12 Years a Slave Leads Boston Society of Film Critics Winners, with Wolf of Wall Street as the consistent Runner-Up (like Boston Online Critics)

12 Years a Slave took home three prizes at the Boston Society of Film Critics (BSFC) today, winning Picture, Director for Steve McQueen, and Best Actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor.  The other big winner was Enough Said, which won Best Screenplay, and James Gandolfini won Supporting Actor for the film.    The other most note able fact about the BSFC is that The Wolf of Wall Street made a lot of waves as the runner-up in many categories.  Cate Blanchett also continued her dominance at the critics group; she and Jared Leto have been continuously the two names present between winners, and runner-ups.

Boston Globe critic Ty Burr stated that many, including himself were not able to see a screening of Wall Street, but believe it could have done better, beating Slave even for Best Picture if it had been seen by more.

• Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave; runner-up: The Wolf of Wall Street
• Best Director: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave: runner-up: Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
• Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave: runner-up: Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
• Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine: Judi Dench in Philomena
• Best Supporting Actor: James Gandolfini, Enough Said; Runner-up: TIE! Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips, and Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
• Best Supporting Actress: June Squibb, Nebraska; Runner-up: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
• Best Screenplay: Enough Said; runner-up: Wolf of Wall Street
• Best Documentary:  The Act Of Killing; runner-up: Blackfish
• Best Animated Feature: The Wind Rises; runner-up: Frozen (near tie)
• Best New Filmmaker: Ryan Coogler for Fruitvale Station; runner-up: Josh Oppenheimer Act Of Killing
• Best Cinematography: Gravity, Emmanuel Lubezki; runner-up: The Grandmaster
• Best Editing: Rush; runner up: Wolf of Wall Street
• Best Use of Music in a Film: Inside Llewyn Davis; runner-up: Nebraska

American Hustle Leads New York Film Critics Awards with 3 wins-Most Controversial Winner in Years!

Last year at this time the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) picked another film, which was seen by only limited critics/audiences, and that was Zero Dark Thirty.  History has repeated itself here, and this year's big winner was the David O. Russell film American Hustle.  Hustle (which I saw last night) won Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Jennifer Lawrence won Best Supporting Actress.  There are always some grumbles about who wins the big awards here, but I have never seen so many critics/pundits/bloggers deride a critics organization as much as this year.  I will go on record stating I liked American Hustle, one of the more entertaining films of the year, but not a Best Film of the year.  Lawrence was also miscast, and how she won this award with her terrible New York accent is beyond me, but many of these critics are elites who do not interact with people who talk like she does, so I guess I understand.

12 Years a Slave the early favorite only took home one trophy for Best Director, Steve McQueen. Cate Blanchett won Best Actress for Blue Jasmine, Jared Leto won Best Supporting Actor for Dallas Buyers Club, Robert Redford won Best Actor for All is Lost, and Inside Llewyn Davis won Best Cinematography. While Hustle took home 3 every other film just got one win, making this an interesting start to the award season, and shaking things up a bit.  See the full winners list down below.

2000s (source Wikipedia)

Year	Winner	Director(s)
2000	Traffic	Steven Soderbergh
2001	Mulholland Drive	David Lynch
2002	Far from Heaven	Todd Haynes
2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King *	Peter Jackson
2004	Sideways	Alexander Payne
2005	Brokeback Mountain	Ang Lee
2006	United 93	Paul Greengrass
2007	No Country for Old Men *	Joel and Ethan Coen
2008	Milk	Gus Van Sant
2009	The Hurt Locker *	Kathryn Bigelow

2010s

Year	Winner	Director(s)
2010	The Social Network	David Fincher
2011	The Artist *	Michel Hazanavicius
2012	Zero Dark Thirty	Kathryn Bigelow
2013	American Hustle	David O. Russell

Over the last 13 years, the 2000s only 4 films have won this awards, and won Best Picture at the Oscar, they have * next to their names above.  The NYFCC pushed to be first award last year, and it may back fire on their winner in several ways.  Zero Dark Thirty was hit with tons of torture controversy.  American Hustle is being hit with the "it was great but not the best," which is accurate!  Ironically both of these films were produced by Meaghan Ellison.  How will Hustle fair?  Only time will tell.  As the first winner I think it has more of a mountain to climb.

This was a big boost for Robert Redford; he was flat lining a little bit, but this win puts him in good company. Only one man who won here in the 2000s and was not not nominated for Oscar, Paul Giamatti for Sideways.

Cate Blanchett has the nomination, but does she have the win?  Only three women have won at NYFCC and Oscar within the last 12 years:  Reese Witherspoon in Walk the Line (2005)Helen Mirren in The Queen (2006), and Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady (2011).  Will Cate be a steam roller?

