NBR goes crazy for Scorsese with a little love left over for Clint & Quentin

by Nathaniel R

 

The National Board of Review  is often derided online for being such a confusing and secretive organization (they cant correctly be defined as a critics group though the media / online pundits love to inaccurately list them that way). Nevertheless they've been a significant Oscar bellwether nonetheless. That's partially from positioning since for many years they were the first awards body to announce. This year, they still acknowledged their favourite person on earth (Clint Eastwood) with three citations for Richard Jewell but they’ve transferred most of their 'we stan legends' obsessive devotion to Martin Scorsese who wins Best Film AND is being honored in Best Documentary AND with a special “Icon” prize. If that weren’t enough two films he executive produced (Uncut Gems and The Souvenir) are also cited with awards or lists.

Though the multiple lists each year assure that a huge bulk of Oscar contenders are accounted for there are notable omissions each year. Some high profile films they completely ignored were: Joker, The Two Popes, Little Women, Hustlers, Rocketman, Clemency, and Bombshell.

Here are the films and actor they'll be honoring on January 8th in NYC. We've also added some stats to give these awards a bit of prognosticating contex...

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NBR Loves "A Star is Born" and "Beale Street" but names "Green Book" Best of the Year

by Nathaniel R

Mahershala and Viggo are all dolled up and ready for awards shows

The National Board of Review announced its winners today for their January 8th gala at Cipriani 42nd Street. While NBR no longer signifies the kick-off to precursor season (with the Gotham and Spirit Awards announcing so early each year) they're still a significant bellwether or rather they're a bell ringing, alerting everyone that you can't hide from awards season; it is upon us! This year Green Book, A Star is Born, and If Beale Street Could Talk were their three obvious favorites, the only films to take multiple prizes.

THIS YEAR'S PRIZES, WHAT THEY MIGHT MEAN, AND SOME STATS AFTER THE JUMP...

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Care to make any NBR Predictions?

by Nathaniel R

The National Board of Review will reveal their winners later today. They're much harder to predict than other high profile awards bodies because their organization is secretive and untelevised. That said, there are some patterns that have emerged over the years. Though there are rumors that The Mule did not screen for them, for example, it's otherwise a foregone conclusion that if there is a Clint Eastwood film available to them in any way, they WILL honor it and often in a major way. The last Clint Eastwood film they skipped from honoring in any way was Jersey Boys (2014) but that was an exception to the rule. Since Mystic River they've otherwise always given his movies something, even the ones that don't have significant awards futures like The Hereafter (top ten list) or Gran Torino (Best Actor AND Screenplay) or Flags Of Our Fathers (top ten list), or the ones that nobody is all that passionate about but have awards appeal in some way like Invictus (Best Director AND Best Actor). So I'm expecting The Mule or even The 15:17 to Paris to show up, as absurd as the latter sounds.

Another very safe NBR bet is that they'll choose as Best Picture something that has either just opened in limited release or is yet to open...

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NBR Goes Cuckoo for "The Post"

by Nathaniel R

The National Board of Review, which regularly has a recency bias in their awardage has gone full tilt boogie into stanning for The Post, with a couple of honors for Phantom Thread, too, which were both most definitely among the very last things to screen. Neither opens until the tail end of the year. They gave The Post their top prize and both lead acting awards for the film's iconic stars Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. That's unusual for NBR. The complete list of winners and commentary after the jump...

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Podcast: Critics Awards, Elle, Hacksaw Ridge, More...

This week a bifurcated podcast. In the first half Nick, Joe, and Nathaniel continue their discussion of Elle. Then Katey joins us to talk about the recent surge of critics awards. 

Index (42 minutes)
00:01 A little more on Elle, Huppert, and provocateur auteurs
13:00 Bleed For This, The Fighter, Hidden Figures
19:20 Katey joins us & Nick goes to New Zealand
23:00 Critic prizes, Critics Choice Nomination, NBR, the lack of transparency, and Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge
40:00 A bit on Hell or High Water

You can listen to the podcast here at the bottom of the post or download from iTunes. Continue the conversations in the comments. On the next podcast: Manchester by the Sea and Reader Questions Answered! 

Critics Award Rush...