Kansas City Critics like 'Birdman,' Rosamund Pike; San Francisco Goes for 'Boyhood'

Two more regional critics groups weighed in today, and only one of them did anything interesting. Kansas City basically went for Birdman everywhere, but they also gave Gone Girl's Rosamund Pike her first Best Actress prize, and refreshingly rewarded Obvious Child (!) with Adapted Screenplay.

Kansas City Film Critics Winners

Animated: The Lego Movie
Documentary: Citizenfour
Foreign Language Film: Ida
SF/Fantasy/Horror Film: The Babadook
Adapted Screenplay: Obvious Child
Original Screenplay: Birdman
Sup. Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Sup. Actor: Edward Norton, Birdman
Actress: Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Best Picture: Birdman

Meanwhile, San Francisco did virtually nothing interesting, anointing Boyhood and the expected acting winners right down the line, aside from Edward Norton, who won twice today- meh. Looks like the creative Oscar picks this year are going to come from the technical categories, unless they decide to buck the trend somewhere (Best Actor, perhaps? I still think there's a chance Michael Keaton won't necessarily win out in the end there).

San Francisco Film Critics

Best Picture:“Boyhood”
Best Director: Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
Best Original Screenplay:“Birdman”
Best Adapted Screenplay:“Inherent Vice”
Best Actor: Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
Best Supporting Actor: Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
Best Animated Feature:“The Lego Movie”
Best Foreign Language Film:“Ida”
Best Documentary:“Citizenfour”
Best Cinematography:“Ida”
Best Production Design:“The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Best Film Editing:“Boyhood”

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.

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.

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: