2014 Muriel Awards: 25th Anniversary Award for the Best Film of 1989

Once again, our anniversary award voting yields a runaway winner. In fact, this category's champion actually got more points than its 1964 counterpart, believe it or not. Still, a wide-ranging batch of nominated movies. I never imagined our #4 would place so high, and I love that both Haroun Farocki's Images of the World and the Inscription of War and Road House got multiple votes.

Third place:

The Killer [directed by John Woo] (112 points / 20 votes)

Second place:

Crimes and Misdemeanors [directed by Woody Allen] (140.5 points / 22 votes)

And the Muriel Award goes to...

2014 Muriel Awards: Best Body of Work

In each of the last two years, the winner in this category has been the same - Matthew McConaughey. But this year, the actor formerly known as Wooderson has decided to give some other people a chance (the fact that True Detective doesn't qualify here had something to do with that) and the results were rather more, well, feminine. As you'll soon see, this was a close race, and I think any of our top three finishers would have been worthy recipients of this award.

Third place:

Scarlett Johansson [actor – Under the Skin, Lucy, Captain America: The Winter Soldier] (142 points / 23 votes)

Second place:

Tilda Swinton [actor – Snowpiercer, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Zero Theorem] (146 points / 23 votes)

And the Muriel Award goes to...

2014 Muriel Awards: Best Music

Technically, the name of this category is "Best Music (Original, Adapted, or Compiled). The reason for this is to distinguish it from more traditional movie-music awards which typically honor only original scores. In the past, we've honored both original scores and adaptations/compilations of existing music. The idea is to recognize movies that use music particularly well. I think you'll agree that this year's winner fits the bill.

Third place:

Only Lovers Left Alive [music by Jozef van Wissem and SQÜRL] (101 points / 18 votes)

Second place:

Inherent Vice [score composed by Jonny Greenwood] (138 points / 22 votes)

And the Muriel Award goes to...

2014 Muriel Awards: 50th Anniversary Award for the Best Film of 1964

Once again, here's a category in which the winner was more or less a foregone conclusion. I mean, if you know anything about the Muriels, you had to see this coming. After all, when we teamed up with our Skandies pals to vote for the greatest films ever back in 2012, three of this director's films ended up in our top 20.

Still, if nothing else, this category's results really drove home what a great year 1964 was for movies. I mean, look at some of the giants we've got listed among our favorites. Talk about your Murderer's Row. And for a movie to dominate this category in spite of that... well, it's gotta be pretty darned awesome. Definitely a worthy addition to the Muriels Hall of Fame, that's for sure.

Anyway...

Third place:

A Hard Day's Night! (dir. Richard Lester) [105 points / 18 votes]

Second place:

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (dir. Jacques Demy) [148 points / 24 votes]

And the Muriel Award goes to...

2014 Muriel Awards: Best Cinematic Breakthrough

To be perfectly frank, I've always found the Breakthrough category sort of hit and miss. Maybe it's because the definition of what really constitutes a cinematic breakthrough is pretty amorphous, but there have been times when I've found the winners in this category sort of unsatisfying.

But this year's different. Our top three finishers are all filmmakers on the make who've each announced themselves to the moviegoing public in diverse and interesting ways. And speaking of diverse, look at #1 and #2. At a time when there are plenty of think pieces about the relatively small number of female and African-American directors, I'm proud that we've decided to show particular love to two people who've bucked the trend. Now if only we could find more Muriels voters of the XX persuasion...

Third place:

Damien Chazelle – director, Whiplash [49 points / 8 votes]

Second place:

Ava DuVernay – director, Selma [106 points / 16 votes]

And the Muriel Award goes to...

2014 Muriel Awards: Best Supporting Performance, Female

In the past, this has usually been a pretty competitive category most years. Not this year. You can probably guess who won- indeed, this year's winner received the most votes of any winner outside of the anniversary categories. However, our voters stumped for some interesting choices among the runners-up. And really, it's hard to argue with who won, I'd say.

Third place:

Tilda Swinton, Snowpiercer [128 points / 22 votes]

Second place:

Elisabeth Moss, Listen Up Philip [154 points / 22 votes]

And the Muriel Award goes to...

2014 Muriel Awards: Best Supporting Performance, Male

And so we kick off another year of Muriels madness, folks. Sadly, Steve won't be joining us this year, as he's been busy with family business and other goings-on. However, we'll do our best to make him proud. On that note, we kick it off like as usually do, with the Muriel for Best Supporting Actor.

Third place:

Josh Brolin, Inherent Vice [155 points / 23 votes]

Second place:

Ethan Hawke, Boyhood [166 points / 26 votes]

And the first Muriel Award of 2014 goes to...