TRAILER #2: "Cinderella"

The U.K. trailer for Disney's Cinderella isn't quite as painful as the first one was, but I still think this thing looks garish, over the top and generally awful. The CG mice in particular are a cringeworthy detail. And why does Cinderella's ball gown look ripped off from the one Disney World employees wear? Ick.

'Selma' and 'Dear White People' Lead the Black Reel Awards Nominations

The Black Reel Awards announced the nominations for its 15th annual ceremony today. The critically praised indies Dear White People and Selma led the noms overall:

Outstanding Motion Picture
"Belle"
"Beyond the Lights"
"Dear White People"
"Selma"
"Top Five"

Outstanding Actor
Chadwick Boseman, "Get on Up"
David Oyelowo, "Selma"
Nate Parker, "Beyond the Lights"
Chris Rock, "Top Five"
Denzel Washington, "The Equalizer"

Outstanding Actress
Rosario Dawson, "Top Five"
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, "Belle"
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, "Beyond the Lights"
Tessa Thompson, "Dear White People"
Quvenzhané Wallis, "Annie"

Outstanding Supporting Actor
Nelsan Ellis, "Get On Up"
David Oyelowo, "A Most Violent Year"
Tyler Perry, "Gone Girl"
Wendell Pierce, "Selma"
Michael K. Williams, "The Gambler"

Outstanding Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, "The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby"
Carmen Ejogo, "Selma"
Teyonah Parris, "Dear White People"
Zoe Saldana, "Guardians of the Galaxy"
Octavia Spencer, "Snowpiercer"

Outstanding Director
Amma Asante, "Belle"
Gina Prince-Bythewood, "Beyond the Lights"
Ava DuVernay, "Selma"
Chris Rock, "Top Five"
Justin Simien, "Dear White People"

Outstanding Screenplay (Original or Adapted)
Gina Prince-Bythewood, "Beyond the Lights"
John Ridley, "Jimi: All is by My Side"
Chris Rock, "Top Five"
Misan Sagay, "Belle"
Justin Simien, "Dear White People"

Outstanding Documentary
"Anita: Speaking Truth to the Power"
"I Am Ali"
"Keep on Keepin’ On"
"Time is Illmatic"
"Virunga"

Outstanding Ensemble (Awarded to Casting Directors)
"Belle"
"Dear White People"
"Get On Up"
"Selma"
"Top Five"

Outstanding Foreign Film
"Difret" (Ethiopia)
"The Double!" (U.K.)
"Fishing Without Nets" (Kenya)
"Freedom Road" (South Africa)
"Half of a Yellow Sun" (Nigeria)

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Male
Brandon Bell, "Dear White People"
David Gyasi, "Interstellar"
Andre Holland, "Selma"
Stephan James, "Selma"
Tyler James Williams, "Dear White People"

Outstanding Breakthrough Performance, Female
Jillian Estell, "Black or White"
Patina Miller, "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1"
Teyonah Parris, "Dear White People"
Amber Stevens, "22 Jump Street"
Kuoth Wiel, "The Good Lie"

Outstanding Voice Performance
Vin Diesel, "Guardians of the Galaxy"
Morgan Freeman, "The LEGO Movie"
Maya Rudolph, "Big Hero 6"
Zoe Saldana, "The Book of Life"
Damon Wayans Jr., "Big Hero 6"

Outstanding Score
"Black or White"
"Dear White People"
"Jimi: All is by My Side"
"Beyond the Lights"
"Selma"

Outstanding Original Song
"It Ain’t Easy" from "Top Five"
"It’s On Again" from "The Amazing Spider-Man 2"
"Glory" from "Selma"
"Grateful" from "Beyond the Lights,"
"What is Love" from "Rio 2"

Outstanding Independent Feature
"1982"
"Christmas Wedding Baby"
"CRU"
"The Retrieval"
"Una Vida: A Fable of Music and the Mind"

Outstanding Independent Documentary
"25 to Life"
"Evolution of a Criminal"
"Let the Fire Burn"
"Oscar Micheaux: The Czar of Black Hollywood"
"Through a Lens Darkly: Black Photographers and the Emergence of a People"

Outstanding Independent Short
"#AmeriCan"
"Muted"
"The Voodoo"

Austin and Dublin Critics like 'Boyhood'; Women Film Critics Circle Honors 'Still Alice'

The Austin film critics unsurprisingly went for Boyhood, as it was set in their hometown after all. The rest of their winners confirmed the frontrunners down the line.

