By Jake Cole, Film Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Steven Spielberg's newspaper drama "The Post" was named the year's best film by the National Board of Review, which also lavished its top acting honors on the film's stars, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.
The group announced its picks Tuesday on Twitter. Though the organization spread its awards around, it reserved three of its top slots for Spielberg's upcoming period film about The Washington Post's publishing of the Pentagon Papers. Streep plays Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham and Hanks plays editor Ben Bradlee in the film, one of the year's last-arriving awards contenders.
The National Board of Review, a collection of film enthusiasts and academics founded in 1909, is better known for packing its annual awards dinner (to be hosted by Willie Geist on January 9) with big names than for predicting Oscars. Its last three winners were "Manchester By the Sea," ''Mad Max: Fury Road" and "A Most Violent Year," none of which went on to win best picture.
But momentum is a cherished quantity in Hollywood's awards season, and the trio of awards give "The Post" — considered a timely tribute to a free press — a resounding early win.
The day after taking home three awards at Monday's Gotham Awards, Jordan Peele's horror sensation "Get Out" took an award for best ensemble, as well as best directorial debut.
Greta Gerwig's "Lady Bird" landed two awards: best director and best supporting actress for Laurie Metcalf. The coming-of-age tale, starring Saoirse Ronan, is increasingly looking like a major contender, boasting the most widely reviewed 100 percent fresh Rotten Tomatoes score in the website's history. Ronan also won best actress at Monday's Gotham Awards.
After taking the top prize at the Gothams, Luca Guadagnino's "Call Me by Your Name" came away from the NBR announcement with a single honor: Timothee Chalamet for breakthrough performance.
Best supporting actor went to Willem Dafoe ("The Florida Project"), Paul Thomas Anderson landed best original screenplay for his "Phantom Thread," and "The Disaster Artist" scribes Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber won for adapted screenplay.
Other awards included the board's Spotlight Award to Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot for "Wonder Woman" and two winners for its Freedom of Expression Award: Angelina Jolie's Cambodia drama "First They Killed My Father" and John Ridley's documentary "Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992."
Here’s a full rundown of National Board of Review honors:
BEST FILM
The Post
BEST DIRECTOR
Greta Gerwig
Lady Bird
BEST ACTOR
Tom Hanks
The Post
BEST ACTRESS
Meryl Streep
The Post
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Willem Dafoe
The Florida Project
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Foxtrot
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Coco
BEST DOCUMENTARY
Jane
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Paul Thomas Anderson
Phantom Thread
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
The Disaster Artist
BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT
Jordan Peele
Get Out
BEST ENSEMBLE
Get Out
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Timothée Chalamet
Call Me by Your Name
SPOTLIGHT AWARD
Wonder Woman: Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot
NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
First They Killed My Father
NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992
TOP FILMS
Baby Driver
Call Me By Your Name
The Disaster Artist
Downsizing
Dunkirk
The Florida Project
Get Out
Lady Bird
Logan
Phantom Thread
TOP TEN INDEPENDENT FILMS
Beatriz at Dinner
Brigsby Bear
A Ghost Story
Lady Macbeth
Logan Lucky
Loving Vincent
Menashe
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
Patti Cake$
Wind River
TOP 5 FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILMS
A Fantastic Woman
Frantz
Loveless
Summer 1993
The Square
TOP 5 DOCUMENTARIES
Abacus: Small Enough to Jail
Brimstone & Glory
Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars
Faces Places
Hell On Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More