Cosmo nominations are open!

Oscar nominations for the Academy Awards have been announced, and that means that it's time to start casting your nominations for the Twelfth Cosmique Movie Awards.

Upset about the Oscars? Unhappy that no people of color were nominated for acting awards? Mad that Carol wasn't recognized for Best Picture or Best Director? Annoyed that The Martian got nominated for comedic awards at the Golden Globes? The Cosmos are your opportunity to show who you think should have been nominated instead.

And we have plenty of awards for things they don't recognize, either. Awards for favorite heroes and villains, as well as for Action Adventure, Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Superhero films, among other genre awards. Sexy awards like Sexiest Ensemble, characters you most want to be intimate with, and best nudity -- gratuitous or otherwise. Plus dishonorable mentions for worst film, most overrated film, and worst performance.

Timeline

• Sunday, February 14, 2016 - Nomination ballots are due by midnight
• Sunday, February 28, 2016 - Nominations announced, final ballots open
• TBD - Final ballots due
• TBD - Winners announced

Preparing to Vote (Optional)

If you wish, download one of our lists of eligible films to refresh your memory of what you've seen this year.

• Excel check-off list
• PDF list

Casting Your Nominations

Long story, but the web form ballot is currently not working. We have ballots in MS Word and in plain text formats. Download either one, fill it out at your leisure, and email it to ballots@cosmomovieawards.com no later than midnight on Sunday, February 14, 2016.

• MS Word ballot or
• Plain Text ballot

If you've returned a ballot and want to make a change, just email us before Sunday, February 14 and explain the changes you would like to make.

Oscar nominations announced

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has announced their nominees for the 88th Academy Awards, and The Revenant leads with 12 nominations, followed by Mad Max: Fury Road with 10 and The Martian with seven.

All three were nomination for Best Picture, along with The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Room, and Spotlight.

Both The Revenant and Mad Max score Best Director nominations for Alejandro G. Iñárritu and George Miller, respectively. The other Best Director nominees included Lenny Abrahamson for Room, Tom McCarthy for Spotlight, and Adam McKay for The Big Short.

Here is the complete list of nominees:

Best Picture

• The Big Short
• Bridge of Spies
• Brooklyn
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Room
• Spotlight

Best Director

• Lenny Abrahamson - Room
• Alejandro G. Iñárritu - The Revenant
• Tom McCarthy - Spotlight
• Adam McKay - The Big Short
• George Miller - Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Actress

• Cate Blanchett - Carol
• Brie Larson - Room
• Jennifer Lawrence - Joy
• Charlotte Rampling - 45 Years
• Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn

Best Actor

• Bryan Cranston - Trumbo
• Matt Damon - The Martian
• Leonardo DiCaprio - The Revenant
• Michael Fassbender - Steve Jobs
• Eddie Redmayne - The Danish Girl

Best Supporting Actress

• Jennifer Jason Leigh - The Hateful Eight
• Rooney Mara - Carol
• Rachel McAdams - Spotlight
• Alicia Vikander - The Danish Girl
• Kate Winslet - Steve Jobs

Best Supporting Actor

• Christian Bale - The Big Short
• Tom Hardy - The Revenant
• Mark Ruffalo - Spotlight
• Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies
• Sylvester Stallone - Creed

Best Adapted Screenplay

• The Big Short
• Brooklyn
• Carol
• The Martian
• Room

Best Original Screenplay

• Bridge of Spies
• Ex Machina
• Inside Out
• Spotlight
• Straight Outta Compton

Best Animated Feature

• Anomalisa
• Boy and the World
• Inside Out
• Shaun the Sheep Movie
• When Marnie Was There

Best Cinematography

• Carol
• The Hateful Eight
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Sicario

Best Production Design

• Bridge of Spies
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant

Best Costume Design

• Carol
• Cinderella
• The Danish Girl
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant

Best Makeup and Hair Styling

• The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant

Best Visual Effects

• Ex Machina
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Documentary Feature

• Amy
• Cartel Land
• The Look of Silence
• What Happened, Miss Simone?
• Winter on Fire

