This week's releases

Lone Survivor: Mark Wahlberg and Taylor Kitsch star in this war film about a mission to capture and kill Al-Qaeda leader Ahmad Shahd. The operation involves a small platoon of troops but their mission quickly becomes compromised and they are in imminent danger when they are out-numbered by the enemy. Based on a true story from 2005.

Out of the Furnace: Crime thriller set in the rust belt of America, Russell Baze (Christian Bale) has to take matters into his own hands when his brother mysteriously disappears and the police fail to follow through the matter with any urgency. Also starring Casey Affleck, Forest Whittaker and Woody Harrelson.

That Awkward Moment: Romantic comedy about three best friends who find themselves where we've all been - at that confusing moment in every dating relationship when you have to decide "So...where is this going?". Starring Zac Efron and Michael B. Jordan from Fruitvale Station.

Film Review: Iron Man 3

Director: Shane Black

The third installment in the Marvel comics franchise which has proven easily the most popular out of all the individual super hero movies from the Avengers series. Robert Downey Jr returns as the millionaire Tony Stark who created the Iron Man suits. The film follows on from the ending of the Avengers Assemble movie where Iron Man flies into space to help save the world.

Tony Stark remembers a New Years Eve party in 1999 where he happens to meet Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) who he confidently shrugs off and inevitably comes back to bite him. Stark has spent the time since creating multiple Iron Man suits that can be controlled remotely by either himself or Jarvis but is also suffering from post traumatic stress syndrome. Now he must fight against the Mandarin that are committing random terrorist attacks and unusual bombings in a campaign against the United States and the world.

Tony Stark with an Iron Man suit

The third film was an important one for the Iron Man series as the second film was a slight disappointment and with the Avengers Assemble being so popular it needed a good movie to keep up the momentum. Much of the action revolving Tony Stark is similar with his brash attitude, having learnt nothing from his previous scrapes, but the Aldrich Killian lead Mandarin group makes this into a more dark and intrigung movie. The power attained by the villains gives the film a genuine threat but the motivation for the group called the Mandarin is very murky and unexplained. As always an enjoyable two hours with Downey Jr at the centre of things.

2.5/4 Refreshed and improved by a more impressive antagonist

Film Review: Iron Man 2

Director: Jon Favreau

After the success of the first movie and the ending leaving the possibility of a franchise open after Tony Stark reveals he is infact Iron Man, Marvel Studios took just two years to film and produce the sequel. Striking while the iron is hot they drafted in Justin Theroux to write the screenplay after he co-wrote Tropic Thunder. Terrence Howard wasn't signed on for the second movie so ended up being replaced by Don Cheadle and was filmed in California except for the scene at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Tony Stark back as Iron Man

With the world living peacefully under the watch of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) as Iron Man, he continues to hold events showing off his fabulous inventions. The US military are keen to acquire the technology for the suit as they don't trust Stark but he refuses and re-assures them that nobody will have this technology for 10-15 years. But out in Russia a man named Ivan Vanko (Mickey Rourke) builds the arc reactor needed for the suit and wants revenge for his fathers death so sets out to find Iron Man.

*possible spoilers*

The overall story of the antagonist Ivan Vanko and his work with Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell) was less intriguing and more predictable than in the original Iron Man film. Again it falls as more of a backdrop to the main story surrounding Tony Stark who is having a crisis of his own about his technology and failing health which is the more interesting part of the plot. I think the original added something new to a rather tired super hero genre whereas the second struggles to meet those same standards.

Natalie Rushman (Scarlett Johansson)

The addition of SHIELD helps tie the story back into the original comics and back to the other super heroes that Iron Man will team up with in the Avengers Assemble film. Scarlett Johansson is a fun character as Natalie Rushman who obviously catches Tony Stark's eye instantly. The ending itself was a little confused and unsure of its self, it involved a lot of needless flying around and then a final battle that was over very quickly. But overall its still an enjoyable film that will keep the franchise alive through a third film.

2/4 Doesn't live up to its predecessor

Film Preview: Captain America: The Winter Soldier

With The Avengers films just gaining in popularity with each release after generally positive reviews for Thor 2 in 2013. Its the turn of Chris Evans as Captain America to have the second film in his own mini-series before the second Avengers film is released next year with the full cast of characters. Scarlett Johansson returns as Natasha Romanoff whilst Robert Redford also appears in the movie to add some high profile muscle to this film.

