10th Annual St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Awards

The St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association announced their 10th annual awards on December 16th, 2013 with giving away the Best Film award to 12 Years a Slave, directed and co-produced by Steve McQueen who also won the Best Director award. 12 years a Slave was the biggest winner winning 7 awards in total and it's not surprising at all. Other winners are completely reasonable as well and most of them would probably winning the Oscar as well.

Last year, only 5 St. Louis winners won the Oscars, i.e. Best Film for Argo, Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz, Best Documentary for Searching for Sugar Man and Best Visual Effects for Life of Pi. Let's see if the same happens this year or not.

Here is the complete list of winners along with runners-up and nominations.

Best Film:

• Winner: 12 Years a Slave


• Runner-up: American Hustle


• Gravity


• Her


• Nebraska

Best Director:

• Runner-up: Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)


• Spike Jonze (Her)


• Winner: Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)


• Alexander Payne (Nebraska)


• David O. Russell (American Hustle)

Best Actor:

• Christian Bale (American Hustle)


• Bruce Dern (Nebraska)


• Winner: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)


• Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station)


• Runner-up: Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress:

• Amy Adams (American Hustle)


• Winner: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)


• Sandra Bullock (Gravity)


• Judi Dench (Philomena)


• Runner-up: Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)


• Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks)

Best Supporting Actor:

• Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)


• Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)


• Harrison Ford (42)


• Runner-up: Will Forte (Nebraska)


• Winner: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Supporting Actress:

• Scarlett Johansson (Her)


• Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)


• Winner: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)


• Lea Seydoux (Blue Is the Warmest Colour)


• Runner-up: June Squibb (Nebraska)

Best Original Screenplay:

• Runner-up: American Hustle


• Enough Said


• Winner: Her


• Nebraska


• Saving Mr. Banks

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• Winner: 12 Years a Slave


• Before Midnight


• Captain Phillips


• Runner-up: Philomena


• Short Term 12


• The Spectacular Now

Best Cinematography:

• Winner (tie): 12 Years a Slave


• The Grandmaster


• The Great Gatsby


• Winner (tie): Gravity


• Inside Llewyn Davis


• Nebraska

Best Visual Special Effects:

• Winner: Gravity


• Runner-up: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug


• Iron Man 3


• Pacific Rim


• Star Trek Into Darkness


• Thor: The Dark World

Best Musical Score:

• 12 Years a Slave


• Runner-up: Gravity


• Winner: Her


• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug


• Runner-up: Nebraska


• Saving Mr. Banks

Best Soundtrack:

• American Hustle


• Despicable Me 2


• Runner-up: Frozen


• The Great Gatsby


• Winner: Inside Llewyn Davis


• Muscle Shoals

Best Art Direction:

• 12 Years A Slave


• The Grandmaster


• Winner: The Great Gatsby


• Runner-up: Her


• Inside Llewyn Davis

Best Documentary:

• 20 Feet from Stardom


• Runner-up: The Act of Killing


• Winner: Blackfish


• Muscle Shoals


• Runner-up: Stories We Tell

Best Non-English Language Film:

• Winner: Blue Is the Warmest Colour


• A Hijacking


• The Hunt


• No


• Runner-up: Wadjda

Best Comedy:

• Winner (tie): Enough Said


• The Heat


• Nebraska


• The Way Way Back


• Winner (tie): The World’s End

Best Animated Feature:

• The Croods


• Despicable Me 2


• Winner: Frozen


• Monsters University


• Runner-up: The Wind Rises

Best Art-House or Festival Film (for artistic excellence in independent, international or smaller-budget films that played at film festivals, film series or had a limited-release run in St. Louis, playing one to three cinemas):

• Ain't Them Bodies Saints


• Before Midnight


• Runner-up: Blue Is the Warmest Colour


• Runner-up: Frances Ha


• In a World…


• Winner: Short Term 12

Best Scene (a favorite movie scene or sequence):

• Winner: 12 Years a Slave – The hanging scene


• Captain Phillips – The scene near the end of the film where Tom Hanks is being checked out by military medical personnel and he breaks down.


• Runner-up: Gravity – he opening tracking shot.


• Her – Off-screen OS sex scene


• The Place Beyond the Pines – The opening scene where Ryan Gosling is walking through the carnival.

12th Annual Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Awards

The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) announced their awards on December 9th, 2013 with giving away the Best Film award to Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave. Best Director award went to Alfonso Cuarón for his exceptional work in Gravity. It is now clear that Gravity and 12 Years a Slave have dominated the critics circle and the effect will last longer than anyone could anticipate. It should also be noted that critics are loving Spike Jonze's Her (can't wait to watch the movie) since it's been winning screenplay, direction and film awards at various circles. One thing that surprised me the most is the bold decision of choosing the Broken Circle Breakdown as the Best Foreign Language Film.

Last year only 4 WAFCA winners won the Oscars, i.e. Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Actor, Anne Hathaway for Best Supporting Actress, Amour for Best Foreign Language Film and Claudio Miranda for Best Cinematography. Let's see what happens this year!

Here is the complete list of winners:

Best Film: 12 Years a Slave

Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)

Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)

Best Acting Ensemble: 12 Years a Slave

Best Youth Performance: Tye Sheridan (Mud)

Best Adapted Screenplay: John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)

Best Original Screenplay: Spike Jonze (Her)

Best Animated Feature: Frozen

Best Documentary: Blackfish

Best Foreign Language Film: The Broken Circle Breakdown

Best Art Direction: Production Designer: Catherine Martin, Set Decorator: Beverley Dunn (The Great Gatsby)

Best Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, A.M.C. (Gravity)

Best Editing: Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger (Gravity)

Best Original Score: Hans Zimmer (12 Years a Slave)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC: Lee Daniels’ The Butler