Best Original Song

• "Earned It" - Fifty Shades of Grey
• "Til It Happens to You" - The Hunting Ground
• "Manta Ray" - Racing Extinction
• "Writing's on the Wall" - Spectre
• "Simple Song #3" - Youth

Best Original Score

• Bridge of Spies
• Carol
• The Hateful Eight
• Sicario
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sound Editing

• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Sicario
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Sound Mixing

• Bridge of Spies
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Martian
• The Revenant
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Film Editing

• The Big Short
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• The Revenant
• Spotlight
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Foreign Language Film

• Embrace of the Serpent - Colombia
• Mustang - France
• Son of Saul - Hungary
• Theeb - Jordan
• A War - Denmark

Best Animated Short

• Bear Story
• Prologue
• Sanjay's Super Team
• We Can't Live Without Cosmos
• World of Tomorrow

Best Documentary Short

• Body Team
• Chau, Beyond the Lines
• Claude Lanzmann
• A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
• Last Day of Freedom

Best Live Action Short

• Ava Maria
• Day One
• Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
• Shok
• Stutterer

Oscar voter dishes on the nominations

The Daily Beast has a fascinating interview with an anonymous voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences about her thoughts on this year's Oscar nominations. This member, a woman who appears (to me) to be a member of the Acting division, had some strong opinions. It's a fascinating read. Among her thoughts:

• She's baffled by Selma's snubs in most categories, particular for Ava DuVernay's lack of a Best Director nomination. Since this voter, at least, received her screener copy with plenty of time to watch it, she downplays (but doesn't entirely discount) the studio's limited campaigning as a factor. The controversy over the portrayal of LBJ may have been a bigger factor.

If you took away the controversy, you’d be in a different position, but it was too late to recover from that. As for the timing, I got my screener with plenty of time. And it isn’t like there aren’t precedents for holiday releases. You’ve got a black woman and a black film and you’re pitching it to a liberal organization -- if anyone should be open to it, it’s that body. 12 Years a Slave was an extraordinary accomplishment and a shot out of the dark. If you were going to split hairs, that is a better movie, but the last thing I want to come off as is, “We’ve got two black movies, so let’s marginalize them and accommodate one.” Selma is really a strong film, especially in a weak year.

• She doesn't get Boyhood as a movie and thinks Birdman will hold up and stand the test of time. As much as she thinks Birdman director Alejandro González Inarritu is very unlikable, which could be a factor in a tight vote, she's still leaning towards voting for him for Best Director.
• She hasn't seen Still Alice yet, but thinks Julianne Moore is utterly charming at the Academy lunches and is so likely win the Best Actress Oscar that she thinks that's when everyone will plan to go to the bathroom.
• She thinks Kiera Knightley's Supporting Actress nomination for The Imitation Game was wasted, and Meryl Streep was great in Into the Woods but it was more of a stunt performance. She's leaning towards voting for Emma Stone for Best Supporting Actress for Birdman but thinks Patricia Arquette (Boyhood) has it sewn up.
• She's seen enough one-note drill sargent performances, and so although J.K. Simmons is winning all of the Suppporting Actor awards for Whiplash, she's going to vote for Edward Norton's more nuanced performance in Birdman.

Read the full interview for more of this Academy voter's thoughts and insights.

The Daily Beast's 10 Oscar surprises

The Daily Beast has a rundown of what they consider to be the most surprising snubs and other surprises for this year's Oscar nominations, including more love than they expected for American Sniper and a lot less than they thought for Selma.

The list includes:

• The Lego Movie snubbed for Best Animated Feature
• Marion Cotillard's Best Actress nomination for Two Days, One Night
• Selma snubbed for Best Director (Ava DuVernay) and Best Actor (David Oyelowo
• African Americans mostly snubbed across the board
• Foxcatcher got nominations for Best Director (Bennett Miller), Best Actor (Steve Carell), Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), and Original Screenplay ... without also getting a Best Picture nomination. (Only eight films got Best Picture consideration this year.)
• Gone Girl ignored for everything except Best Actress (Rosamund Pike)
• Life Itself, the documentary about legendary film critic Roger Ebert, snubbed for Best Documentary
• Six nominations for American Sniper, including Best Picture and Best Actor (Bradley Cooper)
• Jake Gyllenhaal snubbed for Nightcrawler
• Jennifer Aniston's lack of a nomination for Cake

Check out the full article for more about why they were surprised.

