Sunday, January 25, 2015

What We Learned from the Screen Actors Guild Awards

What did we learn from the SAG Awards?

Well… for starters, Turner Broadcasting apparently loves Emma Stone.  Seriously.  Turner Broadcasting simulcasted the Guild Awards on both TNT and TBS... 

And prior to the awards on TNT they aired, The Help, which started SAG nominee Emma Stone and SAG winner Viola Davis.  TNT is also airing The Help at midnight, after they rebroadcast the awards.

On TBS, before the awards they aired Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, which stars SAG nominees Emma Stone and Matthew McConaughey.  And AFTER the awards they are airing Crazy, Stupid, Love.   A movie I absolutely adore… and it stars… you guessed it, SAG nominee Emma Stone and Steve Carrell, and SAG winner Julianne Moore.

Technically, Emma Stone did win a SAG award as part of the most outstanding ensemble in a motion picture for Birdman.  And… it is an Emma Stone fiesta over at Turner Broadcasting today.  

But… I digress… let’s get down to business.

The SAG awards directly influence the Oscars.  And this needs to be said before I continue… the Academy loves actors who play characters with physical handicaps, mental handicaps, musicians, addicts, and characters dying of diseases.  No, I am not trying to be crass… so let’s test the theory:

Best Actor:

1945 – Ray Milland,  The Lost Weekend – Alcoholic
1951 – Humphrey Bogart – The African Queen – Alcoholic
1965 – Lee Marvin – Cat Ballou – Alcoholic

And now is when it gets good and my theory becomes more frequent. 

1975 – Jack Nicholson – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Mentally Ill
1976 – Peter Finch – Network – Nervous Breakdown
1977 – Richard Dreyfuss – The Goodbye Girl – Musician
1978 – Jon Voight -  Coming Home – Cripple
1983 – Robert Duvall – Tender Mercies – Musician
1984 – F. Murray Abraham – Amadeus - Musician
1988 – Dustin Hoffman – Rain Man – Autistic
1989 – Daniel Day-Lewis – My Left Foot – Physically Handicapped.
1991 – Anthony Hopkins – The Silence of the Lambs – Psychotic
1992 – Al Pacino – Sent of a Woman – Blind
1993 – Tom Hanks – Philadelphia – Dying of AIDS
1994 – Tom Hanks – Forrest Gump – Slow
1995 – Nicolas Cage – Leaving Las Vegas – Alcoholic
1996 – Geoffrey Rush – Shine – Mentally-Ill Musician
1997 – Jack Nicholson – As Good as It Gets – OCD  
2002 – Adrien Brody – The Pianist – Musician
2004 – Jamie Fox – Ray – Musician
2009 – Jeff Bridges – Crazy Heart – Alcoholic Musician
2010 – Colin Firth – The King’s Speech – Stuttering
2013 – Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club – Dying of AIDS.

Now… I could continue and do this for the other three acting categories… but I trust that you get my point.

And so now, after the SAG awards, I am pretty sure the four Oscar acting categories are a lock; three of which I already predicted:

Best Supporting Actor:  J. K. Simmons – Whiplash (Musician)

Best Supporting Actress:  Patricia Arquette – Boyhood (Mother of two who had been divorced three times… only to find out that her first husband was the best of the lot… mental illness?)

Best Actress:  Julianne Moore – Still Alice (Alzheimer’s disease)

Best Actor:  Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything (ALS).  Going into the SAG awards I thought Michael Keaton, for Birdman, had a chance, but when Eddie won, that pretty much locked him in as the Oscar winner.  Eddie did a fantastic job portraying Stephen Hawking’s’ affliction with ALS.  And with the Ice Bucket Challenge trending this year, it is a hot topic.  I did not particularly like this movie, mainly because I did not think it was a very good biography of Stephen Hawking, but it did do a good job showing how ALS affects a family… at least from the little knowledge I have on the subject, having an aunt who passed from the disease.


Best Picture:  With Birdman winning best ensemble at the SAG awards it is now in contention for Best Picture.  Statistically Boyhood is still the favorite… but anything can happen.  It is between these two films…

‘Boyhood’, ‘Birdman’, and The Screen Actors Guild Awards

Boyhood is an interesting experiment.  For those who do not know.  Richard Linklater, the director of Dazed and Confused, SubUrbia, The Newton Boys, and the amazing Before Sunset trilogy, filmed Boyhood over the course of 12 years using the same cast so they would age naturally, while telling the story of a boy, starting at age 6, balancing his divorced parents and his own life, until he goes off to college. 