AUSTIN FILM CRITICS

Best Film: Boyhood
Best Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Best Actor: Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Best Actress: Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Best Original Screenplay: Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Best Adapted Screenplay: Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl
Best Cinematography: Birdman
Best Score: Birdman
Best Foreign-Language Film: Force Majeure
Best Documentary: Citizenfour
Best Animated Film: The LEGO Movie
Best First Film: Nightcrawler
Breakthrough Artist: Jennifer Kent, The Babadook
Best Austin Film: Boyhood

The Dublin Critics Circle also liked Boyhood, but concurred with Austin on Jake Gyllenhaal for Best Actor. He seems to be coming on really strong in that race now, which tells me Nightcrawler really does have a lot of passion behind it. I also think this is why Michael Keaton's not necessarily a lock for the Oscar there.

DUBLIN CRITICS CIRCLE

Best Film: Boyhood
Best Director: Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)
Best Actor: Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)
Best Irish Film: Frank
Best Documentary: Finding Vivian Maier
Best Breakthrough: Jack O’Connell (Starred Up, Unbroken, ‘71)

Finally, the Women Film Critics Circle handed out their annual awards celebrating women in film. They liked Still Alice best apparently (meh), but I think their biggest mistake was in not singling out The Babadook for anything- certainly one of the best movies this year made by and about a woman.

WOMEN FILM CRITICS CIRCLE

Best Movie About Women: Still Alice
Best Movie By a Woman: Selma
Best Woman Storyteller: Rebecca Lenkewicz, Ida
Best Actress: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Best Actor: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
Best Young Actress: Mira Grosin, We are the Best
Best Comedic Actress: Jenny Slate, Obvious Child
Best Foreign Film By or About Women: Two Days, One Night
Best Female Images in a Movie: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1
Worst Female Images in a Movie: Horrible Bosses 2
Best Male Images in a Movie: Love is Strange
Worst Male Images in a Movie: Dumb and Dumber To
Best Documentary By or About Women: Citizenfour
Best Screen Couple: The Skeleton Twins
Best Theatrically Unreleased Movie By or About Women: Girlhood
Best Equality of the Sexes (tie): Life Itself, The Skeleton Twins
Best Animated Female: Winnie, The Boxtrolls
Best Family Film: Big Hero 6
Women's Work/Best Ensemble: The Homesman

REVIEW: "Nightcrawler" (2014) Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo. Dir. Dan Gilroy

Nightcrawler is a delightful surprise- a deliciously dark satire on the desperate vileness of the news media and the chase for ratings glory above all else. It conveys the way sensationalism trumps ethics in journalism, moral consideration and empathy at nearly every turn, but it does this in the guise of a B-movie thriller, carried by a terrifically creepy Jake Gyllenhaal in one of his best performances and one of the year's most memorable movie characters- a kind of societal companion to loner psychos like Taxi Driver's Travis Bickle.

Gyllenhaal plays Lou Bloom, a twisted sociopath whose background we know nothing about, who doesn't appear to ever sleep and roams Los Angeles neighborhoods at night acting as a petty thief, even mugging a cop in the very first scene so we can see that he later sells the guy's watch at a pawn shop. But Lou isn't just an average thief- no, he's professionally motivated and extremely ambitious. He wants a career where he can get ahead and speaks in clipped, business seminar anecdotes about the power of knowing your worth and retaining your bargaining power. We don't know what he's looking for exactly, and maybe he doesn't either until he stumbles across a crime scene and a TV news crew and suddenly decides he wants to be a freelance cameraman who records news footage for sale.

