Broadcast Film Critics Association Nominations

The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) released their nominations this morning and, as expected, they really tried their best to predict what's going to be nominated for the Academy Awards. It's a cynical way of viewing these nominations of course, since many of these films and performances are really deserving, but it really does start to feel like an echo chamber after awhile. To make matters worse in this case, they seem to think MORE categories are actually a good thing. No, we don't need to know what critics thought were the best action movies of the year. Less is more!

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

A majority of these films have been cited elsewhere (AFI, Golden Globes, NBR) with the one slight surprise being Dallas Buyers Club. It's also curious to see none of Weinstein's films make the shortlist (The Butler, Fruitvale Station, August: Osage County), but none of those films have gotten much traction so far. 12 Years a Slave and American Hustle lead with 13 nominations, but the McQueen film is really the one on top as Hustle got some help from BFCA's extraneous categories. Gravity is close behind with 10 nods.

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

With six nominations (like the other main categories), it's a very good chance the Oscar shortlist will be composed of the people here. The big question, of course, is who will be left out? Then there's the one director who was left out here, Alexander Payne. He could still make it in!

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

Super bummed to see Oscar Isaac and Joaquin Phoenix missing the cut. And while I haven't seen the performance yet, what does Leonardo DiCaprio have to do to get recognized?

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

Quite a coup for Brie Larson! I wonder if she could go all the way. Still, other than her name, the list is as dull as it has been. And it's kind of odd to see Amy Adams not make it in especially with how much they love the film. And no, them relegating her to the below-the-line comedy field doesn't count.

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

Will Forte and Jonah Hill are still two performers looking from the outside, because this group of six has been solid throughout w/ only Gandolfini missing out on a Globe nod and Cooper missing out on a SAG nod.

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

Loving the nomination for Johansson even if her Oscar chances are dim. So with that said, I think the rest are your Oscar nominees. Moving on...

Many more nominations after the jump...
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

This category is not really worth anything without Onata Aprile who gave one of my favorite performances this year.

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE
American Hustle
August: Osage County
Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Nebraska
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Eric Singer and David O. Russell, American Hustle
Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine
Spike Jonze, Her
Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
Bob Nelson, Nebraska

I'm really hoping Jonze's script goes all the way. So far it's the critical favorite, but the Academy can be slightly less daring. Also, why just five nominees? Enough Said, This is the End, or Frances Ha could've filled that spot!

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Tracy Letts, August: Osage County
Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke, Before Midnight
Billy Ray, Captain Phillips
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, Philomena
John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave
Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street

It's gotten WAY less love this awards season than I wanted or expected, but I'm still hoping Before Midnight is Oscar nominated for at least its screenplay. 12 Years A Slave is the runaway frontrunner here, but Before Midnight is a close second so far.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Prisoners
12 Years a Slave

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

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

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

Was hoping Catching Fire would've caught fire in this category as well as for Makeup below, but for some reason even though everyone LOVES Jennifer Lawrence, it seems like the industry response to this particular franchise is surprisingly cool.

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

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
Pacific Rim
Star Trek into Darkness

Just give it to Gravity now. In fact, the film will undoubtedly walk away with the majority of the technical awards this season.

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

I actually think this is a pretty good list. The Gatsby, Frozen, and Llewyn Davis tunes have all been stuck in my head since I saw their respective films so if the Oscar shortlist contain those, it'd be a good year.

BEST SCORE
Gravity
Her
Saving Mr. Banks
12 Years a Slave

Really couldn't have come up with another nomination there, BFCA?

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Frozen
Monsters University
The Wind Rises

There's no real drama in this category in terms of nominations, but it's going to be a close race between Frozen and The Wind Rises.

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

I've only seen 1 out of the 10 films listed in Foreign/Documentary so I really need to move my ass and see the rest. But the one I did see, Stories We Tell, is really, really good.

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

Cavill? Really? I mean he was damn pretty for sure, but come on now.

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

Bullock was good enough to be nominated here by not the movie, which I remind you has 10 nominations from this group. So unnecessarily perplexing.

BEST COMEDY
American Hustle
Enough Said
The Heat
This Is the End
The Way Way Back
The World’s End

Well at least this category honored actual comedies unlike the Globes, but it all still feels like such an afterthought.

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

So Gravity wasn't an action film, it was a sci-fi/horror film! That's... even more confounding. Go home, BFCA, you're drunk.