Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” kept up its regional precursor dominance tonight winning the Best Picture prize from the Chicago Film Critics Association. The group’s acting winners filled out accordingly with nary a surprise to be found. “Her” picked up two prizes, for original screenplay and original score. Check out the nominees here, the full list of winners below, and as ever, keep track of it all via The Circuit.

Best Picture: “12 Years a Slave”

Best Director: Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Adapted Screenplay: “12 Years a Slave”

Best Original Screenplay: “Her”

Best Art Direction/Production Design: “Gravity”

Best Cinematography: “Gravity”

Best Editing: “Gravity”

Best Original Score: “Her”

Best Animated Film: “The Wind Rises”

Best Foreign Language Film: “The Act of Killing”

Best Documentary: “The Act of Killing”

Breakthrough Performance: Adèle Exarchopoulos, “Blue is the Warmest Color”

Most Promising Filmmaker: Destin Cretton, “Short Term 12”

On the heels of our piece detailing the unfortunate ineligibility of “Please Mr. Kennedy” from “Inside Llewyn Davis,” the Academy has announced 75 original songs in competition for the Best Original Song Oscar at the 86th annual Academy Awards.

A number of films feature multiple eligible entries. There are five from something called “Kamasutra 3D,” four from “Austenland,” and three each from from “Black Nativity,” “For No Good Reason” and “Live at the Foxes Den” and “Turbo.” There are also five songs from “The Great Gatsby” that made the cut, though Warner Bros. has only been spotlighting three of them in FYC ads (“100$ Bill,” “Over the Love” and “Young and Beautiful”).

Tunes we were expecting to make the cut that aren’t on the list include “Desperation” from “20 Feet from Stardom,” “Just a Cloudy Day” from “Despicable Me 2” (likely not submitted to give a boots to “Happy,” much like “Let It Go” was the only submitted tune from “Frozen”) and “Ernest & Celestine’s Song” from the animated “Ernest & Celestine.”

Things are being done a little bit differently in the nominations process this time around, depending on the honor system rather than requiring proof of attendance at Academy screenings of the songs in context with their films. Per the language of the release, all voting members of the Music Branch will receive a Reminder List of works submitted in the category and a DVD copy of the song clips. Members will be asked to watch the clips and then vote in the order of their preference for not more than five achievements in the category. The five achievements receiving the highest number of votes will become the nominations for final voting for the award. A maximum of two songs may be nominated from any one film.

Check out the full list of players on the next page. We’ll populate our Contenders section with them in due time, but for now, which five (or less) do you predict to make the cut?

75 ELIGIBLE 2013 BEST ORIGINAL SONG OSCAR CONTENDERS

“Amen” from “All Is Lost”
“Alone Yet Not Alone” from “Alone Yet Not Alone”
“Doby” from “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues”
“Last Mile Home” from “August: Osage County”
“Austenland” from “Austenland”
“Comic Books” from “Austenland”
“L.O.V.E.D.A.R.C.Y” from “Austenland”
“What Up” from “Austenland”
“He Loves Me Still” from “Black Nativity”
“Hush Child (Get You Through This Silent Night)” from “Black Nativity”
“Test Of Faith” from “Black Nativity”
“Forgiveness” from “Brave Miss World”
“Lullaby Song” from “Cleaver’s Destiny”
“Shine Your Way” from “The Croods”
“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
“Gonna Be Alright” from “Epic”
“Rise Up” from “Epic”
“What Matters Most” from “Escape from Planet Earth”
“Bones” from “For No Good Reason”
“Going Nowhere” from “For No Good Reason”
“Gonzo” from “For No Good Reason”
“The Courage To Believe” from “Free China: The Courage to Believe”
“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
“100$ Bill” from “The Great Gatsby”
“A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got)” from “The Great Gatsby”
“Over The Love” from “The Great Gatsby”
“Together” from “The Great Gatsby”
“Young and Beautiful” from “The Great Gatsby”
“The Moon Song” from “Her”
“I See Fire” from “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
“Bite Of Our Lives” from “How Sweet It Is”
“Try” from”How Sweet It Is”
“Atlas” from “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
“Better You, Better Me” from “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete”
“Bring It On” from “Jewtopia”
“Aygiri Nadani” from “Kamasutra 3D”
“Har Har Mahadeva” from “Kamasutra 3D”
“I Felt” from “Kamasutra 3D”
“Of The Soil” from “Kamasutra 3D”
“Sawariya” from “Kamasutra 3D”
“In The Middle Of The Night” from “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”
“You And I Ain’t Nothin’ No More” from “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”
“Let’s Take A Trip” from “Live at the Foxes Den”
“Pour Me Another Dream” from “Live at the Foxes Den”
“The Time Of My Life” from “Live at the Foxes Den”
“Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
“Monsters University” from “Monsters University”
“When The Darkness Comes” from “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones”
“Sacrifice (I Am Here)” from “Murph: The Protector”
“The Muslims Are Coming” from “The Muslims Are Coming!”
“Oblivion” from “Oblivion”
“Sweeter Than Fiction” from “One Chance”
“Nothing Can Stop Me Now” from “Planes”
“We Both Know” from “Safe Haven”
“Get Used To Me” from “The Sapphires”
“Stay Alive” from “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
“So You Know What It’s Like” from “Short Term 12”
“There’s No Black Or White” from “Somm”
“Cut Me Some Slack” from “Sound City”
“You Can’t Fix This” from “Sound City”
“Let It Go” from “Spark: A Burning Man Story”
“We Ride” from “Spark: A Burning Man Story”
“Becomes The Color” from “Stoker”
“Younger Every Day” from “3 Geezers!”
“Here It Comes” from “Trance”
“Let The Bass Go” from “Turbo”
“The Snail Is Fast” from “Turbo”
“Speedin'” from “Turbo”
“My Lord Sunshine (Sunrise)” from “12 Years a Slave”
“Make It Love” from “Two: The Story of Roman & Nyro”
“One Life” from “The Ultimate Life”
“Unfinished Songs” from “Unfinished Song”
“For The Time Being” from “The Way, Way Back”
“Go Where The Love Is” from “The Way, Way Back”
“Bleed For Love” from “Winnie Mandela”

It’s funny having Tom Hanks back in the awards hunt this year. He’s such a dab hand at the whole campaign spiel, and has been such a quietly familiar presence in the season thus far, that it hardly feels like 13 years since he was last nominated for an Oscar. (Meanwhile, kids born around the time he tearfully accepted his second Oscar for “Forrest Gump” are now legal adults. Where do the years go?)

Hanks isn’t turning into quite the force in the race that advance hype suggested he’d be. Following SAG and Globe nods, he’s looking solid (if not certain) for a nomination for his disciplined leading turn in “Captain Phillips,” while following surprise SAG and Globe omissions, his supporting campaign for his twinkly Walt Disney impersonation in “Saving Mr. Banks” is on shakier ground. He may yet reap the double nod (which would bring his career tally to seven), but either way, he’s unlikely to win much over the next couple of months.

