CALVARY MAKES THE CUT WITH NORTH CAROLINA CRITICS

Nominations have been announced for the 2014 North Carolina Film Critics Association awards. A formidable selection over twelve categories from the group, which shows serious love for Oscar and critical favourites, alongside a few pleasant surprises, including nods for Essie Davis and Alfred Molina. Calvary, A Most Violent Year and Selma all crack the Best Picture category too, despite minimal recognition in other fields. Winners will be revealed on the 5th of January. All the details you need to know are right below:

Best Narrative Film

Birdman
Boyhood

Calvary

The Grand Budapest Hotel

A Most Violent Year

Selma

Whiplash

Best Director

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)

Ava DuVernay (Selma)

David Fincher (Gone Girl)

Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Best Actor

Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Brendan Gleeson (Calvary)

Tom Hardy (Locke)

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)

Best Actress

Marion Cotillard (Two Days, One Night)

Essie Davis (The Babadook)

Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

Best Supporting Actor

Josh Brolin (Inherent Vice)

Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)

Alfred Molina (Love Is Strange)

Edward Norton (Birdman)

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

J. K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

Keira Knightley (The Imitation Game)

Rene Russo (Nightcrawler)

Emma Stone (Birdman)

Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer)

Best Original Screenplay

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman)

Damien Chazelle (Whiplash)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

John Michael McDonagh (Calvary)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Bong Joon Ho and Kelly Masterson (Snowpiercer)

Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)

James Gunn and Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy)

Nick Hornby (Wild)

Graham Moore (The Imitation Game)

Best Animated Film

Big Hero 6

The Boxtrolls

How to Train Your Dragon 2

The LEGO Movie

The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Best Documentary Film

Citizenfour

Glen Campbell: I’ll Be Me

Jodorowsky’s Dune

Life Itself

The Overnighters

Best Foreign Language Film

Force Majeure

Ida

The Lunchbox

Two Days, One Night

We Are the Best!

Tar Heel Award

Zach Galifianakis (Birdman)

Cynthia Heel (Private Violence)

Aaron Katz and Martha Stephens (Land Ho!)

Jake Lacy (Obvious Child)

Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

SELMA SWEEPS BLACK FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AWARDS

As Selma opens in American theatres and its message rings both loud and soft through American streets, the film is picking up some serious heat in the Oscar race. The Black Film Critics Circle, a splinter organisation from the AAFCA, falls in line with that group by naming Ava DuVernay's film the best of 2014. Their appreciation for the film is even more extensive, though, than AAFCA's, as it is honoured with six awards from BFCC. Here are all of the results of voting:

Best Picture

Selma

Best Director

Ava DuVernay (Selma)

Best Actor

David Oyelowo (Selma)

Best Actress

Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle)

Best Supporting Actor

J. K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Supporting Actress

Carmen Ejogo (Selma)

Best Original Screenplay

Paul Webb (Selma)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)

Best Cinematography

Emmanuel Lubezki (Birdman)

Best Ensemble

Selma

Best Animation

The LEGO Movie

Best Documentary

Keep On Keepin' On

Best Foreign Film

Ida

REVIEW - THE SKELETON TWINS (CRAIG JOHNSON)

If the best you strive to be in life is merely better than your closest contemporaries, then prepare yourself for mediocrity, because you're headed directly for it. The Skeleton Twins assumes that the adoption of more serious material and a more dramatic tone than its fellow American indie comedies of the last fifteen years amounts to the adoption of superiority over those films - in theory, it's arguable that it could contribute to such a status, though only if due attention is paid to ensuring the relative superiority of the rest of the film's constituent parts. The Skeleton Twins is, alas, a mediocre comedy, and a wholly unremarkable drama despite its (modest) efforts, though perhaps that was all that the filmmakers ever strove for. Fill fill fill, pad pad pad... I'm reaching the stage where I've seen so fucking many films like this and I've written so fucking many reviews about them - why don't you just read those reviews instead? I've nothing new to say about films like The Skeleton Twins - it's not that I dislike them individually (indeed, this is a passable, amiable, occasionally funny, occasionally touching film), just that I vehemently dislike writing about them. There are only so many words for 'decent' in the dictionary, lest I revert to administering momentary shifts into languages other than English in order to differentiate my reports on these films. It's either that or cutting and pasting, and I, personally, strive for better than that. I don't, however, strive to develop a deeper understanding of films like The Skeleton Twins, because I don't care enough and I have better things to do. Also, you don't care either, do you?