Steve McQueen has the most to cheer about, well statistically speaking. 7 of the last 12 winners in the Best Director category have won at Oscar, and impressive statistic.  Although 3 of those 12 missed out on a nomination.

As the first critics group of the season there is a long way to go, but today certainly got my blood going in many different directions, so let the excitement begin.

Full list of winners (will be updated with Runners-Up)

Best Picture: American Hustle
Best Actor: Robert Redford, All Is Lost
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Director: Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Best Foreign Language Film: Blue Is the Warmest Color
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Animated Film: The Wind Rises
Best Screenplay: American Hustle
Best Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel, Inside Llewyn Davis
Best First Film: Fruitvale Station
Best Documentary: Stories We Tell

State of the Oscar Race 2013: Exploring the Unknown in this Year's Supporting Actor Oscar Category

Last year's Supporting Actor race was one of the most interesting races.  The critics loved Matthew McConaughey in Magic Mike, but he was ignored at all of the "major" award shows.  Tommy Lee Jones got some recognition from critics groups, and the Screen Actor's Guild Awards (SAG).  The eventual winner was Christoph Waltz who also won at the Golden Globes, and BAFTA, for what is largely refereed to by many as a lead performance. What made this category interesting last year was the fact that every nominee was a previous winner, the other two nominees were Alan Arkin for Argo, who won for Little Miss Sunshine, and Robert DeNiro in Silver Linings Playbook, who has two Oscars one for The Godfather Part II, and one for Raging Bull.

What makes this year just as interesting?  The fact that only Tom Hanks who will compete for Saving Mr. Banks has the most history with Oscar with 5 nominations, and 2 wins in the lead category.  This category has a lot of unknown factors. Many of the performers within this category have never received Academy attention, or have only been nominated once before.  See the the list of major contenders listed below:

Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club (never nominated)
Pro: Method performance, many actors eat up a performance like this, and why shouldn't they?  Leto is great and I would argue is the front runner.
Cons: Does the slight homophobia which exists in Hollywood understand this performance, the more conservative voters.  Will they get this role?

Tom Hanks, Saving Mr. Banks (two time Oscar nominee, 5 time nominee in acting)
Pros: Enter Tom Hanks who is getting rave reviews for playing Walt Disney, the man who has the most Oscar nominations, and basically beloved.  A beloved actor playing a beloved Oscar winner, Hollywood eats that up!
Cons: Hanks has 2 Oscars, is that enough?  Some may think yes

Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave (only nominated for Golden Globe)
Pros: Oscar loves their bad boys in this category, and Fassbender is the baddest!  
Cons:  Is he too bad?  I do not think he can win, but a nomination is likely.  He has also said that he will not campaign.,

Barkhad Abdi-Captain Phillips (never nominated)
Pros: Hanks is going to champion Abdi to a nomination, and he has a lot of friends.  I have heard a lot of celebrities talk about how impressed they were with this relative unknown.
Cons: His unknown status, are people going think only about the titular Captain Phillips aka Tom Hanks.

Daniel Bruhl, Rush (never nominated) 
Pros: Great performance about overcoming and affliction, and achieveing even further greatness, the classic success story Oscar likes to see.
Cons: No one saw this film, and unless Bruhl gets major love from the critics he could be all but ignored, if he shows up at the Critics Choice and Globes this could telling.

Harrison Ford-42 (nominated for 1 Oscar)
Pros: The only performer who could seen as that underrated performer in this category this year; he has only one Oscar nomination, and is vastly overdue for consideration.
Cons: Solid performance in a decent film, it has happened many times before, but 42 is not going to be considered in any other categories, which again has happened before, but does he deserve it for this?

John Goodman, Inside Llewyn Davis (never nominated)
Pros:  Goodman has been on the radar of Oscar the last few years turning in great scene stealing performances in Argo, and Flight.  Goodman is a Coen regular, could this be the role that finally gets him on Oscars radar?
Cons: Is Davis going to be one of those Coen movies Oscar voters "do not get?"  It could, but prestige may win out, and help sneak in this category.

Matthew McConaughey, Mud (never nominated)
Pros: He is going to get attention for Dallas Buyers Club, which could make others tune into this film as well; he also gives a great understated performance.
Cons: McConaughey a double nominee in one year?  The film did better than Take Shelter, but are people/voters going to tune in, or make this happen?