One award he can definitely take home, however, comes courtesy of the Palm Springs Film Festival, which has added him to their already star-studded roster of honorees. Hanks will accept the Chairman’s Award at the festival’s awards gala on January 4 — joining Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey, Julia Roberts, Bruce Dern, Lupita Nyong’o, Steve McQueen, Thomas Newman and the “American Hustle” ensemble on the honor roll at what looks to be a pretty flashy stop on the campaign trail.

Indirectly, it’s the second Palm Springs mention for a “Banks” associate, given that Newman is accepting their Film Composing Award for his work on the Disney production. Criteria for the Chairman’s Award aren’t listed, though it’s clearly reserved for industry royalty: past winners include George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Ben Affleck and Dustin Hoffman.

Palm Springs chairman Harold Metzner accordingly describes Hanks as “one of the greatest actors of his generation,” before waxing lyrical about his two 2013 performances. Hanks’ 2013 feature film achievements, incidentally, also include a producer credit on the JFK-themed drama “Parkland.”

The Palm Springs Film Festival takes place from January 3-13, 2014.

New Year’s Eve is rapidly approaching, and over at Harvey Weinstein’s, people are getting ready to party like it’s 199– well, 1998 actually, with all due to respect to Prince. In what is surely the oddest film news of the day, The Weinstein Company appears to have entered a realm of pure Nineties nostalgia: not only have the Weinstein brothers built new bridges with their former company, Miramax, but they’re using that alliance to develop sequels to Best Picture Oscar winner “Shakespeare in Love” and, er, “Rounders.”

The retro action doesn’t stop there: the alliance will also hatch TV series based on Gus van Sant’s “Good Will Hunting” and David O. Russell’s “Flirting With Disaster.”

What’s going on, exactly? Mike Fleming at Deadline has all the businessy details, but here’s the gist. When the Weinsteins finally bailed on the Disney-owned Miramax to go their own way, they left behind a sizable library of creative property that they had cultivated in their time at the high-end studio. Now, The Weinstein Company has fixed a 20-year deal with Miramax’s current guardians, Colony Capital, that will allow them to develop and domestically distribute a range of properties — including film, TV and stage productions — while Miramax handles financing and international distribution.

First on the docket, apparently, are those aforementioned sequels. The lyrical ending to “Shakespeare in Love” wasn’t exactly crying out for a follow-up, though the film has endured enough that I imagine people may be curious to see another chapter. The “Rounders” sequel has actually been on the cards for a while, though it’s still a bit of a puzzle: the John Dahl-directed, Matt Damon-starring poker thriller was a neat little genre film that has acquired a niche following over the years, but it grossed only $23 million on release Stateside — they may have good creative reasons to return to that well, but “overwhelming demand” is not among them.  

Weinstein explains: “I personally have never made a sequel, but I will make ‘Shakespeare In Love’ as one. I”ve always wanted to do that and now we have the impetus to. There is so much intellectual property, and we”re in an age where, for however long it lasts, content is king.”

No script or casting details are mentioned for the project. Will Gwyneth Paltrow be lured from her Macrobiotic Empress perch to return as an older, wearier muse to the Bard? Will Joseph Fiennes play Will Shakespeare again, once a search party locates him? Or will this be a next-generation deal? We can have fun guessing for the moment.

Weinstein is a little more forthcoming about the “Rounders” project: for starters the film’s original leading men will return. “I”ve discussed making ‘Rounders 2’ with Matt Damon and I would say that”s going to be instantaneous. The guys [writers David Levien and Brian Koppelman] have a great idea, a way to make it more international where you start the card game in Paris, that”s all I want to say. There might be a certain beautiful Parisian actress involved in it, and then we”re off to the racetrack and Vegas with Matty and Edward Norton, and a new supervillain to replace John Malkovich.”

Robert De Niro is reportedly in the frame for that role, while we’re left to speculate on the French actress in question. Cotillard? Seydoux? Either way, it doesn’t sound like great news for poor Gretchen Mol.

Also in the pipeline, reports Fleming, are a Stephen Colbert-scripted comedy, “The Alibi,” about a service designed to assist unfaithful spouses, and “The Ninth Life of Louis Drax,” a script that was in development with the late Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella — both longtime allies of the Weinsteins. (You may recall that they were posthumously Oscar-nominated for producing “The Reader.”) 

More nitty-gritties here, but it’s hard not to focus on the “Shakespeare in Love” news. Are you eager for a sequel, or do you think Harvey should leave well enough alone? And when was the last time you thought about “Rounders?” Share your thoughts in the comments.

http://players.brightcove.net/4838167533001/BkZprOmV_default/index.html?videoId=4911999599001

LOS ANGELES – With nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Broadcast Film Critics Association in the span of a week, not to mention being a stand-out track on the year’s prestige “musical,” produced by recent Academy Award winner T Bone Burnett with pop superstar Justin Timberlake on the mic, you would think “Please Mr. Kennedy” from the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis” was on a collision course with Oscar. But due to stricter AMPAS rules, the tune will not be on the list of songs eligible to compete in the Best Original Song category at this year’s Academy Awards.

That’s no skin off Burnett’s back.

“When we started this film, it wasn’t like we said, ‘Let’s write one to make sure we have something for the Academy,'” the slick-haired icon says outside a Brentwood bakery one afternoon. “It’s not something that comes into your mind. The conversation is so pure, I guess. There are strict rules but that’s good. There should be strict rules. You don’t have to win an award for everything you do.”

The idea for the song started with consideration of Tom Lehrer, “the great American song satirist of the last century,” Burnett recalls. Lehrer produced a song in 1965 called “Wernher von Braun” which was a satire of the eponymous rocket scientist about his cavalier attitude toward the consequences of his work in Nazi Germany. Burnett and the Coens wanted something in the film with that sort of levity and high energy.

“I think Ethan came up with ‘Please Mr. Kennedy Don’t Send Me Off to Vietnam,’ which was funny enough in itself,” Burnett recalls. “That’s an attempt to write a Tom Lehrer song or something. But it was based on a completely insane novelty song called ‘Mr. Custer’ that was part of the Brill Building world. Funny song.”

“Mr. Custer” was a 1960 Larry Verne ditty written by Al DeLory about a soldier’s plea to General George Armstrong Custer in the Battle of Little Big Horn not to send him off into battle. It was parodied one year later by Jim Nesbitt with “Please Mr. Kennedy,” about blue collar America reaching out to the President for a helping hand. Then there was Mickey Woods’ 1962 Motown track, also called “Please Mr. Kennedy” about a Vietnam draftee pleading with the President not to ship him away until his girlfriend marries him (because he’s convinced she’ll run off with another man while he’s away).

All of it fed Burnett and the Coens’ imaginations. So taking an amalgam of the space race commentary of “Wernher von Braun” and the comedic image of reluctant soldiers and frontiersmen, they came up with “Please Mr. Kennedy… Don’t You Shoot Me Into Outer Space.”

“The guy doesn’t want to go,” Burnett says with a laugh. “He’s just got a bad feeling about this! Then I just wrote a couple of pages of lyrics, like Ogden Nash couplets. Most of it ended up in the song.”

Nevertheless, with the refrain of “I don’t want to go” (a throwback to the Verne and Woods tracks), among other pastiche considerations, nixed it from consideration by the Academy. Knowing the originality that did go into the track, however, that might seem unjust in some way. But Burnett is apologetic.

