Vancover Film Critics Go For 12 Years A Slave & Cuaron

Best Film:

• 12 Years A Slave

Best Director:

• Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity

Best Actor:

• Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis

Best Actress:

• Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

DGA Nominations

Gravity, Wolf of Wall Street, 12 Years A Slave & American Hustle all received support from the Directors Guild.

Good news for Captain Phillips and Wolf of Wall Street; the Directors Guild awarded both Paul Greengrass and Martin Scorsese with nominations amongst Oscar frontrunners Steve McQueen, Alfonso Cuaron and David O. Russell. Both Greengrass' and Scorsese's films received support from the PGA, which strengthens their bid to break into the competitive Best Picture race.

The Coens could've used a nomination here, also missing is Nebraksa's Alexander Payne and Spike Jonze. Unlike the Coens, however, both Payne and Jonze's films were included in the PGA lineup; it seems like Inside Llewyn Davis is on the outside looking in.

Not all is lost though; last year Kathryn Bigelow and Ben Affleck were both nominated for the DGA, with Affleck winning, and were not nominated for the Academy Award. Instead, Michael Hanake and Benh Zeitlen, 2 unseen nominees, were nominated for smaller films. This not only provides a small glimmer of hope for Jonze, the Coens and Payne, but also Dallas Buyers Club director Jean-Marc Vallée, whose film is receiving a ton of indistry and guild support (PGA+SAG+WGA).

The full list of nominees is below:

National Society of Film Critics End the Critics Portion of Awards Season; Inside Llewyn Davis gets a Boost

After missing out on PGA and WGA love, the final (major) critics group threw their weight behind the Coen's film in a big way. Inside Llewyn Davis won Picture, Director, Actor and Cinematography honors. Not that this will have huge influence on the AMPAS, but it's not a bad laurel to have.

In the other races, Cate Blanchett reigned supreme over Adele Exarchopoulos after sharing the LAFCA win with her last month; though it's good she of all people was Blanchett's fiercest competitor, this award could have really given a boost to Exarchopoulos' campaign; it's becoming likely she will be left out after a brief glimmer of hope after the wave of critics. Usual winner Jared Leto was beaten by Spring Breakers' James Franco, though his Oscar hopes are quite slim; this was the first major award he won (he shared the LAFCA win with Leto).

Full list of winners (complete with # of votes) below, check them out.

Playing Catch Up: Dallas Buyers Club & Enough Said

I went to the movies this weekend! Well.. sorta

Enough Said and Dallas Buyers Club are 2 films that had been alluding me for quite some time (both were never playing in my area when I finally had the time to sit down and watch them), but luckily, I was able to catch up with them both in a sort of double feature. Of the 2, Dallas Buyers Club is the one with the chances at Oscar glory; the film itself, Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, and possibly other [deserving facets] will get nominated.

Enough Said, however, is a film that deserves much more acclaim than it has won (and it's won quite a bunch). It isn't easy territory, but the trio of director/screenwriter Nicole Holofcener, and stars Julia Louis Dreyfus and James Gandolfini elevate what could have very well been a simple "rom com" to a greatly touching, memorable and mature film.

Writer's Guild Nominations: Blue Jasmine & Dallas Buyers Club Get a Boost, Another loss for Inside Llewyn Davis

Support from the PGA and now WGA mean great things for these 2 "underdogs".

Yesterday's PGA nominations found Dallas Buyers Club continuing its Screen Actors Guild success by landing a nomination for Best Film; with both PGA and SAG behind it, Best Picture seemed pretty likely. But now, with the WGA backing it, there seems to be a lot more support behind the film than previously thought.

Woody Allen's screenplay for Blue Jasmine was always seen as a sure thing given his track record. But after receiving a PGA nomination yesterday and a Golden Globe nomination for Sally Hawkins, it seems there's more support for the film outside of Cate Blanchett's masterclass turn and Allen's screenplay.

Films that were ineligible for the WGA include 12 Years A Slave, Philomena, Rush, Blue Is the Warmest Color, Short Term 12, Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom, Fruitvale Station and In a World. I imagine that's how Lone Survivor (a film that's been ignored all season) made it in.

The Coen Brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis was passed over for a nomination after being passed over by the PGA. Though the PGA loss is less worrisome (they didn't nominate A Serious Man back in 2009 and it managed to get a Best Picture nomination), the WGA exclusion is more worrisome; the WGA has always gone for the Coens. Though this isn't a nail in the coffin, it can be telling in terms of consensus.

You can read the full list of nominations below.

Central Ohio Film Critics Anoint Gravity, Adele Exarchopoulos, James Franco & More

Best Picture: 

• Gravity

Best Director:

• Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity

Best Actor:

• Chiwetel Ejifor, 12 Years A Slave

Best Actress:

• Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue Is the Warmest Color

Producers Guild Nominations: Our Potential Best Picture Lineup?

Blue Jasmine, American Hustle, Captain Philips and Dallas Buyers Club among the list of nominees

The Producers Guild, much like the Screen Actors Guild, is an important precursor to have behind your film; the Best Picture winner and most of the films to be nominated for picture (save for a few surprise inclusions/exclusions on nomination morning) are always included on this long list.

That bodes well for the small Dallas Buyers Club, which was only seen as a vehicle for stars Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, but managed to score a nomination here AND a Best Ensemble nomination with SAG a month ago; a Best Picture nomination looks very likely now. Blue Jasmine, the film that will undoubtedly win Cate Blanchett her second Oscar (first Leading Actress trophy), also landed on the long list of nominees; that writing nomination for Woody Allen and Best Supporting Actress nomination for Sally Hawkins aren't seeming too crazy now with the level of support being expressed for the film.

Another surprise was the critically adored Inside Llewyn Davis being passed over for Wolf of Wall Street. Both were passed over by SAG, but Wolf's inclusion over Davis here could be pretty telling... then again, there's still time for that to change.

Other than that, the nominees are pretty standard; both 12 Years A Slave and American Hustle landed nominations.

Take a look people; this could very well be our Best Picture lineup