I play fast and loose with my awards, the general structure is 5 nominees, including a 2nd place and winner. But sometimes I abandon that, or work around it by cheating. You see, I'm the despot of this little kingdom so my want is my pleasure. I see the point of all this as getting across some thoughts about the year in film (and those who contributed to it) so if that's done better outside of structured rules, so be it!
Enough prologuing - let's get to the good stuff.
Top 10 films of the year
10. 12 Years a Slave (dir. Steve McQueen)
Freedom is only an idea, and like most ideas it can be forgotten or remembered at a moments notice.
9. Spring Breakers (dir. Harmony Korine)
So is this what YOLO means?
8. Gravity (dir. Alfonso Cuaron)
At that moment, when we find ourselves untethered, floating aimlessly in the great darkness; it is then we need to remember - from the earth we came, and to the earth we return.
7. Wolf Children (dir. Mamoru Hosoda)
Let children be children, even if they want to be wolves.
6. The Wolf of Wall Street (dir. Martin Scorsese)
At that moment, when we find ourselves untethered, floating aimlessly in the great darkness... SCREW PHILOSOPHY - Money, $EX, drugs, fame!!!! ..... and more drugs.
5. No (dir. Pablo Larrain)
So wait, advertising is the hero?
4. Frances Ha (dir. Noah Baumbach)
Growing up is hard to do. It takes much longer than it ought. But then what do I know; I'm not a real person yet either.
3. Inside Llewyn Davis (dir. Joel and Ethan Coen)
Sing, fuck up, rinse, repeat. The only advice worth taking is impossible to follow.
2. The Wind Rises (Hayao Miyazaki)
Beauty never enters the world without consequences; from the garden, to Helen of Troy, to airplanes... beautiful airplanes - what a gift, now we can scoff at the sky saying 'you too are now part of our world'.
1. Before Midnight (dir. Richard Linklater)
Where are we now? How can we go back to the old stories? To sunrises, trains, harpsichords, boats, and sunsets? Our story now is indivisible; we are as much each other as ourselves.
Honourable Mentions
The Bling Ring, Captain Phillips, The Croods, Enough Said, From Up On Poppy Hill, I'm So Excited, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Unspeakable Act.
The Awards
Best Director
Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Hayao Miyazaki (The Wind Rises)
2nd - Pablo Larrain (No)
Richard Linklater (Before Midnight)
Best Actress
Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Enough Said)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Ashley Benson, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Rachel Korine (Spring Breakers)
2nd - Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha)
Julie Delpy (Before Midnight)
Best Actor
Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Ethan Hawke (Before Midnight)
2nd - Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Best Supporting Actor
Alfredo Castro (No)
Ryan Gosling (The Place Beyond the Pines)
Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
2nd - Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)
James Franco (Spring Breakers)
Best Supporting Actress
Eva Mendes (The Place Beyond the Pines)
Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Colleen Clinkbeard (Wolf Children)
2nd - Cary Mulligan (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Ensemble
Inside Llewyn Davis
Before Midnight
Frances Ha
2nd - The Wolf of Wall Street
No
Screenplay (original or adapted)
Kirk DeMicco, Chris Sanders (The Croods)
Joel and Ethan Coen (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Mamoru Hosoda, Satoko Okudera (Wolf Children)
Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, Darius Marder (Place beyond the Pines)
Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said)
Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street)
John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)
3rd - Pedro Peirano (No)
3rd - Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha)
2nd - Hayao Miyazaki (The Wind Rises)
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke (Before Midnight)
Cinematography
Sergio Armstrong (No)
Christos Voudouris (Before Midnight)
Harris Savides, Christopher Blauvelt (The Bling Ring)
2nd - Bruno Delbonnel (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity)