“I really love and respect the Academy’s categories,” he says. “It needs to be protected because it’s a very specific art. You can’t start calling it just anything, any music at all. There are questions about originality and I understand. It’s a much more complex kind of world we’re living in now, so I understand people questioning the categories. But that’s an interesting subject in this age of sampling and post-modernism.”

And indeed, the song came together under the very spirit celebrated by the film. “There was an original song called ‘Mr. Custer,’ which was a big hit,” Burnett reviews. “And then there was a parody of ‘Mr. Custer’ called ‘Please Mr. Kennedy.’ And then there was another parody of ‘Mr. Custer,’ which may have been a parody of ‘Please Mr. Kennedy.’ So this is a take-off on a parody of a satire; it’s well on down the road. But that’s folk. That’s what it is.”

With the song pretty much written, it was time to apply music. And that’s where Timberlake’s contribution became invaluable. The pop star and Burnett went out to Norm’s Rare Guitars in the San Fernando Valley to pick up an instrument suitable for Timberlake’s character in the film. As soon as they purchased it, the singer was eager to write the track.

“As soon as we were in the office he just started writing it,” Burnett recalls. “He had his guitar. There was no reason to wait another second, and he just wrote that groove and that vibe. He’s the one who sent it into this Coasters vibe, because, you know, folk music didn’t swing. It was never sex music. It was always very straight, church music, maybe. Not out of the whorehouse, really. And Justin was able to take that little song to the whorehouse, and that helped!”

All of the hilarious stuff coming out of Adam Driver’s mouth during the recording of the song in the film? That’s all him and Ethan. Ethan in particular kept coming up with funny noises and sounds to spice up the track.

“They were jamming on that stuff,” Burnett says. “Adam’s fearless. That guy, he’s gonna be around for a long time. We were auditioning people – I hadn’t seen ‘Girls’ yet. I hadn’t seen him at all. I knew he was in a play off Broadway. But there were two or three people who sang that part really great, and he came in and he didn’t sing at all, really. I mean he did, but you could tell he had never sung. But he didn’t give a fuck and he just came in and sang anyway. It was like, ‘Oh, him,’ immediately.

“Maybe it’s that thing of being a Marine and just walking into fire or something,” he continues, commenting on Driver’s veteran status. “You know, Artaud said that the actor screams through the flames as he burns at the stake. And that’s him right there.”

With all the elements in place, and “Inside Llewyn Davis” star Oscar Isaac in the fold for the back-up and the “puh puhs,” Burnett and company’s “Please Mr. Kennedy” came into being. You can understand why the pastiche disqualifies it, but it would be nice if there could still be a category where adaptation work like this is recognized.

“Marvin Hamlisch won for Best Adapted Score for ‘The Sting,'” Burnett points out. “And they still have that category. There’s just no field anymore. But what is this? Is this is a song score? I don’t need to define it. And by the way, I’ve gotten plenty of recognition.”

The list of eligible contenders for this year’s Best Original Song race will be released by the Academy later today.

Have a listen to “Please Mr. Kennedy” for yourself in the video clip embedded at the top of this post.

“Inside Llewn Davis” is currently playing in limited release. It expands wider this Friday.

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It has been said, but let’s say it again: 2013 was a landmark year for movies. Across the board, from indie to studio and back, the amount of exemplary artistry on display was jaw-dropping. A subjective thing? Of course. My wonderful year could be your weak one and vice versa. But this was like the kind of surge I haven’t felt since 1999, and for that, narrowing it to a list of the year’s best has been the most difficult of tasks.

Therefore, there are a number of films that didn’t make my top 10 that deserve notice here. Like Felix Van Groeningen’s “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” a hugely moving account of lovers in love and the tragedy that changes their lives, told with delicate photography and structured in a unique and meaningful way. Then there is Paul Greengrass’ “Captain Phillips,” perhaps the filmmaker’s best work to date and a vibrant study of the rift in opportunity between America and the third world.

Destin Cretton has launched into a very promising career, first with “I Am Not a Hipster” and now with the confident and humanist notes of “Short Term 12.” Steve McQueen has brought his mastery of the form from challenging films like “Hunger” and “Shame” to the more accessible and traditional, though no less elegant material of “12 Years a Slave.” And Noah Baumbach has crafted, with star and partner Greta Gerwig, a magnificent vision of a life in transition in the black and white hues of “Frances Ha.”

Those would roughly fall in the 11-15 range this year, but I still have the desire to mention other great works. Like James Wan’s haunted house thrill ride “The Conjuring.” Or Jean-Marc Vallée’s powerful biopic “Dallas Buyers Club.” How could I not mention the easy authenticity of Joe Swanberg’s “Drinking Buddies” and Lake Bell’s “In a World…?” How could I not note that Woody Allen has delivered again with “Blue Jasmine,” and that James Ponsoldt has given us another reason to keep our eye on him with “The Spectacular Now?”

The profoundly conveyed thesis of “Tim’s Vermeer” should be given space here, as should the delicate self-appraisal of “Prince Avalanche,” the nail-biting human drama of “A Hijacking” and the zany portrait of excess that is “The Wolf of Wall Street.” The classic strokes of “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” the spectacle command of “Man of Steel,” the rich texture of “Labor Day,” all worth mentioning. And frankly, though I may take issue with this or that element, I feel a need to speak up for the passion of “Fruitvale Station” and “The Great Gatsby,” the craft mastery of “Her” and the creative burst of “Rush.”

It has been a fantastic 12 months, but in the end, it always boils down. So for those of you who aren’t podcast listeners, read through the gallery story below for one guy’s opinion.

After a colorful list of nominations last week (check them out here if you missed them), the Women Film Critics Circle has deemed “Philomena” the best film of 2013…about women. The film picked up two other awards as well (the only other two for which it was nominated, in fact, making it a sweeper). “Before Midnight” also scored a hat trick.

Emma Thompson received the group’s Lifetime Achievement prize, while Charlize Theron, Laura Poitras and Sandra Bullock were also among those singled out via special commendations. Dominant precursor player “12 Years a Slave” picked up two wins, for Best Actor and Best Male Images in a Movie.

Check out the full list of winners below, with passionate pleas for “Hall of Shame” recipients on the last page. And as always, keep track of all these announcements at your one-stop awards hub, The Circuit.

