National Board of Review picks 'A Most Violent Year' for Best Film

Here are the winners:

Best Film- A Most Violent Year
Best Director- American Sniper (Clint Eastwood)
Best Actor- A Most Violent Year (Oscar Issac) and Birdman (Michael Keaton)
Best Actress- Still Alice (Julianne Moore)
Best Supporting Actor- Birdman (Edward Norton)
Best Supporting Actress- A Most Violent Year (Jessica Chastain)
Best Original Screenplay- The Lego Movie
Best Adapted Screenplay- Inherent Vice
Best Animated Film- How to Train Your Dragon 2
Best Documentary- Life Itself
Best Foreign Film- Wild Tales
Best Ensemble- Fury
Best Directoral Debut- Obvious Child (Gillian Robespierre)
Breakthrough Performance- Jack O'Connell (from Starred Up and Unbroken)

Top 10 Films of the Year:
A Most Violent Year
American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
Fury
Gone Girl
The Imitation Game
Inherent Vice
The Lego Movie
Nightcrawler
Unbroken

Top 5 Foreign Language Movies:
Force Majeure
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
Last Days in Vietnam

Reaction:  Please don't ask me how a movie can win best Documentary and not be on the documentary shortlist.  Or how the Lego Movie lost Animated Film but was on the top 10 films of the year, and the winner was not.
The truth is, there are somethings that may never be answered.
It was always a guess as to what the NBR would pick.  A Most Violent Year was a little outside the box, however, it's current meteoritic rating is only rivaled by Birdman and Boyhood.  The only real surprise was the lack of Whiplash on the top 10 films of the year.
Also a push for P.T. Anderson's Inherent Vice, which, only with a recent theatrical trailer release, has it been getting any press at all.  Fury, Nightcrawler, Unbroken and The Lego Movie will most likely end their run of recognition here, save Lego in animated categories.  It's characteristic of the NBR to promote films that don't have any chances with any of the major award ceremonies (i.e. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty last year).