2022 National Board of Review (NBR): ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ named Best Film
The National Board of Review (NBR) has selected the year’s biggest blockbuster Top Gun: Maverick as the best film of 2022, the group announced on Thursday.
NBR’s most recent best film winners Paul Thomas Anderson’s Licorice Pizza, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, Peter Farrelly’s Green Book and George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road all went on to earn Best Picture Oscar nominations with Green Book taking home the top Academy Award.
In the last 30 years, most winners of NBR’s best film have gone on to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Picture. The exceptions being 2020’s Da 5 Bloods, 2014’s A Most Violent Year, 2000’s Quills and 1998’s Gods and Monsters.
It was a good day for The Banshees of Inisherin, which won three awards plus a Top 10 placement. The film earned wins for Colin Farrell in Best Actor, Supporting Actor for Brendan Gleeson and Original Screenplay for director Martin McDonaugh. Michelle Yeoh picked up Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All At Once, while Janelle Monáe was named Best Supporting Actress for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Both films landed Top 10 placements as well.
Joining those films as NBR’s Top 10 of 2022 were: Aftersun, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Fabelmans, RRR, Till, The Woman King and Women Talking. Aftersun also took a Directorial Debut win for Charlotte Wells, The Fabelmans won Best Director for Steven Spielberg and Breakthrough Performance for star Gabriel LaBelle.
Last year’s top NBR winners Will Smith (Best Actor for King Richard), Encanto (Animated Feature) and Summer of Soul (Documentary) went on to win Oscars in their respective categories. King Richard‘s Aunjanue Ellis (Supporting Actress) and Belfast‘s Ciarán Hinds (Supporting Actor) were among those to translate their NBR wins into Oscar nominations.
The National Board of Review awards gala will take place on January 8, 2023 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City and hosted by Willie Geist of NBC News’ Sunday TODAY and MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
Here is the full list of 2022 NBR winners.
Best Film: Top Gun: Maverick
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans
Best Actor: Colin Farrell, The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Actress: Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best Supporting Actor: Brendan Gleeson, The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Supporting Actress: Janelle Monáe, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
Best Original Screenplay: Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin
Best Adapted Screenplay: Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, Ian Stokell, All Quiet on the Western Front
Breakthrough Performance: Danielle Deadwyler, Till
Breakthrough Performance: Gabriel LaBelle, The Fabelmans
Best Directorial Debut: Charlotte Wells, Aftersun
Best Animated Feature: Marcel the Shell With Shoes On
Best International Film: Close
Best Documentary: Sr.
Best Ensemble: Women Talking
Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, Top Gun: Maverick
NBR Freedom of Expression Awards:
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Argentina, 1985
Top Films (in alphabetical order):
Aftersun
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
Everything Everywhere All at Once
The Fabelmans
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
RRR
Till
The Woman King
Women Talking
Top 5 International Films (in alphabetical order):
All Quiet on the Western Front
Argentina, 1985
Decision to Leave
EO
Saint Omer
Top 5 Documentaries (in alphabetical order):
All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
All That Breathes
Descendant
Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb
Wildcat
Top 10 Independent Films (in alphabetical order):
Armageddon Time
Emily the Criminal
The Eternal Daughter
Funny Pages
The Inspection
Living
A Love Song
Nanny
The Wonder
To Leslie
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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