Steve McQueen’s slavery drama “12 Years a Slave” led another batch of nominees today with the St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association, but Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska” and Spike Jonze’s “Her” scored large tallies, too. All three were nominated for Best Film along with “American Hustle” and “Gravity.” Check out the full list below.

Best Film
“American Hustle”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”
Spike Jonze, “Her”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”
David O. Russell, “American Hustle”

Best Actor
Christian Bale, “American Hustle”
Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Michael B. Jordan, “Fruitvale Station”
Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Actress
Amy Adams, “American Hustle”
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”
Emma Thompson, “Saving Mr. Banks”

Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”
Harrison Ford, “42”
Will Forte, “Nebraska”
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Supporting Actress
Scarlett Johannson, “Her”
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyongo, “12 Years a Slave”
Lea Seydoux, “Blue Is the Warmest Color”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Before Midnight”
“Captain Phillips”
“Philomena”
“Short Term 12”
“The Spectacular Now”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Original Screenplay
“American Hustle”
“Enough Said”
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“Saving Mr. Banks”

Best Cinematography
“The Grandmaster”
“The Great Gatsby”
“Gravity”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Visual Special Effects
“Gravity”
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
“Iron Man 3”
“Pacific Rim”
“Star Trek Into Darkness”
“Thor: The Dark World”

Best Musical Score
“Gravity”
“Her”
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
“Nebraska”
“Saving Mr. Banks”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Soundtrack
“American Hustle”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Frozen”
“The Great Gatsby”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Muscle Shoals”

Best Art Direction
“The Grandmaster”
“The Great Gatsby”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Documentary
“20 Feet from Stardom
“The Act of Killing”
“Blackfish”
“Muscle Shoals”
“Stories We Tell”

Best Non-English Language Film
“Blue Is the Warmest Color”
“A Hijacking”
“The Hunt”
“No”
“Wadjda”

Best Comedy
“Enough Said”
“The Heat”
“Nebraska”
“The Way Way Back”
“The World”s End”

Best Animated Feature
“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Frozen”
“Monsters University”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Art-House or Festival Film
For artistic excellence in independent, international or smaller-budget films that played at film festivals, film series or had a limited-release run in St. Louis, playing one to three cinemas.

“Ain”t Them Bodies Saints
“Before Midnight”
“Blue Is the Warmest Color”
“Frances Ha”
“In a World…”
“Short Term 12”

Best Scene
A favorite movie scene or sequence

“12 Years a Slave” – The hanging scene.
“Captain Phillips” – The scene near the end of the film where Tom Hanks is being checked out by military medical personnel and he breaks down.
“Gravity” – The opening tracking shot.
“Her” – Off-screen OS sex scene.
“The Place Beyond the Pines” – The opening scene where Ryan Gosling is walking through the carnival.

The Online Film Critics Society has announced 2013 nominees and once again, “12 Years a Slave” is a dominating force on the regional circuit. The film picked up a field-leading eight nominations. The Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis” and Spike Jonze’s “Her” were a few steps behind with six apiece. The line-up includes passion for Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Wind Rises” and Johnnie To’s “Drug War.” Check out the full list below.

Best Picture
“American Hustle”
“Before Midnight”
“Blue Is the Warmest Color”
“Drug War”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Short Term 12”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Director
Joel Coen, “Ethan Coen, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”
Spike Jonze, “Her”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Hayao Miyazaki, “The Wind Rises”

Best Actor
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Tom Hanks, “Captain Phillips”
Oscar Isaac, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Mads Mikkelsen, “The Hunt”
Joaquin Phoenix, “Her”

Best Actress
Amy Adams, “American Hustle”
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
Julie Delpy, “Before Midnight”
Adèle Exarchopoulos, “Blue Is the Warmest Color”
Brie Larson, “Short Term 12”

Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Matthew McConaughey, “Mud”
Sam Rockwell, “The Way, “Way Back”

Best Supporting Actress
Sally Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine”
Scarlett Johansson, “Her”
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong”o, “12 Years a Slave”
Léa Seydoux, “Blue Is the Warmest Color”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Before Midnight”
“In the House”
“Short Term 12”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wind Rises”

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

Best Editing
“Drug War”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Cinematography
“The Grandmaster”
“Gravity”
“The Great Beauty”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Animated Feature
“Despicable Me 2”
“From Up on Poppy Hill”
“Frozen”
“Monsters University”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Film Not in the English Language
“Blue Is the Warmest Color”
“Drug War”
“Museum Hours”
“Wadjda”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Documentary
“The Act of Killing”
“At Berkeley”
“Blackfish”
“56 Up”
“Stories We Tell”

The Women Film Critics Circle has spoken up and, as ever, offered some interesting color in a precursor circuit that seems to be all about a few particular names. This is certainly an opinionated and thorough list of contenders. “Augustine,” “Enough Said” and “Winnie Mandela” led the way with mentions, though “Mother of George,” “Philomena” and “Hannah Arendt” were favorites as well. Check out the full list of nominations below. Winners will be announced on Dec. 16. And remember, keep track at The Circuit.

Best Movie About Women
“Mother of George”
“Philomena”
“The Sapphires”
“Winnie Mandela”

Best Movie by a Woman
“Enough Said” (Nicole Holofcener)
“Girls in the Band” (Judy Chaikin)
“Hannah Arendt” (Margarethe von Trotta)
“Inch Allah” (Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette)

Best Woman Storyteller (Screenwriting Award)
Julie Delpy, “Before Midnight”
Nichol Holofcener, “Enough Said”
Darci Picoult, “Mother of George
Alice Winocour, “Augustine”

Best Actress
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Danai Gurira, “Mother of George”
Jennifer Hudson, “Winnie Mandela”
Barbara Sukowa, “Hannah Arendt”

Best Actor
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
James Gandolfini, “Enough Said”
Michael B. Jordan, “Fruitvale Station”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “Don Jon”

Best Young Actress
Dianna Agron, “The Family”
Onata Aprile, “What Maisie Knew”
Elle Fanning, “Ginger & Rosa”
Waad Mohammed, “Wadjda”

Best Comedic Actress
Lake Bell, “In a World…”
Greta Gerwig, “Frances Ha”
Scarlett Johansson, “Don Jon”
Melissa McCarthy, “The Heat”

Best Foreign Film About Women
“Augustine”
“Hannah Arendt”
“Inch Allah”
“Wadjda”

Best Female Images in a Movie
“Girls in the Band”
“Just Like a Woman”
“Philomena”
“Sunlight Jr.”

