Following a busy Monday, where both the New York Film Critics Circle and Gotham Awards announced their picks for the best films of 2014, the National Board of Review has now weighed in with their top picks.  They went for a somewhat out-of-left field choice, selecting J.C. Chandor’s dark ’80s-set drama A Most Violent Year as their choice for the best film of the year. The film, which revolves around an immigrant played by Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis) trying to earn a piece of the American Dream amidst a city full of corruption and violence, earned two other awards from the National Board of Review – Isaac won the Best Actor prize (in a tie with Gotham Award winner Michael Keaton for Birdman) and Jessica Chastain won the Best Supporting Actress prize. A Most Violent Year had its world premiere at AFI Fest last month and opens on December 31st in limited release. It’s the third feature from Chandor following Margin Call (2011) and All is Lost (2013).

Julianne Moore (a Gotham Award winner) won Best Actress for her role as a woman battling early on-set Alzheimer’s in Still Alice, while Edward Norton picked up the Best Supporting Actor prize for his work in Birdman. The cast of the WWII film Fury won for Best Ensemble Cast. Perhaps most surprisingly, Clint Eastwood picked up a Best Director prize for his forthcoming war film American Sniper, picking up a bit of steam for that film in the awards conservation. Among the films completely shut out by the National Board of Review were The Theory of Everything, Big Eyes, Foxcatcher, Into the Woods, Interstellar, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and Whiplash. The ceremony for the National Board of Review winners will take place in New York City on January 6th.

The National Board of Review is a non-profit organization that was established in 1909. Their annual awards are voted on by a membership that includes knowledgeable film enthusiasts, academics, young filmmakers, and students. Included in that long history is a fairly substantial overlap with the Academy Awards, however the National Board of Review sometimes tend to go on the quirky side when handing out their top prize. A Most Violent Year joins a group that includes Oscar favorites like Slumdog Millionaire (the last NBR Best Picture winner to also win the Best Picture Oscar), Moulin Rouge!, The Hours, and last year’s Her.

Full list of winners:

BEST FILM: A Most Violent Year

Top Ten Films of 2014:

• American Sniper
• Birdman
• Boyhood
• Fury
• Gone Girl
• The Imitation Game
• Inherent Vice
• The LEGO Movie
• Nightcrawler
• Unbroken

BEST DIRECTOR: Clint Eastwood, American Sniper

BEST ACTOR: (TIE) Oscar Isaac, A Most Violent Year; Michael Keaton, Birdman

BEST ACTRESS: Julianne Moore, Still Alice

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Edward Norton, Birdman

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jessica Chastain, A Most Violent Year

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, The Lego Movie

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Inherent Vice– Paul Thomas Anderson

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: How to Train Your Dragon 2

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Life Itself

Top 5 Documentaries of 2014:

• Art and Craft
• Jodorowsky’s Dune
• Keep on Keepin’ On
• The Kill Team
• Last Days in Vietnam

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM: Wild Tales (Argentina)

Top 5 Foreign Films of 2014:

• Force Majeure (Sweden)
• Gett: The Trial of Viviane Amsalem (Israel)
• Leviathan (Russia)
• Two Days, One Night (Belgium)
• We Are the Best! (Sweden)

Top 10 Independent Films of 2014:

• Blue Ruin
• Locke
• A Most Wanted Man
• Mr. Turner
• Obvious Child
• The Skeleton Twins
• Snowpiercer
• Stand Clear of the Closing Doors
• Starred Up
• Still Alice

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER: Jack O’Connell, Starred Up and Unbroken

BEST DIRECTORIAL DEBUT: Gilliam Robespierre, Obvious Child

SPOTLIGHT AWARD: Chris Rock, for writing, directing and starring in Top Five

NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AWARD: Rosewater; Selma

WILLIAM K. EVERSON FILM HISTORY AWARD: Scott Eyman