Steve Rogers continues his transition from the 1940's to the modern world, the new technologies and social norms, which began during the Avengers film. But he must now fight a threat from the old world as an old Soviet agent known as the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) whose plans threaten the entire planet.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier is released in the UK on 28th March 2014 and the trailer is embedded below:

Film Review: Iron Man

Director: Jon Favreau

The first in the Avengers franchise based on the Marvel comics, Iron Man was released in 2008 ahead of other films based around the Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Thor. The Iron Man franchise has proved the most popular with fans and critics out of the four as well. The idea of a film had been in the pipeline since around 1990 but only came to fruition in 2006 when Marvel Studios acquired the rights. Pre-production was focused on the main story and the action sequences so many of the actors were given the freedom to create their own dialogue.

Tony Stark building his experimental suit of armor.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is a millionaire playboy who inherited Stark Industries from his father, the company made its fortune selling defense weapons to the US military. On a visit to test a new weapon in Afghanistan his convoy is ambushed by terrorists who kidnap him and save him from death on the proviso that he build a missile for them to use against America. His experience being captured means he decides to give up producing weapons and to make a suit of armor for him to use in help make the world safer without his companies weapons.

Robert Downey Jr is great as the smart talking philanthropist Tony Stark, his quick witty responses add an element of humour that is always needed in action superhero movies such as this. Films like this cannot survive on action sequences alone so a small addition of some clever comedic lines always helps to lift them through some of the less interesting moments. The choice of Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts was uninspired but Jeff Bridges puts in a noteworthy performance even if a lot of Obadiah Stane's scenes were eventually cut.

Iron Man

Elsewhere the back story is built up well and is a rather more innovative take on one man's choice to be a superhero than many others that have been forged in recent years. As is always the case in the first film of a franchise most of the plot revolves around the backstory of the main character with a relatively low key protagonist thrown in for a big finale. The action sequences themselves are not so frequent that they become tedious (like in Man of Steel), Favreau does a great job here of starting another potentially lucrative franchise.

2.5/4 An enjoyable superhero movie that sets up a franchise very well

Film Review: Shaun of the Dead

Director: Edgar Wright

The film that launched Simon Pegg's movie career in 2004 is a comedy horror film about a zombie apocalypse attacking suburban London. Previously Pegg made his name in TV comedies Spaced and Big Train whilst also appearing in some UK films like The Parole Officer but only in small roles. The film received great acclaim from the likes of Quentin Tarantino and George A. Romero upon its release. The film is the first in Wright and Pegg's Three Flavours Cornetto trilogy, followed by 2007's Hot Fuzz and 2013's The World's End.

Ed (Nick Frost) and Shaun (Simon Pegg)

Shaun lives in a house with lazy slob Ed and the more serious Pete (Peter Serafinowicz) whilst having a tough relationship with his father in-law Phillip (Bill Nighy) and also having problems with his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield). Early on Shaun and Ed continue their daily lives oblivious to the threat of the zombies that have started to take over the streets to feast on the remaining humans but they take immediate action once they realise the danger they are in, by going to the pub.

Zombies 

A film that manages to satisfy casual film viewers as well as hardcore horror fans. I actually saw Hot Fuzz before I got round to seeing Shaun of the Dead and feel that despite different subject matters they had a lot in common, with the latter Hot Fuzz clearly having the bigger budget. But the earlier Pegg film is clearly the more impressive and original with a smarter sense of humour. The ending is a bit disappointing after a frantic middle act as the final battle is a little long in coming and becomes rather predictable. Combining two difficult genre's and making both work is a big ask but on both counts Shaun of the Dead succeeds.

3/4 Fun take on the zombie genre

This week's releases

August: Osage County: Based on the play of the same name, a family crisis brings a family back together in Oklahoma after they have avoided each other living different lives. The strong and stubborn women of the family soon begin to clash with their mother, Violet played by Meryl Streep. A huge ensemble cast has been brought together including Julia Roberts, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Ewan McGregor.

Grudge Match: Robert de Niro once again proves that he will do any film as long as the paycheck is big enough. This time getting in the boxing ring with Stallone for this comedy which apparently pits the two most well known actors to have taken boxing roles (Stallone as Rocky and De Niro as Jake La Motta) with Alan Arkin also appearing as a manager/trainer.

Inside Llewyn Davis: The Coen brothers latest film follows a week in the life of a young singer living amongst the Greenwich folk scene in New York in the early 1960's. Oscar Isaac gets the big lead role who was mostly known for playing Irene's incarcerated husband in Drive but this is a film that has been largely snubbed by the Academy when they released their nominees earlier this month.

