Dallas Critics Fly With BIRDMAN

The Dallas/Fort Worth Film Critics Association, of which I am a proud member, has selected backstage comedy-drama Birdman as the best film of 2014.

Michael Keaton was named Best Actor for his performance as an actor on the comeback trail in Birdman and Reese Witherspoon was voted Best Actress for her role as a woman seeking a new start in life in Wild.

J.K. Simmons received the Best Supporting Actor nod for his performance as a ruthless music teacher in Whiplash and Patricia Arquette was named Best Supporting Actress for her role (wife, ex-wife, mother, single woman) in Boyhood.

Alejandro González Iñárritu was named Best Director for Birdman.

Among other honors, Force Majeure won for Best Foreign Language Film, Citizenfour for Best Documentary, The Lego Movie for Best Animated Film.

Boyhood won the Russell Smith Award, named for the late Dallas Morning News film critic. The honor is given annually to the best low-budget or cutting-edge independent film.

A complete list of winners and and runners-up from the 21st annual critics' poll can be found in the press release below.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association voted the backstage drama BIRDMAN as the best film of 2014, according to the results of its 21st annual critics' poll released today.

Rounding out the composite list of the top 10 films of the year were BOYHOOD (2), THE IMITATION GAME (3), THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (4), THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (5), WHIPLASH (6), GONE GIRL (7), SELMA (8), WILD (9) and NIGHTCRAWLER (10).

For Best Actor, the association named Michael Keaton for BIRDMAN. Runners-up included Eddie Redmayne for THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (2), Benedict Cumberbatch for THE IMITATION GAME (3), Jake Gyllenhaal for NIGHTCRAWLER (4) and Timothy Spall for MR. TURNER (5).

Reese Witherspoon was voted Best Actress for WILD. Next in the voting were Julianne Moore for STILL ALICE (2), Rosamund Pike for GONE GIRL (3), Felicity Jones for THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (4) and Marion Cotillard for TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT (5).

In the Best Supporting Actor category, the winner was J.K. Simmons for WHIPLASH. He was followed by Edward Norton for BIRDMAN (2), Ethan Hawke for BOYHOOD (3), Mark Ruffalo for FOXCATCHER (4) and Alfred Molina for LOVE IS STRANGE (5).

For Best Supporting Actress, the association named Patricia Arquette for BOYHOOD. Runners-up were Emma Stone for BIRDMAN (2), Keira Knightley for THE IMITATION GAME (3), Jessica Chastain for A MOST VIOLENT YEAR (4) and Laura Dern for WILD (5).

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu was voted Best Director for BIRDMAN. Next in the voting were Richard Linklater for BOYHOOD (2), Wes Anderson for THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (3), David Fincher for GONE GIRL (4) and Ava DuVernay for SELMA (5).

The association voted FORCE MAJEURE as the best foreign-language film of the year. Runners-up included IDA (2), WINTER SLEEP (3), LEVIATHAN (4) and WILD TALES (5).

CITIZENFOUR won for Best Documentary over LIFE ITSELF (2), JODOROWSKY'S DUNE (3), THE OVERNIGHTERS (4) and THE GREAT INVISIBLE (5).

THE LEGO MOVIE was named the best animated film of 2014, with BIG HERO 6 as runner-up. Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo shared the Best Screenplay award for BIRDMAN over Richard Linklater for BOYHOOD.

The award for Best Cinematography went to Emmanuel Lubezki for BIRDMAN, followed by Hoyte Van Hoytema for INTERSTELLAR. The association gave its award for Best Musical Score to Hans Zimmer for INTERSTELLAR.

The association voted BOYHOOD as the winner of the Russell Smith Award, named for the late Dallas Morning News film critic. The honor is given annually to the best low-budget or cutting-edge independent film.

The Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association consists of 30 broadcast, print and online journalists from throughout North Texas. For more information, visit www.dfwcritics.com or follow us on Facebook or Twitter @dfwfilmcritics.