Oscar nominations announced

The Academy of Motion Arts & Pictures announced their nominees for the 87th Annual Academy Awards this morning, with Birdman and The Grant Budapest Hotel leading the pack with nine nominations each.

The Lego Movie, widely considered a frontrunner for Best Animated Feature, was a surprise snub in that category, though it did receive a nomination for Best Original Song. Although Jennifer Anistan's performance in Cake and Jake Gyllenhaal's performance in Nightcrawler were receiving recent awards momentum, neither were nominated.

The awards will be telecast on Sunday, February 22, with Neil Patrick Harris hosting.

Best Picture

• American Sniper
• Birdman
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Selma
• The Theory of Everything
• Whiplash

Directing

• Alejandro González Iñárritu, Birdman
• Richard Linklater, Boyhood
• Bennett Miller, Foxcatcher
• Wes Anderson, The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Morten Tyldum, The Imitation Game

Best Actor

• Steve Carell, Foxcatcher
• Bradley Cooper, American Sniper
• Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game
• Michael Keaton, Birdman
• Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything

Best Actress

• Marion Cotillard, Two Days, One Night
• Felicity Jones, The Theory of Everything
• Julianne Moore, Still Alice
• Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl
• Reese Witherspoon, Wild

Best Supporting Actor

• Robert Duvall, The Judge
• Ethan Hawke, Boyhood
• Edward Norton, Birdman
• Mark Ruffalo, Foxcatcher
• J.K. Simmons, Whiplash

Best Supporting Actress

• Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
• Laura Dern, Wild
• Keira Knightley, The Imitation Game
• Emma Stone, Birdman
• Meryl Streep, Into the Woods

Cinematography

• Birdman
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Ida
• Mr. Turner
• Unbroken

Costume Design

• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Inherent Vice
• Into the Woods
• Maleficent
• Mr. Turner

Foreign Language Film

• Ida, Poland
• Leviathan, Russia
• Tangerines, Estonia
• Timbuktu, Mauritania
• Wild Tales, Argentina

Makeup and Hairstyling

• Foxcatcher
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Guardians of the Galaxy

Original Score

• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Interstellar
• Mr. Turner
• The Theory of Everything

Adapted Screenplay

• American Sniper
• The Imitation Game
• Inherent Vice
• The Theory of Everything
• Whiplash

Original Screenplay

• Birdman
• Boyhood
• Foxcatcher
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Nightcrawler

Animated Feature Film

• Big Hero 6
• The Boxtrolls
• How to Train Your Dragon 2
• Song of the Sea
• The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

Documentary Feature

• Citizenfour
• Finding Vivian Maier
• Last Days in Vietnam
• The Salt of the Earth
• Virunga

Documentary Short Subject

• Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1
• Joanna
• Our Curse
• The Reaper (La Parka)
• White Earth

Film Editing

• American Sniper
• Boyhood
• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Whiplash

Original Song

• "Everything Is Awesome," The Lego Movie
• "Glory," Selma
• "Grateful," Beyond the Lights
• "I'm Not Gonna Miss You," Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me
• "Lost Stars," Begin Again

Production Design

• The Grand Budapest Hotel
• The Imitation Game
• Interstellar
• Into the Woods
• Mr. Turner

Animated Short Film

• The Bigger Picture
• The Dam Keeper
• Feast
• Me and My Moulton
• A Single Life

Live Action Short Film

• Aya
• Boogaloo and Graham
• Butter Lamp
• Parvaneh
• The Phone Call

Sound Editing

• American Sniper
• Birdman
• The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies
• Interstellar
• Unbroken

Sound Mixing

• American Sniper
• Birdman
• Interstellar
• Unbroken
• Whiplash

Visual Effects

• Captain America: The Winter Soldier
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
• Guardians of the Galaxy
• Interstellar
• X-Men: Days of Future Past

Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards

Tilda Swinton in Snowpiercer

We hadn't heard of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists Awards before now, but they sound awfully fun.

