Thursday November 29, 2018
National Board of Review Honors ‘Green Book’
I posted a semi-critical review of “Green Book” on Monday. On Tuesday, the National Board of Review honored it with the best film of the year.
So it goes. Me and NBR have never really agreed on much. Here are its best pics this century:
YEAR | NBR BEST PICTURE |
2000 | Quills |
2001 | Moulin Rouge! |
2002 | The Hours |
2003 | Mystic River |
2004 | Finding Neverland |
2005 | Good Night, and Good Luck. |
2006 | Letters from Iwo Jima |
2007 | No Country for Old Men |
2008 | Slumdog Millionaire |
2009 | Up in the Air |
2010 | The Social Network |
2011 | Hugo |
2012 | Zero Dark Thirty |
2013 | Her |
2014 | A Most Violent Year |
2015 | Mad Max: Fury Road |
2016 | Manchester by the Sea |
2017 | The Post |
2018 | Green Book |
Years in which its best would be in my top 5: 2007, 2010 and 2016.
Its odd choices are inconsistently odd: from the lightweight (“Finding Neverland,” “her”) to the heavy/gritty (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “A Most Violent Year”); from black-and-white serious (“Good Night, and Good Luck”) to outlandishly colorful and comically pop (“Mad Max: Fury Road”). NBR is like an odd cousin. When they show up, not sure what I'm going to get.
That said, “Green Book” is part of its celebration of the middle of the road. They did it last year with “The Post,” too. They also released their top 10—or I guess #s 2 through 11. (Why do they call it top 10?) Here they are 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
Looking forward to “Roma,” “Buster Scruggs” and “Mary Poppins.” Willing to watch “First Reformed” again to see what I missed in my “meh” review. Otherwise...
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