Tier Ranking the Independent Spirit Award Nominations

Don't you just love it when an awards committee actually honors talent and films you love or at least care about? This is why I am always excited about the Film Independent Spirit Award nominations, because this crew just gets it. Their red carpet fashion may be questionable (at best), but few other awards can legitimately claim that they celebrate as much diverse talent and underrated gems as the Spirits.

Before we get to the full list, I want to present my very biased ranking of the nominees, followed by my second and third tier favorites (those who don't make any of these three lists...welp). Here goes (note: this is not category specific):

1st Tier (The Best of the List)

• Boyhood
• Director Richard Linklater (Boyhood)
• Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) 
• Director Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night)
• Cinematographer Lyle Vincent (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night)
• Edward Norton (Birdman)
• Michael Keaton (Birdman)
• Ethan Hawke (Boyhood)  
• Screenwriter Justin Lader (The One I Love)
• Screenwriter Jim Jarmusch (Only Lovers Left Alive)

2nd Tier (Those I Liked, But Didn't Love)

• Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Birdman)
• J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
• Director/Producer/Writer Justin Simien (Dear White People)
• Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive)
• Jenny Slate (Obvious Child)
• Director Gillian Robespierre (Obvious Child)
• Emma Stone (Birdman)

3rd Tier (The Nominees I Haven't Seen Yet, But Whose Past Work I've Loved)

• Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler)
• Jessica Chastain, (A Most Violent Year)
• Cinematographer Bradford Young (Selma)
• Rinko Kikuchi (Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter)
• David Oyelowo (Selma)
• Carmen Ejogo (Selma)
• Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler)

Since I am a slave to my own snark, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how shocked I am to see serious duds Love is Strange and Jimi: All is By My Side anywhere on the nominations list -- particularly Ira Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias's screenplay for Love is Strange (which leaves a lot to be desired) and André Benjamin's performance in Jimi: All is By My Side (a film that is horrendous in every aspect). Also, this list could have really used more Christopher Meloni (White Bird in a Blizzard ), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Belle) and Elisabeth Moss (The One I Love), but instead they are SNUBBED.

Okay, I got that out of my system. Check out the complete rundown of the nominees here, and let me know your thoughts.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards air live on IFC February 21, 2015 at 2pm PST/5pm EST.