HORSE MONEY IS LA INTERNACIONAL CINEFILA'S FILM OF 2014

A new one to Screen On Screen, this. La Internacional Cinefila has declared the films that have made its Top 10 of 2014 list. Pedro Costa's highly-acclaimed (though not by myself) Horse Money tops the list, with a total of 45 votes, over Jean-Luc Godard's Goodbye to Language 3D, continuing to prove popular with critics in their end-of-year roundups, garnering 36 votes. The list is full of the year's most important arthouse and international titles, and you can check it out below:

Best Film

1. Horse Money

2. Goodbye to Language 3D

3. Jauja

4. Maidan

5. Hard to Be a God

6. Boyhood

7. The Grand Budapest Hotel

=  Jersey Boys

8. Branco Sai Preto Fica

=  Force Majeure

=  From What Is Before

=  Welcome to New York

=  The Wolf of Wall Street

9. Li'l Quinquin

10. Mercuriales

Best First Film

1. Mauro

PGA VISIONARY AWARD RECIPIENTS PLAN B

As their latest release, Selma, looks in good stead for securing multiple Oscar nominations next month, production company Plan B has been declared as the recipients of a major industry honour. The Visionary Award is handed out by the Producers' Guild of America, recognising 'unique or uplifting contributions to our culture through inspiring storytelling or performance'. With many high-profile, acclaimed titles behind them, many of which served as star vehicles for one of Plan B's executives, Brad Pitt, among them The Departed, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and 12 Years a Slave, the company is one of the most reputable in the American business atm. Winners will be presented at a gala on the 24th of January.

REVIEW - A HARD DAY (KIM SEONG HOON)

Demented brutality is tempered by a sharp focus on storytelling in Kim Seong Hoon's solid thriller, A Hard Day. Commencing and closing with some thoroughly indelible sequences, it's thus inevitable that the film suffers a prolonged sag through the middle, but I appreciate the attention Kim displays toward crucial cinematic functions. Otherwise, A Hard Day is fairly formulaic, but its simplicity of style affords Kim the ability to keep his film neatly in check, and he operates under the knowledge that the most efficient way of establishing tension is through familiar techniques. Its protagonist a corrupt cop who lands himself in particular bother when he carries away the corpse of a criminal he accidentally knocked down in a hit and run, the film is hardwired for a sustained traffic of tension; Kim loosens his grip only to indulge in mild comic relief or to advance the plot, but it's largely a gripping story, breathlessly edited and never content to rest on its laurels. The narrative restlessness over-complicates matters a little as the film draws closer to its conclusion, but Kim is a strong director of action, making for a rare case where one is actually pleased when things devolve into such set-pieces. The violent showdown at A Hard Day's end is superbly staged, though it can only pale in appearance when compared to the marvellous series of mishaps the protag faces at the film's opening. These scenes are exemplary in their gradual build-up of suspense, with Kim using the character's desperation and his determination, alongside our curiosity as to where he'll take matters next, to engender empathy in us, against considerable odds. It's Kim's diligence, as opposed to his ingenuity, that makes A Hard Day the success that it is

MOMMY LEADS WITH SIX NODS FROM VANCOUVER FILM CRITICS CIRCLE

The Vancouver Film Critics Circle (as far as I am aware) allows for crossover between its international film categories and its Canadian film categories, though no film has achieved as much this year. Xavier Dolan's Mommy still leads the pack, though, with a total of six nominations. The group's Canadian selection is more extensive (and better) than its national counterparts the Toronto Film Critics' Association's, though its international selections are perhaps wanting for a little imagination. That is, save the Best Actress category, which is a breath of fresh air, compared to the rest. Winners are set to be announced on the 5th of January. Here are the details in full:

Best Film

Birdman

Boyhood

Whiplash

Best Director

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Best Actor

Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game)

Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)

Michael Keaton (Birdman)

Best Actress

Marion Cotillard (The Immigrant)

Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive)

Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

Best Supporting Actor

Edward Norton (Birdman)

Mark Ruffalo (Foxcatcher)

J. K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Supporting Actress

Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Jessica Chastain (A Most Violent Year)

Laura Dern (Wild)

Best Screenplay

Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman)

Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Best Documentary

Citizenfour

The Overnighters

Virunga

Best Foreign Language Film

Force Majeure

Ida

We Are the Best!