Worst Female Images in a Movie
“The Bling Ring”
“Machete Kills”
Sharon Stone, “Lovelace”
Oprah Winfrey, “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”

Best Male Images in a Movie
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “Don Jon”
James Gandolfini, “Enough Said”
Idris Elba, “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”

Worst Male Images in a Movie
“The Fifth Estate”
“Oldboy”
“Only God Forgives”
“Out of the Furnace”

Best Theatrically Unreleased Movie By or About Women
“Fabulous Fasionistas”
“Phil Spector”
“Pussy Riot”
“Raltat”

Best Equality of the Sexes
“Before Midnight”
“Enough Said”
“The Hot Flashes”
“Wadjda”

Women’s Work (Best Ensemble)
“Ginger & Rosa”
“The Hot Flashes”
“Just Like a Woman”
“The Sapphires”
“Winnie Mandela”

SPECIAL MENTION AWARDS

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
(For a film that most passionately opposes violence against women.)
“Augustine”
“Lovelace”
“Wadjda”

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

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

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

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

Best Documentary By or About Women
“Free Angela Davis and All Political Prisoners”
“Girls in the Band”
“Stories We Tell”
“Sweet Dreams”

Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity” Spike Jonze

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 Acting Ensemble: “12 Years a Slave”

Best Youth Performance: Tye Sheridan, “Mud”

Best Adapted Screenplay: John Ridley, “12 Years a Slave”

Best Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze, “Her”

Best Foreign Language Film: “The Broken Circle Breakdown”

Best Animated Feature: “Frozen”

Best Documentary: “Blackfish”

Best Art Direction: Catherine Martin, “The Great Gatsby”

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, “Gravity”

Best Editing: Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger, “Gravity”

Best Original Score: Hans Zimmer, “12 Years a Slave”

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, D.C.: “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” 

The British Independent Film Awards — effectively the UK industry’s answer to the Spirits — are an unpredictable institution. Some years they reward very much the films they’re expected to reward (“The King’s Speech” and “Slumdog Millionaire” both took a clutch of awards here), and some years they live up to the “independent” part of their name and go wildly off-script. (A memorable example: nominated for “The Queen,” Helen Mirren lost to Kate Dickie in “Red Road.”) It all depends on the whims of the jury, and this year’s group was clearly feeling rebellious.

Among the films nominated for Best British Independent Film was Stephen Frears’ “Philomena,” a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and one sure to figure into the BAFTA, Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. The apparent frontrunner, however, was Clio Barnard’s critically beloved contemporary fable “The Selfish Giant,” while the most-nominated contender was David Mackenzie’s brutal prison drama “Starred Up.”

In a major upset, all three lost to “Metro Manila,” a Philippines-set heist thriller from director Sean Ellis that received little critical or commercial attention when it opened here back in September. For my part, I only caught up with it last week, and was rather impressed: it’s engrossing, geographically evocative stuff, blending social realism with taut genre filmmaking, and a worthy UK submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. Ellis, an Oscar nominee for his short film “Cashback” a few years ago, also took the Best Director prize.

“The Selfish Giant” and “Starred Up” had to be content with a single award each, as the former took the Technical Achievement Prize for its meticulous casting, while the latter scooped Best Supporting Actor for Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn’s reliable terrific performance as a hardened inmate coping with his son’s incarceration.

“Philomena,” meanwhile, left empty-handed, as even Judi Dench lost Best Actress to fellow veteran Lindsay Duncan for “Le Week-end.” It’ll have plenty of other chances in the next few months. In the Best International Film category, “Blue is the Warmest Color” notched up yet another win, beating two US nominees: “Blue Jasmine” and “Frances Ha.”

Most deserving of all, in my opinion, is their pick for Best Actor: James McAvoy’s sensational, type-subverting performance as a crooked, coke-addled Edinburgh cop in the wild-and-woolly Irvine Welsh adaptation “Filth.” It’s ferocious, possibly career-topping work from a star who seemed to be trailing off a bit in recent years; I reviewed it for Variety here. US audiences will see it next year, thanks to super-cool new distributor A24.

Full list of winners below:

Best British Independent Film: “Metro Manila”

Best Director: Sean Ellis, “Metro Manila”

Best Actor: James McAvoy, “Filth”

Best Actress: Lindsay Duncan, “Le Week-end”

Best Supporting Actor: Ben Mendelsohn, “Starred Up”

Best Supporting Actress: Imogen Poots, “The Look of Love”

Best Screenplay: Steven Knight, “Locke”

Best International Independent Film: “Blue is the Warmest Color”

Best Technical Achievement: Amy Hubbard (casting), “The Selfish Giant”

Best Documentary: “Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer”

Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director: Paul Wright, “For Those in Peril”

Most Promising Newcomer: Chloe Pirrie, “Shell”

Best Achievement in Production: “Metro Manila”

Best British Short: “Z1”

Raindance Award: “The Machine” 

–>

What a week. We knew that the end of year honors from the nation’s preeminent critics groups would send a ripple through the best picture race. We didn’t know it would send a shockwave.

Based on critical response since it debuted at Telluride and Toronto, it was expected that Fox Searchlight’s “12 Years a Slave” would win at least one and possibly all three of this week’s best picture honors. Instead, despite some internal debate within the New York Film Critics Circle, Steve McQueen’s Oscar player went home empty-handed — at least in regards to a best film honor. Yes, it’s already earned some wins from less significant groups (Boston Online Critics) and will no doubt earn a bunch more. However, along with its “upset” loss at the Gotham Awards to “Inside Llewyn Davis” last Monday, this isn’t the December the studio was hoping for…so far.

“12 Years” should get a shot in the arm once the SAG Awards and Golden Globe nominations are announced later this week. Steve McQueen’s drama is a lock for Best Ensemble, Best Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor), Best Supporting Actress (Lupita Nyong’o) and Best Supporting Actor (Michael Fassbender) from SAG and it could tally an impressive seven Globe nods. Even if that scenario does come to pass, Searchlight may need to begin pushing the pedal on this one. The mini-major has been incredibly classy so far by not going overboard with both their awards and consumer marketing campaign. That has worked as “12 Years” has earned over $35 million. For the film to seriously contend for Best Picture in this crowded race, however, members may need to feel the heat before final guild awards voting begins. “12 Years” can still win the Oscar, but having the New York or Los Angeles critics, let alone NBR, anoint you as the “chosen one?” No one is gonna turn that down.

Across town, Warner Bros. is having a great week. Spike Jonze’s “Her” has surprised not only taking the NBR best picture award, but tying studio stablemate “Gravity” with LAFCA. Whether “Her” can actually win Best Picture remains to be seen, but this early recognition may help solidify a nomination. WB’s real main contender, “Gravity,” will likely win a few other minor critics’ groups best movie of the year awards, but LAFCA is a solid win. There are numerous Oscar winners that haven’t won a major critics honor (“Argo,” “The King’s Speech,” “Slumdog Millionaire”), but recently just as many have. For “Gravity” to avoid the stigma that it’s just another CG blockbuster (the benefit and detriment of huge box office) it needs the slight push of a critical stamp to allow some members to feel they can justify voting for it (again, “some” members, not all). How Warner Bros. shapes the campaign from this point on will be incredibly intriguing to watch.

