The Oscars are over but I still have a few things to say about the 2013 film year, one of the most diverse slates of films we’ve been given. I did one quick perusal of the year and decided what I would have done had I been given an Oscar ballot way back in December. The categories are listed in order of preference, with my favorites of the year listed first. Sidenote: These were also my Awards Circuit staff awards votes. For the most part 😉

Best Picture: My list is posted here.

Best Director

  1. James Wan, The Conjuring
  2. Sarah Polley, Stories We Tell
  3. Martin Scorcese, The Wolf of Wall Street
  4. Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
  5. Spike Jonze, Her

Best Actor

  1. Alden Ehrenreich, Beautiful Creatures
  2. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
  3. Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
  4. Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station
  5. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Great Gatsby

Best Actress

  1. Adele Exarchopolous, Blue is the Warmest Color
  2. Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
  3. Brie Larsen, Short Term 12
  4. Shailene Woodley, The Spectacular Now
  5. Amy Acker, Much Ado About Nothing

Supporting Actor

  1. Dwayne Johnson, Pain and Gain
  2. Keith Stanfield, Short Term 12
  3. Ben Foster, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
  4. Michael C Hall, Kill Your Darlings
  5. Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

Supporting Actress

  1. Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels’ The Butler
  2. Elizabeth Debicki, The Great Gatsby
  3. Emma Watson, The Bling Ring
  4. Margot Robbie, The Wolf of Wall Street
  5. Melanie Diaz, Fruitvale Station

Original Screenplay

  1. Kill Your Darlings
  2. This is The End
  3. Her
  4. The Conjuring
  5. Stories We Tell

Adapted Screenplay

  1. The Wolf of Wall Street
  2. Lee Daniels’ The Butler
  3. Short Term 12
  4. Frozen
  5. Beautiful Creatures

Film Editing

  1. Stories We Tell
  2. Upstream Color
  3. Captain Phillips
  4. The Conjuring
  5. The Wolf of Wall Street

Production Design

  1. The Great Gatsby
  2. Her
  3. Stoker
  4. The Conjuring
  5. Kill Your Darlings

Cinematography

  1. The Conjuring
  2. Upstream Color
  3. 12 Years a Slave
  4. Gravity
  5. Her

Costume Design

  1. The Great Gatsby
  2. Bling Ring
  3. American Hustle
  4. Mother of George
  5. Pacific Rim

Make Up

  1. Evil Dead
  2. Lone Survivor
  3. Lee Daniels’ The Butler

Visual Effects

  1. Gravity
  2. Her
  3. Oblivion
  4. Lone Survivor
  5. The Conjuring

Score

  1. Oblivion
  2. Frozen
  3. The Conjuring
  4. Star Trek Into Darkness
  5. Spring Breakers

Sound Design

  1. The Conjuring
  2. 12 Years a Slave
  3. Upstream Color
  4. Lone Survivor
  5. Oblivion

Yes I am aware this isn’t an Oscar category, however these are my votes for the best sound of the year.

Animated Feature

  1. Frozen
  2. Monsters University
  3. The Croods
  4. Ernest and Celestine

Foreign Language

  1. Child’s Pose
  2. Of Horses and Men
  3. The Past
  4. The Great Beauty
  5. Ernest and Celestine

Documentary

  1. Stories We Tell
  2. American Promise
  3. Unhung Hero
  4. A River Changes Course
  5. After Tiler

Original Song

  1. A Little Party Never Killed Nobody (All We Got) – The Great Gatsby
  2. For the First Time in Forever (Reprise) – Frozen
  3. Young and Beautiful – The Great Gatsby
  4. In the Middle of the Night – Lee Daniels’ The Butler
  5. So You Know What It’s Like – Short Term 12