Like the Cosmique Movie Awards, they give awards to films in both traditional and unconventional categories. Some of their more conventional awards this year went to Boyhood for Best Film, Richard Linklater (Boyhood) for Best Director, Michael Keaton (Birdman) for Best Actor, and Julianne Moore (Still Alice) for Best Actress.

But they also have some really fun awards of note that are limited only to female nominees, including:

• Best Woman Director - Ava DuVernay for Selma
• Best Female Action Star - Emily Blunt for Edge of Tomorrow
• Best Depiction Of Nudity, Sexuality, or Seduction - Scarlett Johansson for Under the Skin
• Actress Defying Age and Ageism - Tilda Swinton (who also won Best Supporting Actress for Snowpiercer)
• Most Egregious Age Difference Between The Leading Man and The Love Interest - Colin Firth (b. 1960) and Emma Stone (b. 1988) for Magic in the Moonlight
• Actress Most in Need Of A New Agent - Cameron Diaz for Sex Tape

We're going to make a note to keep this one on our radar. Check out their full list of winners.

(H/T: CriticWire)

Prioritizing your Oscar queue

When the Oscar nominations are announced, many people rush out and try to see as many of the Oscar-nominated films that they can before the awards ceremony. (The next Academy Awards will be on February 22, 2015.)

To help you get a head start, we've looked at Gold Derby's Oscar predictions and created a weighted list based on their predictions for the top six categories: Best Picture, Best Director, and the four lead and supporting acting awards. (We figure those are the awards that casual viewers are most interested in.)

Their lists rank their predictions in each category, extending far beyond the number of available nominees for each award. This chart I've made shows:

• Predicted Noms in Top 6 Categories: For each film, the number of times in the top six categories their odds have placed them high enough to be nominated in that category.
• Total Weight: My own mathematical weight for each film that appears on any of Gold Derby's lists, even if they're farther down. The higher they appear on a list, the greater the weight. Some films may have a high weight but still not be predicted for an award if they were on many prediction lists but just below the cutoff for each category.

Rank	Film	Predicted Noms in Top 6 Cats	Total Weight
1	Birdman	5	568
2	Foxcatcher	4	628
3	Boyhood	4	483
4	The Imitation Game	3	385
5	The Theory of Everything	3	374
6	Interstellar	2	846
7	Gone Girl	2	557
8	Unbroken	2	460
9	Wild	2	427
10	Selma	1	705
11	Into the Woods	1	676
12	Mr. Turner	1	400
13	The Judge	1	372
14	American Sniper	1	355
15	Whiplash	1	353
16	Big Eyes	1	335
17	Still Alice	1	256
18	Inherent Vice		732
19	The Grand Budapest Hotel		514
20	Kill the Messenger		512
21	St. Vincent		474
22	A Most Violent Year		419
23	Fury		418
24	The Homesman		380
25	Get On Up		375
26	The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby		370
27	Men Women and Children		361
28	Dear White People		358
29	Exodus: Gods and Kings		353
30	Love Is Strange		333
31	The Gambler		327
32	The Fault in Our Stars		316
33	Begin Again		295
34	Rosewater		294
35	Miss Julie		283
36	The Good Lie		280
37	Nightcrawler		271
38	Pride		244
39	Calvary		225
40	Annie		198
41	Chef		187
42	Maps to the Stars		174
43	Top Five		172
44	The Hobbit: The Battle of the 5 Armies		160
45	Two Days One Night		90
46	Tracks		89
47	Maleficent		85
48	Locke		84
49	A Most Wanted Man		82
50	The Hundred-Foot Journey		81
51	Trash		76
52	The Lego Movie		74
53	The Giver		69
54	Noah		63
55	This Is Where I Leave You		59

Neil Patrick Harris to host the Oscars

Variety is reporting that Neil Patrick Harris has been selected to host the 87th annual Oscars, which will be televised on February 22, 2015.

All he has to do now is host the Grammys to have the EGOT of awards hosting.

