Reel Society of Film Critics Awards 2015 - The Nominees

[silversurfer19]

The first round of votes are in and we have our nominees for the Reel Society Of Film Critics Awards 2015. Between now and March 13th you have the opportunity to submit your final round of votes that will reveal the winners of the awards on Saturday March 14th. Remember you will now be voting on a sliding scale of 5-1 in order of preference, other that in the Best Picture category which will follow the same format, but be on a scale of 10-1. 10 would be your first choice, and then sliding down to your least favourite. You do not have to award a score to every movie, and you need only award what you feel necessary (ie. you can vote just three movies if you like, with one movie a 10, another an 8 and another a 3). If you have any queries on this please let me know.

I will also use this opportunity to ask the committee to put themselves forward for a featurette on one of the Best Picture nominees. If you would like to do one, and it need be no more than a couple of sentences if that's all you can think of, that will be great.

So without further adue, here are the nominees for the 2015 Reel Society Of Film Critics Awards:

Best Picture
Birdman
Boyhood
Gone Girl
Interstellar
Nightcrawler
Selma
Snowpiercer
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Lego Movie
Whiplash

Best Director
Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Damien Chazelle, Whiplash
Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler
Alejandro G. Inarritu, Birdman
Richard Linklater, Boyhood

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Ralph Fiennes, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Jake Gyllenhaal, Nightcrawler
Michael Keaton, Birdman
David Oyelowo, Selma
Eddie Redmayne, The Theory Of Everything

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year
Scarlett Johannsen, Under The Skin
Felicity Jones, The Theory Of Everything
Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice
Steve Carrell, Foxcatcher
Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
Ed Norton, Birdman
JK Simmons, Whiplash

Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
Rene Russo, Nightcrawler
Emma Stone, Birdman
Tilda Swinton, Snowpiercer

Best Foreign Language Film
Borgman
Force Majeure
Ida
Stranger By The Lake
The Raid 2

Best Animated Picture
Big Hero 6
How To Train Your Dragon 2
The Congress
The Lego Movie
The Tale Of Princess Kaguya

Best Documentary Feature
20,000 Days On Earth
Jodorowsky's Dune
Life Itself
Mistaken For Strangers
Tim's Vermeer

Best Cast
Birdman
Boyhood
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Gone Girl
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Breakthrough Performance
Macon Blair, Blue Ruin
Ellar Coltrane, Boyhood
David Oyelowo, Selma
Chris Pratt, Guardians Of The Galaxy
Dan Stevens, The Guest

Best Original Screenplay
Birdman
Boyhood
Nightcrawler
Selma
The Grand Budapest Hotel

Best Adapted Screenplay
Gone Girl
Inherent Vice
Snowpiercer
The Imitation Game
Whiplash

Best Cinematography
Birdman
Gone Girl
Nightcrawler
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Whiplash

Best Score
Birdman
Interstellar
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Under The Skin

Best Visual Effects
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes
Edge Of Tomorrow
Guardians Of The Galaxy
Interstellar
X-Men: Days Of Future Past

And so, with the nominees revealed, we can all take a moment to discuss, support and mock the committee's decisions!

[Buscemi]

I haven't even heard of Mistaken for Strangers. And I'm surprised to see the disappointing The Congress get in over The Boxtrolls (which will erroneously be known as the movie that cost The Lego Movie an Oscar nomination when it was actually Song of the Sea) for Best Animated Feature.

And last, Selma deserved more nominations.

[Chienfantome]

Wow, I think it's the first time ever that there is a category in which I haven't seen a single film, Best Documentary. none of the films I nominated ended up in the noms. Damn.
I so wanted to see mistaken for Strangers though.

Other than that, I'm surprised "Guardians of the Galaxy" isn't nominated in the Best Film category.
I'm thrilled to see The Congress get a nom in Best Animated film.
It's great to see that 3 of our Best actor noms are not from biopics
I'm disappointed to see the very disappointing Raid 2 in the Best foreign language.
I'm glad Blue Ruin and Inherent Vice got a few noms.
I wish A Most Violent year was more present than the totally deserved nom for Chastain.

