Visual Effects Bake-Off

These ten films are the semi-finalists for the Best Visual Effects Oscar.  And the Oscar goes to... Gravity.

• Elysium
• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Iron Man 3
• The Lone Ranger
• Oblivion
• Pacific Rim
• Star Trek: Into Darkness
• Thor: The Dark World
• World War Z

2014 Sundance Film Festival Line-Up

U.S. DRAMATIC COMPETITION

These films hope to join the ranks of past Sundance triumphs Precious, Winter's Bone, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Fruitvale Station.  Stars like Kristen Stewart, Anne Hathaway and Kristen Wiig are among the many famous faces appearing in competition at next years Park City festival.

Kristen Stewart stars in Camp X-Ray

Camp X-Ray- directed by Peter Sattler
Cold in July- directed by Jim Mickle
Dead White People- directed by Justin Simien
Fishing Without Nets- directed by Cutter Hodierne
God's Pocket- directed by John Slattery
Happy Christmas- directed by Joe Swanberg
Hellion- directed by Kat Candler
Infinitely Polar Bear- directed by Maya Forbes
Jamie Marks is Dead- directed by Carter Smith
Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter- directed by David Zellner
Life After Beth- directed by Jeff Baena
Low Down- directed by Jeff Preiss
The Skeleton Twins- directed by Craig Johnson
The Sleepwalker- directed by Mona Fastvold
Song One- directed by Kate Baker-Froyland
Whiplash- directed by Damien Chazelle

National Board of Review

PICTURE: Her

Top Ten of 2013:
(in alphabetical order)

• 12 Years a Slave
• Fruitvale Station
• Gravity
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Lone Survivor
• Nebraska
• Prisoners
• Saving Mr. Banks
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
• The Wolf of Wall Street 

DIRECTOR: Spike Jonze, Her
ACTOR: Bruce Dern, Nebraska
ACTRESS: Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Will Forte, Nebraska
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale Station
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Inside Llewyn Davis- Ethan Coen & Joel Coen
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Wolf of Wall Street- Terence Winter
ENSEMBLE CAST: Prisoners
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE (male): Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE (female): Adéle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
DIRECTORIAL DEBUT: Ryan Coogler, Fruitvale Station
ANIMATED FEATURE: The Wind Rises
FOREIGN FILM: The Past

Top Five Foreign Films of 2013:

• Beyond the Hills
• Gloria
• The Grandmaster
• A Hijacking
• The Hunt

DOCUMENTARY: Stories We Tell

Top Five Documentaries of 2013:

• 20 Feet From Stardom
• The Act of Killing
• After Tiller
• Casting By
• The Square

Top Ten Independent Films of 2013:

• Ain't Them Bodies Saints
• Dallas Buyers Club
• In a World...
• Mother of George
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Mud
• The Place Beyond the Pines
• Short Term 12
• Sightseers
• The Spectacular Now 

SPOTLIGHT AWARD: Career collaboration of Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio
CREATIVE INNOVATION IN FILMMAKING AWARD: Gravity
NBR FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AWARD: Wadjda
WILLIAM K. EVERSON FILM HISTORY AWARD: George Stevens, Jr.  

New York Film Critics Circle

And we're off!  The NYFCC starts the exhaustive critics leg of the 2013 awards season with David O. Russell's American Hustle starting off the awards season in a major way with three key wins including Best Picture.  Surprising so far in the least, in so much as evident by the Gotham's going for the Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis and today's reveal, perhaps this season will not be ruled by 12 Years a Slave, though NY did give it's director, Steve McQueen, the directing prize.  Missing out in NY, which may or may not be apropos of nothing, were films like Gravity, Nebraska, Captain Phillips, Philomena, August: Osage County, Before Midnight, Frances Ha and The Wolf of Wall Street (however with New York's early date, it's possible not everyone caught up with Scorsese's latest, which just started screening this past weekend.)

PICTURE: American Hustle
DIRECTOR: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
ACTOR: Robert Redford, All is Lost
ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
SUPPORTING ACTOR:  Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
SCREENPLAY: American Hustle- Eric Singer & David O. Russell
ANIMATED FILM: The Wind Rises
DOCUMENTARY: Stories We Tell
FOREIGN FILM: Blue is the Warmest Color
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Inside Llewyn Davis- Bruno Delbonnel
FIRST FILM: Fruitvale Station- Ryan Coogler 
SPECIAL AWARD: Frederick Wiseman, documentarian 

Documentary Shortlist

15 documentaries advance to Oscar:

• 20 Feet From Stardom- directed by Morgan Neville
• The Act of Killing- directed by Joshua Oppenheimer
• The Armstrong Lie- directed by Alex Gibney
• Blackfish- directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite
• The Crash Reel- directed by Lucy Walker
• Cutie & the Boxer- directed by Zachary Heinzerling
• Dirty Wars- directed by Rick Rowley
• First Cousin Once Removed- directed by Alan Berliner
• God Loves Uganda- directed by Roger Ross Williams
• Life According to Sam- directed by Sean Fine & Andrea Nix
• Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer- directed by Mike Lerner & Maxim Pozdorovkin
• The Square- directed by Jehane Noujaim
• Stories We Tell- directed by Sarah Polley
• Tim's Vermeer- directed by Teller 
• Which Way Is the Front Line From Here? The Life & Time of Tim Hetherington- directed by Sebastian Junger