There's no EGOT for hosts, just winners, but it's fun to imagine. An EGOT is someone who has won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. If Harris is nominated for and wins a Grammy for the cast recording of Hedwig, he'll just need to win an Oscar to have an actual EGOT.

He won't be the first openly-LGBT person to host the Oscars; Cosmo-winner Ellen Degeneres hosted in 2007 and again last year. Like Harris, she has also hosted the Emmys, but has not hosted the Tonys.

Oscar presenters

Can you believe it? The Gay Super Bowl Oscars are almost here!

In addition to this year's nominees, who can you expect to see? Many people may try to wrangle tickets, but the best way to predict is by looking at this list of scheduled presenters.

Of course, last year's four winners of the acting categories -- Daniel Day-Lewis, Jennifer Lawrence, Christoph Waltz, and Anne Hathaway -- are all expected to present. Traditionally they present the award for their corresponding opposite-sex award. That is, the Best Actor winner traditionally presents the Best Actress award the following year.

Just Jared has released a list of celebrities scheduled to present:

Amy Adams	Samuel L. Jackson
Kristen Bell	Angelina Jolie
Jessica Biel	Michael B. Jordan
Jim Carrey	Anna Kendrick
Glenn Close	Jennifer Lawrence
Bradley Cooper	Matthew McConaughey
Penélope Cruz	Ewan McGregor
Benedict Cumberbatch	Bill Murray
Viola Davis	Kim Novak
Daniel Day-Lewis	Tyler Perry
Robert De Niro	Brad Pitt
Zac Efron	Sidney Poitier
Sally Field	Gabourey Sidibe
Harrison Ford	Will Smith
Jamie Foxx	Kevin Spacey
Andrew Garfield	Jason Sudeikis
Jennifer Garner	Channing Tatum
Whoopi Goldberg	Charlize Theron
Joseph Gordon-Levitt	John Travolta
Anne Hathaway	Christoph Waltz
Goldie Hawn	Kerry Washington
Chris Hemsworth	Emma Watson
Kate Hudson	Naomi Watts

GLAAD Media Award nominations announced

The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has announced their nominations for the 25th Annual GLAAD Media Awards, which could help Cosmo voters with ideas for the Best Queer Film of 2013 category.

Their nominees in theatrical film categories include:

Outstanding Film - Wide Release

• Blue is the Warmest Color
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Kill Your Darlings
• The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
• Philamena

Outstanding Film - Limited Release

• Concussion
• Geography Club
• Out in the Dark
• Reaching for the Moon
• Yossi

Outstanding Documentary

• Bridegroom
• Call Me Kuchu
• God Loves Uganda
• The New Black
• Valentine Road

The awards also include categories for television programs as well as for print journalism and blogs.

Academy Awards scandal - Oscar nomination rescinded!

Many entertainment pundits were shocked when the obscure religious film Alone Yet Not Alone came out of nowhere to receive a Best Original Song Oscar nomination for a song of the same name. 

But now in an extraordinarily rare move, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has rescinded the nomination, arguing that the song's author, Bruce Broughton, improperly lobbied Academy voters, according to People Magazine. Broughton is a former member of the Academy's Board of Governors and a current member of the Music Branch executive committee, and the Academy argues that a "for your consideration" letter that he sent to Academy members may have broken strict Academy guidelines and improperly implied an official Academy endorsement of the film.

Revoking an Oscar nomination is very rare and has only happened a handful of times, according to Entertainment Weekly. In 1992, Uruguay's official Best Foreign Language Film nomination for A Place in the World was rescinded after it was discovered that the film was produced in Argentina. In 1972, The Godfather received a Best Original Score nomination, but when it was revealed that part of the theme had been used in another movie, the music branch had a revote and it did not get nominated the second time around. And in 1968, the documentary Young Americans was declared ineligible after already winning the Oscar, and the award was subsequently given to runner-up Journey Into Self.