This film could have been a total mess, especially since mathematically, based on the films runtime, each year of the story could only encompass about 15 minutes, on average.  That said, there is a coherent narrative and the performances by Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke are quite good.  Arquette is the front runner for the Supporting Actress Oscar.

Boyhood won the Golden Globe for best Drama… and I am glad that it is nominated for the Oscar… but I don’t really think it is best picture material.  As I said before, it is a successful experiment, just like Birdman (directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu).  Birdman is also a successful experiment; for completely different reasons.  And, these two movies are the front runners for Best Picture.  Frankly, I’m not over the moon for either of these films winning best picture, my favorite is still Whiplash (which isn’t going to win). 

Additionally, I think the directors of these two films, Richard and Alejandro, are the front runners for Best Director; mainly because their experiments were successful.  And these two are also, in my opinion, the front runners in the Original Screenplay category as well.  Whichever ends up with best Picture doesn’t really matter… because I think these two movies will at least walk away with 3 Oscars apiece.

EARLY OSCAR PREDICTIONS

Boyhood:  Best Director, Supporting Actress, Film Editing,

Birdman:  Best Actor, Original Screenplay, Best Sound, Cinematography.  I also wouldn’t be surprised of ‘Birdman’ walks away with the Oscars for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS

Tonight is the Screen Actors Guild Awards and what happens tonight will be very telling as we move towards the Oscars. 

Supporting Actress:  (Patricia Arquette), In the 20 years SAG has given out awards, 65% of the Supporting Actresses honored by SAG win the Oscar.  However, in more recent years, this number is much higher; just looking at the last 10 years that percentage jumps to 80%.  Patricia already has the Golden Globe, so a win tonight will pretty much lock her in for the Oscar.

Best Actor:  (Michael Keaton), Again, looking at the last 20 years of SAG, 80% of the winners in this category go on to win the Oscar.  But, historically, the Oscar favors the actor who wins Golden Globe for Drama, which would make Eddie Redmayne the statistical front runner.  HOWEVER, there are a number of statistical anomalies that makes tonight’s SAG Awards very important.  

First: 90% of the Golden Globe for Drama winners, who also win the SAG Award, win the Oscar.  Out of 11 occurrences, Russell Crowe is the only actor to fall short, losing the Oscar to Denzel Washington (Training Day), which is an anomaly unto itself.  But still… if Redmayne wins, he will be statistical front runner.

Second: 100% of the Golden Globe for Comedy/Musical winners, who also win the SAG Award, win the Oscar. This has happened three times in the last 20 years:  Jack Nicholson for As Good As It Gets, Jamie Foxx for Ray, and Jean Dujardin for The Artist.  So a win for Keaton tonight makes him a lock for the Oscar.  Statistically speaking.

Third:  What happens if neither Redmayne nor Keaton wins tonight at the SAG Awards and a third actor emerges?    Well, good question… and this has happened six times in the last 20 years.  And when this happens, the Oscar has favored the winner of the SAG Award 4 out of 6 times: Roberto Benigni (Life is Beautiful), Kevin Spacey (American Beauty), Sean Penn (Milk), and Benicio del Toro (Traffic).  However… Benicio won the Oscar for Supporting Actor, not Lead Actor (which went to Russell Crowe for Gladiator). 

The following scenarios are rare and probably will not happen, but I think they are interesting:

On one occasion, the winner of the Golden Globe for Drama (only) won the Oscar:  Sean Penn (Mystic River)… for some strange reason that year SAG gave Johnny Depp their award for Pirates of the Caribbean… and there was just no way he was going to win the Oscar for that. 

Finally, in the last 20 years, these four awards have gone to four different actors only once:  Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt – Golden Globe Drama), Richard Gere (Chicago - Golden Globe Comedy/Musical), Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York – SAG), and Adrien Brody (The Pianist – Oscar).  Please note… the Oscars LOVE an actor who plays the piano:  Geoffrey Rush, Holly Hunter, and Jamie Foxx; just to name the ones off the top of my head.  That said, the Oscars love actors who play someone physically handicapped or mentally ill… and that list is very long… and favors Eddie Redmayne.