Of course, we can’t forget David O. Russell’s “American Hustle.” The late ’70s period drama shocked almost everyone by taking home the New York critics’ top prize along with Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (Jennifer Lawrence). In the days following, “Hustle” was completely shut out by both NBR and LAFCA. Like “12 Years,” however, the entertaining “Hustle” should rack up a bunch of SAG and Golden Globe nominations. And that’s enough heat for this pundit to finally add it to the contender top 10. Do we feel 100% secure about “Hustle’s” chances? No, but if it’s a hit, Sony Pictures likely has another Best Picture nominee on its hands (assuming “Phillips” doesn’t fall out of the race, of course).

With that in mind, here’s the current state of the countdown.

Dec. 8, 2013

1. “Gravity”
Needed at least one of the top three end of year critics groups’ honors. Done.

2.  “12 Years a Slave”
Looking to regain some lost momentum with SAG Ensemble nod and Golden Globes haul.

3. “American Hustle”
Only one of the last nine films honored by NYFCC as best of the year hasn’t been nominated for Best Picture (“United 93”). Numerous SAG and GG nominations will solidify this contender. Can’t fail at the box office thought.

4. “Saving Mr. Banks”
UK box office was shockingly disappointing, but it’s still looking to be a great word of mouth holiday release in the U.S.

5. “Captain Phillips”
Needs some top 10 end of year critics support. Not kidding guys.

6. “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”
The one The Weinstein Company isn’t worried about it.

7. “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Best Feature win at the Gotham Awards and rave opening day reviews doesn’t hurt.

8. “Nebraska”
Critics favorite is an old person, er,  Academy favorite.

9.  “Her”
Last film to win the National Board of Review’s best film honor and not get nominated for Best Picture? “Quills” over 12 years ago.

10. “Wolf of Wall Street”
Don’t take the lack of year-end honors so far at face value. Many members have not had a chance to see it.

Currently on the outside looking in: “Dallas Buyers Club,” “Philomena,” “Blue Jasmine”

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has as of late extended its role call of “Virtuosos” Award winners, an annual tip of the hat to a given year’s stand-out performers not honored elsewhere in its tribute program. And this year’s line-up is as exemplary as ever.

Daniel Brühl (“Rush”), Adèle Exarchopoulos (“Blue is the Warmest Color”), Oscar Isaac (“Inside Llewyn Davis”), Michael B. Jordan (“Fruitvale Station”), Brie Larson (“Short Term 12”), Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”) and June Squibb (“Nebraska”) are the lucky recipients this time around. It might just be the most impressive group yet.

“2013 has been a banner year for movies, and these groups of actors are a vital representation of what made those films so triumphant,” festival director Roger Durling said.

Previous winners have include a who’s who of acting talent: Ann Dowd, Elle Fanning, Ezra Miller, Eddie Redmayne, Omar Sy, Quvenzhane Wallis, Demian Bichir, Rooney Mara, Melissa McCarthy, Shailene Woodley, Andy Serkis, Patton Oswalt, Andrew Garfield, John Hawkes, Lesley Manville, Hailee Steinfeld, Jacki Weaver, Emily Blunt, Carey Mulligan, Saoirse Ronan, Gabourey Sidibe, Michael Stuhlbarg, Casey Affleck, Marion Cotillard, Viola Davis, Rosemarie DeWitt, Sally Hawkins, Richard Jenkins, Melissa Leo, James McAvoy, Ellen Page, Amy Ryan and Michael Shannon. It’s always a great way to round-out representation of the year’s best work.

The 2014 Virtuosos Award Tribute will be moderated by Fandango”s Dave Karger and will take place at the Arlington Theatre on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014.

The 29th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival runs Jan. 30 – Feb. 9, 2014.

The New York Film Critics Online also jumped into the fun on a very busy day for the precursor circuit by handing “12 Years a Slave” its Best Picture award. “Gravity” helmer Alfonso Cuarón took Best Director while acting honors went to Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cate Blanchett, Jared Leto and Lupita Nyong’o: the consensus quartet at this stage, I think it’s safe to say. Check out the full list of winners below.

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: Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

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

Best Screenplay: “Her”

Best Cinematography: “Gravity”

Best Use of Music: “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Best Ensemble Cast: “American Hustle”

Best Animated Feature: “The Wind Rises”

Best Documentary: “The Act of Killing”

Best Foreign Language Film: “Blue is the Warmest Color”

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

Best Debut Director: Ryan Coogler, “Fruitvale Station”

Top 11 Pictures
“12 Years a Slave”
“Before Midnight”
“Blue is the Warmest Color”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“Philomena”
“Prisoners”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

The Houston Film Critics Society has announced its list of nominees for 2013, and “12 Years a Slave” leads the way with eight nominations. The slate is full of the usual, though there were unique notices for “The Hunt” (Best Actor) and “Man of Steel” (Best Original Score). Check out the full list of nominees below, and remember to keep track of the season at The Circuit.

Best Picture
“All is Lost”
“American Hustle”
“Before Midnight”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Fruitvale Station”
“Gravity”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“Saving Mr. Banks”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Director
Joel and Ethan Coen, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”
Paul Greengrass, “Captain Phillips”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”

Best Actor
Christian Bale, “American Hustle”
Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Mads Mikkelsen, “The Hunt”
Robert Redford, “All is Lost”

Best Actress
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”
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years A Slave”
James Gandolfini, “Enough Said”
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Matthew McConaughey, “Mud”

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong”o, “12 Years A Slave”
Octavia Spencer, “Fruitvale Station”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”
Oprah Winfrey, “Lee Daniels” The Butler”

Best Screenplay
“American Hustle”
“Before Midnight”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“12 Years A Slave”

Best Animated Film
“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Frozen”
“Monsters University”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Cinematography
“All Is Lost
“Gravity”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Prisoners”
“12 Years A Slave”

Best Documentary
“The Act of Killing”
“Blackfish”
“Inequality for All”
“Stories We Tell”
“20 Feet from Stardom”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Blue is the Warmest Color”
“The Grandmaster”
“The Hunt”
“Wadjda”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Original Score
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Man of Steel”
“Saving Mr. Banks”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Original Song
“I See Fire” from “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
“The Moon Song” from “Her”
“Please Mr. Kennedy” from Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Young and Beautiful” from “The Great Gatsby”

Well, the esteemed men and women of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association were certainly in an indecisive mood today: in the course of today’s voting, which took over four hours to complete, no fewer than three categories ended in ties. Chief among them, of course, was Best Picture, where Alfonso Cuaron’s space epic “Gravity” was named alongside Spike Jonze’s more intimate technological drama “Her.” Both were clear favorites throughout: “Gravity” took three other awards, for Best Director, Cinematography and Editing, while “Her” won the day’s first award (for Production Design) and was a close ruinner-up for Director, Screenplay and Music.

In the acting categories, Best Actress ended in a tie for the second year running, as Adele Exarchopoulos and Oscar frontrunner Cate Blanchett shared the prize; Best Supporting Actor, meanwhile, went to both Jared Leto and zany wild-card choice James Franco for “Spring Breakers.” Bruce Dern and Lupita Nyong’o (scoring the only win here for “12 Years a Slave”) were also selected; check out my running commentary below.

