So The National Board Of Review Put Out Their Annual Film Awards

Hey guys! With the National Board of Review's all too premature release of their annual film awards, I thought I'd give you a little breakdown on the pieces I've seen, agree, and disagree with...

The list goes as follows (with links to my original reviews of course):

Best Film:  A Most Violent Year

Best Director:  Clint Eastwood – American Sniper

Best Actor (TIE):  Oscar Isaac – A Most Violent Year

Michael Keaton – Birdman (An excellent choice, though odd that they would allow this category to fall into a tie... especially with Jake Gyllenhaal's performance just sitting in the wings.)

Best Actress: Julianne Moore – Still Alice

Best Supporting Actor:  Edward Norton – Birdman (Amongst my top choices for Supporting Actor... Though J.K. Simmons may have taken this spot in my own voting.)

Best Supporting Actress:  Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year

Best Original Screenplay:  Phil Lord & Christopher Miller – The Lego Movie (I'm firmly on record as loving this movie! Absolutely the right choice for screenplay! It's just so damn creative!)

Best Adapted Screenplay:  Paul Thomas Anderson – Inherent Vice

Best Animated Feature:  How to Train Your Dragon 2 (I really like this movie, and it's certainly among my favorite animated films of the year, though for my money The Lego Movie was just better in every area that counts.)

Breakthrough Performance:  Jack O’Connell – Starred Up & Unbroken (I completely missed Starred Up and will have to search for it...)

Best Directorial Debut:  Gillian Robespierre – Obvious Child (She did a fine job directing, though the movie itself did pretty much nothing for me.)

Best Foreign Language Film:  Wild Tales (Has yet to be released...)

Best Documentary:  Life Itself

William K. Everson Film History Award:  Scott Eyman

Best Ensemble:  Fury (I can agree with this to some extent. Not really sure who they had to compete with, and having five guys in a tank as they were just welcomed an award like this one.)

Spotlight Award:  Chris Rock for writing, directing, and starring in – Top Five

NBR Freedom of Expression Award:  Rosewater (Awesome that they managed to give this movie some form of acknowledgement. Definitely worth your time, so check it out before it's gone.)

NBR Freedom of Expression Award:  Selma

Top Films
American Sniper
Birdman (Awesome!)
Boyhood (Very good.)
Fury (Good enough.)
Gone Girl (Very fun, pretty well made movie.)
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Lego Movie (Everything is Awesome!!)
Nightcrawler (My current favorite film of the year! Check it out!)
Unbroken

Top 5 Foreign Language Films
Force Majeure (An incredibly interesting, thought provoking film. Catch it if you can.)
Gett: The Trial of Vivian Amsalem
Leviathan
Two Days, One Night
We Are the Best!

Top 5 Documentaries
Art and Craft
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Keep On Keepin’ On
The Kill Team (Yet to be released.)
Last Days in Vietnam (Yet to be released.)

Top 10 Independent Films
Blue Ruin
Locke (I liked it. Though it's likely not for everybody.)
A Most Wanted Man (Great movie! Deserves more credit!)
Mr. Turner
Obvious Child (Meh.)
The Skeleton Twins (Wonderful)
Snowpiercer (Very cool, entertaining movie!)
Stand Clear of the Closing Doors (Yet to be released.)
Starred Up (I missed it. But hopefully I'll find a way.)
Still Alice

Obviously a great many of these are still coming up, but it's fun to see the direction the awards may be heading in... and it's a good barometer for what movies will be worth your time as the year comes to a close. Of course, I don't agree with everything they've voted for, but the majority of it suits me fine.