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit: Chris Pine plays CIA analyst Jack Ryan who has uncovered a Russian (why the obsession with Russia, the cold war ended decades ago) plot to crash the U.S stock market by planning a terrorist attack. This film is surprisingly directed by Kenneth Brannagh who also plays a Russian antagonist in the movie.

Film Review: The Wolf of Wall Street

Director: Martin Scorcese

Like repeatedly hitting you with a jackhammer for nearly three hours, The Wolf of Wall Street is not subtle or clever. It is a loud, brash and incredibly excessive depiction of the high life associated with success on Wall Street in the world of stocks and shares. In this instance we follow Jordan Belfort (played with full vigour by Leonardo DiCaprio) as he learns the ropes from the bottom under tutor Mark Hanna (unfortunately underused Matthew McConaughey) before he goes onto to start his own company selling penny stocks. Naturally Belfort realises that making stock illegally is much easier as a new company in town so starts a "pump and dump" scam to make his riches.

Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio)

DiCaprio won a bidding war with Brad Pitt for the rights to the film in 2007 and initially was going to work with Ridley Scott and Warner Brothers in 2010 before it was shelved. Martin Scorcese came onboard when Red Granite Pictures took the rights and ensured he would have final say on the content meaning it wouldn't have to be scaled down to fit a certain rating or length (hence the R rating and the run time of 174mins). In DiCaprio's performance he holds back on nothing, putting in a full-on show the whole time as the charismatic yet under-hand leader of Stratton Oakmont.

Jonah Hill moves back into Moneyball territory although in a slightly more goofy comedic role as Donnie Azhoff who is Belfort's geeky right hand man. Donnie idolizes Belfort and through this they become friends as well as colleagues in the scam which sees them share their newly created wealth on the usual Wall Street luxuries like drugs, booze and of course women. This film looked like a lot of fun to make as for large parts it is just one party followed by another for the opening two hours of the film and only in the final hour does the plot really develop in a meaningful yet possibly rushed manner. It was clear that Scorcese and DiCaprio wanted to focus on the high life attained by Belfort with the repercussions with the FBI and Agent Patrick Denham (Kyle Chandler) more of an afterthought throughout the plot.

The Stratton Oakmont employees celebrate

The Wolf of Wall Street produces many funny and random moments especially when the likes of Belfort and Azhoff are high on Cocaine or Quaaludes but also produces a rather slick and subtle conversations between Belfort and Agent Denham on Belfort's yacht. Both characters imply and hint at questions whilst saying something different as they both try to manipulate the other, it was a clever scene that failed to be repeated as they met again in future scenes. In essence this sums up the film, why use a subtle method to portray your message when a battering ram will do just fine which I imagine is the Wall Street way.

2.5/4 Enjoyable but brash and shallow look at the dirty side of Wall Street

Film Review: Brick

Director: Rian Johnson

A 2005 American noir film that helped launch the career of Joseph Gordon-Levitt and also helped Rian Johnson move onto bigger projects such as Looper which was released last year. Johnson also went on to direct three episodes of Breaking Bad as well. The film draws heavily in plot, characterization, and dialogue from hardboiled classics, especially from Dashiell Hammett who created The Maltese Falcon.

Brendan (Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

High school student Brendan Frye (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is slowly becoming more recluse after breaking up with his girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin). She decides to mix with a different crowd which Brendan doesn't think she should be part of but then receives a call from her saying she is in danger, mentioning a "brick", "poor Frisco", "tug", and "the Pin" before abruptly and fearfully hanging up. The next day she is found dead by Brendan near a tunnel after finding the note she received so Brendan delves into the underworld of this small Californian town to uncover the mystery.

This is a modern film that pays homage to some of the classic noirs of the 50's and 60's but is still highly respected in its own regard. In many ways the sparsely populated town in Brick reminds me of Chinatown, Roman Polanski's classic from 1974 especially in the use of colours in the setting sky. We see the houses and the parked cars in the town but very rarely the people who actually live there except for the main characters of the movie, almost as if the film is taking place in its own void. Whilst the plot itself also strikes up similar comparisons as we realise everyone is involved in the underworld of this town and in making their own deals to satisfy their own ends.