Best Cast in a Motion Picture:  SAG only gives out awards for acting, so this is the closest you can get to ‘Best Picture’.  57% of the time, the SAG Awards goes to a film that did not win a Golden Globe.  And I think that will happen tonight.  My pick is Birdman.  Here is a quick break down of the Oscar odds based on the Golden Globe/SAG correlation, depending on who might win tonight:

Boyhood:  100%

The Grand Budapest Hotel:  50%
            Boyhood:  25%
            Birdman:  25%

Birdman:  27%
            Boyhood:  45%
            Grand Budapest:  9%
            The Imitation Game:  18%

When a third party wins the SAG, there is a possibility that a fourth film will come out of nowhere to win the Oscar.   When this happens it is always a film that was nominated for (and lost) both the Golden Globe for Drama and the SAG Award.  Which only leaves The Imitation Game or The Theory of Everything.  The former is a more likely bet.  However, even though the odds are in favor of Boyhood… my Oscar pick will be Birdman if it wins the SAG Award.

Well… enjoy the Screen Actors Guild Awards my friends!




Boyhood is an interesting experiment.  For those who do not know.  Richard Linklater, the director of Dazed and Confused, SubUrbia, The Newton Boys, and the amazing Before Sunset trilogy, filmed Boyhood over the course of 12 years using the same cast so they would age naturally, while telling the story of a boy, starting at age 6, balancing his divorced parents and his own life, until he goes off to college. 

This film could have been a total mess, especially since mathematically, based on the films runtime, each year of the story could only encompass about 15 minutes, on average.  That said, there is a coherent narrative and the performances by Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke are quite good.  Arquette is the front runner for the Supporting Actress Oscar.

Boyhood won the Golden Globe for best Drama… and I am glad that it is nominated for the Oscar… but I don’t really think it is best picture material.  As I said before, it is a successful experiment, just like Birdman (directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu).  Birdman is also a successful experiment; for completely different reasons.  And, these two movies are the front runners for Best Picture.  Frankly, I’m not over the moon for either of these films winning best picture, my favorite is still Whiplash (which isn’t going to win). 

Additionally, I think the directors of these two films, Richard and Alejandro, are the front runners for Best Director; mainly because their experiments were successful.  And these two are also, in my opinion, the front runners in the Original Screenplay category as well.  Whichever ends up with best Picture doesn’t really matter… because I think these two movies will at least walk away with 3 Oscars apiece.

EARLY OSCAR PREDICTIONS

Boyhood:  Best Director, Supporting Actress, Film Editing,

Birdman:  Best Actor, Original Screenplay, Best Sound, Cinematography.  I also wouldn’t be surprised of ‘Birdman’ walks away with the Oscars for Sound Editing and Sound Mixing.

THE INFLUENCE OF THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD AWARDS

Tonight is the Screen Actors Guild Awards and what happens tonight will be very telling as we move towards the Oscars. 

Supporting Actress:  (Patricia Arquette), In the 20 years SAG has given out awards, 65% of the Supporting Actresses honored by SAG win the Oscar.  However, in more recent years, this number is much higher; just looking at the last 10 years that percentage jumps to 80%.  Patricia already has the Golden Globe, so a win tonight will pretty much lock her in for the Oscar.

Best Actor:  (Michael Keaton), Again, looking at the last 20 years of SAG, 80% of the winners in this category go on to win the Oscar.  But, historically, the Oscar favors the actor who wins Golden Globe for Drama, which would make Eddie Redmayne the statistical front runner.  HOWEVER, there are a number of statistical anomalies that makes tonight’s SAG Awards very important.  

First: 90% of the Golden Globe for Drama winners, who also win the SAG Award, win the Oscar.  Out of 11 occurrences, Russell Crowe is the only actor to fall short, losing the Oscar to Denzel Washington (Training Day), which is an anomaly unto itself.  But still… if Redmayne wins, he will be statistical front runner.

Second: 100% of the Golden Globe for Comedy/Musical winners, who also win the SAG Award, win the Oscar. This has happened three times in the last 20 years:  Jack Nicholson for As Good As It Gets, Jamie Foxx for Ray, and Jean Dujardin for The Artist.  So a win for Keaton tonight makes him a lock for the Oscar.  Statistically speaking.

