Oklahoma Film Critics Circle Names Boyhood Top Film of 2014
OKLAHOMA CITY, January 5, 2015—The Oklahoma Film Critics Circle, a statewide group of professional film critics, announced its ninth annual list of awards for achievement in cinema, awarding Best Director to Richard Linklater and naming Linklater’s film, Boyhood, the Top Film of 2014.
Boyhood’s Patricia Arquette won Best Supporting Actress, giving the film a total of three wins.
Linklater filmed Boyhood over 12 years from 2002 to 2013, using the same cast to tell the story of Mason (Ellar Coltrane) from age five to 18. Arquette plays Mason’s mother, a single mom who raises Mason and his sister, Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), while actor Ethan Hawke is Mason’s sometimes there father.
The film’s plot is straightforward, but Linklater’s Boyhood is a funny, deeply heartfelt coming-of-age story that, while familiar, is never boring and always engaging.
“I loved Boyhood,” said OFCC President James Cooper. “And, it looks like the rest of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle loved Boyhood.”
“It’s this really simple concept—a boy growing up. But, there’s something spectacular about
Though I was in my 20s during the aughts and Coltrane’s Mason is five to 18 during the aughts, I felt this universalizing experience along with him. Boyhood shares a kinship to classics like the documentary UP Series and Truffaut’s The 400 Blows.”
Joining Boyhood on OFCC’s list of 2014’s top 10 films are Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Whiplash,Gone Girl, Nightcrawler, The Imitation Game, The Lego Movie, A Most Violent Year, and Guardians of the Galaxy.
Best Actress honors went to Rosamund Pike for her performance as a kidnapped wife in the mystery crime film Gone Girl.
Best Actor honors went to Michael Keaton for his performance in director Alejandro González Iñárritu’sBirdman where Keaton plays an aging actor caught between fantasy and reality.
Edward Norton won Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Birdman.
Top honors in the Best Body of Work category went to Christopher Miller and Phil Lord for their work directing two critically acclaimed hit 2014 films, 22 Jump Street and The Lego Movie.
The Lego Movie also won Best Animated Feature and had the largest margin of victory in any category.
Additional award winners include Life Itself for Best Documentary, Force Majeure for Best Foreign Language Film, Gone Girl for Best Adapted Screenplay, and The Grand Budapest Hotel for Best Original Screenplay.
Nightcrawler won Best First Feature, and Edge of Tomorrow won Best Guilty Pleasure.
Not every award, however, honored quality work.
For instance, Michael Bay’s Transformers: Age of Extinction took home the title of 2014’s Obviously Worst Film.
“Transformers is not a film; it is two hours and 45 minutes of loud, clanking noises and explosions,” said Cooper. “Oh, and it cost $210 million to make and made $1 billion worldwide.”
Last year, August: Osage County won Not So Obviously Worst Film and, in 2014, the honors go to another film George Clooney produced, Monuments Men.
OFCC members are Oklahoma-based movie critics who write for print, broadcast, and online outlets that publish or post reviews of current film releases. Media outlets include The Oklahoman, Oklahoma Gazette, Tulsa World, Edmond Life & Leisure, Tulsa Voice, and This Land Press. Other outlets include television stations KOKH FOX 25 and News 9, radio stations KJYO/Clear Channel and Cumulus Media, and the websites 411mania.com, collide
Film buffs can find the complete list of awards—as well as frequent postings on film-related items and links to reviews—at www.Facebook.com/
OFCC 2014 Winners
Best Picture
Boyhood
Birdman
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Whiplash
Gone Girl
Nightcrawler
The Imitation Game
The Lego Movie
A Most Violent Year
Guardians of the Galaxy
Best Actor – Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
Best Actress – Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
Best Animated Film – “The Lego Movie”
Best Body of Work – Christopher Miller & Phil Lord “The Lego Movie” and “22 Jump Street”
Best Director – Richard Linklater – “Boyhood”
Best Documentary – “Life Itself”
Best First Feature – “Nightcrawler”
Best Foreign Language Film – “Force Majeure”
Best Guilty Pleasure – “Edge of Tomorrow”
Not So Obviously Worst Film – “Monuments Men”
Obviously Worst Film – “Transformers: Age of Extinction”
Best Original Screenplay – “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Best Adapted Screenplay – Gillian Flynn “Gone Girl”
Best Supporting Actor – Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Best Supporting Actress – Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