The tunnel where Emily was murdered

Joseph Gordon-Levitt is an actor I've grown to really like after movies such as 50/50 and Inception but for me this is easily his best performance as the protagonist Brendan. The completely dead pan serious Brendan all of a sudden has just one thing in his life that he is focusing on, with everything else cast aside including his own safety. His grimly determined efforts to find out what happened to his lost love are intriguing to watch whilst the confusing circumstances finally come together. Whilst the plot is difficult to follow at times with the snappy and clever dialogue leaving the audience in the dark at times as to what the characters really mean with coded phrases, its still an absolute joy to watch.

3.5/4 An excellent modern film noir

Film Review: Fruitvale Station

Director: Ryan Coogler

The true story of the shooting of Oscar Grant III by a police officer at the Fruitvale BART station in San Francisco has been made into a film, but the story itself is well known in America after numerous vigils and protests were made about the events of that day. Fruitvale Station debuted at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival where it won the award for Best First Film.

Oscar Grant III with his daughter Tatiana

The film is mostly about the life and the last day of Oscar Grant III, director Ryan Coogler expressed a wish to put a personality to the stories about this man who had been unlawfully killed infront of a shocked train full of people. The film actually includes some of the real footage shot by members of the public from the train on their cell phones which makes for distressing viewing. The man was not without his problems with the law and in keeping a job but deep-down he always seemed to want to be a better person which shines through in Michael B. Jordan's performance.

It does take a while to get going as Oscar's daily life is followed on New Years Eve, the scene with the dog at the petrol station seemed to be added just to try and show that Oscar was fundamentally a good guy in a rather unsubtle way. But the scene at the station itself is genuinely horrifying and the aftermath even more sickening as the credits roll. Some have criticized the movie for being emotionally manipulative but I'd imagine the people who knew Oscar would have a much better idea than critics and movie goers who never met the man. A thoughtful and intelligent film that sticks to the reality of what happened rather than basing the film on a story and changing it needlessly.

3.5/4 Heart-breaking true story of a young life wasted

Film Review: 2 Days in Paris

Director: Julie Delpy

Written, produced and directed by Julie Delpy, this is a romantic drama with a few comedy elements with the fingerprints of Richard Linklater and the Before Sunrise franchise where Delpy played Céline. Here the restrictive nature of a couple just talking to one another is removed but the realistic look at two thirty somethings in a relationship and how difficult it can be is exposed.

Marion (Delpy) is a French born photographer living in New York City with her American boyfriend Jack (Adam Goldberg) who is a neurotic hypochondriac. They return to Paris after an unsuccessful weekend away in Venice to spend two days with Marion's parents (played by Julie Delpy's real life parents) and see her friends who live in the city. They soon begin to annoy each other with their behaviour and in Marion's case the number of ex-boyfriends she still sees round Paris.

Marion and Jack at dinner with Marion's parents

The arguments and strife between the couples is very reminiscent of the aforementioned trio of films by Richard Linklater in which Julie Delpy stars. She has taken this theme and run with her own idea of two different people struggling with very similar issues. Neither character is perfect here but on the surface it appears that Jack is the more openly irritating and difficult to like but then as the film progresses we see more of Marion's flaws that make you realise its usually down to both parties.

Delpy is solid in familiar territory with a role not hugely removed from Céline that she plays in Before Sunset, the second movie in the trio, where she is more experienced in the world and less naive. Adam Goldberg is impressive as the abrasive easy to dislike American who fears everything he doesn't know and recognize in Europe. A film with some funny moments but wouldn't surprise me if it lead more Americans to think of the French as a weird bunch.

2.5/4 Sweet and funny but not quite groundbreaking

Oscar Nominations 2014

Just a quick post to keep you abreast of the Oscar Nominations for 2014 incase you've missed them:

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jared Leto, Michael Fassbender, Bradley Cooper, Barkhad Abdi, Jonah Hill

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Lupita Nyong'o, Jennifer Lawrence, June Squibb, Julia Roberts, Sally Hawkins

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall, Before Midnight, Captain Phillips, Philomena

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: American Hustle, Blue Jasmine, Her, Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club

BEST SONG: Despicable Me 2's 'Happy,' Frozen's 'Let It Go,' The Moon Song' (Her), 'Ordinary Love', Mandela/u2; Alone Yet Not Alone

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Frozen, The Croods, The Wind Rises, Despicable Me 2, Ernest & Celestine

BEST DOCUMENTARY: The Act of Killing, The Square, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars, 20 Feet From Stardom

BEST LEADING ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Sandra Bullock, Amy Adams, Meryl Streep

BEST LEADING ACTOR: Matthew McConaughey, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Dern, Christian Bale

BEST PICTURE: 12 Years a Slave, Gravity, American Hustle, Capt Phillips, Wolf of Wall Street, Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, Philomena

BEST DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron, Steve McQueen, David O. Russell, Martin Scorsese, Alexander Payne

This week's releases

The Wolf of Wall Street: Leonardo Di Caprio has already won a Golden Globe for Best Lead Actor for this Scorcese movie. Now the UK has the chance to see the man in action in this comedy crime-drama.