Best Production Design: K.K. Barrett, “Her”

Runner-up: Jess Gonchor, “Inside Llewyn Davis”

I had a feeling “Her” would find favor in this category with this crowd, and not just because it’s a unique vision of Los Angeles. I’ve long loved Barrett’s work as a designer, and this is a real triumph of sleek, color-rich, quirk-infused minimalism — the kind of futurism I can actually imagine us all living in not too far from now. Will it register with the Academy? They prefer their sci-fi with more bells and whistles; many might regard this as contemporary work, and we know how rarely that registers with them. A deserved runner-up citation, too, for Jess Gonchor’s evocatively weathered early-1960s New York, in which the paint practically flakes off the screen. This one seems an easier Academy play to me. Anyway, good start, LAFCA.  

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

And so the “12 Years a Slave” newcomer — who, in my opinion, is still the one to beat for the Oscar — takes her first big win of the season. (With due respect to the Boston online film critics, who picked her as part of their “Slave” sweep.) Nyong’o also lost the NYFCC vote by a single point to Jennifer Lawrence last week, so it’s all going pretty well for her. Virtually simultaneously with this announcement, Squibb won the Boston Society of Film Critics Award, so she’s as much a force to be reckoned with as her potty-mouthed character. LAFCA insider Glenn Whipp reports that Sally Hawkins was also in the mix for “Blue Jasmine,” by the way.

Best Film Editing: Alfonso Cuaron and Mark Sanger, “Gravity”
Runner-up: Shane Carruth and David Lowery, “Upstream Color”

I like that LAFCA is more comprehensive than most other major critics ‘groups when it comes to technical categories. I also like that they give runner-up citations, since they couldn’t ask for a more chalk-and-cheese split in this category. “Gravity” is obviously a beast in the editing department, and probably already has the Oscar wrapped up for director Alfonso Cuaron (who would join James Cameron in the ranks of filmmakers to win for editing their own work) and Mark Sanger. At the opposite end of the scale, “Upstream Color” is an intricate, minutely detailed rhythmic feat, and I’m pleased to see the critics standing up for it. You know the Academy won’t, after all.

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, “Gravity”
Runner-up: Bruno Delbonnel, “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Glenn Whipp reports that this was a close race, with “Nebraska” also in the frame. Apparently, this one was fiercely debated within the group, as one faction was uncomfortable with rewarding Lubezki for cinematography that is so seamlessly integrated with the film’s visual effects — a conversation I’ve found myself having recently with other colleagues who are uncertain as to where the line should be drawn. For my part, I think we simply have to accept that different films achieve their images by very different means these days, and you can hardly deny the expertise of Lubezki’s achievement here. (There was apparently also talk of rewarding him jointly for “Gravity” and his exquisite traditional work on “To the Wonder,” but I guess it didn’t take.) Meanwhile, NYFCC winner Delbonnel clocks another mention.

Best Supporting Actor: (tie) James Franco, “Spring Breakers”; Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Well, we can always count on the LA critics to throw us a curveball or two, and this was apparently an unbreakable tie. (As it would be — “Spring Breakers” fans are hardcore.) Leto (who won the NYFCC award last week) seems to have dominated the voting early on, before the Franco contingent got all up in everyone’s gold-toothed grill. I’m not fully a convert, but this win tickles me: Franco’s Alien is a genuine, gonzo star turn that has inspired a fierce following, and will be talked about for years to come — if critics’ groups can’t be counted on the lend a hand to the odd (in this case very odd) dark horse, then what’s the point? (Even the Spirit voters passed on Franco, so this may be one of his few moments of glory this season.)

Best Animated Feature: “Ernest and Celestine”
Runner-up: “The Wind Rises”

Well, this is delightful. General consensus has it that 2013 has not been a banner year for studio animation, and now LAFCA — which, lest we forget, once gave their Best PIcture award to Pixar movie — has underlined that notion by going all in for the arthouse efforts. And while early wins from the NYFCC and the NBR made it seem that Miyazaki’s beautifully visualized swansong would be the default highbrow option, LAFCA has given a big boost to “Ernest and Celestine,” the whimsical, heart-melting French effort that I’ve been championing since Cannes last year. It also did well in the Annie Awards — alongside “Frozen,” it was the only film to take nominations for Best Feature, Directing and Writing — and has secured a Sundance premiere for its English-language dub. Don’t underestimate it. 

Best Music: T Bone Burnett, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Runner-up: Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett, “Her”

This is the advantage of having an award for “Best Music” rather than “Best Original Score” — you can interpret it as you will, thereby making room for Burnett’s marvellous “Inside Llewyn Davis” soundtrack, which may not be made up of original compositions, but could hardly be more individual or essential to the film. (Needless to say, he won’t be eligible for any Oscar attention. The Academy used give awards for adapted and song scores, and I personally think it’d be worth reintroducing something along those lines.) Meanwhile, not surprising to see the delicate cool of Arcade Fire’s work on “Her” grab a mention from this rather hip voting group.

Douglas E. Edwards Independent/Experimental Film/Video Award: Charlotte Pryce, “Cabinet of Wonders”

Well, that sure is one elegantly named category, LAFCA. I can’t profess any insight here, but it’s another example of how this group doesn’t view their awards as a mere Oscar crib sheet, and three cheers for that.

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

“The Act of Killing” may be one of the year’s most celebrated films — it was voted the best film of 2013 in Sight & Sound’s annual critics’ poll — but Sarah Polley’s profoundly personal family memoir is edging ahead of it in the critics’ award count. It took the NYFCC and NBR wins last week, and now adds another big one. “Killing,” meanwhile, just won the Boston vote, and took the European Film Award last night. Both will obviously have very full mantelpieces by the time the Oscars come around — but will the Academy embrace these formally unorthodox films as warmly as the critics are? I hope so, but I wouldn’t bet the house on it.

Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, “Gravity”
Runner-up: Spike Jonze, “Her” 

A second win for Cuaron, and a third for “Gravity,” which is having a strong showing here than with any other critics’ group so far. That’s not too surprising — LAFCA has previously gone to bat for critically beloved, technologically cutting-edge blockbusters, including Best Picture winners “E.T.” and “WALL-E.” Could “Gravity” take the big one? This bodes well. And with Jonze as runner-up, the group again pleasingly balances achievements both vast and intimate in a single category. Glenn Whipp tweets that Steve McQueen came in third, while votes were reportedly pretty widely spread — apparently, there was even a sizable body of Paolo Sorrentino support.

Best Actor: Bruce Dern, “Nebraska”
Runner-up: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”

Well, LAFCA’s longstanding affection for Alexander Payne had to show up at some point, and here it is. Whipp reports that this was a category “unprecedented” in its closeness, with Dern, Ejiofor, Robert Redford and Matthew McConaughey hard to separate, but the veteran edged it. And with this and that NBR win earlier in the week, Dern looks an increasingly solid Oscar nominee. He clearly wants it, too: first (and last) nominated 35 years ago, he has been hitting the publicity trail harder than just about anyone else in the race this year.