The Academy has announced that it will not replace the nomination, and that the remaining four nominees will compete against each other for the award. Those nominees are:

• "Happy" from Despicable Me 2
• "Let It Go" from Frozen
• "The Moon Song from Her
• "Ordinary Love" from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Broughton claims he did nothing improper. Check out this news clip for more:

Catching up on your Oscar list

So this year you're determined to see as many Oscar-nominated films as you can before the awards ceremony on March 2nd. You said that last year, too, but this year you really mean it.

But you've got to be organized, right?

Not to worry, we have you covered. 

First, download our spreadsheet for Oscar Watch List. On the "Films" tab, use the pull-down menu to indicate which films you've seen. The "By Category" tab will help you see which categories most important to you still need to be rounded out.

Now check the list below to see where you can find the nominees. Some are out on DVD or soon will be. You may be able to borrow them for free from the San Francisco Public Library. Some are available from Netflix Streaming. Some are still in theaters.

Feature Films

Release dates marked in red won't be available until after the Oscar (though you still might want to catch them should they receive a Cosmo nomination).

Film	Noms	DVD Release	Other Availability
All is Lost	1	11-Feb-14	Google Play
Alone Yet Not Alone	1	not announced	Nominated Rescinded!
American Hustle	10	est March 2014	Theaters
August: Osage County	2	est April 2014	Theaters
Before Midnight	1	Released
Blue Jasmine	3	Released
The Book Thief	1	11-Mar-14
Captain Phillips	6	21-Jan-14	SFPL
The Croods	1	Released	SFPL
Dallas Buyers Club	6	4-Feb-14	Theaters
Despicable Me 2	2	Released
Ernest and Celestine	1	Released
Frozen	2	18-Mar-14
The Grandmaster	2	Released
Gravity	10	25-Feb-14
The Great Gatsby	2	Released
Her	5	not announced	Theaters
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug	3	est April 2014	Theaters
Inside Llewyn Davis	2	est March 2014
The Invisible Woman	1	not announced
Iron Man 3	1	Released
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa	1	28-Jan-14
The Lone Ranger	2	Released
Lone Survivor	2	est March 2014
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom	1	18-Mar-14
Nebraska	6	25-Feb-14
Philomena	4	4-Mar-14	SFPL
Prisoners	1	Released
Saving Mr Banks	1	est April 2014
Star Trek Into Darkness	1	Released
12 Years a Slave	9	est March 2014	Theaters
The Wind Rises	1		Theaters
The Wolf of Wall Street	5	est March 2014

Feature-Length Documentaries

Fortunately, all of the nominated feature-length documentaries have been released on DVD. In addition, four of the five are on Netflix streaming and the fifth is available at the San Francisco Public Library.

Film	Other Availability
The Act of Killing	Netflix streaming
Cutie and the Boxer	Netflix streaming
Dirty Wars	Netflix streaming; SFPL
The Square	Netflix streaming
20 Feet from Stardom	Theaters; SFPL

Foreign Films

The Best Foreign Language Films are currently the hardest to track down. One is already available on Netflix Streaming. Another will be in limited release in theaters starting in February. We'll keep this list updated as more information becomes available.

Film	Other Availability
The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)
The Great Beauty (Italy)
The Hunt (Denmark)	Netflix streaming
The Missing Picture (Cambodia)
Omar (Palestine)	In theaters Feb 21

Shorts

Of all of the shorts, only one (Ferel) is readily available. It can be purchased on Vimeo on Demand. However, some larger cities will be having screenings where all of the shorts can be seen. In addition, they are all expected to be available on iTunes and Amazon Instant Video within the next few weeks.

Film	Other Availability
Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
Avant Que de Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
Cavedigger	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
Facing Fear	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
Feral	Purchase on Vimeo on Demand
Get a Horse!	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
Helium	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
Karama Has No Walls	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
Mr Hublot	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
Possessions	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
Room on the Broom	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video
The Voorman Problem	coming soon to iTunes & Amazon instant video

Prioritizing your Oscar queue

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has announced their nominees for the Oscars, and if you're like most people, you've probably only seen a handful of them.

And if your time is limited, chances are you'll only be able to catch a handful more before your Oscar party on March 2, 2014.

So how to prioritize?

