stronger than I had anticipated, similar to what happened with Dallas Buyers Club last year. A big snub was the total shutout of Selma, which is expected to factor in heavily at the Oscars this year, but the film was not finished in time for the studio to send out screeners to the SAG nominating committee, which has pretty much doomed every single late release in the last few years (last year it was Wolf of Wall Street, which went on to get five Oscar nominations, including Leo Dicaprio and Jonah HIll for acting). I think Selma will make a comeback with the Golden Globe nominations tomorrow- if it doesn't, then it might be in some trouble.

Ensemble

Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
The Theory of Everything

Actor in a Leading Role

Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton, Birdman
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Female Actor in a Leading Role

Jennifer Aniston, Cake
Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Actor in a Supporting Role

Robert Duvall, The Judge
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Edward Norton, Birdman
Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Female Actor in a Supporting Role

Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Emma Stone, Birdman
Meryl Streep, Into the Woods
Naomi Watts, St. Vincent

Another surprise (a happy one for me) was Grand Budapest Hotel making it into Ensemble, a possible sign that this may finally be the year a Wes Anderson movie cracks the Oscar Best Picture race. Also, the vast majority of SAG nominees go on to receive Oscar nods every year, save for maybe one or two in each category. Looking over this list it's pretty obvious which ones will likely be left out for someone else, starting with Jennifer Aniston in Cake. Aniston is a big star, and TV actors make up a lot of SAG's membership. To me, that's the reason she got into a weak Best Actress field, which is shocking enough on its own, but I'd be flabbergasted if she made it into the Oscar field for such a poorly received film, no matter how hard she campaigns. Other likely non-Oscar contenders will be Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts and Robert Duvall, because those films are all considered to be non-entities in the Oscar race, so look for them to be replaced with other names. But everyone else looks pretty set to me. We'll see if they solidify with tomorrow's Golden Globes announcement.

"Selma," "Get On Up" and "Dear White People" Lead the NAACP Image Nominees

The nominations for the NAACP Image Awards for film were announced today, and unsurprisingly, Selma led the charge, as it's expected to be a heavy Oscar favorite as well. It may be worth taking note that British actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw is having quite the breakout year with lead roles in Belle and Beyond the Lights, and just won the BIFA the other day for Belle.

Outstanding Motion Picture
• “Belle”
• “Beyond The Lights”
• “Dear White People”
• “Get On Up”
• “Selma”

Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture
• Chadwick Boseman – “Get On Up”
• David Oyelowo – “Selma”
• Denzel Washington – “The Equalizer”
• Idris Elba – “No Good Deed”
• Nate Parker – “Beyond The Lights”

Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw – “Belle”
• Quvenzhané Wallis – “Annie”
• Taraji P. Henson – “No Good Deed”
• Tessa Thompson – “Dear White People”
• Viola Davis – “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby”

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
• André Holland – “Selma”
• Cedric the Entertainer – “Top Five”
• Common – “Selma”
• Danny Glover – “Beyond The Lights”
• Wendell Pierce – “Selma”

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture
• Carmen Ejogo – “Selma”
• Jill Scott – “Get On Up”
• Octavia Spencer – “Get On Up”
• Oprah Winfrey – “Selma”
• Viola Davis – “Get On Up”

Outstanding Independent Motion Picture
• “Belle”
• “Dear White People”
• “Half of a Yellow Sun”
• “JIMI: All Is By My Side”
• “Life of a King”

Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture
• Chris Rock – “Top Five”
• Justin Simien – “Dear White People”
• Margaret Nagle – “The Good Lie”
• Misan Sagay – “Belle”
• Richard Wenk – “The Equalizer”

Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture
• Amma Asante – “Belle”
• Antoine Fuqua – “The Equalizer”
• Ava DuVernay – “Selma”
• Gina Prince-Bythewood – “Beyond The Lights”
• John Ridley – “JIMI: All Is By My Side”

TRAILER: "Still Alice"

You know, Still Alice already came out in limited release, and yet the trailer for the movie is arriving just now. I don't know what that's about, but here's a look at the film if you're interested. I was not a big fan of this movie, but the consensus seems to be that Julianne Moore is the default frontrunner for Best Actress for it, mostly based on the incredibly weak competition in that category this year. I love Julianne Moore, but this would be entirely a career award if she wins. The film just isn't that great, any way you look at it.

TRAILER: "The Last 5 Years"

Anna Kendrick seems to be carving out a niche for herself as the go to actress for modern movie musicals, doesn't she? This is another one, based on the play and co-starring theater actor Jeremy Jordan. It's coming out next year and unlike most trailers for these things, the fact that it's a musical is front and center, with several songs showcased. What do you think?

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "Calvary" (2014)

This week I'm recommending an independent film from earlier in the year that came out and was almost completely overlooked, but it's worth seeing, because it was one of the most unique movies of the year. Brendan Gleeson stars as a Catholic priest in a small town in Ireland, dealing with the changing role of the church and its effects on the various townspeople he counsels. It was a thought-provoking, well-acted film and deserves to be seen by a wider audience. You should check it out.