Best Movie About Women: “Philomena” (Runner-up: “Mother of George”)

Best Movie by a Woman: “Enough Said” (Runner-up: “Inch Allah”)

Best Woman Storyteller (Screenwriting Award): Julie Delpy, “Before Midnight” (Runner-up: Nicole Holofcener, “Enough Said”)

Best Actress: Judi Dench, “Philomena” (Runner-up: Barbara Sukowa, “Hannah Arendt”)

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: Michael B. Jordan, “Fruitvale Station”)

Best Young Actress: Onata Aprile, “What Maisie Knew” (Runner-up: Waad Mohammed, “Wadjda”)

Best Comedic Actress: Melissa McCarthy, “The Heat” (Runner-up: Greta Gerwig, “Frances Ha”)

Best Foreign Film About Women: “Wadjda” (Runner-up: “Inch Allah”)

Best Female Images in a Movie: “Philomena” (Runner-up: “Girls in the Band”)

Worst Female Images in a Movie: “The Bling Ring” (Runner-up: “Machete Kills”)

Best Male Images in a Movie: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: James Gandolfini, “Enough Said”)

Worst Male Images in a Movie: “Only God Forgives” (Runner-up: “Out of the Furnace”)

Best Theatrically Unreleased Movie by or about Women: “Phil Spector” (Runner-up: “Pussy Riot”)

Best Equality of the Sexes: “Before Midnight” (Runner-up: “Enough Said”)

Best Animated Females: “Frozen” (Runner-up: “The Croods”)

Best Family Film: “The Wind Rises” (Runner-up: “Black Nativity”)

Women’s Work (Best Ensemble): “Ginger & Rosa” (Runner-up: [tie] “Winnie Mandela” and “August: Osage County”)

Best Documentary by or about Women: “Stories We Tell” (Runner-up: “Girls in the Band”

Mommie Dearest Worst Screen Mom of the Year Award: Kristin Scott Thomas, “Only God Forgives”

Best Screen Couple: Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, “Before Midnight”

Best Song: “Would You Bleed for Love” from “Winnie Mandela” (Jennifer Hudson)

SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

Lifetime Achievement Award
Emma Thompson
For her eclecticism in switching from period films to fantasy genre, to contemporary settings. And embodying all kinds of women with raw and pure interpretations.

Acting and Activism Award
Charlize Theron
For her work for The Global Fund, and for starting the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project. Which educates young people about HIV/AIDS.

Courage in Filmmaking
Laura Poitras
For bringing the Edward Snowden NSA revelations to light and driven into exile in Germany for doing so. And currently making a documentary about it.

Adrienne Shelly Award: “Augustine” (Runner-up: “Lovelace”)
For a film that most passionately opposes violence against women Augustine.

Josephine Baker Award: “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: “Go for Sisters”)
For best expressing the woman of color experience in America.

Karen Morley Award: “Winnie Mandela” (Runner-up: “Wadjda”)
For best exemplifying a woman’s place in history or society, and a courageous search for identity.

Courage in Acting: Soko, “Augustine”
Taking on unconventional roles that radically redefine the images of women on the screen.

The Invisible Woman Award: Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Performance by a woman whose exceptional impact on the film dramatically, socially or historically, has been ignored.

Just Kidding Award: Best Male Images in a Movie: “Last Vegas”

(Click over to the next page for the lengthy WFCC “Hall of Shame” sidebar.)

WFCC HALL OF SHAME

*Please Note: The WFCC Top Ten Hall Of Shame represents the ‘don”t tell me to shut up” sidebar contribution of individual members, and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the entire Circle. Or may even dissent from an awarded nomination. Also, members may be objecting to particular characters in a film, and not the entire movie.

Clarification: If an aspect of the movie is intentionally negative to make a point, rather than offensive, that is not under consideration for this category.

“The Canyons”
Women depicted as powerless and manipulative. Plus, the acting is horrid.

“Spring Breakers”
No depth, little plot and a pitiful depiction of today”s college kids. Gratuitous in nothing more than flesh and violence. A grossly and dangerously skewed depiction of young women and their values in today”s America.

“Captain Phillips”
The whole might of the USA coming down on 3 starving Somalis?! Repulsive. When the obscenely beefy SEALS arrived and the audience started to cheer, I felt I was watching a ‘macho” director brainwash audience members into blindly accepting the worst stereotypes of jingoistic male behavior.

“Blue is the Warmest Color”
I went in knowing almost nothing except general buzz but I hated the sex scenes which were way too long and midway thru I couldn”t wait to flee the theater. Coming out I read how many takes Kechiche required and I was thoroughly repulsed. Who was this for? Then I read the graphic novel and discovered that critical plot points were deleted. Like the fact that Adele”s parents find her in bed with Emma which is why she has to move out – and I was enraged. A three hour movie, and Kechiche is so busy salivating over his actresses that he can”t bother telling a coherent story. Hype for this film makes me nauseous!

“Blue is the Warmest Color”
It”s so obvious a dude with a fetish directed this, it”s not only unappealing, it”s creepy. His overcompensating hubris isn”t worth the praise this is receiving.

“Bastards, Les Salauds”
All of the women in this film are depicted as complicit in their own oppression and exploitation. Though it”s a patriarchal system that they exist within, they refuse to fight for themselves or each other, even when a minor is involved. The indictment then is not of the men but of the women. I found this problematic and disappointing from Denis.

“Gravity”
The women in this group make meaningful choices each year so they speak for me in these areas, the lone exception being Sandra Bullock”s performance in “Gravity.” She”s a fine actress, but I found the character to be whiny, cowardly, and full of the wrong stuff – a damsel in distress who needed a man (even if it was just her imagination) to pull her out of danger. I can hardly believe they”d send someone so panicky into space. Give me Sigourney Weaver any day.

“Dallas Buyers Club”
Shame on “Dallas Buyers Club” for completely ignoring the LGBT as a group who drove the fight against AIDS to the forefront. The only time gays were mentioned was to let Matthew McConaughey”s homophobic redneck character get a laugh at the expense of Jared Leto”s transsexual character. The film made it seem as if the whole AIDS community stood on the shoulders of Ron Woodruff when in fact, groups like Act Up were starting the war for proper testing and more drugs way before Ron entered into the picture. It completely demeaned the backdrop Dallas Buyers Club was utilizing for their own characterizing “hero” agenda. Also the film took an extreme opinion against the AZT drug in favor for a plot line when in fact it was helping some patients. The only saving grace was Jared Leto”s fantastic performance but unfortunately it wasn”t enough.

Enough Already
Why is it that when actresses and even screen goddesses hit a certain age, they”re all cast as nags and shrews. No matter how accomplished any of these films may be, the tally of older actress shrewish nags on board is really high this year, as usual. Including Oprah Winfrey in “The Butler,” Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County,” Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins in “Blue Jasmine,” June Squibb in “Nebraska,” Kristin Scott Thomas in “Only God Forgives” and Julianne Moore in “Carrie.” Refreshing exceptions being Judi Dench in “Philomena,” Yolonda Ross in “Go For Sisters” and Mary Steenburgen in “Last Vegas.”

The Online Film Critics’ Society had some unique choices among their nominees — with Johnnie To’s “Drug War” up for Best Picture, for example — but consensus favorites ruled when it came to picking the winners. Most notable here is that the predictably dominant haul for “12 Years a Slave” included three of the four acting categories, including a win for Michael Fassbender — who has largely played bridesmaid to Jared Leto so far this season, but recently got on the scoreboard thanks to Kansas City. “Gravity,” however, once more interrupted the streak by taking Best Director for Alfonso Cuarón. This is becoming a bit of a pattern in the critics’ awards; might the Oscars follow suit? Full list of winners after the cut, with all the season’s awards so far at The Circuit.

