Oscar Season is Finally Here, Let's Get This Thing Crackin'

Today, all film fans who have been saving their extra cash for the rush of films at the end of the year can begin to relinquish their disposable income at the box office, unless you’re a torrent-er, in which case, you can start marking your calendar for the December release dates of movies you won’t be taking any dates too!

Award season 2014 has kicked off with the announcement of the New York Film Critics Circle Awards Monday.  Uncharacteristic, as usually the first awards to be announced come from the National Board of Review, who announce their best of 2014 tomorrow.  In the meantime, if you are worried about prematurely making picks for this season, the NYFCC always gives us a glimpse at potential contenders.

Up until a few years ago, the NYFCC were among the last critics awards announced.

Along with the NBR, they are the oldest, and arguably most prestigious critics awards.  Unlike the NBR, they more often align with other critics awards, and the Oscars.  The NBR has always prided themselves on being different from the AMPAS and the Oscars, so expect tomorrows winners to be different.

Anyway, getting down to business, we did learn that the most powerful force going into the season is Boyhood.  It’s promise validated by the first major win of the season.

For all of you don’t know the Richard Linklater’s coming of age of a millennial boy, filmed over the course of twelve years, you can watch the trailer here:

Boyhood’s Linklater also took home Best Director and Patricia Arquette took home Best Supporting Actress.  Neither have ever been nominated for an Oscar in those categories, however Linklater has been nominated twice for Screenplay.  Both were getting the most press leading up to the December critics awards.

Other major awards included:

Best Actor- Timothy Spall for Mr. Turner (Mike Leigh’s latest film which earned Spall Best Actor at Cannes earlier this year.)

Best Actress- Marion Cotillard for The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night (The former premiered at Cannes in 2013 and is eligible for this Oscars, but is not expected to be up for anything, and the later premiered at Cannes this year and won the Sydney Prize at the Sydney Film Festival.)

Best Supporting Actor- J.K. Simmons for Whiplash (watch out for this film this Oscar season, and this performance.)

Best  Screenplay- The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson’s latest film is already out on home video, it may have come out to early to be considered a heavy contender.)

Best Cinematography- The Immigrant

Best Nonfiction Film- Citizenfour

Best Foreign Film- Ida

Best Animated Film- The Lego Movie

My guess is this- If Boyhood wins tomorrow at the National Board of Review, it will be a forced to be reckoned with this season.  Also, the NBR posts their top ten films of the year as well, which is pretty all encompassing of movies you can hit in the theaters, no matter where you are in America.