Third:  What happens if neither Redmayne nor Keaton wins tonight at the SAG Awards and a third actor emerges?    Well, good question… and this has happened six times in the last 20 years.  And when this happens, the Oscar has favored the winner of the SAG Award 4 out of 6 times: Roberto Benigni (Life is Beautiful), Kevin Spacey (American Beauty), Sean Penn (Milk), and Benicio del Toro (Traffic).  However… Benicio won the Oscar for Supporting Actor, not Lead Actor (which went to Russell Crowe for Gladiator). 

The following scenarios are rare and probably will not happen, but I think they are interesting:

On one occasion, the winner of the Golden Globe for Drama (only) won the Oscar:  Sean Penn (Mystic River)… for some strange reason that year SAG gave Johnny Depp their award for Pirates of the Caribbean… and there was just no way he was going to win the Oscar for that. 

Finally, in the last 20 years, these four awards have gone to four different actors only once:  Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt – Golden Globe Drama), Richard Gere (Chicago - Golden Globe Comedy/Musical), Daniel Day-Lewis (Gangs of New York – SAG), and Adrien Brody (The Pianist – Oscar).  Please note… the Oscars LOVE an actor who plays the piano:  Geoffrey Rush, Holly Hunter, and Jamie Foxx; just to name the ones off the top of my head.  That said, the Oscars love actors who play someone physically handicapped or mentally ill… and that list is very long… and favors Eddie Redmayne.

Best Cast in a Motion Picture:  SAG only gives out awards for acting, so this is the closest you can get to ‘Best Picture’.  57% of the time, the SAG Awards goes to a film that did not win a Golden Globe.  And I think that will happen tonight.  My pick is Birdman.  Here is a quick break down of the Oscar odds based on the Golden Globe/SAG correlation, depending on who might win tonight:

Boyhood:  100%

The Grand Budapest Hotel:  50%
            Boyhood:  25%
            Birdman:  25%

Birdman:  27%
            Boyhood:  45%
            Grand Budapest:  9%
            The Imitation Game:  18%

When a third party wins the SAG, there is a possibility that a fourth film will come out of nowhere to win the Oscar.   When this happens it is always a film that was nominated for (and lost) both the Golden Globe for Drama and the SAG Award.  Which only leaves The Imitation Game or The Theory of Everything.  The former is a more likely bet.  However, even though the odds are in favor of Boyhood… my Oscar pick will be Birdman if it wins the SAG Award.

Well… enjoy the Screen Actors Guild Awards my friends!




Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Best Performances of 2012 - Dynamic List



My ‘Best Performances’ dynamic lists are a lot like my Film lists, but slightly different.  For starters, while every film I see makes it onto my Film lists… only the most noteworthy performance make it onto my Best Performances lists.  Also, I only rank order what I consider the Top 5 Performances of the year.  However, I also maintain an Honorable Mentions list for each category, which is populated by performances that have either been bumped from the Top 5 or performances that are particularly noteworthy but not Top 5 worthy.  The honorable mentions are listed in alphabetical order by last name and are not rank ordered. 


That said, my Best Performances lists are just as dynamic and ever changing as my Film lists.

Best Performances of 2011:

Best Actor
1.     Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
2.     John Hawkes - The Sessions
3.     Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
4.     Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
5.     Al Pacino - Stand Up Guys

Honorable Mention
  • Ben Afleck - Argo
  • Paul Dano - Ruby Sparks
  • Mark Duplass - Safety Not Guaranteed
  • Will Ferrell - The Campaign
  • Jamie Fox - Django Unchained
  • Zack Galifanakis - The Campaign
  • Joseph Gorden-Levitt - Looper
  • Logan Lerman - The Perks of Being a Wallflower
  • Ewan McGregor - Salmon Fishing in The Yemen and The Impossible
  • Dev Patel - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
  • Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
  • Brad Pitt - Killing Them Softly
  • Mark Wahlberg - Contaband
  • Denzel Washington - Flight

Best Actress
1.     Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Lining Playbook
2.     Naomi Watts - The Impossible
3.     Zoe Kazan - Ruby Sparks
4.     Sally Field - Lincoln
5.     Aubrey Plaza - Safety Not Guaranteed