Best Canadian Film

Enemy

Mommy

Tu Dors Nicole

Best Director of a Canadian Film

Xavier Dolan (Mommy)

Stéphane Lafleur (Tu Dors Nicole)

Denis Villeneuve (Enemy)

Best Actor in a Canadian Film

Jake Gyllenhaal (Enemy)

Maxwell McCabe-Lokos (The Husband)

Antoine-Olivier Pilon (Mommy)

Best Actress in a Canadian Film

Julianne Côté (Tu Dors Nicole)

Anne Dorval (Mommy)

Dagny Backer Johnsen (Violent)

Best Supporting Actor in a Canadian Film

Bruce Greenwood (Elephant Song)

Marc-André Grondin (Tu Dors Nicole)

Callum Keith Rennie (Sitting on the Edge of Marlene)

Best Supporting Actress in a Canadian Film

Sarah Allen (The Husband)

Suzanne Clément (Mommy)

Sarah Gadon (Enemy)

Best Screenplay for a Canadian Film

Xavier Dolan (Mommy)

Andrew Huculiak, Josh Huculiak, Cayne McKenzie and Joseph Schweers (Violent)

Elan Mastai (The F Word)

Best Canadian Documentary

Everything Will Be

Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story

The Price We Pay

Best British Columbia Film

Everything Will Be

Preggoland

Violent

Best First Film by a Canadian Director

Sitting on the Edge of Marlene

The Valley Below

Violent

The Ian Caddell Award for Achievement

Warren Carr

REVIEW - GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE 3D (JEAN-LUC GODARD)

This review is, naturally, a perversion of the notions set forth by its own subject, a film crafted from thoughts and techniques that might genuinely inspire a revolution in filmmaking were they more easily decipherable. But the obnoxious opacity of Goodbye to Language 3D is just one of its many intrinsic layers, sometimes even literally so. All of these layers, entire theses could be penned on what Jean-Luc Godard strives to achieve and/or achieves herein, yet his own comprehensive thesis is remarkably brief, at fewer than 70 minutes. Its primary complexity is in its contradiction - Godard seeks purity in abstraction, that very purity mitigated by its confounding nature - though even the film's myriad contradictions (the literalness of the content to the abstraction of the form, the philosophical to the sensory) possess a clarity, cemented within as essential components to Godard's theories. Principally, he seeks to abandon verbal communication (forgive the crudeness of my phrasing, only to properly explicate Godard's intentions could encompass a dozen generous reviews), correctly identifying it as symbolic of a constructed unreality in which we humans feel so comfortable. It is deceit, and he explores the very furthest reaches of his free aural and visual medium to find such obscure but such effective methods of returning to the truth. Fitting that he must travel so far down the rabbit hole he comes out the other end to do so, since the freedom he utilises and the truth he discovers are equally boundless - their capabilities are immense, as the natural world he shows such reverence for in Goodbye to Language. Equally fitting that he utilises a freedom that he was instrumental in designing - this is a most solipsistic film, a documentary, perhaps, of Godard's own boundless imagination, and a statement of tremendous optimism. He relies upon old innovations to fashion new innovations, and suggests that cinema is so far from finished innovating. Goodbye to Language 3D, as baffling as it is, has all of the ingredients, technically, to inspire a revolution in filmmaking as A Bout de Souffle once did.

SOUTHEASTERN FILM CRITICS ASSOCIATION CHOOSES THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

Another coup for The Grand Budapest Hotel! Wes Anderson's comedy-drama has won its second Best Picture award of the season, and it's its second major critics group win too. The Southeastern Film Critics Association has chosen the film for not only its top award, but for its Original Screenplay and Ensemble awards also. That puts it ahead of closest competitors Birdman and Boyhood with this group as well. Here are all of the details:

Best Film

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel

2. Boyhood

3. Birdman

4. Whiplash

5. The Imitation Game

6. Gone Girl

7. Snowpiercer

8. Nightcrawler

9. Foxcatcher

10. The Theory of Everything

Best Director

1. Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

2. Wes Anderson (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Actor

1. Michael Keaton (Birdman)

2. Eddie Redmayne (The Theory of Everything)

Best Actress

1. Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

2. Reese Witherspoon (Wild)

Best Supporting Actor

1. J. K. Simmons (Whiplash)

2. Edward Norton (Birdman)

Best Supporting Actress

1. Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

2. Tilda Swinton (Snowpiercer)

Best Original Screenplay

1. Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

2. Armando Bo, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Birdman)

Best Adapted Screenplay

1. Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)

2. Nick Hornby (Wild)

Best Cinematography

1. Emmanuel Lubezki (Birdman)

2. Robert D. Yeoman (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Ensemble

1. The Grand Budapest Hotel

2. Birdman

Best Animated Film

1. The LEGO Movie

2. Big Hero 6

Best Documentary

1. Life Itself

2. Citizenfour

Best Foreign Language Film

1. Force Majeure

2. Ida

The Gene Wyatt Award for the Film that Best Evokes the Spirit of the South

1. Selma

2. Cold in July