State of the Race: National Board of Review

What is the National Board of Review? Wikipedia tells us that this is an organization, starting in 1908, made up of critics, film enthusiasts, academics, and filmmakers in the New York Metropolitan area. Despite having “National” in name, the Board is rather regional and has only about 100 members cast ballots for nominees and winners in various categories. So… in terms of overlap to what the Academy does, it’s limited, and shows more correlation than causation. The main point, in terms of the Oscar race, is that the NBR is the first critical body to announce its annual awards. And it’s always fun to have news.

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State of the Race: Best Animated Feature Film

As a regular contributor to The Media By Us, I try to do my part to keep my ear to the ground regarding Oscar nominations. But I’m not nearly as good at tracking festival news or regular blog and podcast updates. What I CAN do is pay attention to the primary source.

This past Thursday, the Academy released the list of 26 movies that were submitted for consideration for best Animated Feature Film. The list includes movies that haven’t met the requirements for official nomination (running in an LA theater) but are included nonetheless.

Here is the list of movies:
The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales
Birdboy: The Forgotten Children
The Boss Baby

(Dreamworks Animation, 2017)

The Breadwinner
Captain Underpants The First Epic Movie
Cars 3
Cinderella the Cat
Coco
Despicable Me 3
The Emoji Movie
Ethel & Ernest
Ferdinand
The Girl without Hands
In This Corner of the World

(Mappa, 2016)

The Lego Batman Movie
The Lego Ninjago Movie
Loving Vincent
Mary and the Witch’s Flower
Moomins and the Winter Wonderland
My Entire High School Sinking into the Sea
Napping Princess
A Silent Voice
Smurfs: The Lost Village
The Star
Sword Art Online: The Movie – Ordinal Scale
Window Horses The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming

This tMbU member has only seen one of the above selected movies, but if I had to vote, The Lego Batman Movie would definitely get my vote.