Best Screenplay: Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater, “Before Midnight”
Runner-up: Spike Jonze, “Her”

Well, this choice should go down very well. I had a feeling “Before Midnight” would not be left empty-handed by this group — I expect Julie Delpy to figure into the Best Actress vote shortly — but this is a sweet and appropriate reward for this close, storied collaboration. I fully expect it to secure the trilogy’s second Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, if nothing else. Meanwhile, poor Jonze, pipped earlier by Cuaron for Best Director, is the bridesmaid once more — but it’s clear there’s a lot of love for “Her” out there. 

Best Actress: (tie) Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”; Adele Exarchopoulos, “Blue is the Warmest Color”

The second tie of the day: clearly there are some fiercely unmovable camps in this year’s LAFCA voting. It’s actually the second year in a row that they haven’t been able to make up their minds in this category, and have split the difference between the putative Oscar frontrunner (Cate Blanchett this year, Jennifer Lawrence last year) and the French outsider from the Palme d’Or champ (Adele Exarchopoulos this year, Emmanuelle Riva last year). Blanchett would obviously be sitting pretty with or without this win, but this is a big boost for Exarchopoulos, who has a lot of hurdles standing between her and an Oscar nod: subtitles, her age and profile, and her film’s youthful focus and sexuality-based narrative. I thought this might be the group to stand up for her, given their recent international outlook in this category: in six of the last seven years, a foreign-language performance has taken the prize.

Best Picture: (tie) “Gravity” and “Her”

Well, looks like the LAFCA crowd were just in a generally indecisive mood today. This seemed to be going “Gravity”‘s way after those three wins earlier — but the support for “Her” was strongly evident in Jonze’s reportedly close runner-up finishes for Best Director and Best Screenplay. And that’s fine by me: both are remarkable films, entirely different in scope and scale, so a tie seems fair. Meanwhile, this gives “Gravity” its first Best Picture win of the season, sealing its locked-in Oscar nomination, while “Her” consolidates that surprise NBR win this week to emerge as far more than a fringe contender. 

Best Foreign Language Film: “Blue is the Warmest Color”
Runner-up: “The Great Beauty”

Whoops, I forgot this was coming — I guess they now save this category for last in case a foreign-language film wins Best Picture and renders this category redundant. Anyway, hardly a surprising outcome, both because of the Best Actress result and, well, because Abdellatif Kechiche’s film has won almost every one of these awards going so far. I still wonder what’ll happen if the French submit it for the Oscar next year. (Provided, of course, that it receives no general nods this year. Oh, the confusion.) Meanwhile, “The Great Beauty,” which trumped “Blue” at the European Film Awards last night, settles for second place.

New Generation Award: Megan Ellison

Well, who’s going to argue with that? As a producer of “Her,” Ellison has already scored with this group, but this has been an awesome year for her and Annapurna Pictures, with her name also on “American Hustle,” “The Grandmaster” and even “Spring Breakers.” The sky’s the limit for her.

Well, one thing we’ve learned this weekend is that Beantown critics think very highly of “12 Years a Slave.” Steve McQueen’s film practically swept the Boston online critics’ awards yesterday, taking seven awards in all. And it was similarly triumphant in today’s voting by the Boston Film Critics’ Society — the more established and arguably more prestigious of the city’s two groups — where it took Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Cate Blanchett added another Best Actress win to her growing tally, while June Squibb fended off the “Slave” supporters to take Best Supporting Actress (while her film took Best Ensemble). “Wadjda” is a fresh pick for Best Foreign Language Film.

The real story of these awards, however, is “Enough Said” — the late James Gandolfini is a pleasantly surprising Best Supporting Actor pick, while writer-director Nicole Holofcener sprung another upset to take Best Screenplay. This gentle character comedy is well-liked, and Fox Searchlight is campaigning it smartly. Could this take off? I’ve had Gandolfini and Holofcener in my predictions for some time now.

Full list of winners below:

Best Picture: “12 Years a Slave”
Runner-up: “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Director: Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Runner-up: Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Runner-up: Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

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

Best Supporting Actor: James Gandolfini, “Enough Said”
Runners-up: Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”; Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

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

Best Screenplay: Nicole Holofcener, “Enough Said”
Runner-up: Terrence Winter, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Foreign Language Film: “Wadjda”
Runner-up: “Blue is the Warmest Color”

Best Documentary: “The Act of Killing”
Runner-up: “Blackfish”

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

Best New Filmmaker: Ryan Coogler, “Fruitvale Station”
Runner-up: Joshua Oppenheimer, “The Act of Killing”

Best Ensemble: “Nebraska”

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, “Gravity”
Runner-up: Philippe Le Sourd, “The Grandmaster”

Best Film Editing: Dan Hanley and Mike Hill, “Rush”
Runner-up: Thelma Schoonmaker, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Use of Music: T-Bone Burnett, “Inside Llewyn Davis”
Runner-up: Mark Orton, “Nebraska”

NEW YORK – The big screen revival of Andrew Dominik's 2007 western “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” economically dubbed the “Jesse James Revival” by a passionate young man named Jamieson McGonigle who set the whole thing in motion, kicked off in earnest Saturday night with a presentation of the opus to a sold out crowd at the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens.

If you've been following our coverage in the run-up to the event then you're aware of the mission statement: bringing a masterpiece that deserves to be seen on the big screen back around after it wasn't given half a chance to reach an audience in its original theatrical run. After New York, the next stop will be at The Loft in Tuscon, Ariz. on Dec. 17 (a screening made possible by the passionate support of Oscar-winning screenwriter Diana Ossana), but McGonigle made a big announcement from the stage while introducing the screening: the Revival will head even farther west as the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles has set a Feb. 15, 2014 screening of the film at the Egyptian Theater with Dominik in attendance again for a Q&A. Tickets for that will go on sale in about a month.

As for Saturday's big event, it was a wonderful start to what will hopefully be an endless line of bookings on the repertory circuit, not just nationally, but internationally. It was the first time I had seen the film theatrically since September of 2007 and the DCP was naturally more beautiful than a typical release print. I couldn't possibly write more about this film other than to put it, simply, this way: Every December, basically around this time of year, after I've seen another 12 months'-worth of cinema, I always say to myself, “Well, another year gone, another year without a film as good as 'Jesse James.'” That's how passionate I remain about this film; I don't believe the world has seen a better one since. (You can read more extended thoughts on the next page.)

The post-screening Q&A was fantastic and lively because Dominik is such a candid and pragmatic guy. He'll shoot you straight and won't fuss it up too much. He didn't ooze gratitude by any means but you know he's touched by all of this. “I'm embarrassed, in a good way, in a happy way,” he said when someone just asked him point blank how he really felt about the Revival.