Trailer:

BOX OFFICE 12/05-12/07: 'Hunger Games' Leads a Slow Weekend

Mockingjay easily led one of the worst weekends of the year for box office- the dreaded post-Thanksgiving week. With no new wide releases to speak of, the top five consisted of all holdovers, and that leaves not a whole lot to talk about, except the cumulative grosses of films that have been in theaters for weeks now. Mockingjay's $21 million brought its total to $258 million, leading its final prediction gross to be around $330 million (if it follows Catching Fire's trajectory from here on in). Worldwide it's done about $560 million so far...and yet the Hunger Games story this year feels incredibly redundant and unexciting. I've got to say something here- will anyone be watching any of these movies in five year's time? Will anyone remember what they were about? This is one of the dullest, most pointless franchises to exist in movie history.

The rest of the top five included Penguins of Madagascar (which fell off huge from last week), Horrible Bosses 2, which held decent but won't outgross the first one, Big Hero 6 (looking on track to end with $200 million) and Interstellar, which now seems likely to close with close to $175 million.

Top 5:

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 1- $22 million
Penguins of Madagascar- $10.9 million
Horrible Bosses 2- $8.4 million
Big Hero 6- $8 million
Interstellar- $7.8 million

In limited release, Wild opened in 21 locations for a per screen average of $28k, pretty good for the Fox Searchlight film looking to score Reese Witherspoon her second Best Actress nomination, while The Imitation Game continued to impress at just 8 theaters, earning a $48k PTA and bringing in over $1 million already before major expansion. Next week it's Chris Rock's Top Five and the limited opening of PT Anderson's Inherent Vice. See you then!

DC Critics Like 'Boyhood'; AAFCA Honors 'Selma'

More critics groups! It's critics galore all month, as the DC critics went with the dull consensus pretty much down the line:

Best Foreign Language Film: Force Majeure
Best Art Direction: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Cinematography: Birdman
Best Editing: Birdman
Best Original Score: Under the Skin
Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC: Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Best Acting Ensemble: Birdman
Best Youth Performance: Ellar Coltrane, Boyhood
Best Adapted Screenplay: Gone Girl
Best Original Screenplay: Birdman
Best Animated Feature: The LEGO Movie
Best Documentary: Life Itself
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Best Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Best Film: Boyhood

Not too exciting is it? Meanwhile, the African-American Film Critics Association thankfully reveals a totally different lineup of winners, including a top ten of their own:

Best Actor – David Oyelowo, Selma
Best Actress – Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Belle
Best Supporting Actress – Octavia Spencer, Black or White
Best Supporting Actor – Tyler Perry, Gone Girl (Fox) / 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”
Best Ensemble – Get On Up
Best Independent Film – Dear White People
Best Animation – The Boxtrolls
Best Documentary – Life Itself

Top 10 of 2014

1. Selma
2. The Imitation Game
3. Theory of Everything
4. Birdman
5. Belle
6. Top Five
7. Unbroken
8. Dear White People
9. Get On Up
10. Black or White

Looks like Life Itself is going to be Citizenfour's major rival for Best Documentary this year- which is actually going to be a very close contest, because with the entire Academy voting on Documentary now, the category that used to almost always go to a political/socially important film, now tends to go with the heartugging,most sentimental option. That means the heartfelt tribute to the world's most famous film critic Roger Ebert, is probably in a very good position to win that award, should it get nominated.

AFI Top 11 for 2014

The American Film Institute awards a top ten list every year, and this year their list speaks to what may be a disconnect between the critic's consensus and the coming guild/industry groups. Check out this top eleven they just bestowed:

American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
Foxcatcher
The Imitation Game
Interstellar
Into the Woods
Nightcrawler
Selma
Unbroken
Whiplash

The AFI list is usually more important than the various critics awards for predicting the Oscars- this jury actually includes some Academy members, so we can see here that their taste includes not well received titles like American Sniper, Unbroken, Into the Woods and Interstellar (which was more mixed than negative), as well as the crowdpleasing Imitation Game (which I could have sworn was a British production, so I don't know how that got in here) and Selma- two movies that are heavily predicted to be Oscar favorites but that critics don't seem to be embracing in their year end awards so far. The two crossover films are Boyhood and Birdman, while tiny indie darlings Foxcatcher, Nightcrawler and Whiplash also get a boost here. Based on this list it's going to be interesting to see what actually makes up the Oscar BP nominees- they could be drawn from a very wide range of films this year, and right now it looks like the only locks are Boyhood, Birdman, Imitation Game and Selma, which leaves at least five slots open that could be filled with any of up to ten other contenders. I'm pretty shocked that Gone Girl missed out here, as one of the biggest American hits of the year, from a respected director and studio. We'll see what the SAG and Golden Globe nominees reveal later this week.

British Independent Film Awards Honor 'Pride'

In non-Oscar related news, the BIFAS overseas chose to honor the truly independent films made in Britain this year by choosing Pride as the best of 2014. You'll notice however, that even they honored Boyhood as the best foreign indie of the year, and Richard Linklater was actually at the ceremony to pick up the trophy in this instance:

Picture - Pride
Director - Yann Demange – '71
Actor - Brendan Gleeson - Calvary
Actress - Gugu Mbatha-Raw - Belle
S. Actor - Andrew Scott - Pride
S. Actress - Imelda Staunton - Pride
Revelation - Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard – 20,000 Days on Earth
Screenplay - Frank
Production - The Goob
Documentary - Next Goal Wins
Foreign Film - Boyhood