We've created a prioritized list that ranks films based on the total number of Oscar nominations the film has received and then further prioritized based on the number of nominations in top categories (Best Picture, Director, and the Lead and Supporting Acting categories), and then by prioritizing feature-length films over shorts, which are often hard to track down for casual viewers.

Here's our prioritized list of films to see:

Priority	Film	Top 6	Shorts	Other	Total
1	American Hustle	6		4	10
2	Gravity	3		7	10
3	12 Years a Slave	5		4	9
4	Nebraska	4		2	6
5	Dallas Buyers Club	3		3	6
6	Captain Phillips	2		4	6
7	The Wolf of Wall Street	4		1	5
8	Her	1		4	5
9	Philomena	2		2	4
10	Blue Jasmine	2		1	3
11	The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug			3	3
12	August: Osage County	2			2
13	Despicable Me 2			2	2
13	Frozen			2	2
13	Inside Llewyn Davis			2	2
13	The Grandmaster			2	2
13	The Great Gatsby			2	2
13	The Lone Ranger			2	2
13	Lone Survivor			2	2
20	Before Midnight			1	1
21	Ernest and Celestine			1	1
21	The Croods			1	1
21	The Wind Rises			1	1
24	Prisoners			1	1
25	The Invisible Woman			1	1
26	20 Feet from Stardom			1	1
26	Cutie and the Boxer			1	1
26	Dirty Wars			1	1
26	The Act of Killing			1	1
26	The Square			1	1
31	Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa			1	1
32	Saving Mr Banks			1	1
32	The Book Thief			1	1
34	Alone Yet Not Alone			1	1
34	Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom			1	1
36	All is Lost			1	1
37	Iron Man 3			1	1
37	Star Trek Into Darkness			1	1
39	Omar (Palestine)			1	1
39	The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)			1	1
39	The Great Beauty (Italy)			1	1
39	The Hunt (Denmark)			1	1
39	The Missing Picture (Cambodia)			1	1
44	Feral		1		1
44	Get a Horse!		1		1
44	Mr Hublot		1		1
44	Possessions		1		1
44	Room on the Broom		1		1
49	Cavedigger		1		1
49	Facing Fear		1		1
49	Karama Has No Walls		1		1
49	Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall		1		1
49	The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life		1		1
54	Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)		1		1
54	Avant Que de Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)		1		1
54	Helium		1		1
54	Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)		1		1
54	The Voorman Problem		1		1

Academy Award nominations announced

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced the 86th Annual Academy Awards, and American Hustle and Gravity lead with 10 nominations each, followed by 12 Years a Slave with 9 nominations.

Winners will be announced at a live broadcast on March 2, hosted by Cosmo winner Ellen Degeneres.

The complete list of nominees:

Best Picture

• 12 Years a Slave
• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity
• Her
• Nebraska
• Philomena
• The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director

• Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
• Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
• Alexander Payne, Nebraska
• David O Russell, American Hustle
• Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor

• Christian Bale, American Hustle
• Bruce Dern, Nebraska
• Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
• Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
• Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress

• Amy Adams, American Hustle
• Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
• Sandra Bullock, Gravity
• Judi Dench, Philomena
• Meryl Streep, August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor

• Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
• Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
• Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
• Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
• Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress

• Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
• Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
• Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
• Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
• June Squibb, Nebraska

Best Adapted Screenplay

• 12 Years a Slave
• Before Midnight
• Captain Phillips
• Philomena
• The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Original Screenplay

• American Hustle
• Blue Jasmine
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Her
• Nebraska

Best Animated Feature

• The Croods
• Despicable Me 2
• Ernest and Celestine
• Frozen
• The Wind Rises

Best Animated Short

• Feral
• Get a Horse!
• Mr Hublot
• Possessions
• Room on the Broom

Best Cinematography

• The Grandmaster
• Gravity
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Nebraska
• Prisoners

Best Costume Design

• 12 Years a Slave
• American Hustle
• The Grandmaster
• The Great Gatsby
• The Invisible Woman

Best Documentary Feature

• 20 Feet from Stardom
• The Act of Killing
• Cutie and the Boxer
• Dirty Wars
• The Square