For instance, he talked about how Warner Bros. didn't like the screenplay but probably figured, “Brad [Pitt] wants to do it and we can do it for under 40 [million dollars] and we want him to do the next 'Ocean's' movie so fuck it.” He said he felt the film was “doomed” from the outset but nevertheless noted, as he did in our exclusive interview with him, that his naiveté had plenty to do with the ultimate post-production gridlock the film found itself in. “I can't remember how many times they fired me,” he said, “but I always managed to get back in there.”

RELATED: Andrew Dominik could give you his 'Jesse James' director's cut in 'half a day'

Indeed, no version of this film was going to ever exist all that far from his ultimate vision of it. It just wouldn't work under a certain length. Someone in the audience asked the obvious question: “Would you put out a director's cut?” His response: “It's not up to me, mate.” He talked again about his preferred three-hour cut of the film but made it clear that if it were up to him, that version would have already made it out into the world, theatrically. So hope springs eternal that Warner Bros. might see fit to revisit this thing and help an even fuller vision of what's already a brilliant piece of filmmaking see the light of day.

For now, though, it's all about breathing new life into a 7-year-old film in need of the resuscitation. McGonigle is making it happen, and again, I'm hugely honored to have had a hand in it.

Check out some extended thoughts on the film I wrote up for Saturday night's hand-out program on the next page. And be on the lookout for the Jesse James Revival should it come to your town.

No Eulogies: A Revival of “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”

The western genre is perhaps the most quintessentially American of American art forms. It reflects the very spirit that forged a country into being. It's there in the name: western, expansion across the continent, as far away from the shackles of England as possible. The greatest films of the genre conjure imagery of noble savages, tamed frontiers, unbridled lawlessness and prideful ownership over a little slice of heaven. Indeed, underneath it all, the western is about that most American of ideals: the right to pursue happiness.

Those are incredibly broad strokes, and yet within them, the genre finds such profound purchase. It provides the capacity to explore further reaches, to speak to, for lack of a better term, the human condition. Whether it be the corporatization of the frontier in Robert Altman's “McCabe & Mrs. Miller,” the examination of mob mentality in William Wellman's “The Ox-Bow Incident” or the disassembling of mythology in John Ford's “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” the best examples of the form have always had something deeper on their minds, understanding the usual tropes as gears in a more erudite machinery.

For those reasons and many more, Andrew Dominik's “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” is comfortably at home alongside these masterpieces. Produced at a time far removed from the western's heyday, a time when images of tumbleweeds and dingy saloons echo as forgotten relics, it speaks to the inherent themes of the genre while contextualizing them in the modern era. The film is a treatise on celebrity, tattered dime novel pulp fiction standing in for the tabloid sensationalism of today (which makes the casting of Brad Pitt as the eponymous outlaw all the more meaningful). It is a Victorian account of the last gasps of an era, an elegy to an age, a place, a state of mind, released into a flattened world of progress (to steal a phrase from Thomas Friedman) where connectivity is as streamlined as ever.

And yet, in the film, Jesse James knows his time has passed. He longs for the closure that never arrived, suffocated by the icon he had become. He is a man desperate to die with the era that spawned him, and so, coward to some, perhaps hero to James, Robert Ford was there to provide that release. Was he truly one of the great traitors, deserving of an eternal gnawing by Dante's Satan alongside Judas, Brutus and Cassius? Or was he just a boy, enamored but jealous, the perfect vessel through which James could exact his own exit from this mortal coil?

Pitt captures all of these nuances impeccably with his performance, offering up some of his most resonant and deeply felt work to date. Casey Affleck haunts the film with his unsettling range of reverence and longing. And the cast Dominik assembled around them carries across every delicate detail necessary to envelop the viewer in this world. Whether it's Jeremy Renner's puffed up sense of entitlement to his cousin the outlaw, Sam Rockwell's profound arc of tragic remorse for the actions of his brother “the coward,” Sam Shepard's weariness of an expiring lifestyle, Paul Schneider's horn-dog insensitivity or Garret Dillahunt's suffering terror, they collectively, and with the invaluable contributions of bit players throughout, afford one of the great ensemble performances not just of the genre, but of the medium.

And for a movie made in the kind of mid-budget range that is as much a dying relic as the world presented on the screen, it's a film rich with period detail and accuracy, all of it captured with typical sterling brilliance by Roger Deakins' camera. The images that passed through his lens are nothing short of iconic. One can only imagine the place they will have once the film stands the test of time, the hazy back-lit image of a train robber at home alongside Bogart and Bergman on a Moroccan tarmac, Gene Kelly clutching a rain-soaked lamppost or a crop duster giving Cary Grant chase through a desolate cornfield.

It's interesting that, just seven years after its release, a film like this is in need of a “revival,” but that's clearly the case. It's a film that, at its widest release, played on a little more than 300 screens nationwide. The studio had become exhausted and disgusted by a post-production process that never quite yielded the widely palatable movie they were hoping for, so the prophecy was self-fulfilled: a film graciously nurtured through production was left to die on the vine when completed, never having found its audience on the big screen, its vibrant iconography left to be discovered, if at all, on home video.

This is our chance to change all of that that. There will be no eulogies. Not yet.

It’s safe to say members of the Boston Online Film Critics Association were big fans of Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave.” The group handed the film seven awards Friday including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) and Best Supporting Actress (Luipta Nyong’o). Cate Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine”) and Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”) rounded out the acting honors, while “Before Midnight” took Best Screenplay. Check out the full list below.

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 Screenplay
“Before Midnight”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Blue is the Warmest Color”

Best Documentary
“The Act of Killing”

Best Animated Film
(tie) “Frozen” and “The Wind Rises”

Best Cinematography
“Inside Llewyn Davis”

Best Editing
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Original Score
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Ensemble
“12 Years a Slave”

The 10 Best Films of the Year
1. “12 Years a Slave”
2. “Inside Llewyn Davis”
3. “The Wolf of Wall Street”
4. “Gravity”
5. “Before Midnight”
6. “The Spectacular Now”
7. “Blue is the Warmest Color”
8. “Spring Breakers”
9. “The World’s End”
10. “Fruitvale Station”

Spike Jonze’s “Her,” Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” and especially Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” turned up great showings in the nominations stage for the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association this year. All three films were nominated for Best Film along with David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” and the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis.”

Oddest category to me: The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC. Odd because, well, it’s nice to have the category and all but “Olympus Has Fallen” and “White House Down?” Maybe “best portrayal” should be changed to “only portrayals” or something. Other nominees in that category, which I don’t believe has been presented by the group before, included “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “The East” and “Philomena.”

Interesting nods outside the usual so far include James Franco (Best Supporting Actor in “Spring Breakers”) and Baz Luhrmann (Best Director for “The Great Gatsby”). Check out the full list below. Winners will be announced on Monday.

