LA, Boston and New York Online Critics Announce Winners

Good news for former outside looking in Best Actress contender Marion Cotillard! More critics stamped their seal of approval for her performances in "The Immigrant" and "Two Days One Night". With exposure such as this it's hard to imagine her not being named amongst the final 5. If she's nominated by SAG and/or the Globes, she's in.

Take a look below at who else cleaned up with the critics today.

Dear Oscar

Dear Oscar,

I know that awards season can get really crowded with so many high profile films and contenders vying for your attention. It must get tricky being able to remember films from the beginning of the year when several presumed juggernauts don't even premiere until the end of December. Yes, it must get hard when you have actors losing weight, or donning prosthetics in flashy biopics. Yes, I know it's hard, but before the endless onslaught of awards movies, I ask you to hear me out.

I'm sure you've heard how Rosamund Pike is fantastic in David Fincher's "Gone Girl", a film that has crossed $100 million in just 3 weeks since premiering, and I'm sure a Best Actress nomination would seem fitting as a reward for that film. I'm also sure you've heard Julianne Moore, Jessica Chastain, Reese Witherspoon, Felicity Jones, and Amy Adams are all great in their respective films. It must be hard to see past all of these flashy, very familiar names; some of these women are past winners, or multiple time past nominees. But I'm asking you to look past those names for a moment, to consider Marion Cotillard's groundbreaking work in James Gray's, "The Immigrant".

Halfway Mark: Worthy Oscar Contenders from the first Half of the Year

Today officially marks the halfway point of 2014, if you can believe it. I don't know about the rest of you but I feel as if this year has been a blur, and I can say that about a lot of the movies that have come and gone through the last few months.

There has been only one movie from this year, thus far, that's challenged anything on my top 10 list from last year (a truly banner year in film unlike one we've had in awhile). That being said, there are truly some memorable performances, and even details about those films that were standouts, even if the overall product wasn't as great as its little pieces.

So read on, to see a few worthy contenders I feel deserve to remain in the conversation come awards season time.

Marion Cotillard Discovers the American Dream in "The Immigrant"

The opening shot of director/writer James Gray's fifth feature (entitled, "The Immigrant") is an image we're all familiar with: the back of The Statue of Liberty . To many, the statue represents the ideals that America was (allegedly) built on: truth, freedom and the pursuit of happiness.

Gray's film opens in New York City, 1921 as 2 sisters, Ewa (Marion Cotillard) and Magda (Angela Sarafyan) are arriving on Ellis Island to be processed, and hopefully begin their new life in the legendary United States of America. However, they are turned away; Magda has contracted Tuberculosis and is carried away into the infirmary where she will be left until she can be deported back to Poland (the sisters' home country). Ewa, on the other hand, has been accused of having "questionable morals" during her time on the boat ride (we later learn she refused a man's sexual advances) and we learn "America doesn't accept women of questionable morals into the country."

In these first few moments of the film, Gray lays the overall tone of the film. The grand wide shots and bleak, sepia filter of the cinematography accentuate Ewa's helplessness and loneliness, and it becomes very clear why he chose to shoot the infamous statue from the back; While she stands for freedom and the hope of a better life, it becomes clear through the course of the film that she literally has her back turned to Ewa's plight, and the rest of these powerless people.