Toldya! National Board of Review Goes for A Warner Bros Film, Snubs “12 Years”

I did tell you the kooky National Board of Review would go for a Warner Bros. film didn’t I? I thought it would be “Gravity.” They zagged and went for Spike Jonze’s “Her.” Annie Schulhof and her group of non-reviewers are nothing if not predictable. Didn’t I say they’d do a special prize for “Gravity”?

They chose Bruce Dern for Best Actor and Will Forte for Best Supporting Actor.

It’s not that I disagree with these choices, but the NBR– blunted by the New York Film Critics with their Robert Redford-Jared Leto choices– were stuck. And they were certainly not going for Chiwetel Ejiofor. You knew that going in. The NBR stayed away from “12 Years a Slave” and “The Butler.” Their “black” movie was “Fruitvale Station,” guaranteeing them that the Weinstein Company would pay for one or two tables.

Best Actress went to Emma Thompson for “Saving Mr. Banks.” Best Screenplay went, strangely, to Terence Winter for “The Wolf of Wall Street.” Huh? Their Best Picture, “Her,” actually is the best written of these movies. But they had to get Scorsese in. Plus, they’re giving Marty and a special award, just to get them onto the show. Laughable. Do the actors and directors not get this?

Best Ensemble, “Prisoners”? WTF? The characters are rarely in the same scenes together. “August Osage County,” “Inside Llewyn Davis,” “The Butler,” “American Hustle”– but not “Prisoners,” yet another … wait for it.. Warner Bros. That Annie, she sure loves Warner Bros.

These dopes didn’t even include “American Hustle” in their Top 10.  Urgggh. And now, their dinner, at $600 a pop.

BEST PICTURE
“Her”

BEST DIRECTOR
Spike Jonze, “Her”

BEST ACTOR
Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”

BEST ACTRESS
Emma Thompson, “Saving Mr. Banks”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Will Forte, “Nebraska”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Octavia Spencer, “Fruitvale Station”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Joel and Ethan Coen, “Inside Llewyn Davis”

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Terence Winter, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

BEST ENSEMBLE
“Prisoners”

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
“The Wind Rises”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“The Past”

BEST DOCUMENTARY
“Stories We Tell”

SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Career collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCES
Adele Exarchopoulos, “#Blue is the Warmest Colo#r”
Michael B. Jordan, “Fruitvale Station”

DEBUT DIRECTOR
Ryan Coogler, “Fruitvale Station”

CREATIVE INNOVATION IN FILMMAKING
“Gravity”

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
“Wadjda”

BEST PICTURE NOMINEES (alphabetical)
“12 Years a Slave”
“Fruitvale Station”
“Gravity”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Lone Survivor”
“Nebraska”
“Prisoners”
“Saving Mr. Banks”
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE NOMINEES (alphabetical)
“Beyond the Hills”
“Gloria”
“The Grandmaster”
“A Hijacking”
“The Hunt”

BEST DOCUMENTARY NOMINEES (alphabetical)
“20 Feet from Stardom”
“The Act of Killing”
“After Tiller”
“Casting By”
“The Square”

BEST INDEPENDENT FILMS (alphabetical)
“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“In a World…”
“Mother of George”
“Much Ado About Nothing”
“Mud”
“The Place Beyond the Pines”
“Short Term 12”
“Sightseers”
“The Spectacular Now”