Best Picture: “12 Years a Slave”

Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”

Best Supporting Actor: Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong”o, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Adapted Screenplay: “12 Years a Slave”

Best Original Screenplay: “Her”

Best Editing: “Gravity”

Best Cinematography: “Gravity”

Best Animated Feature: “The Wind Rises”

Best Film Not in the English Language: “Blue Is the Warmest Color”

Best Documentary: “The Act of Killing”

You didn’t think “12 Years a Slave” was done winning awards today, did you? Another group, the St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association, has singled it out as the year’s best after the film dominated the group’s list of nominations last week. Steve McQueen’s drama picked up seven awards in total. There isn’t much unique intrigue to be found throughout the list of winners, which you can check out for yourself below. Read through the nominees here. And remember to follow the ups and downs of the season at The Circuit.

Best Film: “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: “American Hustle”)

Best Director: Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”)

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”)

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine” (Runner-up: Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”)

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club” (Runner-up: Will Forte, “Nebraska”)

Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: June Squibb, “Nebraska”)

Best Adapted Screenplay: “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: “Philomena”)

Best Original Screenplay: “Her” (Runner-up: “American Hustle”)

Best Art Direction: “The Great Gatsby” (Runner-up: “Her”)

Best Cinematography: “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: “Gravity”)

Best Musical Score: “Her” (Runners-up: “Gravity,” “Nebraska”)

Best Soundtrack: “Inside Llewyn Davis” (Runner-up: “Frozen”)

Best Animated Film: “Frozen” (Runner-up: “The Wind Rises”)

Best Non-English Language Film: “Blue is the Warmest Color” (Runner-up: “Wadjda”)

Best Documentary: “Blackfish” (Runners-up: “The Act of Killing,” “Stories We Tell”)

Best Art House or Festival Film: “Short Term 12” (Runners-up: “Blue is the Warmest Color,” “Frances Ha”)

Best Comedy: (tie) “Enough Said” and “The World’s End”

Best Scene (favorite movie scene or sequence): “12 Years a Slave” – The hanging scene (Runner-up: “Gravity” – The opening tracking shot)

The Indiana Film Journalists Association has hopped onto the runaway “12 Years a Slave” train, ticking the film off for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Musical Score awards today. But they provided a little more intrigue in other acting categories, giving prizes to Adèle Exarchopoulos and Barkhad Abdi, and a runner-up tip of the cap to “American Hustle” star Jeremy Renner (his first mention of the season). Check out the full list of winners below, and keep track of the season’s madness at The Circuit.

Best Film: “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: “Her”)

Other Finalists (alphabetical)
“All is Lost”
“Before Midnight”
“Captain Phillips”
“Frances Ha”
“Mud”
“Prisoners”
“Spring Breakers”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Director: Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: Spike Jonze, “Her”)

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”)

Best Actress: Adèle Exarchopoulos, “Blue is the Warmest Color” (Runner-up: Brie Larson, “Short Term 12”)

Best Supporting Actor: Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips” (Runner-up: Jeremy Renner, “American Hustle”)

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle” (Runner-up: June Squibb, “Nebraska”)

Best Adapted Screenplay: “Before Midnight” (Runner-up: “12 Years a Slave”)

Best Original Screenplay: “Her” (Runner-up: “Rush”)

Best Musical Score: “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: “Rush”)

Best Animated Feature: “Frozen” (Runner-up: “The Wind Rises”)

Best Foreign Language Film: “Blue is the Warmest Color” (Runner-up: “The Grandmaster”)

Best Documentary: “The Act of Killing” (Runner-up: “Stories We Tell”)

Original Vision Award: “Her” (Runner-up: “Gravity”)

The Hoosier Award: Andrew Cohn and Davy Rothbart, “Medora”

Regarding this year’s Hoosier Award, IFJA members issued this statement:

“In chronicling the plight of a hapless high school basketball team from a tiny, economically depressed Indiana town, Cohn and Rothbart managed to tap into the way Hoosiers are transfixed by their hoops obsession, as well as explore the harsh choices Indiana teenagers often face. In many ways, the film stands as stark counterpoint to the seminal ‘Hoop Dreams.” These players aren”t vying for a spot in the NBA, but to win a single game and lay claim to their dignity, both on and off the court. It is a quintessentially Hoosier story told with craftsmanship, unique insight and uncommon grace.”

Do you remember a time way back when — maybe a week or so ago — when people were worried that “12 Years a Slave” wasn’t winning enough critics’ awards? Well, the regional critics sure are rectifying that situation. Steve McQueen’s film has nailed down another Best Picture win, this time from the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics’ Association, also taking Best Supporting Actress and Screenplay. “Gravity” was well-served too, taking Best Director, Cinematography and Score. Naturally, local son Matthew McConaughey wasn’t going to be denied Best Actor. Nothing particularly new in this list, then, though the ranked listing of the top five vote-getters is a bit unusual. Full list after the jump; everything else at The Circuit.

Top 10 Films of the Year
1. “12 Years a Slave”
2. “Gravity”
3. “Nebraska”
4. “American Hustle”
5. “Dallas Buyers Club”
6. “Her”
7. “The Wolf of Wall Street”
8. “Inside Llewyn Davis”
9. “Captain Phillips”
10. “Mud”

Best Director
1. Alfonso Cuaron, “Gravity”
2. Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
3. Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”
4. David O. Russell, “American Hustle”
5. Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Actor
1. Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
2. Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
3. Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”
4. Tom Hanks, “Captain Phillips”
5. Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Actress
1. Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
2. Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
3. Judi Dench, “Philomena”
4. Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”
5. Emma Thompson, “Saving Mr. Banks”

Best Supporting Actor
1. Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”
2. Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”
3. Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”
4. Daniel Bruhl, “Rush”
5. Jonah Hill, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Supporting Actress
1. Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”
2. June Squibb, “Nebraska”
3. Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
4. Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County”
5. Sally Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine”

Best Foreign Language Film
1. “Blue is the Warmest Color”
2. “The Hunt”
3. “The Great Beauty”
4  “The Wind Rises”
5. “The Grandmaster”

Best Documentary
1. “20 Feet From Stardom”
2. “The Act of Killing”
3. “Stories We Tell”
4. “Blackfish”
5. “The Gatekeepers”

Best Animated Film
1. “Frozen”
2. “Despicable Me”

Best Screenplay
1. “12 Years a Slave”
2. “Her”
=  “Nebraska”

Best Cinematography
1. “Gravity”
2. “12 Years a Slave”

Best Musical Score
“Gravity”

Russell Smith Award (for independent film)
“Fruitvale Station”

“12 Years a Slave” has dominated a number of regional critics awards announcements today, bringing its tally of Best Picture prizes into the double digits. So expect a number of posts reflecting that in the next hour or so. The Southeastern Film Critics Association went for the film in a big way, handing it prizes for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay in addition to Best Picture. Jeff Nichols, though, took the group’s Gene Wyatt Award (for best capturing the spirit of the south) for the second time in his career. He previously won for “Shotgun Stories.” Check out the full list of winners below and keep track of it all at The Circuit.

