Films such as Gone Girl, Birdman, Whiplash and The Grand Budapest Hotel have received great acclaim but Boyhood is evidently the Oscar frontrunner. It had beaten off competition at the New York Critics’ Circle but its real test for gaining awards season traction will be at the upcoming accolade distributors. The results are in from both the LA and Boston Critics Awards and Boyhood has triumphed. Here’s the winners in full. Firstly, Los Angeles:
Best Picture:
Boyhood
Best Director:
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Best Actor:
Tom Hardy – Locke
Best Actress:
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Best Supporting Actor:
JK Simmons – Whiplash
Best Supporting Actress:
Agata Kulesza – Ida
Best Screenplay:
Wes Anderson – The Grand Budapest Hotel
Best Foreign Language Film:
Ida
Best Documentary:
Citizenfour
Best Cinematography:
Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman
Best Animation:
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Best Editing:
Sandra Adair – Boyhood
Best New Filmmaker:
Ava DuVernay – Selma
And in Boston:
Best Picture:
Boyhood
Best Director:
Richard Linklater – Boyhood
Best Actor:
Michael Keaton – Birdman
Best Actress:
Marion Cotillard – Two Days One Night
Best Supporting Actor:
JK Simmons – Whiplash
Best Supporting Actress:
Emma Stone – Birdman
Best Ensemble Cast:
Boyhood
Best Screenplay (tie):
Birdman/Boyhood
Best Documentary:
Citizenfour
Best Animation:
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
Best Foreign Language Film:
Two Days One Night
Best Editing:
Sandra Adair – Boyhood
Best Cinematography:
Emmanuel Lubezki – Birdman
Best New Filmmaker:
Dan Gilroy – Nightcrawler
If the snubbing of British acts here frustrates you then you might prefer these victors at the British Independent Film Awards. The pack was lead by mining/gay rights drama Pride, followed quickly by army thriller ’71 and Nick Cave’s semi-biopic 20,000 Days on Earth.
Best British Independent Film:
Pride
Best Director:
Yann Demange – ’71
Best Actress:
Gugu Mbatha Raw – Belle
Best Actor:
Brendan Gleeson – Calvary
Best Supporting Actress:
Imelda Staunton – Pride
Best Supporting Actor:
Andrew Scott – Pride
Best Screenplay:
Jon Ronson, Peter Straughan – Frank
The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director):
Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard – 20,000 Days on Earth
Best Documentary:
Next Goal Wins
Best International Independent Film:
Boyhood
The Raindance Award:
Luna
The Richard Harris Award:
Emma Thompson
The Variety Award:
Benedict Cumberbatch
Warner Bros set their hopes high when they revealed that Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Memento, The Prestige, Inception, Interstellar) was in consideration for the sci-fi project Ready Player One. Their vision seems no less ambitious when the rest of their directing shortlist. Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, King Kong, Heavenly Creatures), Edgar Wright (Scott Pilgrim VS The World, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End, Shaun of the Dead), Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class, Layer Cake, Stardust) and Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Contact, Cast Away, Back to the Future). Jackson, Nolan and Wright are more innovative filmmakers and would rather advance their own projects but the material seems appropriate for either Vaughn or Zemeckis.
Ready Player One – 2017?