They're called "nightcrawlers," they show up at the scene of a "valuable" crime (white, wealthy victims usually) and they get all the footage they can in order to sell it to the highest bidder. Lou comes to realize he has a knack for this kind of work (presumably because he has virtually no feelings about people at all) and finds a local news station hungry for the ratings power he can bring to them. The news director at this station is Nina (Rene Russo), who's nearly as cold and calculating as Lou, and perfectly willing to pay him whatever he wants for the most despicable and graphic footage he's able to provide. The two make a dastardly duo, and Lou goes about perfecting his trade by taking on a reluctant but financially desperate sidekick as his "employee" and attempting to put together his own production company as they plunge further and further into some very disturbing waters.

There are elements of this story that are a bit murky, such as the unexplored relationship between Lou and Nina- he uses his power to force her into a sexual relationship with him, but we're never shown any of what's supposedly happening behind closed doors there. And the motivations of Lou are a complete mystery- he's not just a guy off his rocker, ala Travis Bickle, but a well organized, highly motivated, intelligent sociopath drawn to a specific profession- this hardly seems like a person who could ever exist in real life, and as such he's a "movie" character through and through, which keeps the film from realistically relaying the very real points it's trying to make about the news industry and leeches like Bloom, who do exist in real life. But the general point is there, and the ride is so entertaining (it goes into some dark and completely unpredictable twists in the climax) that the movie is a thrilling ride through this morally grey underworld that chills you in its impact. And one more word for Gyllenhaal, who plays this guy in a freakish, creepy and unforgettable performance- I've never been totally sold on him as an actor before, but he's the real deal, and so is Nightcrawler.

* * * 1/2

Blu-Ray Pick of the Week: "The Skeleton Twins" (2014)

I'm recommending a movie this week that I think has been severely overlooked this awards season, and that's The Skeleton Twins, which came out just a few months ago. SNL almuni Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig have superb chemistry here as two long estranged siblings who reunite after Hader's attempted suicide. The movie's a comedy drama that alternates back and forth between those tones, but reveals Wiig and Hader as really, surprisingly good actors who can handle both notes equally. You should seek it out, it hasn't gotten enough attention in the last part of this year (I thought for sure the Golden Globes would recognize it somehow).

Trailer:

Toronto and Phoenix Split Between 'Boyhood' and 'Birdman'

Toronto went with the consensus in Best Film, but liked Tom Hardy and Marion Cotillard in the top acting categories, as well as Studio Ghibli's The Tale of Princess Kaguya in Animated Feature, a nice little break from The Lego Movie's domination there.

TORONTO FILM CRITICS

Film: Boyhood
Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Actor: Tom Hardy, Locke
Actress: Marion Cotillard, The Immigrant
S. Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
S. Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Animated: The Tale of Princess Kaguya
First Feature: The Lunchbox
Foreign-Language Film: Force Majeure
Documentary: The Overnighters

Meanwhile, Phoenix gave out a lot of awards (most of them don't bother to do all the technical stuff), and split Boyhood and Birdman in Picture/Director, while handing Keira Knightley her first critics win for supporting actress.

PHOENIX FILM CRITICS

Film: Birdman
Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Actress: Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
S. Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
S. Actress: Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Ensemble: Birdman
O. Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
A. Screenplay: Gone Girl
Live Action Family Film: Into the Woods
Overlooked Film of the Year: Edge of Tomorrow
Animated: The Lego Movie
Foreign Language Film: Ida
Documentary: Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me
Song: "Everything is Awesome," The Lego Movie
Score: Birdman
Cinematography: Birdman
Editing: Birdman
Production Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Visual Effects: Interstellar
Stunts: Edge of Tomorrow
Breakthrough Performance On Camera: Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Breakthrough Performance Behind the Camera: Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Youth Performance Male: Jaeden Lieberer, St. Vincent
Youth Performance Female: Lilla Crawford, Into the Woods

Chicago Critics Choose 'Boyhood'

Oof. The Chicago critics just produced a list of very boring frontrunners down the line, so I'm going to check in on what's happening with the Foreign Language Film category. Critics awards seem to be splitting between three contenders, with each of them winning several prizes so far- Two Days, One Night, Force Majeure (below) and Ida. I think we should expect all three to make the Foreign Film cut at the Oscars, and that might be a tough one to call on Oscar night, with none of them particularly audience friendly (Sweden's Force Majeure comes closest).

