Being based in Chicago, the Chicago Film Critics Association (CFCA) Awards are kind of a big deal to me. Their nominees are as follows (with my personal pick to win being italicized):

BEST PICTURE
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Under the Skin
Whiplash

BEST DIRECTOR
Wes Anderson, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
David Fincher, “Gone Girl”
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Birdman”
Richard Linklater, “Boyhood”
Christopher Nolan, “Interstellar”

BEST ACTOR
Benedict Cumberbatch, “The Imitation Game”
Jake Gyllenhaal, “Nightcrawler”
Michael Keaton, “Birdman”
David Oyelowo, “Selma”
Eddie Redmayne, “The Theory of Everything”

BEST ACTRESS
Marion Cotillard, “Two Days, One Night”
Scarlett Johannson, “Under the Skin”
Julianne Moore, “Still Alice”
Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl”
Reese Witherspoon, “Wild”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, “Inherent Vice”
Ethan Hawke, “Boyhood”
Edward Norton, “Birdman”
Mark Ruffalo, “Foxcatcher”
J.K. Simmons, “Whiplash”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Patricia Arquette, “Boyhood”
Jessica Chastain, “A Most Violent Year”
Laura Dern, “Wild”
Agata Kulesza, “Ida”
Emma Stone, “Birdman”

BEST ORIGNAL SCREENPLAY
“Birdman”, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo
“Boyhood”, Richard Linklater
“Calvary”, John Michael McDonagh
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”, Wes Anderson
“Whiplash”, Damien Chazelle

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“Gone Girl”, Gillian Flynn
“The Imitation Game”, Graham Moore
“Inherent Vice”, Paul Thomas Anderson
“Under the Skin”, Walter Campbell
“Wild”, Nick Hornby

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM
Force Majeure
Ida
Mommy
The Raid 2
Two Days, One Night

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Citizenfour
Jodorowsky’s Dune
Last Days in Vietnam
Life Itself
The Overnighters

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Big Hero 6
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
The Lego Movie
Tales of the Princess Kaguya

BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Grand Budapest Hotel
Interstellar
Into The Woods
Only Lovers Left Alive
Snowpiercer

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Birdman”, Emmanuel Lubezki
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”, Robert Yeoman
“Ida”, Ryszard Lenczewski and Lukasz Zal
“Inherent Vice”, Robert Elswit
“Interstellar”, Hoyte Van Hoytema

BEST EDITING
“Birdman”, Douglas Crise and Stephen Mirrion
“Boyhood”, Sandra Adair
“Gone Girl”, Kirk Baxter
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”, Barney Pilling
“Whiplash”, Tom Cross

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“Birdman”, Antonio Sanchez
“The Grand Budapest Hotel”, Alexandre Desplat
“The Imitation Game”, Alexandre Desplat
“Interstellar”, Hans Zimmer
“Under the Skin”, Mica Levi

MOST PROMISING PERFORMER
Ellar Coltrane, “Boyhood”
Gugu Mbatha-Raw, “Belle”/”Beyond the Lights”
Jack O’Connell, “Starred Up”/”Unbroken”
Tony Revolori, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”
Jenny Slate, “Obvious Child”
Agata Trzebuchowska, “Ida”

MOST PROMISING FILMMAKER
Damien Chazelle, “Whiplash”
Dan Gilroy, “Nightcrawler”
Jennifer Kent, “The Babadook”
Jeremy Saulnier, “Blue Ruin”
Justin Simien, “Dear White People”

The winners will be announced December 15th, so keep an eye out for them. You also have a few days to watch every movie on this list you can, so get on that.