Those are solid nominations, with enough surprises and snubs to be fun.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

I see some of you guys haven't seen Still Alice or Cake. I'd think the Best Actress nods would be a bit different.

Also surprised Guardians didn't sneak into Best Picture.

It's odd that I don't even recognize 3 of the 5 nominees for Best Breakthrough.

[Buscemi]

Even if anyone had seen Cake, Aniston still wouldn't have been nominated. Reviews were generally negative for it (and the only reason it had any awards action was that the producers had a big campaign based solely around Aniston's performance and standing in Hollywood).

I actually nominated Still Alice in two categories but I believe only Six and I saw it (and Six didn't like it). My personal surprise in acting categories was the fact that Inherent Vice didn't get a Supporting Actress nomination. I thought either Waterston or Newsom would sneak in.

[Chienfantome]

As for writing the featurette to write, I'd be willing to write one about either The Grand Budapest Hotel (but I know John might send a killer to Paris to prevent me from doing that so he can do it himself), Boyhood, Interstellar, The Lego Movie or Whiplash. I won't impose myself on one of them since I love half of the nominees so as long as I end up with one of those I'll be fine. I could even write one about Snowpiercer if need be.

[Buscemi]

I'll do Boyhood but am open to doing Interstellar, Nightcrawler or Selma if someone else wants Boyhood.

[numbersix]

Nightcrawler, Grand Budapest, and The LEGO Movie are the only ones I'd be enthusiastic about to write something on.

On that note,I thought this year's nominees were a little predictable. Lots of Boyhood and Birdman. But nothing that left-of-field. Disappointed Locke and Blue Ruin, two films better than all the Best Pic nominees in my humble opinion, got little or no significant nominations.

Particularly when the turgid Gone Girl get so many noms. I can forgive Rose Pike because she gives an entertaining crazy-bitch performance, but the script is a mess, the rest of the cast have very little to do, and the cinematography was flat and dull.

Also odd is Scarlett getting a nomination for Under the Skin, considering she spends most of it being a robot of sorts (a sexbot?). Glad the score got nominated. It was so important to the movie.

Would have liked to have seen an indie film get a nom for best VFX. The creative use of effects is far more interesting than films that have tens of millions to spend. The Raid 2's effects were great considering the tiny budget it had,but that was a long shot.

Hey, at least Force Majeure got nominated!

[jas8382]

I'll volunteer to write a feature for Birdman,or Gone Girl.

[Ron Burgundy]

looking at the noms, cant really see anything really out of place, though i never did see The Raid 2.

Probably thought Guardians was a better movie than The Lego Movie, though i didnt nominate either. Happy to see Snowpiercer there.

Didn't think How to Train Your Dragon 2 deserved to be there, but it was a slow year for animations.

Cant wait to get around to see these doco's, didnt get to each of the noms here.

I voted for each Best Cast movie, bar Boyhood, where i though the Apes movie tipped it

I think after the small talk about the Breakthrough performance, these nominations are a good pool. Though i must say, where are the ladies? Im no film buff like Chien, six or Boosh, tell me, was there a breakthrough performance by a female that got close?

Locke got snubbed for best original screenplay, didnt it.

Very much agree with the last 3 categories, i think the winner will be close for 2 of these.

Side note: is it better to do this before or after the oscars?

[numbersix]

Funnily enough, my breakthrough noms were more gals than guys.

For Boyhood I cheated and nominated both kids. Thought that was only fair as I don't think either have the ability to go onto greater things, but suited their roles well.

I also nominated Jenny Slate for Obvious Child, as she was really charming and if she pushes herself she could become a really good actress. Nominated Agata Trzebuchowska in Ida as she came out of nowhere (really,the director scoured all of Poland, auditioning everyone, was depressed that no one stood out and then in a cafe spotted her. She's a philosophy student who has no interest in acting until the director convinced her. And he was right).

And I actually went for Maika Monroe in The Guest instead of Dan Stevens.

Macon Blair was the only sole guy I nominated.

[Buscemi]

I actually nominated three female performances on Breakthrough Performance (and Waterston knocked out another female performance).

This was my ballot.