Honorable Mention
  • Emily Blunt - Salmon Fishing in The Yemen and Looper
  • Gina Carano - Haywire
  • Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
  • Blake Lively - Savages
  • Rachel McAdams - The Vow
  • Emma Watson - The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Best Supporting Actor
1.     Tom Holland - The Impossible
2.     Leonardo DiCaprio - Django Unchained
3.     Robert De Niro - Silver Lining Playbook
4.     Christopher Walken - Stand Up Guys
5.     Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

Honorable Mention
  • Alan Arkin - Argo and Stand Up Guys
  • Alec Baldwin - Rock of Ages
  • Antonio Banderas - Ruby Sparks
  • Russell Brand - Rock of Ages
  • Russell Crowe - The Man with the Iron Fists 
  • Tom Cruise - Rock of Ages
  • Ben Foster - Contraband
  • James Gandolfini - Killing Me Softly
  • Paul Giamatti - Rock of Ages
  • John Goodman - Argo, Trouble With the Curve, & Flight
  • Tom Hardy - Lawless
  • Woody Harrelson - The Hunger Games Seven Psychopaths
  • Richard Jenkins - Killing Me Softly
  • Jake Johnson - Safety Not Guaranteed
  • William H. Macy - The Sessions
  • Dylan McDermott - The Campaign
  • Scoot McNairy - Argo and Killing Me Softly
  • Ben Mendelsohn - Killing Me Softly
  • Chris Messina - Ruby Sparks
  • Ezra Miller - The Perks of Being a Wallflower
  • Bill Nighy - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
  • Giovanni Ribisi - Contraband
  • Sam Rockwell - Seven Psychopaths
  • Benicio del Toro - Savages
  • Amr Waked - Salmon Fishing in The Yemen
  • Christopher Walken - Seven Psychopaths
  • Bruce Willis - Looper

Best Supporting Actress
1.     Ann Hathoway - Les Miserables
2.     Helen Hunt - The Sessions
3.     Kristen Scott Thomas - Salmon Fishing in The Yemen
4.     Jacki Weaver - Silver Lining Playbook
5.     Maggie Smith - The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Honorable Mention
  • Sarah Baker - The Campaign
  • Elizabeth Banks - The Hunger Games
  • Annette Bening - Ruby Sparks
  • Rosemarie DeWitt - The Watch
  • Salma Hayak - Savages
  • Katherine LaNasa - The Campaign
  • Lucy Liu - The Man with the Iron Fists
  • Kelly Reilly - Flight
  • Catherine Zeta-Jones - Rock of Ages

Monday, March 11, 2013

Best Films of 2012 – Dynamic List


Now that the Oscars are over, it’s time to public my 2012 Dynamic List.

The concept of the Dynamic List is pretty simple.  As I see films, they become eligible to be placed onto the list.  The list is rank ordered from best to worst, so films are placed onto the list based on how I liked that film in comparison to others that came out the same year.  Just because a film enters the list at #10 doesn't mean it will stay there… as films enter the list, others will be pushed down to lower rankings, which is why the list is dynamic The list is ever changing.  Sure, my focus may be on the films of 2013, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped watching films from previous years.  And as I do… my previous lists continue to be dynamic!

Films of 2012:


  1.  The Impossible
  2.  Argo
  3.  Safety Not Guaranteed
  4. Life of Pi
  5. Silver Linings Playbook
  6. The Sessions
  7.  Salmon Fishing in The Yemen
  8.  Stand Up Guys
  9.  Lincoln
  10. Les Miserables
  11. Flight
  12. Zero Dark Thirty
  13. Beasts of the Southern Wild
  14. The Avengers
  15. Skyfall
  16. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
  17. Ruby Sparks
  18. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
  19. Django Unchained
  20. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
  21. Moonrise Kingdom
  22. Looper
  23. Seven Psychopaths
  24. Killing Them Softly
  25. Cloud Atlas
  26. Haywire
  27. Savages
  28. Rock of Ages
  29. Ted
  30. Rise of the Guardians
  31. The Campaign
  32. Contraband
  33. The Grey
  34. The Hunger Games
  35.  21 Jump Street
  36. Safe House
  37. Alex Cross
  38. Here Comes the Boom
  39. Arbitrage
  40. The Master
  41. Wreck It Ralph
  42. Trouble with the Curve
  43. The Watch
  44. Project X
  45. Prometheus
  46. Taken 2
  47. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
  48. The Woman in Black
  49. The Vow
  50. The Dictator
  51. Total Recall
  52. Act of Valor
  53. Pirates! Band of Misfits!
  54. Lawless
  55. Brave
  56. Chronicle
  57. The Man with the Iron Fists
  58. Premium Rush
  59. The Raven
  60. Bending the Rules
  61. The Lorax
  62. John Carter
  63. Underworld: Awakening
  64. Columbus Circle
  65. Se7en Below

Sunday, February 24, 2013

85th Academy Awards – Official Ballot


Today is the day!  My picks are locked in and ready to go.  For each category I have rank ordered my pictures from most likely to least-likely.


