Well, the sweep starts here people. The first of the four biggest critics groups anointed Boyhood today with Picture, Director and Supporting Actress, as was widely expected to happen. The remaining three critics groups that tend to have any impact at all on the Oscar race are the LA Film Critics (voting on Sunday), the National Society of Film Critics and the National Board of Review (voting tomorrow). I do expect Boyhood to just about sweep the critics groups this year though- they gave it universal acclaim back when it was released in the summer. It's also a major Oscar contender. For the record, I also believe those two supporting wins are very likely to be the Oscar frontrunners as well, and it looks like the train starts here for them.
Animated Film: The Lego Movie
Foreign Film: Ida
Non-Fiction Film: Citizenfour
Supporting Actor: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
Supporting Actress: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Screenplay: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Cinematography: The Immigrant
Actor: Timothy Spall, Mr. Turner
Actress: Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night and The Immigrant
First Film: The Babadook
Director: Richard Linklater, Boyhood
Picture: Boyhood
The surprises they threw into this mix this year were Timothy Spall for Mr. Turner and Marion Cotillard for her two films- both are on the edge of Oscar nominations, so this was clearly an attempt to help them out, but we'll see if either of them can make the final cut for films not as widely seen as others. Also surprising was the shutout of Birdman, the other critical favorite, but obviously Boyhood was unstoppable today. Tune in tomorrow to see if the NBR will continue the love for Linklater's indie hit or choose to crown something else.
