34th Shadows Awards: Happy New Year!

After much agonising, I've finally assembled my annual best of the year lists. As much as I resisted, I was unable to deny that Boyhood was my film of the year. I hate going along with the mob, but this really is one of the most extraordinary movies ever made - it's far more than a 12-year filmmaking experiment. These are just the highlights: there's rather a lot more on the WEBSITE.

FILM:

1. Boyhood (Richard Linklater)
2. Leviathan (Andrey Zvyagintsev)
3. Mommy (Xavier Dolan)
4. Selma (Ava DuVernay)
5. The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson)
6. Under the Skin (Jonathan Glazer)
7. Rosewater (Jon Stewart)
8. Pride (Matthew Warchus)
9. Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)
10. Guardians of the Galaxy (James Gunn)

DIRECTOR: Ava DuVernay (Selma)

SCREENWRITER: Andrey Zvyagintsev & Oleg Negin (Leviathan)

ACTRESS: Julianne Moore (Still Alice, Maps to the Stars)

ACTOR: David Oyelowo (Selma, A Most Violent Year, Interstellar)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Emma Stone (Birdman, Magic in the Moonlight)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Josh Brolin (Inherent Vice, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For)

WORST FILM:

1. Tammy (Ben Falcone)
2. Bad Johnson (Huck Botko)
3. Pudsey the Dog: The Movie (Nick Moore)
4. Endless Love (Shana Feste)
5. Annie (Will Gluck)
6. Hector and the Search for Happiness (Peter Chelsom)
7. Earth to Echo (Dave Green)
8. Sabotage (David Ayer)
9. Jimi: All Is by My Side (John Ridley)
10. Dumb and Dumber To (Peter & Bobby Farrelly)

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CRITICAL WEEK

I only saw three films this week: James Franco and Seth Rogen in media-storm comedy The Interview, which was about half of a very funny movie; Jake Gyllenhaal in the clever but fiercely artful doppelganger mystery Enemy; and the stunningly well-observed Swedish Oscar-contending family drama Force Majeure.

Critics' screenings don't begin until Monday - with Liam Neeson in Taken 3 - but I have a few more discs I want to catch up with between now and then, as year-end voting continues.