Who cares about the OSCARS– right now. In fact, regional groups like the BOSTON SOCIETY OF FILM CRITICS have been known to have a major influence on which way the wind blows at Oscar time. So listen up fans, cinephiles and Oscar-ites: WE HAVE SPOKEN. We met today at the hippest hotel in town the REVERE HOTEL  and  our voting, over pizza and a few fist fights (not really–this is a very esteemed and civilized group) resulted in two films dominating our awards in 2014:  BOYHOOD and BIRDMAN. They tied with five awards each, including a tie in one category, SCREENPLAY!  Richard Linklater’s groundbreaking undertaking which involved directing the same cast over twelve years– BOYHOOD– scored BEST PICTURE and BEST DIRECTOR, while  BIRDMAN (the first great film of the Fall) took some big acting categories– ACTOR for Michael Keaton and SUPPORTING ACTRESS for Emma Stone, plus the extraordinary Emmanuel Lubezki’s cinematography for the tracking shot that never ended. Here’s the breakdown:


Best Picture  – Boyhood

Best Actor – Michael Keaton for Birdman

Best Actress – Marion Cotillard for The Immigrant and Two Days, One Night

Best Supporting Actor –  J. K. Simmons for Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress –  Emma Stone for Birdman

Best Director – Richard Linklater for Boyhood

Best Screenplay –  (tie) Alejandro González Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo for Birdman & Richard Linklater for Boyhood

Best Cinematography – Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman

Best Documentary – Citizenfour

Best Foreign-Language Film  (awarded in memory of Jay Carr) –  Two Days, One Night

Best Animated Film – The Tale of The Princess Kaguya

Best Film Editing (awarded in memory of Karen Schmeer) – Sandra Adair for Boyhood

Best New Filmmaker (awarded in memory of David Brudnoy) –  Dan Gilroy for Nightcrawler

Best Ensemble Cast –  Boyhood

Best Use of Music in a Film – Inherent Vice

Listen up OSCARS. We here in Boston know what we’re talking about. MICHAEL KEATON– I can’t wait to hear your acceptance speech.