The Fifties Eligibility Lists, 2014

It's all happening... Joe Reid, whom you know and love from The Wire and from the Film Experience podcasts, will join me again for The Fifties, my annual tradition of listing the best achievements in major Oscar categories in the year by around mid-summer, once I've hit the milestone of seeing 50 U.S. commercial releases from the calendar year. Beyond sharing ridiculous list-mania, Joe and I have a knack for reaching that goalpost at almost exactly the same time without even trying. We don't, however, see all the same movies—this year we only overlap on 26 titles—so you can't draw a one-to-one comparison between our choices.  Happily, the discrepancies increase the overall eligibility pool and make consensus all the more striking when it does emerge.

We are very aware of not finishing our announcements last year. To prevent that happening again, we've already filled out our individual ballots and are planning shorter conversations about our choices. The first categories will be posted soon. For now, here are the lists of films we're each working from, with shared titles in bold. File your favorites and FYC's in the Comments! And use that space to fight over whether Emily Blunt is a lead or a supporting player in Edge of Tomorrow.

P.S. Now that The Fifties are finished, I've included final nomination tallies for each movie in parentheses.

NICK'S FIRST 50 (25 got nominations) 22 Jump Street Afternoon of a Faun: Tanaquil Le Clercq Before You Know It Begin Again (3) Belle (1) Blue Ruin (2) Borgman Child's Pose Closed Curtain Cold in July Edge of Tomorrow (9) Enemy The Final Member Frankie & Alice The German Doctor (1) Gloria (4) Godzilla (2) The Grand Budapest Hotel (4) Heli (2) Hide Your Smiling Faces (1) Honey (2) How to Train Your Dragon 2 Ida (5) Ilo Ilo (4) The Immigrant (8) It Felt Like Love The Last of the Unjust (3) The LEGO Movie (1) Like Father, Like Son Maleficent (1) The Missing Picture (5) Neighbors Night Moves Noah Non-Stop Norte, the End of History (5) Nymphomaniac, Vol. 1 Nymphomaniac, Vol. 2 Obvious Child (4) Only Lovers Left Alive (8) The Rover Snowpiercer Stranger by the Lake (2) Tammy They Came Together Under the Skin (7) Unrelated (8) Le Week-end (3) Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? Young & Beautiful

JOE'S FIRST 50 (29 got nominations) 22 Jump Street (1) Adult World The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Blue Ruin (3) Borgman (2) Boyhood (6) Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2) Chef (1) The Congress (6) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2) Devil's Knot Divergent Edge of Tomorrow (8) Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me G.B.F. The German Doctor Gloria (3) Godzilla (4) The Grand Budapest Hotel (3) Happy Christmas Hide Your Smiling Faces (3) How to Train Your Dragon 2 (1) The Immigrant (2) The LEGO Movie Locke (2) Lucky Them Maleficent Neighbors (1) Night Moves Noah (1) Non-Stop Obvious Child (6) Omar (1) Only Lovers Left Alive (6) The Pretty One Raze (1) The Sacrament Snowpiercer (6) Stand Clear of the Closing Doors Stranger by the Lake (8) Tammy Teenage They Came Together Trust Me Under the Skin (8) Veronica Mars (1) Le Week-end (1) Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (1) Winter's Tale X-Men: Days of Future Past (1)

We both elected to disqualify The Normal Heart and other movies that premiered on U.S. television, as well as films scheduled for U.S. release later this year that haven't technically bowed yet (which for me knocks out Child of God, The Dog, and Tracks). Joe got to Boyhood and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes before the 50-film cutoff but I didn't.