Best Picture
1) 12 Years A Slave
2) Gravity
3) Captain Phillips
4) American Hustle
5) Saving Mr Banks
6) The Butler
7) Inside Llewyn Davis
8) Nebraska
9) Her
10) The Wolf Of Wall Street
11) All Is Lost
12) Blue Jasmine
13) August Osage County
14) Fruitvale Station
15) Dallas Buyers Club
A couple of things have happened. Entertainment Weekly released another list of Frontrunners/Contenders/ and a few also ran’s. American Hustle also screened, and was well received. And the Independent Spirit Award nominees were announced. That didn’t affect Best Picture too much. 12 Years A Slave, Nebraska, All is Lost, and Inside Llewyn Davis were all nominated. Frances Ha took the fifth spot, away from contenders like Dallas Buyers Club, Blue Jasmine, and Fruitvale Station.
Best Actor:
1) Chiwetel Ejiofor- 12 Years A Slave
2) Robert Redford- All Is Lost
3) Matthew McConaughey- Dallas Buyers Club
4) Tom Hanks- Captain Phillips
5) Bruce Dern- Nebraska
6) Forest Whitaker- The Butler
7) Joaquin Phoenix- Her-
8) Oscar Issac- Inside Llewyn Davis
9) Christian Bale- American Hustle
10) Leonardo DiCaprio- Wolf Of Wall Street
The Spirit Awards actually expanded their category to six nominations, because the category is so tight this year. Dern, Ejiofor, Issac, McConaughey, Redford, and Michael B. Jordan all landed nominations. Christian Bale also is rumored to be quite good in American Hustle. Out Of The Furnace is also getting exceptional reviews (89% on Rotten Tomatoes), so the question is, which Bale performance is the strongest?
Best Actress
1) Sandra Bullock- Gravity
2) Cate Blanchett- Blue Jasmine
3) Emma Thompson- Saving Mr Banks
4) Judi Dench- Philomena
5) Meryl Streep- August Osage County
6) Amy Adams- American Hustle
7) Brie Larson- Short Term 12
8) Adele Exarchopoulos- Blue Is The Warmest Color
9) Kate Winslet- Labor Day
10) Julia Louis-Dreyfus- Enough Said
Adele wasn’t nominated for Best Actress, though her film was nominated in the foreign category. Dreyfus missed out on a nomination, even though Gandolfini was nominated in supporting. Brie Larson and Cate Blanchett were the only two spirit nominees. I didn’t move Amy Adams up yet, because the buzz I’ve heard so far focuses on Bale and Jennifer Lawrence.
Best Supporting Actor
1) Jared Leto- Dallas Buyers Club
2) Michael Fassbender- 12 Years A Slave
3) Tom Hanks- Saving Mr Banks
4) Barkhad Abdi- Captain Phillips
5) James Gandolfini- Enough Said
6) Daniel Bruhl- Rush
7) Jonah Hill- The Wolf of Wall Street
8) Bradley Cooper- American Hustle
9) Jeremy Renner- American Hustle
10) John Goodman- Inside Llewyn Davis
Fassbender, Leto, and Gandolfini all got Spirit nominations. Goodman was left off the list. They also didn’t go with McConaughey for Mud. They did, however, throw Will Forte’s name into the mix. He’s a longshot, but if his name starts popping up more, I might put him in the top 10.
Best Supporting Actress
1) Lupita N’Yongo- 12 Years A Slave
2) Oprah Winfrey- The Butler
3) Julia Roberts- August Osage County
4) Jennifer Lawrence- American Hustle
5) June Squibb- Nebraska
6) Octavia Spencer- Fruitvale Station
7) Sally Hawkins- Blue Jasmine
8) Margo Martindale- August: Osage County
9) Melonie Diaz- Fruitvale Station
10) Melissa Leo- Prisoners
Lupita continued her reign as front-runner with a Spirit nomination. They also recognized Squibb and Hawkins. They failed to recognize Spencer, and instead recognized her co-star Melonie Diaz, who has just entered into my Top 10.
Best Director:
1) Alfonso Cuaron- Gravity
2) Steve McQueen- 12 Years A Slave
3) David O’Russell- American Hustle
4) Paul Greengrass- Captain Phillips
5) Spike Jonze- Her
6) Alexander Payne- Nebraska
7) The Coen Brothers- Inside Llewyn Davis
8) Martin Scorsese- The Wolf Of Wall Street
9) JC Chandor- All Is Lost
10) Woody Allen- Blue Jasmine
McQueen and Payne got nominations, as well as JC Chandor. The Coens and Woody Allen were not nominated.
Best Animated Feature:
1) The Wind Rises
2) Frozen
3) Monsters University
4) The Croods
5) Despicable Me 2