Phoenix Film Critics Society 2013 Awards

By all estimates, 2013 was a brilliant year for movies. I mostly agree, assuming we can all ignore the lamentable summer, with its festering pustules of action nonsense, including the forgettable Superman movie and the truly awful Pain & Gain. At some point after the summer's wounds had healed, though, the year in cinema really sparkled with some remarkable pictures, including 12 years of Slave, which took home top honors at the annual Phoenix Film Critics Society awards.

I've been a member of the PFCS since 2001, and I'm always impressed at our annual awards choices. Sometimes we lean toward the regretable (A Beautiful Mind won lots of awards) and the predictable (Slumdog Millionaire, The Artist, The King's Speech), but mostly we vote some unique choices, including that year we picked Sam Rockwell for Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. This year I was trying to really go nuts by voting for Scarlett Johansson for best actress for Her, in which she only voices a lovely operating system. I was also campaigning hard for The Spectacular Now, which I'm going to (spoiler alert) name my top movie later this month. 

Here are the complete list of winners:

Phoenix Film Critics Society 2013 Awards

Best Picture

12 Years a Slave

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Top 10 Films (in alphabetical order)

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Mud

Nebraska

Philomena

Saving Mr. Banks

Short Term 12

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Best Director

Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

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Best Actor

Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

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Best Actress

Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

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Best Supporting Actor

Jared Leto, Dallas Buyer's Club

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Best Supporting Actress

Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave

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Best Ensemble Acting

American Hustle

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Best Original Screenplay

Nebraska

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Best Adapted Screenplay

12 Years a Slave

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Best Live-Action Family Film

Oz, The Great and Powerful

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Overlooked Film of the Year

The Kings of Summer (tie)

The Spectacular Now (tie)

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Best Animated Film

Frozen

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Best Foreign Language Film

Blue is the Warmest Color

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Best Documentary

20 Feet From Stardom

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Best Original Song

"Let It Go," Frozen

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Best Original Score

Frozen

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Best Cinematography

Gravity

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Best Film Editing

Gravity

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Best Production Design

Gravity

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Best Costume Design

The Great Gatsby

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Best Visual Effects

Gravity

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Best Stunts

Fast & Furious 6

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Breakthrough Performance on Camera

Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis

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Breakthrough Performance Behind the Camera

Lake Bell, In a World …

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Best Youth Performance (Male)

Tye Sheridan, Mud

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Best Youth Performance (Female)

Sophie Nelisse, The Book Thief