Top 10
1. “12 Years a Slave”
2. “Gravity”
3. “American Hustle”
4. “Her”
5. “Inside Llewyn Davis”
6. “Nebraska”
7. “Dallas Buyers Club”
8. “Philomena”
9. “Captain Phillips”
10. “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”)

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine” (Runner-up: Judi Dench, “Philomena”)

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club” (Runner-up: Michael Fassbender, “12

Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong”o, “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”)

Best Director: Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: Alfonso Cuaròn, “Gravity”)

Best Ensemble: “American Hustle” (Runner-up: “12 Years a Slave”)

Best Adapted Screenplay: “12 Years a Slave” (Runner-up: “Philomena”)

Best Original Screenplay: “American Hustle” (Runner-up: “Her”)

Best Documentary: “The Act of Killing” (Runners-up: “Blackfish,” “Muscle Shoals”)

Best Foreign Language Film: “The Hunt” (Runner-up: “Blue is the Warmest Color”)

Best Animated Film: “Frozen” (Runner-up: “The Wind Rises”)

Best Cinematography: “Gravity” (Runner-up: “12 Years a Slave”)

Gene Wyatt Award: Jeff Nichols, “Mud” (Runner-up: Greg “Freddy” Cammalier, “Muscle Shoals”)

So yes, the headline is that “American Hustle” and “12 Years a Slave” led this morning’s Critics’s Choice Movie Awards nominations (courtesy of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, of which I am a member). But when you stop and analyze the list, it’s worth pointing out that three of “Hustle’s” 13 nominations came in the “comedy” categories that were added along with a few other dubious genre fields by the group last year in order to land more high-profile attendees to the annual awards show. “12 Years” had no such padding from a genre bump, so it’s really the dominant force here and I expect it to carry through to a win next month as it continues to be the critics’ choice region-to-region for the year’s best film.

Speaking of those genre fields, I don’t get it. “Gravity” is one of the biggest vote-getters of the year (10 nominations) and apparently picked up enough votes for Sandra Bullock in the Best Actress in an Action Movie category. I imagine, then, it would have had enough for Best Action Movie, too, yet it only shows up in Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie. One can only assume some massaging is done when the final tally comes in, or that a great many members have no idea how this or that should be considered. (For instance, “Her” is nominated for Best Picture and Best Director but not in the four-nominee sci-fi field.)

Then again, “Star Trek Into Darkness” received nominations for Best Action Movie and Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie. “World War Z” received nominations for Best Actor in an Action Movie and Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie. So who can figure out the logic? I don’t want to dizzy myself looking through all those categories and finding other such curiosities, I just wish the BFCA would nix them altogether. It has turned them into an amalgam of the People’s Choice and the MTV Movie Awards. Though maybe that’s the goal.

The majority of the major categories feature six nominees, making the whole list pretty much an Oscar predictions crib sheet. It makes sense that things shake out this broadly each and every year because the BFCA is one of the larger organizations to vote. That’s also why the group’s choices often mirror the Academy’s; large bodies settle in the realm of consensus. So I think few would argue that this list of 10 Best Picture nominees isn’t the general consensus 10 at the moment. Save for “Dallas Buyers Club” replacing “Fruitvale Station,” it’s a mirror of the AFI list, too. “Philomena” could crack it. Or maybe “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.” Or “August: Osage County.” But little else.

(Interesting that the films looking to get in are all part of this year’s Weinstein Company stable.)

The only nominations that stand out as interesting are Brie Larson’s Best Actress bid for “Short Term 12” and Scarlett Johansson’s Best Supporting Actress mention for “Her.” But this announcement can reflect a critical darling hue sometimes amid even the general consensus boredom, so neither is particularly shocking.

Only one nomination for “Mud” makes me want to flip the table over, but again, broad group = broad choices. At least it’s for Tye Sheridan, in the young actor/actress category.

Worth noting: actors and actresses that have now received nominations from the Screen Actors Guild, Hollywood Foreign Press Association and BFCA include Bruce Dern (“Nebraska”), Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”), Tom Hanks (“Captain Phillips”), Matthew McConaughey (“Dallas Buyers Club”), Cate Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine”), Sandra Bullock (“Gravity”), Judi Dench (“Philomena”), Meryl Streep (“August: Osage County”), Emma Thompson (“Saving Mr. Banks”), Barkhad Abdi (“Captain Phillips”), Daniel Brühl (“Rush”), Michael Fassbender (“12 Years a Slave”), Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”), Jennifer Lawrence (“American Hustle”), Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years a Slave”), Julia Roberts (“August: Osage County”) and June Squibb (“Nebraska”). Are they all safe and sound?

Contenders still looking for an angle on the race after these three major announcements have come and gone include Michael B. Jordan (“Fruitvale Station”), Will Forte (“Nebraska”), Jonah Hill (“The Wolf of Wall Street”), Octavia Spencer (“Fruitvale Station”) and Margo Martindale (“August: Osage County”). Leonardo DiCaprio, Oscar Isaac, Amy Adams and Julie Delpy, meanwhile, are hoping that their comedy notices aren’t all the season has in store.

Also part of the announcement is the revelation of this year’s host: comedian Aisha Tyler.

What else can be said? Check out the full list of BFCA nominees on the next two pages.

The 19th annual Critics’ Choice Movie Awards take place on Jan. 16, 2014. That’s right, the night of the Academy’s nominations announcement. Which of the above nominees will be too embarrassed to leave the house that night?

19th ANNUAL CRITICS’ CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS NOMINATIONS

Best Picture
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“Saving Mr. Banks”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”
Paul Greengrass, “Captain Phillips”
Spike Jonze, “Her”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
David O. Russell, “American Hustle”
Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Actor
Christian Bale, “American Hustle”
Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Tom Hanks, “Captain Phillips”
Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Robert Redford, “All Is Lost”

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Brie Larson, “Short Term 12”
Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”
Emma Thompson, “Saving Mr. Banks”

Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”
Daniel Brühl, “Rush”
Bradley Cooper, “American Hustle”
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”
James Gandolfini, “Enough Said”
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Supporting Actress
Scarlett Johansson, “Her”
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong”o, “12 Years a Slave”
Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”
Oprah Winfrey, “Lee Daniels” The Butler”
   
Best Young Actor/Actress
Asa Butterfield, “Ender”s Game”
Adèle Exarchopoulos, “Blue Is the Warmest Color”
Liam James, “The Way Way Back”
Sophie Nélisse, “The Book Thief”
Tye Sheridan, “Mud”

Best Acting Ensemble
“American Hustle”
“August: Osage County”
“Lee Daniels” The Butler”
“Nebraska”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“August: Osage County”
“Before Midnight”
“Captain Phillips”
“Philomena”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Original Screenplay
“American Hustle”
“Blue Jasmine”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”

Best Art Direction
“Gravity”
“The Great Gatsby”
“Her”
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Cinematography
“Gravity”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“Prisoners”
“12 Years a Slave”

19th ANNUAL CRITICS’ CHOICE MOVIE AWARDS NOMINATIONS (cont’d)

Best Costume Design
“American Hustle”
“The Great Gatsby”
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
“Saving Mr. Banks”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Editing
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Gravity”
“Rush”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Makeup
“American Hustle”
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler”
“Rush”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Score
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Saving Mr. Banks”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Song
“Atlas” from “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
“Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
“Please Mr. Kennedy” from “Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Young and Beautiful” from “The Great Gatsby”

