A FEW CURVEBALLS FROM THE SAN DIEGO FILM CRITICS SOCIETY NOMINATIONS

All dem critics groups lately have been laying it on thick with the long lists of nominations, so the San Diego Film Critics Society thought they'd join in on the fun. Serious love for Short Term 12, as it appears on a Best Film slate and a Best Director one, each comprised of just five films. Young-skewing acting nominations don't include Bruce Dern, Judi Dench, June Squibb, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. I'm delighted by four of those cinematography nominees, especially by a nomination for Emmanuel Lubezki for To the Wonder, but I'm perplexed by all the love of late for Simon Duggan's work on The Great Gatsby. Anyway... A week from now, on the 17th of December, they'll announce their winners.

Best Film

·          12 Years a Slave

·          Gravity

·          Her

·          Inside Llewyn Davis

·          Short Term 12

Best Director

·          Ethan Coen and Joel Coen (Inside Llewyn Davis)

·          Destin Cretton (Short Term 12)

·          Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)

·          Spike Jonze (Her)

·          Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)

Best Actor

·          Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)

·          Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)

·          Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis)

·          Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

·          Joaquin Phoenix (Her)

Best Actress

·          Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

·          Sandra Bullock (Gravity)

·          Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Colour)

·          Brie Larson (Short Term 12)

·          Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks)

Best Supporting Actor

·          Daniel Brühl (Rush)

·          Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)

·          James Gandolfini (Enough Said)

·          Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

·          Sam Rockwell (The Way, Way Back)

Best Supporting Actress

·          Elizabeth Banks (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)

·          Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)

·          Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)

·          Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)

·          Shailene Woodley (The Spectacular Now)

Best Original Screenplay

·          Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine)

·          Ethan Coen and Joel Coen (Inside Llewyn Davis)

·          Aaron Guzikowski (Prisoners)

·          Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said)

·          Spike Jonze (Her)

Best Adapted Screenplay

·          Destin Cretton (Short Term 12)

·          Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater (Before Midnight)

·          Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (The Spectacular Now)

·          Billy Ray (Captain Phillips)

·          John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)

Best Cinematography

·          Roger Deakins (Prisoners)

·          Bruno Delbonnel (Inside Llewyn Davis)

·          Simon Duggan (The Great Gatsby)

·          Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity)

·          Emmanuel Lubezki (To the Wonder)

Best Editing

·          Alan Edward Bell (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)

·          Jeff Buchanan and Eric Zumbrunnen (Her)

·          Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger (Gravity)

·          Christopher Rouse (Captain Phillips)

·          Joe Walker (12 Years a Slave)

Best Production Design

·          K.K. Barrett (Her)

·          Michael Corenblith (Saving Mr. Banks)

·          Catherine Martin and Karen Murphy (The Great Gatsby)

·          Andy Nicholson (Gravity)

·          Adam Stockhausen (12 Years a Slave)

Best Score

·          Arcade Fire (Her)

·          Bjorn Eriksson (The Broken Circle Breakdown)

·          Steven Price (Gravity)

·          Hans Zimmer (Rush)

·          Hans Zimmer (12 Years a Slave)

Best Ensemble Performance

·          12 Years a Slave

·          American Hustle

·          Prisoners

·          Short Term 12

·          The Way, Way Back

Best Animated Film

·          The Croods

·          Despicable Me 2

·          Frozen

·          Get a Horse!

·          The Wind Rises

Best Documentary

·          20 Feet from Stardom

·          The Act of Killing

·          Blackfish

·          Let the Fire Burn

·          Stories We Tell

Best Foreign Language Film

·          Blue Is the Warmest Colour

·          The Broken Circle Breakdown

·          Drug War

·          The Hunt

·          No