My memory tells me that the New York Film Critics Circle tends to pick outliers for its best picture winners.
I know last year the NYFCC picked “American Hustle” for its top honor, but I believe it was the only critics group that voted that way.
Most critics groups (including the ones based in Chicago, Boston and San Francisco) picked instead that year “12 Years A Slave,” the same movie that won the best-picture Oscar last March.
The year before the NYFCC picked “Zero Dark Thirty” as its top honoree while most other film critics groups agreed that the year's best was “Argo,” the same movie that won the best-picture Oscar in 2013.
Outlier or not, the NYFCC nod will surely send a lot of moviegoers out to see the 166-minute “Boyhood,” directed by Richard Linklater (“Slacker,” “Dazed and Confused,” “School of Rock,” “Before Midnight”) from his own screenplay over the span of 12 years.
The National Board of Review, which is not really a critics’ group but does contain critics, announces its pick for best movie today, Dec. 2.
Learn that the NYFCC also recognized Tim Spall as the year’s best actor and Wes Anderson as the year’s best screenwriter here.
