The Surprising Punch thrown by The National Board of Review

I need to apologize for being so late at posting the winners and my thoughts today for the National Board of Review, today has just been non-stop. In my lateness though, I have had time to gather my thoughts to make them more concrete. Before I get into my thoughts, I give you today...or yesterdays, depending when you see this, list of winners of what the National Board of Review considered the years "best": 

Best Film: HER
Best Director: Spike Jonze, HER
Best Actor: Bruce Dern, NEBRASKA 
Best Actress: Emma Thompson, SAVING MR. BANKS 
Best Supporting Actor: Will Forte, NEBRASKA 
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, FRUITVALE STATION 
Best Original Screenplay: Joel and Ethan Coen, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS 
Best Adapted Screenplay: Terence Winter, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
Best Animated Feature: THE WIND RISES 
Best Ensemble: PRISONERS 


the cool thing about the National Board of Review is they give an additional prize of announcing their top 10 films of the year: 


Top Films (in alphabetical order) 

12 YEARS A SLAVE
FRUITVALE STATION
GRAVITY 
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
LONE SURVIVOR 
NEBRASKA
PRISONERS
SAVING MR. BANKS
THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Now for my thoughts, of which I have many, but I will try to be as short as possible: 

1. The fact that Her and its director, Spike Jonze, managed to win the top two prizes has put them in discussion as possible nominees for both Best Picture and Director. Nothing is for certain of course, but winning any big critics awards at this point is meaningful because next week big nominees for the Golden Globes, Broadcast Film Critics Association, and the Screen Actors Guild are announced; The winners at these critics awards we have been discussing is a last second chance to get your film noticed by people who have yet to turn in their votes for nominations at the big awards. So good job for the NBR to shock EVERYONE by naming Her and Spike Jonze as their best. I have always loved Spike Jonze, so I have no doubt in its brilliance, but I fully expected Gravity or 12 Years a Slave to win their top awards, which leads me to point two. 
2. After months of people praising 12 Years a Slave and Gravity as the years best movies, it is very interesting neither of them have topped two of the biggest and most important critics groups. They have been trumped by two unexpected choices, American Hustle yesterday and today,  Her. Which leaves an Oscar blogger, like myself, scratching their head. We have to wonder and question a few things. Maybe they are not as strong as we thought? Good enough to be considered in almost every top 10 lists, but not good enough to win any big awards? It is very interesting... For 12 Years a Slave, the problem could be, take out the fact that it is a great and important film, it is an extremely hard movie to watch and its message is hard to choke down. Could it be voters in any group are having a hard time voting it Best Picture because of that? Look at all of the Best Picture winners the Academy has chosen, and generally the sentimental crowd pleasing movie wins when up against hard, difficult to watch, controversial movies. This problem could be happening to 12 Years a Slave. Gravity's problem has and will be the fact that it is a genre film, and genre films have never done well with any voters. Groups will consider genre movies in their year best lists and nominate them, but they have never come out on top. I personally think that Gravity, in terms of directing and technical work, is superior to any other movie that I have seen all year. Who knows where these movies will end up come Oscar time. We will have a better understanding next week once the big award nominations happen, because there are overlaps with voters in these groups and voters in the Academy. I still think one of the two could and very well may be the big winner in the end. 
3. In terms of acting, I was pleasantly surprised to see Emma Thompson win Best Actress. I LOVE this women and find her to be so entertaining. I find myself already rooting for her to win the Oscar, and I have yet to see her film. I think she could take down Cate Blanchett and Sandra Bullock, who are the current front runners. So Emma's win has given both of those women some serious heat, and I warned everyone to watch out for her, because one thing is certain, she has the love of the people. Bruce Dern was expected to pick up some critics love for Nebraska. This was not a surprise, though I expected him to show up at the LA Film Critics, because they tend to go for the more "indy" "hipstery" movies, like Nebraska. I do not see him winning the Oscar, and I think he will have to fight for one of the five spots to be nominated. Will Forte for Nebraska, was the big surprise in the acting categories. I do not think anyone even had him on their radar. I do not see him being nominated at the Oscars, but his win, has given him hope and his movie more attention. Octavia Spencer, I love her, but I just do not understand the hype for Fruitvale Station or her performance. Awards worthy? I do not think so, and I think anyone could have done her part. The movie is nothing special either. I will say that I am okay with her nomination if she receives one, though I personally think she will need to fight for one, I would rather it go to someone more deserving. I do not believe any acting category has a for sure winner or any for sure lock for nomination. The way the critics are splitting, it is unpredictable. 
4. My last thought. Prisoners and Wolf of Wall Street are now in conversation. I said Jake Gyllenhaal would need to fight to be nominated for Supporting Actor for his work in Prisoners, and the fact that it showed up today, winning Best Ensemble and being including in the top 10, is the kind of help that he could use. I sure hope he has a fighting chance because he is certainly worthy. I think once more people watch The Wolf of Wall Street, I think it will be the dark horse for Best Picture and Director, and in the acting categories for Leonardo and Jonah Hill. Any mention of either of these movies is a plus to them, so I hope they keep showing up! 

On Sunday one of the last big critics awards groups will announce, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and then the big awards come during the week. At this point everything is truly up in the air, and no consensus has been made on what is "best". I have not seen all of the contenders to figure out what I think, but for now, all I can hope for is that whatever gets nominated or wins at these critics groups is worthy to be considered best. I have high hopes and I am optimistic, and this is all so exciting! So I hope you keep checking back for more of my thoughts and discussions, I love my readers :-)