CHICAGO CRITICS WINNERS

• Picture: "Boyhood"
  
• Director: Richard Linklater, "Boyhood"
• Actor: Michael Keaton, "Birdman"
  
• Actress: Julianne Moore, "Still Alice"
• Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, "Whiplash"
  
• Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, "Boyhood"
  
• Original Screenplay: Wes Anderson, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
  
• Adapted Screenplay: Gillian Flynn, "Gone Girl"
  
• Animated Feature: "The Lego Movie"
• Documentary: "Life Itself"
• Foreign: "Force Majeure"
• Editing: Tom Cross, "Whiplash"
• Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, "Birdman," and Robert D. Yeoman, "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
• Original Score: Mica Levi, "Under the Skin"
• Art Direction: "The Grand Budapest Hotel"
• Promising Filmmaker: Damien Chazelle, "Whiplash"
• Promising Performer: Jack O'Connell, "Starred Up," "Unbroken"

.

Academy Announces Makeup & Hairstyling Shortlist

Another shortlist from AMPAS, this time laying out the list of seven candidates that the three Makeup & Hairstyling nominations will be pulled from:

The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Foxcatcher
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Guardians of the Galaxy
Maleficent
Noah
The Theory of Everything

The makeup branch is kind of its own thing and they don't always just pick from Best Picture contenders, so we could see something weird here. My guess right now would be Guardians, Grand Budapest and maybe Theory of Everything? That last one involved old person makeup, which they love, but which was not all that impressive in the movie. Foxcatcher's a possibility for Carell's false nose. I really hope Maleficent doesn't get nominated for a damn thing.

TRAILER: "Knight of Cups"

It was announced this morning that the next film from the illusive Terence Malick will be playing in competition at the Berlin Film Festival next March. All I can say is that it looks like a Malick movie, alright. I'm actually a big fan of the director's films, but after To the Wonder I'm worried that he's only repeating himself at this point and everything he does is on the verge of parody now. This one looks set in a different kind of environment at least, but I'd prefer it if he were to try to change up that style a bit and tell an actual story again.

'Nightcrawler' Sweeps San Diego; Detroit and St. Louis Join the 'Boyhood' Train

Congratulations to San Diego critics for doing something different, even if their overwhelming love for Nightcrawler was a little bit out of control (score- did that movie even have a score?).

SAN DIEGO FILM CRITICS

Picture: Nightcrawler
Director: Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Actor: Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Actress: Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
S. Actor: Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
S. Actress: Rene Russo, Nightcrawler
A. Screenplay: Gone Girl
O. Screenplay: Nightcrawler
Editing: Edge of Tomorrow
Production Design: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Score: Nightcrawler
Animated: The Boxtrolls
Foreign Film: Force Majeure
Documentary: Citizenfour
Ensemble: Birdman

ST. LOUIS

Best Film: “Boyhood”
Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (“Birdman”)
Best Actor: Jake Gyllenhaal (“Nightcrawler”)
Best Actress: Rosamund Pike (“Gone Girl”)
Best Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons (“Whiplash”)
Best Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette (“Boyhood”)
Best Original Screenplay: “Birdman” (Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Armando Bo
Best Adapted Screenplay: “Gone Girl” (Gillian Flynn)
Best Cinematography: “Birdman” (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Best Visual Effects: “Interstellar”
Best Musical Score: “Birdman”
Best Soundtrack: “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Best Art Direction: “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Best Animated Film: “The Lego Movie”
Best Art-House or Festival Film “Whiplash”
Best Comedy: “Guardians of the Galaxy”
Best Documentary: “Citizenfour”
Best Non-English Language Film: “Force Majeure”
Best Scene (favorite movie scene or sequence): “X-Men: Days of Future Past” – Quicksilver Escape from the Pentagon

St. Louis splits Boyhood and Birdman in Picture and Director, and they also liked Jake Gyllenhaal for Best Actor- I guess there's a real chance he could maybe sneak into the Oscar race, but who does he knock out? Steve Carell is most vulnerable I guess.