Best Visual Effects
“Gravity”
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
“Iron Man 3”
“Pacific Rim”
“Star Trek into Darkness”

Best Animated Feature
“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Frozen”
“Monsters University”
“The Wind Rises”
 
Best Action Movie
“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
“Iron Man 3”
“Lone Survivor”
“Rush”
“Star Trek into Darkness”
 
Best Actor in an Action Movie
Henry Cavill, “Man of Steel”
Robert Downey Jr., “Iron Man 3”
Brad Pitt, “World War Z”
Mark Wahlberg, “Lone Survivor”
 
Best Actress in an Action Movie
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Jennifer Lawrence, “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
Evangeline Lilly, “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
Gwyneth Paltrow, “Iron Man 3”
 
Best Comedy
“American Hustle”
“Enough Said”
“The Heat”
“This Is the End”
“The Way Way Back”
“The World”s End”
 
Best Actor in a Comedy
Christian Bale, “American Hustle”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
James Gandolfini, “Enough Said”
Simon Pegg, “The World”s End”
Sam Rockwell, “The Way Way Back”
 
Best Actress in a Comedy
Amy Adams, “American Hustle”
Sandra Bullock, “The Heat”
Greta Gerwig, “Frances Ha”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Enough Said”
Melissa McCarthy, “The Heat”
 
Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie
“The Conjuring”
“Gravity”
“Star Trek into Darkness”
“World War Z”
 
Best Foreign Language Film
“Blue Is the Warmest Color”
“The Great Beauty”
“The Hunt”
“The Past”
“Wadjda”
 
Best Documentary Feature
“The Act of Killing”
“Blackfish”
“Stories We Tell”
“Tim”s Vermeer”
“20 Feet from Stardom”

Since James Franco started popping up on critics’ awards lists — most notably with that tied LAFCA win — for his off-the-wall performance in “Spring Breakers,” I’ve noticed a lot of readers dismissing him as a “joke” contender. (Isn’t that the inside-the-box thinking for which we usually chastise voters?) But while A24 has been appropriately playful with their campaign, it’s no joke to them, nor to Franco himself. He talks to Mark Olsen: “Honestly, I don’t know why people say, ‘Really? Is this a real campaign?’ I’m an Academy voter. I’ve been nominated for an Oscar. I’m more proud of this performance than anything that I’ve done … I’ve been working in this industry for 16 years. I know when I’m a part of something that’s cutting edge. I want to go out and say yeah … consider it.”  [LA Times]

Steve Pond notes the expansion of the Academy this year: with 172 new recruits, 6,028 people are now eligible to vote. [The Wrap]

Like Father, Like Son” and “The Lunchbox” — both controversially out of the foreign Oscar race — were the big winners at the Asia Pacific Film Festival. [Screen Daily]

With the spectacular hairdos of “American Hustle” now in line for Oscar recognition, Esther Zuckerman ranks them. Can’t argue with that #1. [The Wire] 

Oscar-winning editor Christopher Rouse talks about ratcheting up the tension — and letting the performances speak to him — in “Captain Phillips.” [Below the Line]

John Goodman on sandwiches, celebrity and his ongoing collaboration (six films and counting) with the Coen Brothers. [Vanity Fair]

“The Wolf of Wall Street” has fallen foul of animal rights activists, who are calling for a boycott. [The Guardian]

Okay, so every awards geek has their favorite acceptance speeches of all time — but what are the greatest award presentations ever? (Wiig and Ferrell FTW, if you ask me.) [The Film Experience]

It’s been a sad weekend in Hollywood: not only did we lose Peter O’Toole and Joan Fontaine, but character actor turned independent filmmaker Tom Laughlin too. [Variety]

Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” was a big favorite with the San Francisco Film Critics Circle this year, picking up four awards from the group including Best Director. But it was “12 Years a Slave” that the group named Best Picture of the year. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Cate Blanchet took top acting honors, while James Franco nabbed his second prize of the critics circuit. “American Hustle” won two awards, for Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Lawrence) and Best Original Screenplay. Check out the nominees here, the full list of winners below and the rest of the season’s craziness at The Circuit.

Best Picture: “12 Years a Slave”

Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”

Best Supporting Actor: James Franco, “Spring Breakers”

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”

Best Adapted Screenplay: “12 Years a Slave”

Best Original Screenplay: “American Hustle”

Best Cinematography: “Gravity”

Best Film Editing: “Gravity”

Best Production Design: “Gravity”

Best Animated Film: “Frozen”

Best Foreign Film: “Blue is the Warmest Color”

Best Documentary: “The Act of Killing”

Marlon Riggs Award: Chris Slatton (Roxie Theater) and Ryan Coogler (“Fruitvale Station”)

Special Citation: “Computer Chess”

 It was a speech of twinkly good grace from the Irish actor, then 70 years old – seasoned enough, in other words, to know that an Oscar is nice and all, but not so important that it can”t be left behind at the pearly gates. But it was also delivered with a kind of good-humored resignation. O”Toole may have been several years off retirement – and there was one more near-brush with victory still in his future — but he seemed to know he”d never win a competitive Oscar. More to the point, he seemed to know there was nothing more to be gained from winning one, if indeed there ever had been. O”Toole”s charm, on screen and off, so often lay in being the guy just outside the inner circle.

His “always the bridesmaid” quip wasn”t an idle one – it was a wry nod to Oscar statisticians and gatekeepers. At that point, O”Toole had gone zero-for-seven in the Best Actor category, sharing the record among actors for most nominations without winning with his near-contemporary Richard Burton.

He”d claim the record for himself four years later, after an eighth unsuccessful Best Actor bid for the dying-of-the-light drama “Venus,” but it felt oddly appropriate that Burton and O”Toole should have jointly held that distinction for 20-plus years – and not only because O”Toole”s second nod and Burton”s third came for the same film, 1964″s thespian showdown “Becket.” Both men were unapologetic industry outsiders: one Welsh, one Irish, both charismatic, imposing, hard-living talents, too self-evidently gifted for the Academy to ignore, yet too spiky for them to unreservedly embrace.

Oddly, O”Toole could so easily have been let off the hook his very first time at bat. Few Best Actor runners-up can count themselves as unlucky as O”Toole in “Lawrence of Arabia,” just as few actors have ever been handed quite such a meaty opportunity for their first starring role. His performance as the prodigious British Army officer T.E. Lawrence in David Lean”s landmark epic was one hell of a near-debut, marrying theater-schooled technical might with incalculable movie-star quality – it may have been a biopic, but the performance also locked down the brilliant misfit screen persona that would see O”Toole through his entire career.

In any other year, O”Toole would probably have won Best Actor, adding another Oscar to the Best Picture winner”s dominant tally of seven. But in any other year, he wouldn”t have been up against Gregory Peck in “To Kill a Mockingbird” – a well-liked, well-established five-time nominee awaiting his first win, and securing it with a performance of differently-scaled detail and dignity as liberal lawyer Atticus Finch in “To Kill a Mockingbird.” It”s hard to take issue with the Academy”s decision on aesthetic grounds, or on theoretical ones: O”Toole was only 30 (had he won, he”d have been the youngest Best Actor victor to date), and voters could be forgiven for thinking his day would come.