Best Documentary Short

• Cavedigger
• Facing Fear
• Karama Has No Walls
• The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
• Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

Best Editing

• 12 Years a Slave
• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity

Best Foreign Language Film

• The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)
• The Great Beauty (Italy)
• The Hunt (Denmark)
• The Missing Picture (Cambodia)
• Omar (Palestine)

Best Live Action Short

• Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)
• Avant Que de Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)
• Helium
• Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)
• The Voorman Problem

Best Make-up

• Dallas Buyers Club
• Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
• The Lone Ranger

Best Music

• The Book Thief
• Gravity
• Her
• Philomena
• Saving Mr Banks

Best Production Design

• 12 Years a Slave
• American Hustle
• Gravity
• The Great Gatsby
• Her

Best Song

• 'Alone Yet Not Alone', Alone Yet Not Alone
• 'Happy', Despicable Me 2
• 'Let It Go', Frozen
• 'The Moon Song', Her
• 'Ordinary Love', Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Best Sound Editing

• All is Lost
• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Lone Survivor

Best Sound Mixing

• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Inside Llewyn Davis
• Lone Survivor

Best Visual Effects

• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Iron Man 3
• The Lone Ranger
• Star Trek Into Darkness

SF Film Critics Circle winners announced

In a previous post, we reported on the nominees for the San Francisco Film Critics Circle Awards. Those awards are one of other awards we use in our algorithm for determining the Cosmique Movie Awards' Best Director nominees.

Here are their nominees with the winners bolded:

Best Picture 

• "American Hustle" 
• "Gravity" 
• "Nebraska" 
• "12 Years a Slave"
• "The Wolf of Wall Street" 

Best Director 

• Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity" 
• Spike Jonze, "Her" 
• Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave" 
• David O. Russell, "American Hustle" 
• Martin Scorsese, "The Wolf of Wall Street" 

Best Actor 

• Bruce Dern, "Nebraska" 
• Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf of Wall Street" 
• Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years a Slave" 
• Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club" 
• Robert Redford, "All is Lost" 

Best Actress 

• Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine" 
• Sandra Bullock, "Gravity" 
• Judi Dench, "Philomena" 
• Adèle Exarchopoulos, "Blue is the Warmest Color" 
• Brie Larson, "Short Term 12" 
• Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County" 

Best Supporting Actor 

• Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips" 
• Michael Fassbender, "12 Years a Slave" 
• Harrison Ford, "42" Will Forte, "Nebraska" 
• James Franco, "Spring Breakers" 
• Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club" 

Best Supporting Actress 

• Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle" 
• Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave" 
• Lea Seydoux, "Blue is the Warmest Color" 
• Octavia Spencer, "Fruitvale Station" 
• June Squibb, "Nebraska" 

Best Adapted Screenplay 

• "Before Midnight" 
• "Philomena" 
• "The Spectacular Now" 
• "12 Years a Slave" 
• "The Wolf of Wall Street" 

Best Original Screenplay 

• "American Hustle" 
• "Gravity" 
• "Her" 
• "Inside Llewyn Davis" 
• "Nebraska" 

Best Foreign Language Film 

• "Blue is the Warmest Color" 
• "A Hijacking" 
• "The Hunt" 
• "The Past" 
• "Wadjda" 

Best Documentary 

• "The Act of Killing" 
• "The Armstrong Lie" 
• "Blackfish" 
• "Stories We Tell" 
• "20 Feet from Stardom" 

Best Animated Feature 

• "The Croods" 
• "Despicable Me 2" 
• "Frozen" 
• "Monsters University" 
• "The Wind Rises" 

Best Cinematography 

• "Gravity" 
• "Her" 
• "Inside Llewyn Davis" 
• "Nebraska" 
• "12 Years a Slave" 

Best Art Direction/Production Design 

• "American Hustle" 
• "Gravity" 
• "Her" 
• "Inside Llewyn Davis" 
• "12 Years a Slave" 

Best Editing 

• "All is Lost" 
• "American Hustle" 
• "Captain Phillips" 
• "Gravity" 
• "12 Years a Slave" 
• "The Wolf of Wall Street"