Washington DC Film Critics Names Boyhood the Best of 2014!

boyhood2014

Everyone who reads this site knows that for one month every year I go down the deep hole known as Award season where I have to cram 40 or 50 movies into a short 3 week period. As a member of the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association, I’m sort of proud to say we have a pretty solid track record of predicting eventual Oscar Nominations and winners. This year several of my picks did make it and for the first time ever, I had a nomination pick in every category that I voted in. Disappointed that Selma didn’t receive any love, but then the screenings were held at odd times that folks couldn’t catch it. There was no chance my pick for Chris Evans as Best Actor was going to make it to the nomination round. Agony!

As usual WAFCA selects the one movie that I didn’t see as Best Film. I don’t know where I was when Boyhood was screened earlier this year and the studio sent over an screener link to view the movie – but I’m sorry, my home internet sucks and viewing online screeners is an awful experience.

Anyhoo, Richard Linklater‘s ambitious little film Boyhood cleans up in this year’s WAFCA Awards garnering Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress and Best Youth Performance. The Michael Keaton lead Birdman also cleaned up winning Best Actor, Best Screenplay and Best Editing.  Here’s the full list.

THE 2014 WAFCA AWARD WINNERS:

Best Film:
Boyhood

Best Director:
Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Best Actor:
Michael Keaton (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))

Best Actress:
Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

Best Supporting Actor:
J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)

Best Supporting Actress:
Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

Best Acting Ensemble:
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

Best Youth Performance:
Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood)

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl)

Best Original Screenplay:
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr., Armando Bo (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))

Best Animated Feature:
The LEGO Movie

Best Documentary:
Life Itself

Best Foreign Language Film:
Force Majeure

Best Art Direction:
Production Designer: Adam Stockhausen, Set Decorator: Anna Pinnock (The Grand Budapest Hotel)

Best Cinematography:
Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))

Best Editing:
Douglas Crise, Stephen Mirrione, ACE (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance))

Best Original Score:
Mica Levi (Under the Skin)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC:
Captain America: The Winter Soldier