San Diego Film Critics Society announces its 2013 nominations for best of the year

[Note: this originally appeared on www.moviewallas.com]

It is the time of the year when film review groups around the country start announcing their year-end picks in the major categories. The New York Film Critics Circle bestowed their best picture prize on AMERICAN HUSTLE, a soon-to-be-released Scorcese-esque caper film set in the 70′s, the latest from director David O. Russell (SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, THE FIGHTER). The National Board of Review picked HER, the wistful new Spike Jonze film set in a not so distant future, and about a man who falls in love with the his computer operating system. With those two groups out of the gate first, many other reviewer groups have followed in the past few days. And so far, the winners have been blissfully inconsistent, which promises to make for an exciting awards-season.

The San Diego Film Critics Society (of which Moviewallas is a member) announced this afternoon their nominations in all of the top categories. The voting occurs tomorrow morning and the winners in each category will be declared later in the day. We will be sure to post the final winners here, but below are the top five picks in each category (nominations), which may help guide your movie watching plans over the holiday break.

BEST FILM
12 YEARS A SLAVE
GRAVITY
HER
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
SHORT TERM 12

BEST DIRECTOR 
Alfonso Cuarón, GRAVITY
Destin Cretton, SHORT TERM 12
Joel and Ethan Coen, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Spike Jonze, HER
Steve McQueen, 12 YEARS A SLAVE

BEST ACTRESS 
Adèle Exarchopoulos, BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
Brie Larson, SHORT TERM 12
Cate Blanchett, BLUE JASMINE
Emma Thompson, SAVING MR. BANKS
Sandra Bullock, GRAVITY

BEST ACTOR 
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Joaquin Phoenix, HER
Matthew McConaughey, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
Oscar Isaac, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Tom Hanks, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS 
Elizabeth Banks, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
Jennifer Lawrence, AMERICAN HUSTLE
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Sally Hawkins, BLUE JASMINE
Shailene Woodley, THE SPECTACULAR NOW

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR 
Daniel Bruhl, RUSH
James Gandolfini, ENOUGH SAID
Jared Leto, DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
Michael Fassbender, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Sam Rockwell, THE WAY, WAY BACK

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY 
Aaron Guzikowski, PRISONERS
Joel and Ethan Coen, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Nicole Holofcener, ENOUGH SAID
Spike Jonze, HER
Woody Allen, BLUE JASMINE

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY 
Billy Ray, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
Destin Cretton, SHORT TERM 12
John Ridley, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, BEFORE MIDNIGHT
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber, THE SPECTACULAR NOW

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM 
BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOR
DRUG WAR
NO
THE BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN
THE HUNT

BEST DOCUMENTARY 
20 FEET FROM STARDOM
BLACKFISH
LET THE FIRE BURN
STORIES WE TELL
THE ACT OF KILLING

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 
Bruno Delbonnel, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
Emmanuel Lubezki, GRAVITY
Emmanuel Lubezki, TO THE WONDER
Roger Deakins, PRISONERS
Simon Duggan, THE GREAT GATSBY

BEST ANIMATED FILM 
DESPICABLE ME 2
FROZEN
GET A HORSE
THE CROODS
THE WIND RISES

BEST EDITING 
Alan Edward Ball, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE
Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger, GRAVITY
Christopher Rouse, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
Eric Zumbrunnen, Jeff Buchanan, HER
Joe Walker, 12 YEARS A SLAVE

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN 
Adam Stockhausen, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Andy Nicholson, GRAVITY
Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy, THE GREAT GATSBY
K.K. Barrett, HER
Michael Corenblith, SAVING MR. BANKS

BEST SCORE 
Arcade Fire, HER
Bjorn Eriksson, BROKEN CIRCLE BREAKDOWN
Hans Zimmer, 12 YEARS A SLAVE
Hans Zimmer, RUSH
Steven Price, GRAVITY

BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
12 YEARS A SLAVE
AMERICAN HUSTLE
PRISONERS
SHORT TERM 12
THE WAY, WAY BACK