Full preview here

Devil's Due: After a strange night on their honeymoon, a young couple have an earlier than planned pregnancy that proves to be particularly worrisome. Another horror film around the subject of possession and evil spirits to start 2014 like 2013 ended.

Film Review: Lord of War

Director: Andrew Niccol

A 2005 crime drama which was written and directed by Andrew Niccol who was mostly known for writing the screenplay to The Terminal and The Truman Show. The human rights group Amnesty International officially endorsed the film for highlighting the problems with arms trafficking and the international governments that either aide it or ignore it.

Yuri Orlov (Nicholas Cage) in the Soviet Union after the end of the Cold War

Yuri Orlov (Nicholas Cage) emigrates from the Soviet Union to the USA with his family at a young age. With all the Russian mobsters now battling each other in New York he decides that everyone will always need weapons so he decides to become an arms dealer. He gets his first big break in Lebanon during the war in 1982 where he sells guns to both sides in the conflict and goes on to greater things from there but not without a few brushes with Interpol and Agent Jack Valentine (Ethan Hawke).

The subject of international arms dealing has been an ongoing problem for years and has now ramped up significantly since the Second World War, this film does help bring this to light but also fails to really cut deeper into the heart of the subject. It throws some thinly veiled criticisms at governments on the UN council at the end but spends more time discussing the issue of the wars continually fought in Africa where most of Yuri's customers lived and ruled. This was a prime opportunity to put Western governments in the spotlight which was missed until the final few seconds of the film. But overall the film itself depicts a world that many are unaware of and brings an intriguing topic to light.

André Baptiste Sr (Eamonn Walker)

Nicholas Cage is smooth and slightly smug as the character should be but his constant narratives proved slightly irritating and annoying as the film wore on. His rules for being a gunrunner were entertaining but I feel the film focused too much on the character of Yuri and his life with his family and new wife back in America. I understand that they need to create the character around Yuri but felt this was taken too far at the expense of a deep story about the illegal arms trade. The star performer is Eamonn Walker as the ruthless dictator André Baptiste Sr who is waging a civil war with his people in Liberia.

The plot itself takes on numerous different settings but fails to have one overall arc that keeps you enthralled, the threat of being caught by Interpol is often too easily dodged. Ethan Hawke comes across as a bit too rough and uncouth to be an Interpol agent working in the field, I expected him to be a more intelligent character in his attempts to hunt down Yuri and catch him in the act of trading weapons. Overall this is a decent, entertaining movie with a message but could have been so much more.

2/4 Intelligent examination of gun trade but doesn't live up to its potential

Film Review: Sharknado

Director: Anthony C. Ferrante

A 2013 made for TV movie for the Syfy channel in America that has made a reputation for disaster movies with a comedic twist due to cheap special effects and hammy scripts. The inspiration mainly came from the disaster movies of the 1970's that were genuinely made to be good films but ended up being dreadful and gained a following of cult fans for their shoddy quality. After much hype on Twitter over the name, the film brought in over 1.5 million viewers on the Syfy channel for all three showings to date.

Fin (Ian Ziering) owns a bar on the beach at a surfers paradise in California, the locals aren't concerned about a passing tornado until they release the tornado is throwing sharks onto the land. These sharks have a special taste for human blood and attack the locals, Fin takes his friend Baz (Jaason Simmons) and employee Nova (Cassie Scerbo) with him to rescue his ex-wife (Tara Reid) and daughter from the oncoming tornado. After many close shaves with sharks in the rivers of water flowing down the streets, they see the actual tornado coming over the city of Los Angeles with tornadoes swirling in its midst.

One way to escape a shark attack

It's incredibly tough to judge a movie like this, the special effects are incredibly fake and the production value clearly is low. Many scenes where the city is flooded during the storm show the sky to be a clear sunny day whilst most of the surrounding scenery is bone dry because they couldn't afford to drench the entire set. This makes for rather some comedy moments that are more than likely intentional, whilst the script is hilariously bad in parts.

