National Board of Review

2004 National Board of Review - Top Ten Films WinnerCloserThe relationships of two couples become complicated and deceitful when the man from one couple meets the woman of the other.AmazonCollateralA cab driver finds himself the hostage of an engaging contract killer as he makes his rounds from hit to hit during one night in Los Angeles.AmazonFinding NeverlandThe story of Sir J.M. Barrie's friendship with a family who inspired him to create Peter Pan.AmazonHotel RwandaPaul Rusesabagina was a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda.AmazonKinseyA look at the life of Alfred Kinsey, a pioneer in the area of human sexuality research, whose 1948 publication "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" was one of the first recorded w...

2003 National Board of Review - Top Ten Films Winner21 GramsA freak accident brings together a critically ill mathematician, a grieving mother, and a born-again ex-con.AmazonCold MountainIn the waning days of the American Civil War, a wounded soldier embarks on a perilous journey back home to Cold Mountain, North Carolina to reunite with his sweetheart.AmazonHouse of Sand and FogAn abandoned wife is evicted from her house and starts a tragic conflict with her house's new owners.AmazonIn AmericaA family of Irish immigrants adjust to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.AmazonLost in TranslationA faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo.AmazonMaster and Commander: The Far Side of the WorldD...

2002 National Board of Review - Top Ten Films WinnerAdaptation.A lovelorn screenwriter becomes desperate as he tries and fails to adapt 'The Orchid Thief' by Susan Orlean for the screen.AmazonChicagoTwo death-row murderesses develop a fierce rivalry while competing for publicity, celebrity, and a sleazy lawyer's attention.AmazonFar from HeavenIn 1950s Connecticut, a housewife faces a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in the outside world.AmazonFridaA biography of artist Frida Kahlo, who channeled the pain of a crippling injury and her tempestuous marriage into her work.AmazonGangs of New YorkIn 1862, Amsterdam Vallon returns to the Five Points area of New York City seeking revenge against Bill the Butcher, his father's killer.AmazonRabbit-Proof FenceIn 1931, three half-white, hal...

2001 National Board of Review - Top Ten Films WinnerA.I. Artificial IntelligenceA highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.AmazonBlack Hawk Down160 elite U.S. soldiers drop into Somalia to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord and find themselves in a desperate battle with a large force of heavily-armed Somalis.AmazonIn the BedroomA New England couple's college-aged son dates an older woman who has two small children and an unwelcome ex-husband.AmazonMementoA man with short-term memory loss attempts to track down his wife's murderer.AmazonMonster's BallAfter a family tragedy, a racist prison guard re-examines his attitudes while falling in love with the African-American wife of the last prisoner he executed.AmazonMoul...

2000 National Board of Review - Top Ten Films WinnerBefore Night FallsThe life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas.AmazonBilly ElliotA talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.AmazonCroupierAn aspiring writer is hired as a croupier at a casino, where he realizes that his life as a croupier would make a great novel.AmazonDancer in the DarkAn east European girl goes to America with her young son, expecting it to be like a Hollywood film.AmazonGladiatorA former Roman General sets out to exact vengeance against the corrupt emperor who murdered his family and sent him into slavery.AmazonQuillsIn a Napoleonic era insane asylum, an inmate, the irrepressible Marquis De Sade, fights a battle of wills against a tyrannically pru...

1999 National Board of Review - Top Ten Films WinnerAmerican BeautyA sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.AmazonBeing John MalkovichA puppeteer discovers a portal that leads literally into the head of movie star John Malkovich.AmazonBoys Don't CryA young man named Brandon Teena navigates love, life, and being transgender in rural Nebraska.AmazonCradle Will RockA true story of politics and art in the 1930s U.S., focusing on a leftist musical drama and attempts to stop its production.AmazonMagnoliaAn epic mosaic of interrelated characters in search of love, forgiveness, and meaning in the San Fernando Valley.AmazonThe InsiderA research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear ...

1998 National Board of Review - Top Ten Films WinnerA Simple PlanWhen three blue collar acquaintances come across millions of dollars in lost cash they make a plan to keep their find from the authorities but find complications and mistrust weaving its way into their plan.AmazonDancing at LughnasaFive unmarried sisters make the most of their simple existence in rural Ireland in the 1930s.AmazonElizabethThe early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England and her difficult task of learning what is necessary to be a monarch.AmazonGods and MonstersThe last days of Frankenstein (1931) Director James Whale are explored.AmazonHappinessThe lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts society as a whole might find disturbing in a ...

1997 National Board of Review - Top Ten Films WinnerAs Good as It GetsA single mother and waitress, a misanthropic author, and a gay artist form an unlikely friendship after the artist is assaulted in a robbery.AmazonBoogie NightsThe story of a young man's adventures in the California pornography industry of the late 1970s and early 1980s.AmazonGood Will HuntingWill Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.AmazonJackie BrownA middle-aged woman finds herself in the middle of a huge conflict that will either make her a profit or cost her life.AmazonL.A. ConfidentialAs corruption grows in 1950s Los Angeles, three policemen -- one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy -- investigate a series of murders with th...

1996 National Board of Review - Top Ten Films WinnerBreaking the WavesOilman Jan is paralyzed in an accident. His wife, who prayed for his return, feels guilty; even more, when Jan urges her to have sex with another.AmazonEveryone Says I Love YouA New York girl sets her father up with a beautiful woman in a troubled marriage while her stepsister gets engaged.AmazonEvitaThe hit musical based on the life of Evita Duarte, a B-picture Argentinian actress who eventually became the wife of Argentinian president Juan Perón, and the most beloved and hated woman in Argentina.AmazonFargoJerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.AmazonJerry MaguireWhen a sports agent has a moral epiphany and i...

1995 National Board of Review - Top Ten Films WinnerApollo 13NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.AmazonBraveheartWhen his secret bride is executed for assaulting an English soldier who tried to rape her, William Wallace begins a revolt against King Edward I of England.AmazonCarringtonThe platonic relationship between artist Dora Carrington (Dame Emma Thompson) and writer Lytton Strachey (Jonathan Pryce) in the early twentieth century.AmazonLeaving Las VegasBen Sanderson, a Hollywood screenwriter who lost everything because of his alcoholism, arrives in Las Vegas to drink himself to death. There, he meets and forms an uneasy friendship and non-int...