Precursor: 19th Broadcast Film Critics Nominations (2013)

The Broadcast Film Critics Association has announced their 19th Annual Oscar Predictions…I mean Critics’ Choice Awards nominations. Apart from people like Brie Larson, the top categories are packed with Oscar contenders, worthy of consideration or not. Several films (American Hustle, Gravity, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Hobbit, and others) had their nominations tallies bolstered by the comedy, sci-fi and action fluff categories. You can tell these positions were engineered to make sure Leonardo DiCaprio got nominated because Wolf didn’t appear in the Comedy Picture category even though he did and only one of the Comedy nominees appeared in Best Picture, yet Wolf was there.

Regardless, the narrative will be that the BFCA is the best barometer for Oscar consideration and that may be true, but when you look at these nominees, especially the six-spot acting categories, you recognize that the group hedges their bets trying to get as many nominated as possible.

Nominations Tallies

(13) 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle (10 without Comedy)
(10) Gravity (8 without Sci-Fi/Action)
(6) Captain Phillips, Her, Nebraska, The Wolf of Wall Street (5 without Comedy)
(5) The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
(4) August: Osage County, Enough Said, The Great Beauty, Inside Llewyn Davis, Iron Man 3, Rush, Saving Mr. Banks
(3) Dallas Buyers Club, The Heat, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Star Trek: Into Darkness, The Way, Way Back

The Nominations

Best Picture

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

Best Animated Feature

The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Frozen
Monsters University
The Wind Rises

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron – 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 Bruhl – 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 Original Screenplay

American Hustle
Blue Jasmine
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska

Best Adapted Screenplay

12 Years a Slave
August: Osage County
Before Midnight
Captain Phillips
Philomena
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Score

12 Years a Slave
Gravity
Her
Saving Mr. Banks

Best Song

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

Best Editing

12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Rush
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Cinematography

12 Years a Slave
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Prisoners

Best Art Direction

12 Years a Slave
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Best Costume Design

12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
The Great Gatsby
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Saving Mr. Banks

Best Makeup

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

Best Visual Effects

Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
Pacific Rim
Star Trek: Into Darkness

Best Foreign Language Film

Blue Is the Warmest Color
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Past
Wadjda

Best Documentary Feature

20 Feet from Stardom
The Act of Killing
Blackfish
Stories We Tell
Tim’s Vermeer

Best Young Actor/Actress

Asa Butterfield – Ender’s Game
Adele Exarchopoulos – Blue Is the Warmest Color
Liam James – The Way, Way Back
Sophie Nelisse – 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 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