‘Boyhood,’ ‘Grand Budapest’ Lead the OFCS Nominations

 

To those who may not be paying attention, awards season is currently in full swing, with critics societies from all over the world weighing in with their yearly awards. We’ve already heard from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review and several others, and today brought with it a list of nominations from the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS), which unlike the other organizations lets the fans in on the nominations process. (Full disclosure: The OFCS is also a critics society of which I am a member.) 

Thus far Richard Linklater’s Boyhood and Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel have dominated the critics society honors across the board. Although they haven’t won every major award, they are present on practically every list of winners. Other films that have made a showing across the board include The LEGO Movie (especially as far as animated feature categories are concerned), Whiplash and Birdman.

 

Related: 19 Films That Deserve More Oscar Buzz

 

But Birdman is conspicuously absent from the OFCS nominations for Best Picture, a particularly striking observation considering that – like the Academy Awards (or at least, like the Academy is capable of) – there are ten nominees this year. In its place are some unexpected underdogs, including the Polish drama Ida, the Canadian Mommy and the weird Scarlett Johansson sci-fi movie Under the Skin, which thus far has largely been overlooked this season.

Other surprise nominations include a Best Actress nod for Essie Davis in The Babadook (a rare nomination for a horror movie performance), Tilda Swinton for Snowpiercer (a broad and cynical post-apocalyptic thriller), and the adolescent punk rock drama We Are the Best! for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Do these films have a shot at the Oscars this year? Maybe, maybe not. It’s important to remember that although critics awards like the OFCS raise awareness of some of the best films of the year, most of the voting members don’t actually vote for the Oscars. Sometimes these societies rally around films and performances that the Academy decides not to embrace. Remember Albert Brooks’ so-called “sure-fire” Oscar nomination for DriveThat didn’t happen. Hardcore Oscar prognosticators will do well to remember that the real indication of which way the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is leaning on any given year will only be revealed once the Guild Awards nominations and winners are announced over the next 2 1/2 months.

 

Related: ‘Boyhood’ Wins Best Picture from Los Angeles Film Critics

 

But that doesn’t mean you should ignore critics society awards. If nothing else, they are an excellent way to determine which films you should catch up on at the end of the year, whether you’re trying to follow along during Oscar season or just want to know which movies totally kicked ass over the last 365 days.

Check out the complete list of OFCS nominations below, and come back on Monday, December 15 to find out who won all the honors.

BEST PICTURE

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Ida

The Lego Movie

Mommy

Nightcrawler

Selma

Two Days, One Night

Whiplash

Under the Skin

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Big Hero 6

The Boxtrolls

How to Train Your Dragon 2

The Lego Movie

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

BEST FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Ida

The Missing Picture

Mommy

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Two Days, One Night

BEST DOCUMENTARY

Citizenfour

Life Itself

The Missing Picture

National Gallery

The Overnighters

BEST DIRECTOR

Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Jean-Pierre Dardenne & Luc Dardenne – Two Days, One Night

Ava DuVernay – Selma

Jonathan Glazer – Under the Skin

Richard Linklater – Boyhood

BEST ACTOR

Ralph Fiennes – The Grand Budapest Hotel

Brendan Gleeson – Calvary

Jake Gyllenhaal – Nightcrawler

Michael Keaton – Birdman

Timothy Spall – Mr. Turner

BEST ACTRESS

Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night

Essie Davis – The Babadook

Anne Dorval – Mommy

Julianne Moore – Still Alice

Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Josh Brolin – Inherent Vice

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

Suzanne Clément – Mommy

Agata Kulesza – Ida

Tilda Swinton – Snowpiercer

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Boyhood

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Selma

Two Days, One Night

Whiplash

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Gone Girl

Inherent Vice

Snowpiercer

Under the Skin

We Are the Best!

BEST EDITING

Birdman

Boyhood

Gone Girl

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Whiplash

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Birdman

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Ida

Mr. Turner

Under the Skin

BEST NON-U.S. RELEASE (NON-COMPETITIVE CATEGORY)

’71

10,000 km

Entre Nós

Han Gong-ju

Hard to Be a God

The Look of Silence

The Salt of the Earth

What We Do in the Shadows

Timbuktu

The Tribe

 


William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.

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