Best Film
“American Hustle”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”
Spike Jonze, “Her”
Baz Luhrmann, “The Great Gatsby”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Joaquin Phoenix, “Her”
Robert Redford, “All Is Lost”

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

Best Supporting Actor
Daniel Brühl, “Rush”
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”
James Franco, “Spring Breakers”
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”
Octavia Spencer, “Fruitvale Station”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”

Best Acting Ensemble
“American Hustle”
“August: Osage County”
“Prisoners”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Way, Way Back”

Best Youth Performance
Asa Butterfield, “Ender’s Game”
Adéle Exarchopoulos, “Blue Is the Warmest Color”
Liam James, “The Way, Way Back”
Waad Mohammed, “Wadjda”
Tye Sheridan, “Mud”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Before Midnight”
“Captain Phillips”
“The Spectacular Now”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

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

Best Animated Feature
“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Frozen”
“Monsters University”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Documentary
“The Act of Killing”
“Blackfish”
“Leviathan”
“Stories We Tell”
“20 Feet from Stardom”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Blue Is the Warmest Color”
“The Broken Circle Breakdown”
“The Hunt”
“The Past”
“Wadjda”

Best Art Direction
“Gravity”
“The Great Gatsby”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Cinematography
“Gravity”
“The Great Gatsby”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Editing
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Rush”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

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

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, D.C.
“The East”
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler”
“Olympus Has Fallen”
“Philomena”
“White House Down”

As I anticipated, “The Great Beauty,” Paolo Sorrentino’s visually extravagant, Fellini-referencing reflection on contemporary Rome, emerged the big winner at tonight’s European Film Awards in Berlin, taking four prizes for European Film of the Year, European Director of the Year, European Actor of the Year for Toni Servillo and European Editor of the Year for Cristiano Travaglioli. The film, a critics’ pet since Cannes, is Italy’s entry for the foreign-language Oscar; and this haul lends a handy boost to its campaign across the pond.

The one award “Beauty” managed to lose was European Screenwriter of the Year, which went — rightly, in my opinion — to Francois Ozon for his tangled black comedy “In the House.” Belgium’s Veerle Baetens was a deserving but unsurprising Best Actress winner for “The Broken Circle Breakdown.” (Surprises were few to none; all but one of my predictions panned out, and that sort of thing never happens.) 

You can read how the evening — which included typically spaced-out hosting for German comedienne Anke Engelke, and a musical number by Carice Van Houten (!) — panned out in my live blog below.

European Composer of the Year
Ennio Morricone, “The Best Offer”

We’re beginning with one of the previously announced technical winners — I kind of miss having nominees in these categories, as they often came in from left field. Anyway, Volker Schlondorff presents to the 85-year-old Italian legend for his latest collaboration with Giuseppe Tornatore. I haven’t seen the film, and am told the score is much as you’d expect, but… hey, it’s Morricone. I think most would agree that he can’t be overrewarded — unless you’re the Academy, of course.

European Achievement in World Cinema
Pedro Almodovar

Noomi Rapace begins the presentation, which throws a lot of people in the press room — Almodovar loves actresses, sure, but what’s the connection here? Then she throws to the “I’m So Excited!” ensemble, who do a bit of a routine, complete with acapella Pointer Sisters, which makes a bit more sense. Almodovar’s speech is lengthy — it’s the first one he’s prepared, he says — and unexpectedly political, with a pointed rejoinder to Spain’s negligent Ministry of Culture. Good stuff, if not typically Pedro. (He could be up on stage later for Best European Comedy — maybe he’s saving the zaniness for then.)

European Discovery Award
Jan Ole Gerster, “Oh Boy!”

As predicted, the only Film of the Year nominee in the field triumphed in this category for debut filmmakers. Still, Gerster certainly doesn’t look prepared: “The first two winners tonight are Ennio Morricone and Pedro Almodovar, and I’m number three,” he says, looking flustered. “That’s normal.”  Anyway, I’m pleased for the young German: it’s an appealing little film — kind of a Euro male “Frances Ha,” if that makes sense — and was kind of slighted by Germany’s Oscar selection committee.

European Short Film
Tom van Avermaet, “Death of a Shadow”

This stylish Belgian steampunk fantasy, starring Matthias Schoenaerts, was nominated for the Oscar earlier this year — I thought it should have won. It didn’t, but this should come as some consolation.

European Comedy of the Year
“Love is All You Need,” Susanne Bier

Who would be your first choice to present the EFA’s inaugural comedy award? Wow, I was totally thinking of Berlinale artistic director Dieter Kosslick too. Great minds. Anyway, it’s an ironically appropriate choice, since the winner — Susanne Bier’s cancer romp, otherwise known as “Mamma Mia Without the Songs” — isn’t all that funny either. Still, it’s better than “I’m So Excited.” Bier isn’t present; Trine Dyrholm, whose performance is the film’s strongest element, accepts for her.

European Documentary of the Year
“The Act of Killing,” Joshua Oppenheimer

Well, of course. This isn’t the first award Oppenheimer has won for his daring reflection on Indonesian genocide, and it certainly won’t be the last. This critics ‘favorite made the Academy’s 15-film documentary shortlist earlier this week, and there will be uproar if it isn’t nominated. Still, it’s not exactly that branch’s usual bag. Agnieszka Holland presents to a visibly moved Oppenheimer, who pays tribute to his Indonesian crew and thanks his husband.

European Animated Film of the Year
“The Congress,” Ari Folman

No surprise there — Folman is a major name, and this live-action/animation hybrid, starring a fierce Robin Wright as a Hollywood actress who has herself digitally cloned for work purposes, is a divisive but thrillingly delirious creative achievement. (Check out my Cannes review here.) I wonder if the Academy will deem it eligible for next year’s animated Oscar — the category would be a lot more interesting with it around.

European Co-Production Award – Prix Eurimages
Ada Solomon

Rossy De Palma presents this honorary award to the Romanian producer Ada Solomon, whose credits include Calin Peter Netzer’s “Child’s Pose” — which, while we’re on it, deserves to be up for a lot more than just Best Actress. She opens her speech with a Nelson Mandela quote — “It always seems impossible until it’s done” — which goes down understandably well in the room. 

European Actress of the Year
Veerle Baetens, “The Broken Circle Breakdown”

With Adele Exarchopoulos out of the running, the Belgian musician-actress was always the one to beat here — and in a fair world, she’d be in the thick of the Oscar race too. It’s a devastating, last-nerve performance that rarely hits quite the emotional keys you expect for a terminal disease drama. Christopher Lambert presents; a frizzy-permed Baetens begins by thanking her own character, and ends with an impassioned plea for a united Belgium, insisting to Flanders and Wallonia that they belong together.

European Actor of the Year
Toni Servillo, “The Great Beauty”

Does a big night for Paolo Sorrentino’s bittersweet valentine to Roman decadence begin here? I think it might. Not a surprising win, and not a hugely exciting one — Servillo’s been here before, winning jointly for “Il Divo” and “Gomorrah” in 2008, and gives the shortest speech of the night. Diane Kruger presents in a bejewelled, seafoam-colored dress that Liberace might have deemed a little much.

