Oscar picks for 2013

My choices for the best in 2013 film.

Top picks denoted with a (*).

Best Picture of the Year
“American Hustle”
“Frances Ha”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“Short Term 12”
“The Spectacular Now”
“Stories We Tell”
*“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
*Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”
Tom Hanks in “Captain Phillips”
Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club”
Joaquin Phoenix in “Her”
Miles Teller in “The Spectacular Now”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
*Greta Gerwig in “Frances Ha”
Brie Larson in “Short Term 12”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus in “Enough Said”
Emma Thompson in “Saving Mr. Banks”
Shailene Woodley in “The Spectacular Now”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Bradley Cooper in “American Hustle”
*Bruce Dern in “Nebraska”
Michael Fassbender in “12 Years a Slave”
James Gandolfini in “Enough Said”
Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Lawrence in “American Hustle”
*Lupita N’yongo in “12 Years a Slave”
Lea Seydoux in “Blue is the Warmest Color”
June Squibb in “Nebraska”
Oprah Winfrey in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”

Best Achievement in Directing
*“12 Years a Slave”  Steve McQueen
“American Hustle”  David O. Russell
“Frances Ha”  Noah Baumbach
“Her”  Spike Jonze
“Nebraska”  Alexander Payne

Best Screenplay Based On Material Previously Produced or Published
“The Broken Circle Breakdown”  screenplay by Carl Joos and Felix Van Groeningen
“Short Term 12”  screenplay by Destin Daniel Cretton
“The Spectacular Now”  screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
*“12 Years a Slave”  screenplay by John Ridley
“The Wind Rises”  screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki

Best Screenplay Written Directly For the Screen
“American Hustle”  written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
“Enough Said”  written by Nicole Holofcener
“Frances Ha”  written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
*“Her”  written by Spike Jonze
“Nebraska”  written by Bob Nelson

Best Achievement In Art Direction
“Gravity”  Andy Nicholson, production design; Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woollard, set decoration
*“Her”  K.K. Barrett, production design; Gene Serdena, set decoration
“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”  Philip Messina, production design; Larry Dias, set decoration
“Inside Llewyn Davis”  Jess Gonchor, production design; Susan Bode Tyson, set decoration
“12 Years a Slave”  Adam Stockhausen, production design; Alice Baker, set decoration

Best Achievement In Cinematography
“Gravity”  Emmanuel Lubezki
“Her”  Hoyte Van Hoytema
“Inside Llewyn Davis”  Bruno Delbonnel
“Nebraska”  Phedon Papamichael
*“12 Years a Slave”  Sean Bobbitt

Best Achievement In Costume Design
*“American Hustle”  Michael Wilkinson
“The Great Gatsby”  Catherine Martin
“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”  Trish Summerville
“The Invisible Woman”  Michael O'Connor
“12 Years a Slave”  Patricia Norris

Best Achievement In Film Editing
“American Hustle”  Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers
“Gravity”  Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
“Her”  Jeff Buchanan, Eric Zumbrunnen
*“12 Years a Slave”  Joe Walker
“Upstream Color”  Shane Carruth, David Lowery

Best Achievement In Makeup
*“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler”
“Rush”

Best Achievement In Music (Original Score)
*“Her”  Will Butler, Owen Pallett
“Oblivion”  Anthony Gonzalez, Joseph Trapanese
“12 Years a Slave”  Hans Zimmer
“Upstream Color”  Shane Carruth
“The Wind Rises”  Joe Hisaishi

Best Achievement In Music (Original Song)
*“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
“In the Middle of the Night” from “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”
“The Moon Song” from “Her”
“Oblivion” from “Oblivion”
“So You Know What It's Like” from “Short Term 12”

Best Achievement In Sound
“Captain Phillips”
*“Gravity”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Star Trek Into Darkness”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Achievement In Sound Editing
“All is Lost” 
*“Gravity”
“Pacific Rim”
“12 Years a Slave”
“Upstream Color”

Best Achievement In Visual Effects 
*“Gravity”
“Oblivion”
“Pacific Rim”
“Star Trek Into Darkness”
“Thor: The Dark World”

Best Feature Length Animated Film
*“The Wind Rises”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Blue is the Warmest Color”  France
“The Broken Circle Breakdown”  Belgium
“The Hunt”  Denmark
“Something in the Air”  France
*“The Wind Rises”  Japan

Best Documentary Film
“After Tiller”
“American Promise”
“The Square”
*“Stories We Tell”
“20 Feet From Stardom”

Special Awards:

Ensemble Cast: “12 Years a Slave”

Music Supervision: “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Voice Over Performance:  Scarlett Johansson in “Her”

And because limiting nominees isn't enough for acting categories, honorable mentions to the following performances...

Best actor: Robert Redford (“All is Lost”); Isaiah Washington (“Blue Caprice”); Oscar Isaac (“Inside Llewyn Davis”); Christian Bale (“American Hustle”); Ralph Fiennes (“The Invisible Woman”)

Best actress: Sandra Bullock (“Gravity”); Felicity Jones (“The Invisible Woman”); Amy Adams (“American Hustle”); Cate Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine”); Veerle Baetens (“The Broken Circle Breakdown”)

Best supporting actor: Danny McBride (“This is the End”); John Gallagher Jr. (“Short Term 12”); Daniel Bruhl (“Rush”); Tom Hanks (“Saving Mr. Banks”)

Best supporting actress: Mickey Sumner (“Frances Ha”); Sarah Paulson (“12 Years a Slave”); Julianne Moore (“Don Jon”); Adepero Oduye (“12 Years a Slave”)