Best Picture: 
1.      Argo
2.     Zero Dark Thirty
3.     Silver Linings Playbook
4.     Life of Pi
5.     Les Miserables
6.     Lincoln
7.     Django Unchained
8.    Beasts of the Southern Wild
9.     Amour


Best Director:
1.      Ang Lee – Life of Pi
2.     David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
3.     Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
4.     Michael Haneke - Amour
5.     Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild


Best Leading Actor: 
1.      Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
2.     Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
3.     Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings PLaybook
4.     Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
5.     Denzel Washington – Flight


Best Leading Actress: 
1.      Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
2.     Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
3.     Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
4.     Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
5.     Naomi Watts – The Impossible


Best Supporting Actor: 
1.     Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
2.     Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
3.     Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
4.     Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook
5.     Alan Arkin – Argo


Best Supporting Actress: 
1.     Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
2.     Sally Field - Lincoln
3.     Amy Adams – The Master
4.     Helen Hunt – The Sessions
5.     Jackie Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook


Best Original Screenplay: 
1.      Django Unchained
2.     Zero Dark Thirty
3.     Moonrise Kingdom
4.     Amour
5.     Flight


Best Adapted Screenplay: 
1.      Argo
2.     Lincoln
3.     Silver Lining Playbook
4.     Beasts of the Southern Wild
5.     Life of Pi


Best Animated Feature: 
1.      Wreck-It-Ralph
2.     Brave
3.     Frankenweenie
4.     ParaNorman
5.     The Pirates!  Band of Misfits


Best Foreign Film: 
1.      Amour
2.     War Witch
3.     A Royal Affair
4.     No
5.     Kon-Tiki


Best Documentary Feature: 
1.      Searching for Sugar Man
2.     The Invisible War
3.     5 Broken Cameras
4.     The Gatekeepers
5.     How to Survive a Plague


Best Documentary Short: 
1.      Monday at Racine
2.     Inocente
3.     Open Heart
4.     Kings Point
5.     Redemption


Best Animated Short: 
1.      Adam and Dog
2.     Head Over Heels
3.     Paperman
4.     The Longest Daycare
5.     Fresh Guacamole


Best Live Action Short: 
1.      Asad
2.     Curfew
3.     Buzkashi Boys
4.     Death of a Shadow
5.     Henry


Best Original Score: 
1.      Life of Pi
2.     Argo
3.     Lincoln
4.     Skyfall
5.     Anna Karenina


Best Original Song: 
1.      Skyfall
2.     Les Miserables
3.     Life of Pi
4.     Ted
5.     Chasing Ice


Best Sound Editing: 
1.      Life of Pi
2.     Skyfall
3.     Argo
4.     Django Unchained
5.     Zero Dark Thirty


Best Sound Mixing: 
1.      Les Miserables
2.     Skyfall
3.     Life of Pi
4.     Argo
5.     Lincoln


Best Production Design: 
1.      Life of Pi
2.     Anna Karenina
3.     Lincoln
4.     Les Miserables
5.     The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey


Best Cinematography: 
1.      Life of Pi
2.     Skyfall
3.     Lincoln
4.     Django Unchained
5.     Anna Karenina


Best Makeup & Hairstyling: 
1.      The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey
2.     Les Miserables
3.     Hitchcock


Best Costume Design: 
1.      Anna Karenina
2.     Les Miserables
3.     Mirror Mirror
4.     Lincoln
5.     Snow White and the Huntsman


Best Film Editing: 
1.      Zero Dark Thirty
2.     Life of Pi
3.     Argo
4.     Lincoln
5.     Silver Lining Playbook


Best Visual Effects: 
1.      Life of Pi
2.     Marvel’s The Avengers
3.     The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey
4.     Prometheus
5.     Snow White and the Huntsman