DETROIT

Film: Boyhood
Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Actress: Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
S. Actor: JK Simmons, Whiplash
S. Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Ensemble (tie): Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Guardians of the Galaxy
Breakthrough: Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Screenplay: Boyhood
Documentary: Citizenfour

Nothing new to report here, aside from the Midwest going all in for Rosamund Pike today- that's pretty cool.

Indiana, Dallas and the Online Film Critics Society Choose Best of 2014

More regional groups today, all of which are more legit film critics than any member of the BFCA. Indiana became the first to like Reese Witherspoon for Best Actress, and Ralph Fiennes in Best Actor (could he actually get a last minute surge on the coattails of all the Budapest love?)

INDIANA FILM JOURNALISTS

Film: Boyhood
Animated: The Lego Movie
Foreign-Language: Two Days, One Night
Documentary: Life Itself
Original Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Adapted Screenplay: Whiplash
Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Actress: Reese Witherspoon, Wild
Actor: Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Supporting Actor: JK Simmons, Whiplash
Score: Under the Skin

Dallas went gaga for Birdman, but also liked Reese in Best Actress. Otherwise, not a lot of surprises there.

DALLAS FT. WORTH CRITICS

Picture: Birdman
Director: Alejandro Innaritu, Birdman
Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Actress: Reese Witherspoon, Wild
S. Actor: JK Simmons, Whiplash
S. Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Foreign-Language: Force Majeure
Screenplay: Birdman
Documentary: Citizenfour
Animated: The Lego Movie
Cinematography: Birdman
Score: Interstellar

Finally, the Online Film Critics Society went nuts for Budapest, actually giving it Best Picture, which is a nice change of pace from Boyhood and Birdman. And chalk up another win for Rosamund Pike as well. But all this Budapest stuff is entirely about perception- I don't think this would even be happening if the Golden Globe and SAG nominations last week hadn't confirmed that it was okay to still like something that came out way back in March. Critics are such sheep.

ONLINE FILM CRITICS SOCIETY

Picture: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Animated: The Lego Movie
Foreign-Language: Two Days, One Night
Dcumentary: Life Itself
Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Actor: Michael Keaton, Birdman
Actress: Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
S. Actor: Edward Norton, Birdman
S. Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Original Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Adapted Screenplay: Gone Girl
Editing: Birdman
Cinematography: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Critics Choice Award Nominations go to 'Budapest' and 'Birdman'

I have to confess, of all the awards bodies I kind of hate the BFCA the most. These are the Broadcast Film Critics Association, although they shouldn't be calling themselves "critics" since most of them are bloggers, entertainment reporters, people who talk about movies on E! (not kidding) and pretty much anyone can get in. It's a joke to think of these guys as critics. It's the People's Choice Awards of so-called critics (they even have categories like Best Action Movie, etc). But they're a bigger group, they have a televised awards show, and their only goal is to consider themselves Oscar predictors, so their nominations' sole purpose is in trying to match up with what the Academy might do. I'm not even convinced they vote on what they think is actually good. But Budapest continues its resurgence here with 11 nominations, as you can see.

