award shows, Green Book, movies, National Board of Review, National Board of Review Awards, New York City
November 27, 2018
by Carla Hay
The National Board of Review has named the winners of its annual movie awards. The awards are voted for by the National Board of Review, which is comprised of a mixture of film industry professionals and academics. “Green Book,” based on a true story of the friendship that developed between jazz pianist Don Shirley and his driver Tony “Lip” Vallelonga while on a 1962 road trip, was named Best Film. Viggo Mortensen, who plays Vallelonga in “Green Book,” was named Best Actor.
The Bradley Cooper-directed remake of “A Star Is Born,” named by the National Board of Review as one of the Top 10 best films of 2018, picked up three NBR prizes: Best Director; Best Actress (for Lady Gaga); and Best Supporting Actor (for Sam Elliott). “If Beale Street Could Talk” won two prizes: Best Supporting Actress (for Regina King) and Best Adapted Screenplay (for “Beale Street” director Barry Jenkins).
The National Board of Review Awards will be presented at a ceremony at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City on January 8, 2019.
Some noticeable snubs include “The Favourite” and”BlacKkKlansman,” which have been getting several nominations and/or prizes at other award shows for movies. Another movie that was shut out was “Vice,” a dark comedy about former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney that is set for a U.S. release on December 25, 2018. “Vice” was screened for the first time for awards voters in mid-November 2018, but that might have been too late for enough NBR voters to see the movie. The buzz from people who have seen “Vice” is that the movie and Christian Bale (who stars as Cheney) are most likely to get nominations for Best Picture and Best Actor at other award shows that will announce their nominations in December 2018 and in subsequent months.
Here is the complete list of the 2018 National Board of Review Awards:
Best Film: “Green Book”
Best Director: Bradley Cooper, “A Star Is Born”
Best Actor: Viggo Mortensen, “Green Book”
Best Actress: Lady Gaga, “A Star Is Born”
Best Supporting Actor: Sam Elliott, “A Star Is Born”
Best Supporting Actress: Regina King, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Best Original Screenplay: Paul Schrader, “First Reformed”
Best Adapted Screenplay: Barry Jenkins, “If Beale Street Could Talk”
Best Animated Feature: “Incredibles 2”
Breakthrough Performance: Thomasin McKenzie, “Leave No Trace”
Best Directorial Debut: Bo Burnham, “Eighth Grade”
Best Foreign Language Film: “Cold War”
Best Documentary: “RBG”
Best Ensemble: “Crazy Rich Asians”
William K. Everson Film History Award: “The Other Side of the Wind” and “They’ll Love Me When I’m Dead”
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: “22 July”
NBR Freedom of Expression Award: “On Her Shoulders”
Top Films (in alphabetical order)
“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”
“Black Panther”
“Can You Ever Forgive Me?”
“Eighth Grade”
“First Reformed”
“If Beale Street Could Talk”
“Mary Poppins Returns”
“A Quiet Place”
“Roma”
“A Star Is Born”
Top 5 Foreign Language Films (in alphabetical order)
“Burning”
“Custody”
“The Guilty”
“Happy as Lazzaro”
“Shoplifters”
Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order)
“Crime + Punishment”
“Free Solo”
“Minding the Gap”
“Three Identical Strangers”
“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order)
“The Death of Stalin”
“Lean on Pete”
“Leave No Trace”
“Mid90s”
“The Old Man and the Gun”
“The Rider”
“Searching”
“Sorry to Bother You”
“We the Animals”
“You Were Never Really Here”