European Costume Designer of the Year
Paco Delgado, “Blancanieves”

European Production Designer of the Year
Sarah Greenwood, “Anna Karenina”

European Sound Designer of the Year
Matz Muller and Erik Mischijew, “Paradise: Faith”

European Cinematographer of the Year
Asaf Sudry, “Fill the Void”

European Editor of the Year
Cristiano Travaglioli, “The Great Beauty”

These technical winners, all previously announced, are presented in a single continuous sequence — easy enough to do with no nominees to read. I guess Morricone is of sufficient stature to merit a separate presentation. Anyway, they’re largely fresh, thought-provoking choices, which is how I like my technical winners: I’ll be looking out for the sound design next time I see “Paradise: Faith,” for example. I’m particularly down with the cinematography win for Sudry’s striking, story-assisting games with shallow focus in “Fill the Void.” And I’m pleased for Greenwood, whom I still think deserved the Oscar earlier this year.

European Screenwriter of the Year
Francois Ozon, “In the House”

Finally, some awards love for my #3 film of last year. And a more appropriate category it could not win: Ozon’s ingenious black comedy is all about the construction and manipulation of narrative. This win, coupled with nominations for Best Director and Actor, points to a lot of love for “In the House” with the EFA, even if it missed the Best Film category. Ozon’s speech is humorously brief for a man being rewarded for his words: he thanks the writer of the film’s source play, and beats a hasty retreat. 

European Director of the Year
Paolo Sorrentino, “The Great Beauty”

Well, everything’s going according to plan so far. Sorrentino, currently on jury duty alongside Martin Scorsese in Marrakech, isn’t here to accept, so let’s talk instead about presenter Kristin Scott Thomas, who’s an absolute riot reading the nominees with comically exaggerated elocution, diligently guttural Germanic consonants, and a faux-modest shout-out to herself in “In the House.” Kristin Scott Thomas to present the Oscars in 2014? We may as well. Anyway, Best Film seems in the bag for Sorrentino at this point, but first there’s Catherine Deneuve to celebrate. And the lady will not be celebrated quickly.

European Lifetime Achievement Award
Catherine Deneuve

EFA president Wim Wenders begins the presentation with a heartfelt and plainly besotted tribute, before segueing into an endearingly loopy interpretive dance with umbrellas — in honor of “Cherbourg,” obviously — that’s over before it’s even begun. Regal in leopard print, Deneuve is not a great enough actress to mask her nervous ‘WTF’ grimace. When she finally takes the stage, her speech is short, gracious and unexpectedly shy — she says she originally asked Wenders if she could receive the award without having to go on stage. I’m not sure how you say no to La Deneuve, but he obviously did. Anyway, not an award anyone can argue with: her filmography is jaw-dropping, and she continues to make challenging choices. Where’s her honorary Oscar?

European Film of the Year
“The Great Beauty,” Paolo Sorrentino

Again, as predicted. The EFAs have thrown up any surprises tonight, and they weren’t to to begin with the last award of the night — with its hefty homage to Fellini and direct engagement with contemporary Italian society, culture and politics, Sorrentino’s film is such an ostentatiously European work that it always looked the one to beat here. (I admit that, for all its visual and sonic flash and dazzle, it left me pretty cold, but I’m in the critical minority.) Interesting that Sorrentino left Cannes empty-handed while “Blue is the Warmest Color” reigned supreme; now, the tables are turned. “The Great Beauty” is Italy’s Oscar submission — I’m still skeptical that it’ll tickle the branch’s fancy, but the executive committee may be more moved.

And with that, it’s on to the after-party. Thanks for reading — if indeed you were — and go rent “In the House” if you haven’t already.

Still, it’s a distinguished event: it’s churlish to get too picky about an awards ceremony where past Best Film winners include “Amour,” “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” “Talk to Her” and “Breaking the Waves.” What film will join their ranks this evening? It’s harder than usual to say — the sweep mentality sets in at some EFA ceremonies, but this year’s competition seems more evenly weighted than most.

Unexpectedly, it’s Belgium’s bluegrass-soundtracked melodrama “The Broken Circle Breakdown” that leads the field with five nominations. I’d have expected “Blue is the Warmest Color,” for example, to be a nomination hog, but it’s had a strange ride here. First missing the initial longlist entirely, then bucking the odds to make the slate after all — albeit only in two categories. (An EFA committee adds one nominee per category after the initial vote; I suspect “Blue” may have been a beneficiary.)

English-speaking cinema didn’t fare well this year, with “Anna Karenina,” somewhat surprisingly, the only British film to be seen on the list. Keira Knightley adds some star presence to the acting races, as does Naomi Watts’ Oscar-nominated turn in “The Impossible” — but don’t hold your breath for them to win. Who will? Click through the gallery below for a category-by-category breakdown.

“The Square,” Egyptian-American director Jehane Noujaim’s study of the Egyptian Revolution from its 2011 origins in Tahrir Square, has looked like on to watch the documentary Oscar race ever since it won the Audience Award in its section at the Sundance Film Festival. It followed that up with the People’s Choice Award for documentaries at Toronto, and nabbed further headlines when it became Netflix’s first film acquisition. Sure enough, it was among the 15 titles shortlisted by the Academy earlier this week.

Last night, “The Square” received an additional boost when it won the top prize at the International Documentary Association Awards, one of the most significant doc-only events on the awards circuit — beating such heavyweights as “The Act of Killing,” “Blackfish” and “Stories We Tell.” Last year’s IDA winner was eventual Oscar champ “Searching for Sugar Man” — though while that film swept pretty much all before it, something tells me this year’s documentary honors will be more generously dispersed.

“The Square” was the only Oscar-shortlisted title to receive an IDA gong, as other feature film categories went to “Blood Brother” (the Humanitas Award), PGA nominee “A Place at the Table” (the Pare Lorentz Award) and “Let the Fire Burn” (Best Editing), among others. In the TV categories, Morgan Spurlock (an Oscar nominee back in 2004 for “Super Size Me”) won the Limited Series award for his investigative project “Inside Man.”

Alex Gibney was recognized with a Career Achievement Award — the Oscar winner has, of course, had a busy year with “The Armstrong Lie” and “We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks,” the former of which cracked the Academy shortlist. “We Steal Secrets,” meanwhile, lost the IDA’s VideoSource Award to “The Trials of Muhammad Ali.”

Full list of winners below:

Best Documentary Feature
“The Square”

Best Documentary Short
“Slomo”

Humanitas Award
“Blood Brother”

Pare Lorentz Award
“A Place at the Table”

ABCNews VideoSource Award
“The Trials of Muhammad Ali”

Best Cinematography
“Pablo’s Winter”

Best Editing
“Let the Fire Burn”

Best Music
“Narco Cultura”

Best Writing
“How to Make Money Selling Drugs”

Best Limited Series
“Inside Man”

Best Continuing Series
“Independent Lens”

David L. Wolper Student Documentary Award
“My Sister Sarah”

Career Achievement Award
Alex Gibney

Courage Under Fire Award
Laura Poitras

IDA Amicus Award
Geralyn Dreyfous

Jacqueline Donnet Emerging Filmmaker Award
Zachary Heinzerling