Best Picture

Boyhood
Inherent Vice
Life Itself
Nightcrawler
Selma

Best Director

Paul Thomas Anderson (Inherent Vice)
Ava DuVernay (Selma)
Steve James (Life Itself)
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
Christopher Nolan (Interstellar)

Best Actor in a Leading Role

Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)
David Oyelowo (Selma)
Joaquin Phoenix (Inherent Vice/The Immigrant)
Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Amy Adams (Big Eyes)
Marion Cotillard (The Immigrant)
Gabrielle Marion-Rivard (Gabrielle)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Beyond the Lights)
Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler)
Josh Brolin (Inherent Vice)
Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)
Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel)
Tom Wilkinson (Selma)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)
Joanna Newsom (Inherent Vice)
Rene Russo (Nightcrawler)
Kristen Stewart (Still Alice)
Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice)

Best Foreign Language Film

Borgman (Netherlands)
Gabrielle (Canada)
Ida (Poland)
The Last of the Unjust (Germany)
Like Father, Like Son (Japan)

Best Animated Picture

The Boxtrolls
The Lego Movie
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya
(only three, as Song of the Sea hadn't opened yet)

Best Documentary Feature

The Last of the Unjust
Life Itself
Rich Hill
SuperMensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon
Tim's Vermeer

Best Cast

Boyhood
Draft Day
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Inherent Vice
Selma

Breakthrough Performance

Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood)
Gabrielle Marion-Rivard (Gabrielle)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Beyond the Lights)
David Oyelowo (Selma)
Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice)

Best Original Screenplay

Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Interstellar
Nightcrawler
Selma

Best Adapted Screenplay

Inherent Vice
The Theory of Everything
A Walk Among the Tombstones
(I could only think of three nominees here)

Best Cinematography

The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Immigrant
Inherent Vice
Interstellar
Selma

Best Score

Inherent Vice
Interstellar
Noah
Selma
The Theory of Everything

Best Visual Effects

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
Interstellar
Into the Storm
Noah

[JohnErle]

The Grand Budapest Hotel and Gone Girl are the only ones I'd be willing to do a write up for, assuming I have the time to do a proper one.

I'm glad to see Stranger By The Lake score a Foreign Film nod. Sometimes it felt like I was the only one around here who'd ever seen it, but maybe not. Or maybe one vote was all it took this year. I made it halfway through Venus In Fur tonight and it's a pity I didn't see it earlier because I definitely would have nominated it, and maybe even considered it for bigger awards as well.

If any summer escapism type movie deserved to be nominated for Best Picture it was Edge Of Tomorrow, not Guardians Of The Galaxy, so I'm slightly disappointed that didn't happen, but my biggest disappointment is seeing that Carrie Coon and Kim Dickens didn't score Best Supporting Actress nominations for Gone Girl. People constantly whine about how there are no great roles for women over 40 in Hollywood, but when someone like Kim Dickens gets a meaty character like Detective Boney and knocks it out of the park, everyone ignores her in favour of the pretty 30-something blond who wasn't nearly as good. And Carrie Coon had such a pivotal, multi-layered role as Nick's sister, and she reminded me so much of a young Illeana Douglas, that hers was maybe my favourite performance of the year. And to answer your question, Ron, I think I nominated them both for breakthrough performance. They're a big part of the reason Gone Girl is up for Best Cast, but it's a shame they weren't individually rewarded.

Perhaps the best news is that there aren't any nominees I hated this year, so that's a big improvement over last year, especially since Surfer stubbornly refuses to count my -10 votes.

[numbersix]

I gave Stranger a nom. I liked it, and probably wouldn't have nominated it until you mentioned it recently. Figured I'd rather see that nominated than something like The Raid 2 - which it did anyway, but hey, we all win!

[Ron Burgundy]

Hmm, thats interesting about the female breakthroughs. Though i thought Dan Stevens outshone everyone in The Guest, including Monroe, funny that you mention her, as my old man (a B grade action movie junkie/sci-fi/slow burn thriller fan [really weird taste]) said he expected big things from her fo the future, while i hastily (and perhaps unfairly) said she's done

And i also voted for Carrie Coon. For best supporting...

Interesting about your Inherent Vice noms boosh. I cannot believe i forgot Josh Brolin when i voted, thankfully he got a nod regardless