One of the reasons the film is still watchable is down to the lead Ian Ziering, he gives his absolute all to every scene which carries a lot of the movie. At no point does he relent and let the movie descend into an absolute farce. After that there are very few positives to be taken from the acting, especially where Tara Reid and her over-engineered face are concerned.

1.5/4 Funny disaster movie

PS For future reference, chainsaws dont work inside sharks due to the lack of air

Film Preview: 22 Jump Street

After the success of the first movie, my review is here although I have fonder memories now of the film than I obviously did at the time, it was inevitable that Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum would re-unite their unlikely duo in a sequel. Although the sequel sending them to college has lead some film critics to label it 21 Jump Street: The College Years comparing it to the doomed Saved by the Bell series after the main characters left high school and went to college that was roundly hammered by critics. Whether 22 Jump Street fare better largely comes down to whether the gags and laughs are original or just an extension of the first film.

After the Koreans bought back the church the undercover police division were working from, they relocate to 22 Jump Street across the road where Jenko (Tatum) and Schmidt (Hill) are back undercover working on a drugs ring in college. After their success in returning to school they find they are in the big leagues against college dealers as once again they both infiltrate popular culture amongst young adolescents.

22 Jump Street is currently scheduled to be released in the UK on 6th June 2014 and the trailer is embedded below:

Golden Globe Winners

Best motion picture, drama

• "12 Years a Slave" -- WINNER 

• "Captain Phillips" 

• "Gravity" 

• "Philomena" 

• "Rush"

Best actress in a motion picture, drama

• Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine" -- WINNER 

• Sandra Bullock, "Gravity" 

• Judi Dench, Philomena" 

• Emma Thompson, "Saving Mr. Banks" 

• Kate Winslet, "Labor Day"

Best actor in a motion picture, drama

• Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years a Slave" 

• Idris Elba, "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" 

• Tom Hanks, "Captain Phillips" 

• Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club" -- WINNER 

• Robert Redford, "All is Lost"

Best motion picture, comedy or musical

• "American Hustle" -- WINNER 

• "Her" 

• "Inside Llewyn Davis" 

• "Nebraska" 

• "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Best actress in a motion picture, musical or comedy

• Amy Adams, "American Hustle" -- WINNER 

• Julie Delpy, "Before Midnight" 

• Greta Gerwig, "Frances Ha" 

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "Enough Said" 

• Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County"

Best actor in a motion picture, musical or comedy

• Christian Bale, "American Hustle" 

• Bruce Dern, "Nebraska" 

• Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf of Wall Street" -- WINNER 

• Oscar Isaac, "Inside Llewyn Davis" 

• Joaquin Phoenix, "Her"

Best animated feature film

• "The Croods" 

• "Despicable Me 2" 

• "Frozen" -- WINNER

Best foreign language film

• "Blue is the Warmest Color" 

• "The Great Beauty" -- WINNER 

• "The Hunt" 

• "The Past" 

• "The Wind Rises"

Best supporting actress in a motion picture

• Sally Hawkins, "Blue Jasmine" 

• Jennifer Lawrence, "American Hustle" -- WINNER 

• Lupita Nyong'o, "12 Years a Slave" 

• Julia Roberts, "August: Osage County" 

• June Squibb, "Nebraska"

Best supporting actor in a motion picture

• Barkhad Abdi, "Captain Phillips" 

• Daniel Brühl, "Rush" 

• Bradley Cooper, "American Hustle" 

• Michael Fassbender, "12 Years a Slave" 

• Jared Leto, "Dallas Buyers Club" -- WINNER

Best director, motion picture

• Alfonso Cuaron, "Gravity" -- WINNER 

• Paul Greengrass, "Captain Phillips" 

• Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave" 

• Alexander Payne, "Nebraska" 

• David O. Russell, "American Hustle"

Best screenplay, motion picture

• Spike Jonze, "Her" -- WINNER 

• Bob Nelson, "Nebraska" 

• Jeff Pope and Steve Coogan, "Philomena" 

• John Ridley, "12 Years a Slave" 

• Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell, "American Hustle"

Best original score, motion picture

• Alex Ebert, "All is Lost" -- WINNER 

• Alex Heffes, "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" 

• Steven Price, "Gravity" 

• John Williams, "The Book Thief" 

• Hans Zimmer, "12 Years a Slave"

Best original song, motion picture

• "Atlas," "Hunger Games: Catching Fire" 

• "Let It Go," "Frozen" 

• "Ordinary Love," "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" -- WINNER 

• "Please Mr. Kennedy," "Inside Llewyn Davis" 

• "Sweeter Than Fiction," "One Chance"