BEST PICTURE
Birdman
Boyhood
Gone Girl
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Nightcrawler
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Unbroken
Whiplash

BEST ACTOR

• Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
• Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler
• Michael Keaton – Birdman
• David Oyelowo – Selma
• Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything

BEST ACTRESS

• Jennifer Aniston – Cake
• Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
• Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
• Julianne Moore – Still Alice
• Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspoon – Wild

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Josh Brolin – Inherent Vice
• Robert Duvall – The Judge
• Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
• Edward Norton – Birdman
• Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
• J.K. Simmons – Whiplash

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
• Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year
• Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
• Emma Stone – Birdman
• Meryl Streep – Into the Woods
• Tilda Swinton – Snowpiercer

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

• Ellar Coltrane – Boyhood
• Ansel Elgort – The Fault in Our Stars
• Mackenzie Foy – Interstellar
• Jaeden Lieberher – St. Vincent
• Tony Revolori – The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Quvenzhane Wallis – Annie

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

• Birdman
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Into the Woods
• Selma

BEST DIRECTOR

• Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Ava DuVernay – Selma
• David Fincher – Gone Girl
• Alejandro G. Inarritu – Birdman
• Angelina Jolie – Unbroken
• Richard Linklater – Boyhood

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• Birdman
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Nightcrawler
• Whiplash

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• Gone Girl
• The Imitation Game
• Inherent Vice
• The Theory of Everything
• Unbroken
• Wild

BEST CINEMATOGRAPY

• Birdman
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Interstellar
• Mr. Turner
• Unbroken

BEST ART DIRECTION

• Birdman 
• The Grand Budapest Hotel 
• Inherent Vice 
• Interstellar 
• Into the Woods
• Snowpiercer

BEST EDITING

• Birdman
• Boyhood
• Gone Girl
• Interstellar
• Whiplash

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Inherent Vice
• Into the Woods
• Maleficent
• Mr. Turner

BEST HAIR & MAKEUP

• Foxcatcher
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Into the Woods
• Maleficent

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• Edge of Tomorrow
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Interstellar

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

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

BEST ACTION MOVIE

• American Sniper
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Edge of Tomorrow
• Fury
• Guardians of the Galaxy

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE

• Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
• Tom Cruise – Edge of Tomorrow
• Chris Evans – Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Brad Pitt – Fury
• Chris Pratt – Guardians of the Galaxy

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE

• Emily Blunt – Edge of Tomorrow
• Scarlett Johansson – Lucy
• Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
• Zoe Saldana – Guardians of the Galaxy
• Shailene Woodley – Divergent

BEST COMEDY

• Birdman
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• St. Vincent
• Top Five
• 22 Jump Street

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

• Jon Favreau – Chef
• Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Michael Keaton – Birdman
• Bill Murray – St. Vincent
• Chris Rock – Top Five
• Channing Tatum – 22 Jump Street

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

• Rose Byrne – Neighbors
• Rosario Dawson – Top Five
• Melissa McCarthy – St. Vincent
• Jenny Slate – Obvious Child
• Kristen Wiig – The Skeleton Twins

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE

• The Babadook
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• Interstellar
• Snowpiercer
• Under the Skin

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• Force Majeure
• Ida
• Leviathan
• Two Days, One Night
• Wild Tales

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• Citizenfour
• Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me
• Jodorowsky’s Dune
• Last Days in Vietnam
• Life Itself
• The Overnighters

BEST SONG

• Big Eyes – Lana Del Rey – Big Eyes
• Everything Is Awesome – Jo Li and the Lonely Island – The Lego Movie
• Glory – Common/John Legend – Selma
• Lost Stars – Keira Knightley – Begin Again
• Yellow Flicker Beat – Lorde – The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

BEST SCORE

• The Imitation Game
• The Theory of Everything
• Gone Girl
• Birdman
• Interstellar

The fact that this group is the one that chose to resurrect Unbroken (a move that did NOT get  good reviews) tells me they've turned into bigger star fuckers than the Hollywood Foreign Press. That's embarrassing. Other than that, Foxcatcher did very poorly, which means Steve Carell and that film are still on the bubble, and I guess I shouldn't shut my eyes anymore to Jennifer Aniston's possible Oscar nomination (gulp) for a movie no one has seen. But the precursor combo of SAG, GG and BFCA is a powerful one, and very few actors miss with Oscar after having hit all three. It does happen, but she'd be one of the few. It still seems unimaginable to me though. There's usually one or two movies on their BP list that don't translate to Oscar- this year I'm thinking it could be Nightcrawler and hopefully Unbroken. The BFCA awards take place on January 15th.