It didn”t, of course, though not for lack of opportunity. Two years later came “Becket,” in which O”Toole and Burton – as, respectively, the callow King Henry II and Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket – both delivered the kind of high-toned, elegantly articulated performances for which Academy voters routinely hold UK and Irish actors in such high regard. Either man alone might have been a threat to fellow Brit Rex Harrison”s droll musical turn in “My Fair Lady”; together, each consumed too many of the other”s vote. No matter. There”d be other chances, right?

There would indeed – and other chances playing Henry II, to boot. Four years later, O”Toole was back in the nominees” circle for “The Lion in Winter,” a more weathered (O”Toole was 35, playing 50) but even more magnetic incarnation of the blustery royal, with a formidable Katharine Hepburn as his Eleanor of Aquitaine – it”s a testament to both performances that the film doesn”t feel nearly as much a clash of thespian generations and movements as it actually is.

Hepburn won Best Actress, and O”Toole looked primed for a matching award, particularly given the opposition. Ron Moody, Alan Arkin and Alan Bates were fine but resistible competitors, and while Hollywood workshorse Cliff Robertson stepped up his game as a mentally handicapped victim of science in the “Flowers for Algernon” adaptation “Charly,” surely the Academy wouldn”t feel he need an Os-nope, they did, as Robertson unusually struck gold at his first and only nomination, for a film ignored in every other category.

It”d be O”Toole”s last serious shot at winning an Oscar for nearly forty years, though he continued to rack up the nominations. His standing with the Academy could hardly be questioned: only an actor with an enviable amount of industry respect could be nominated for a film as misbegotten as 1969″s musical remake of “Goodbye, Mr Chips,” in which O”Toole sang and danced and did about as well as could be expected under the circumstances – which is not, given these particular circumstances, the highest praise.

And as O”Toole steered away from the expectations of stardom in the 1970s, cultivating the image of an eccentric rogue, the Academy stayed with him; his next three nominations were the most deliciously improbable of his career. 1972″s loopy, frenzied and now rather dated black comedy “The Ruling Class” was a divisive flop that”d take a while longer to hatch as a cult item, but O”Toole still scored a nod for his furious turn as a paranoid schizophrenic aristocrat with delusions of holiness. (He lost, inevitably, to Marlon Brando in “The Godfather.”) No less excitingly strange was “The Stunt Man,” Richard Rush”s ingenious, criminally underseen comic thriller in which he”s an absolute riot as deranged, self-important auteur Eli Cross; again, his inspired strangeness came up against an unbeatable milestone of a dramatic performance in Robert De Niro”s Jake LaMotta.

The nomination that drew him level with Burton (then one year away from his own demise) was another scrappy comic sparker. As a dissolute former matinee idol preparing for a television comeback in 1982″s “My Favorite Year,” he”s again blithely, cheekily funny – but it”s another performance that reveals his astute knack for defining the evolution of his own stardom through his roles, and vice versa. Rightly or wrongly, he was never going to beat Ben Kingsley for “Gandhi” – nor could Dustin Hoffman, for a more full-bodied comic turn in “Tootsie” – but he plainly wasn”t gold-chasing.

For a long time, it looked as though O”Toole”s Oscar history would end – respectably if prematurely – there, as he moved further into the unchallenging comforts of middle age and paycheck roles in the likes of “Supergirl” and “King Ralph.” It remains something of a puzzle that he never received US awards traction for the one major-league prestige film of this career phase. He”s by no means testing himself as Reginald Johnston, real-life tutor to Qing Dynasty ruler Puyi in Bernardo Bertolucci”s “The Last Emperor,” but it”s the kind of sympathetic role and distinguished reading that would normally bring an automatic supporting nomination for a well-regarded veteran in a Best Picture frontrunner. Only BAFTA bit, however, as the lavish epic collected nine Oscars while bypassing the acting categories entirely. Might he have won had he been nominated, like so many great actors who have triumphed for lesser work? And would Oscar history be better for it? Yes and no, probably in that order.

Instead, O”Toole”s Oscar swansong came in 2006, when he scored a Best Actor bid for his graceful, still-playful turn as a dying actor unrepentantly in love with a twentysomething woman in the Roger Michell-Hanif Kureishi film “Venus.” It”s a modest, awkward little film, with little reason to exist other than as a showcase for O”Toole”s fragile mastery. For a while, however, it seemed it might be enough to net him that elusive competitive Oscar at his eighth attempt – winning an Honorary Oscar, after all, doesn”t entirely erase an IOU for the Academy, as Paul Newman learned to his benefit in the 1980s. But the train was derailed early on by Forest Whitaker, as his colorful, commanding inhabitation of Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland” began taking precursor after precursor, taking a lead that proved unassailable in the Oscar race.

The Academy”s priorities have always flip-flopped between dynamism and sentiment; the latter won out in O”Toole”s first Best Actor race, the former in his last, and in neither case did it seem an egregiously unfair outcome. Peter O”Toole absolutely deserved a Best Actor Oscar, no doubt – timing partly ensured that he didn”t, but so did his pleasing lack of palpable hunger for the thing. His zero-for-eight track record is unlucky, but also rather distinguished: nominations count for much, after all, and O”Toole”s collection of them is testament to his actor range and persistence and wit. Rewarded correctly, a competitive Oscar should reward only a performance, not a career; at least the one golden man he did accept stood for them all.

Also handing out awards today was the Houston Film Critics Society. The group also went with “12 Years a Slave,” bringing the film’s Best Picture tally up to seven, for those keeping score at home. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Sandra Bullock picked up top acting honors, while Jared Leto and Lupita Nyong’o maintained their impressive dominance in the supporting ranks. Check out the nominees here and the full list of winners below. And, again, keep track at The Circuit.

Best Picture: “12 Years a Slave”

Best Director: Alfonso Cuaròn, “Gravity”

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Screenplay: “12 Years a Slave”

Best Animated Film: “Frozen”

Best Cinematography: “Gravity”

Best Documentary: “20 Feet from Stardom”

Best Foreign Language Film: “The Hunt”

Best Original Score: “Gravity”

Best Original Song: “Please Mr. Kennedy” from “Inside Llewyn Davis”

The Kansas City Film Critics Circle has tapped Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” as the year’s best, falling in line with a number of regional critics as of late. The film dominated the group’s choices, also picking up wins for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. The group added a little more intrigue in the Best Actress field, though, by giving “Gravity” star Sandra Bullock her second critics award of the day (following Houston earlier this afternoon). Check out the full list of winners below, and as always, be sure to keep track of the season via The Circuit.

Best Picture: “12 Years a Slave”

Best Director: (tie) Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity” and Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Actress: Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”

Best Supporting Actor: Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Supporting Actor: Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Adapted Screenplay: “12 Years a Slave”

Best Original Screenplay: “Her”

Best Animated Film: (tie) “Despicable Me 2” and “Frozen”

Best Documentary: “The Act of Killing”

Best Foreign Film: “Blue is the Warmest Color”

Vince Koehler Award for Best Sci-Fi/Horror Film: “Her”