’12 Years a Slave’ and ‘Her’ lead the way with Washington D.C. critics nominations

Spike Jonze’s “Her,” Alfonso Cuarón’s “Gravity” and especially Steve McQueen’s “12 Years a Slave” turned up great showings in the nominations stage for the Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association this year. All three films were nominated for Best Film along with David O. Russell’s “American Hustle” and the Coen brothers’ “Inside Llewyn Davis.”

Oddest category to me: The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, DC. Odd because, well, it’s nice to have the category and all but “Olympus Has Fallen” and “White House Down?” Maybe “best portrayal” should be changed to “only portrayals” or something. Other nominees in that category, which I don’t believe has been presented by the group before, included “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “The East” and “Philomena.”

Interesting nods outside the usual so far include James Franco (Best Supporting Actor in “Spring Breakers”) and Baz Luhrmann (Best Director for “The Great Gatsby”). Check out the full list below. Winners will be announced on Monday.

Best Film
“American Hustle”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Director
Alfonso Cuarón, “Gravity”
Spike Jonze, “Her”
Baz Luhrmann, “The Great Gatsby”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Chiwetel Ejiofor, “12 Years a Slave”
Matthew McConaughey, “Dallas Buyers Club”
Joaquin Phoenix, “Her”
Robert Redford, “All Is Lost”

Best Actress
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”
Emma Thompson, “Saving Mr. Banks”

Best Supporting Actor
Daniel Brühl, “Rush”
Michael Fassbender, “12 Years a Slave”
James Franco, “Spring Breakers”
James Gandolfini, “Enough Said”
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Supporting Actress
Scarlett Johansson, “Her”
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”
Octavia Spencer, “Fruitvale Station”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”

Best Acting Ensemble
“American Hustle”
“August: Osage County”
“Prisoners”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Way, Way Back”

Best Youth Performance
Asa Butterfield, “Ender’s Game”
Adéle Exarchopoulos, “Blue Is the Warmest Color”
Liam James, “The Way, Way Back”
Waad Mohammed, “Wadjda”
Tye Sheridan, “Mud”

Best Adapted Screenplay
“Before Midnight”
“Captain Phillips”
“The Spectacular Now”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Original Screenplay
“American Hustle”
“Blue Jasmine”
“Enough Said”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”

Best Animated Feature
“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Frozen”
“Monsters University”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Documentary
“The Act of Killing”
“Blackfish”
“Leviathan”
“Stories We Tell”
“20 Feet from Stardom”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Blue Is the Warmest Color”
“The Broken Circle Breakdown”
“The Hunt”
“The Past”
“Wadjda”

Best Art Direction
“Gravity”
“The Great Gatsby”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Cinematography
“Gravity”
“The Great Gatsby”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Editing
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Rush”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

Best Original Score
“Frozen”
“Her”
“Gravity”
“Saving Mr. Banks”
“12 Years a Slave”

The Joe Barber Award for Best Portrayal of Washington, D.C.
“The East”
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler”
“Olympus Has Fallen”
“Philomena”
“White House Down”