"Everybody Wants Some!!" Review (***½)

Blake Jenner, Tyler Hoechlin and Ryan Guzman star in
"Everybody Wants Some!!"

Richard Linklater’s filmography is chock-full of some of the most influential and timeless films of the past 20 years. For me, his “Before” trilogy is his best work. The three films—for those who haven’t seen them (yet)—follow a couple’s relationship over the course of about 16 years. Each movie in the trilogy pretty much amounts to a series of conversations between the two leads as we check in on them at different points in their lives. The director’s focus on passing time and nostalgia is perfectly represented in these three films. Linklater seems to have a fascination with hindsight that allows his films to not only get better and better with age, but to sneak up on you and pack way more of a punch than you might have expected before the final credits start to roll.

"Boyhood," "Nightcrawler" Win Big as Georgia Film Critics Split the Board

Richard Linklater takes top honors for both Picture and Director; "Nightcrawler," "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and "Selma" all take home two each.

For their 4th annual awards presentation, the Georgia Film Critics Association have decided to distribute the love pretty evenly. Of the ten Best Picture nominees, nine of them took home at least one award.

"Boyhood" took home the big prizes, Best Picture and Best Director for Richard Linklater. "Nightcrawler" won Best Actor for Jake Gyllenhaal and Best Original Screenplay for Dan Gilroy. "The Grand Budapest Hotel" won awards for Best Production Design and Best Ensemble. "Selma" won the Oglethorpe Award for Excellence in Georgia Cinema and Best Original Song for "Glory," performed by John Legend and Common.

Marion Cotillard won Best Actress for "Two Days, One Night," while Tilda Swinton and J.K. Simmons took home Supporting prizes for Best Picture nominated films "Snowpiercer" and "Whiplash," respectively. "Gone Girl" took home Best Adapted Screenplay honors, while "Birdman" won for Best Cinematography (This is Emmanuel Lubeski's third GFCA win, after "The Tree of Life" and "Gravity"). Hans Zimmer's score for "Interstellar" provides the film's sole win out of three nominations.

Best Foreign Film went to "Ida," Best Documentary to "Life Itself" and Best Animated Film to "The LEGO Movie." David Oyelowo won the Breakthrough Award, with all five of his films from 2014 sharing the mention.

Check out the full list of winners after the jump.

Georgia Film Critics Reveal Nominees for 2014 Awards

"Birdman" narrowly leads nominations; "Ida," "Nightcrawler," "Snowpiercer," "Under the Skin," make a splash across the board.

Most critics groups have had their say already, but the Georgia Film Critics Association doesn't mind giving themselves time to think about their top picks of the year. This is their fourth year handing out best-of designations.

"Birdman" leads the pack with seven nominations, but "Boyhood," "Gone Girl," "The Grand Budapest Hotel" and Georgia-lensed "Selma" are all close by with six mentions each (not counting the individuals mentioned for Breakthrough Award).

Perhaps most noteworthy is the dominance of "Nightcrawler" (with five nods), "Snowpiercer" (with four nods) and "Ida" (with three nods)—all including Best Picture. Foreign films "Force Majeure" and "Two Days, One Night" pop up in the Best Actress category. Documentaries garner several mentions outside their own category, with "Sepideh" receiving a Foreign Film nod, "Life Itself" mentioned in Best Score, and both "Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me" and "Virunga" earning Best Original Song nominations.

"Calvary" earned a rogue screenplay nomination, as did "Wild" and "The Imitation Game." There was plenty of love for "Inherent Vice," "Interstellar" and "Under the Skin"—each receiving three nominations.

Several of these films were found on the Georgia film festival circuit this year. "Whiplash," "Two Days, One Night," "Foxcatcher," "The Imitation Game," "Life Itself," "Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me," "Finding Vivian Maier," "Keep On Keepin' On," "Big Hero 6" and "The Book of Life" all featured at the Savannah Film Festival. "Ida" played at the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival early in the year.

Winners will be announced on Friday, January 9th. Check out the full list of nominees after the jump.

Win free passes to see "Boyhood" in Atlanta!

Patricia Arquette and Ellar Coltrane star in "Boyhood"

Already one of the biggest critical hits of the year, Richard Linklater's latest film, "Boyhood," took him twelve years to film. Essentially following a single boy as he comes of age on screen, the same principle actors are featured aging and progressing in such a way that the film blurs the lines between fiction and non-fiction. This film could be a very big awards player, come Oscar time.

The film opened in limited release on July 11th and has been doing very well. It is scheduled to open in Atlanta on Friday, August 1st, but we have six pairs of tickets to give away for an advance screening held at Landmark Midtown Art Cinema on Tuesday, July 29th at 7:00 PM.

It is easy to enter! Just Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter, then Share and Tweet and you've been entered to win! The contest comes to a close on Friday, July 25th at 12:00 PM. These are physical, paper passes, so if you are selected as one of the winners, we will notify you by email and request a mailing address. Your passes should arrive no later than Monday, July 28th.