David Oyewelo, The Butler (never nominated)
Pros:  The film has the Weinstein Co. on its side, and they know how to get nominations, see Silver Linings Playbook last year.  Oyewelo is great in the film and deserves consideration.  People are underestimating the two men in this film.
Cons:  Another unknown, and while I am certain Harvey will do a major push for The Butler at the moment its an out sight film.

Jake Gylenhaal, Prisoners (nominated for 1 Oscar)
Pro: Like with his previous nomination Gylenhaal could get a nomination for a lead role, did they really campaign him supporting for Brokeback because he was the bottom?  "Leads" do well in this category
Cons: Prisoners seems out of sight out of mind, one of those forgotten films that just was solid and well made, but will never hit Oscars radar.

Bradley Cooper, American Hustle (nominated for 1 Oscar)
Pro: He was nominated for an O. Russell film just last year.
Cons: No one has seen the film, hard to say.

This is of course not every possible contender, but these appear to be the strongest at the moment.  The nominees will be centered around a combination of which films people "love" and performances they admire, except for Hanks none of these men have been "major" players for Oscar more than once.  Only Ford fits in the overdue category, like Christopher Plummer, James Coburn, and Morgan Freeman, but he is on the low end of most predictions.  I am excited to see how this category turns out, there are so many great supporting performances out there.

Dallas Buyers Club is a Fantastic Film, Lead by Two Strong Performances from Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto

Dallas Buyers Club (4 out of 5 Stars)

Directed by: Jean Marc-Vallee (The Young Victoria)

Written by: Craig Bortan and Melisa Wallack (Mirror Mirror)

Starring Matthew McConnaughey, Jared Leto and Jennifer Garner

People always talk about the fact that a "cure" for HIV/AIDS has to be around the corner.  This film focuses on buyers clubs which are underground methods which attempt to get around federal/state laws.  Buyers clubs exist for all sorts of this ranging from marijuana to the focus of this film the Dallas Byers Club, which helped people get safe medication while high dosage of AZT was crippling people's immune systems.

The film tells the story of Ron Woodroof (McConnaughey) a straight male who is diagnosed with HIV and eventually contracts the AIDS virus.  Woodroof had lots of unprotected sex and did lots of drugs, but at the time of his diagnosis HIV/AIDS was still known as GRID (Gay Related Immune Deficiency). The climate of Texas at the time, and for the most part still today there was rampant homophobia.  Woodroof is told he has 30 days, and eventually fights to get treatment through buying AZT illegally.  Once the well runs dry Woodroof ends up in Mexico and all over the world finding alternatives to helping people feel healthy with the disease.  Woodroof starts this buyers club with woman named Rayon (Leto), together they create the Dallas Buyers Club where they sell membership to people dying of the diseases.

Club is a powerful film, and the film is made great by the performances from McConnaughey and Leto.  McConnaughey has knocked me out this year with two terrific performances in both this and Mud.  In Club McConnaughey transforms his body for the role losing tons of weight, but also disappearing into this character.  Woodroof is kind of scumbag throughout most of the movie, and he's someone you want to hate mainly for his rampant homophobia.  McConnaughey adds so many layers to this character making him layered, showing his passion, and heart to not help keep himself healthy, but to do right by other people in fighting the FDA on the policies.  The best role of his career.

I have always thought Leto was a great actor, Fight Club, American Psycho, but most of his career has been focused on his time as a musician with 30 Seconds to Mars.  Leto proves he has the chops as Rayon a transgender female.  While McConnaughey is going to get most of the attention because he is great, Leto gives this film heart; he is fantastic as Rayon.   Rayon has confidence, but in her vulnerable moments Leto shows the cracks in the exterior beautifully; he is phenomenal.

While these two men deserve the vast majority of the credit, the unsung hero of this project is writer Craig Bortan.  There is no data,, or information about Woodroof beyond an interview Bortan did with him in 1992 one month before Woodroof passed away.  In the interview Woodroof was said to be incredibly candid, mainly because he knew was so close to death.  Bortan does a good job giving these two people such fantastic depth.  My one complaint in the film is Garner's character who plays a doctor, helping run AZT trials.  Garner is great, but I think the character pulls focus away from these two.  Woodroof getting a love interest made the man in the film "more like able" but the goal of the film should be the man behind the club.  I found McConnaughey's growth as a person and connection to Rayon to be strong enough to make this a great film.

Director Jean Marc-Vallee brings to life an intricately woven tale about a complex man, and his constant struggle to live while fighting the government and some of their most inane regulations.  Marc-Vallee's first film, which I saw entitled C.R.A.Z.Y., was fantastic, The Young Victoria was a bit cold, but not bad.  This takes his direction to a whole new level, and creates an experience, which can't be forgotten.