The "Wicked" workings of, you know who, the NBR!

by Nathaniel R 

Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in "Wicked". © Universal Pictures 

The National Board of Review has spoken. Though they once fought tooth and nail to be "first" they long ago ceded that title to the Gotham Awards who now announce their nominees a full two months before year's end. Crazy. It's one reason, at least, that earlier releases aren't totally doomed come awards season. So there's that. This year their secret membership roster must be eagerly awaited the 'sing along' version of Wicked that's coming this month; they've bestowed three awards on the phenomenally successful Broadway juggernaut turned blockbuster two-part movie: Best Film, Best Director, and a special prize for the leading actresses Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. It's quite a tonal departure from their favourite film last year which was Killers of the Flower Moon. Or is it? Both films involve a smart woman who gets a little dumb when it comes to men with obviously shady intention who aren't half the person she is. A stretch, I know, but it's fun to amuse yourself with forced connections from one year to the next. 

The NBR winners with commentary and trivia after the jump...

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NBR loves "Killers of the Flower Moon", "The Holdovers", and "Poor Things"

by Nathaniel R

The National Board of Review, now in their 94th year (!), have released their annual winners list. They've generally been very beholden to perceived Oscar contenders. Habitually they're obsessed with already canonized American directors and this year is no exception with Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon taking their top prize. They also found room for multiple citations for Alexander Payne's dramedy The Holdovers. and Yorgos Lanthimos' Poor Things. Other films only scored one prize. Curiously Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron was in their top ten list but it did not win Best Animated Feature. The latter prize went to Spider-Man Across the Spider-Verse (which was not in the top ten films). Such are the mysteries of awards season... and the need to fill lots of banquet tables at events with something for every distributor!

I kid, I kid. But the winners and a few more notes are after the jump... 

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NBR flies off into the sunset with "Top Gun Maverick"

by Nathaniel R

TOP GUN MAVERICK

The National Board of Review has spoken. They've named the year's biggest box office hit Top Gun Maverick the very best film of 2022. They also loved two other presumed Best Picture certainties: The Fablemans and The Banshees of Inisherin giving both multiple prizes. The NBR also made an effort to boost the profiles of four subtitled films hoping for kudos this awards season: Germany's All Quiet on the Western Front, Argentina's Argentina 1985, India's RRR, and Belgium's Close. The enduring organization didn't love all the Oscar hopefuls though.  Among the high profile complete shutouts: Babylon, Pinocchio, Triangle of Sadness, Elvis, Tár, and The Whale. Full list of winners and comments follow...

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1951: Jan Sterling in "Ace in the Hole"

We're revisiting the 1951 film year in the lead up to the next Supporting Actress Smackdown. As always Nick Taylor will suggest a few alternatives to Oscar's ballot.

Surely we all remember Jan Sterling from the excellent 1954 Smackdown, whose performance as an “anxious catfishing pioneer” in The High and the Mighty gave a misogynistic role one of the only moments of real pathos in the whole film. That disaster film was enough of a critical and box office success to justify her nomination, but much like Katy Jurado in Broken Lance and even Nina Foch in Executive Suite (who I love!) from the same lineup, the energy around Sterling’s nomination reeks more than a little of belated recognition.

In Sterling’s case, that missed opportunity came in 1951. Beford the National Board of Review introduced supporting categories to their own awards they handed her Best Actress for her supporting turn as a bored, opportunistic wife of a trapped man in Billy Wilder’s Ace in the Hole. But the mediocre reception Ace in the Hole received for its overt cynicism towards the noble professions of journalism and public service may have nixed her chances before category confusion could come into play. That's a shame since Sterling’s performance is absolutely essential to Wilder’s mix of jaded, mundane villainy and calculated entrepreneurship...

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"Licorice Pizza" it is for NBR

by Nathaniel R

The National Board of Review has spoken naming Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza, the best of the year. The meandering 'California in the 70s' romantic comedy between a directionless 25 year old woman and a 15 year old child star/entrepeneur has delighted critics since it started screening and the NBR (though they're not a critics group) also felt the vibes. It's still shocking to me, personally that the internet isn't outraged about the plot alone (even though the film is careful about not really going there) while at the same time the internet loves to harass fully-grown adult stars with age differences. But... that's a distraction since social media outrage is a very different thing than awards organization proclivities.

The full list of winners, Oscar stats, and more NBR history including their 'recency bias' problems follow after the jump...

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