2013 Dream Oscar Ballot.

Having now wrapped up my review of the film year that was, I have finally finished my 2013 Oscar ballot in all of the major categories just before the Oscar nominations are announced tomorrow. And boy, was it a doozy. Each category has six nominees (one more than Oscar, but still not enough) with one winner bolded and a runner-up italicized (lest I deprive someone the prestigious honor of being second place on my ballot).

Deciding on a few of these categories was truly heinous (leading actor could have easily merited a three-way tie) while others were utterly vacant (supporting actor continues to be a wasteland). Some of these categories have been set in my mind for a long time while others formed spontaneously as I wrote them which lead to a number of surprises (Spring Breakers with a pretty big technical haul).

Meanwhile, even I was surprised at all the Oscar favorites that didn't drum up my passion and the deserving candidates who surely won't show up tomorrow morning. But our favorites are favorites for a reason, not because awards bodies agree, and so with that I sum up 2013 and lay out my personal choices.

BEST PICTURE

12 Years a Slave

All is Lost

Before Midnight

Blue is the Warmest Color

Frances Ha

Gravity

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Spring Breakers

Stories We Tell

BEST DIRECTOR

Noah Baumbach, Frances Ha

Joel & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis

Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity

Spike Jonze, Her

Abdellatif Kechiche, Blue is the Warmest Color
Sarah Polley, Stories We Tell

BEST LEADING ACTRESS

Sandra Bullock, Gravity

Julie Delpy, Before Midnight

Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color

Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha

Brie Larson, Short Term 12

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Enough Said

BEST LEADING ACTOR

Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips

Ethan Hawke, Before Midnight

Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis

Joaquin Phoenix, Her

Robert Redford, All is Lost

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
Scarlett Johansson, Her

Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave

Léa Seydoux, Blue is the Warmest Color

Lili Taylor, The Conjuring

Emma Watson, The Bling Ring

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

James Franco, Spring Breakers

John Gallagher Jr, Short Term 12

James Gandolfini, Enough Said

Ryan Gosling, The Place Beyond the Pines
Jake Gyllenhaal, Prisoners

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

12 Years a Slave

Before Midnight

The Bling Ring
Blue is the Warmest Color
The Selfish Giant

Short Term 12

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Enough Said

Frances Ha

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

The World’s End

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

12 Years a Slave

The Grandmaster

Gravity

Inside Llewyn Davis

Prisoners
Spring Breakers

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

12 Years a Slave

The Conjuring

Gravity

The Great Beauty

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

12 Years a Slave

The Bling Ring

The Great Beauty

The Great Gatsby
Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

BEST EDITING

The Act of Killing
Frances Ha

Inside Llewyn Davis

Spring Breakers

Stories We Tell

Upstream Color

BEST SOUND

Berberian Sound Studio

The Conjuring

Gravity

Spring Breakers

Stoker

Upstream Color

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

12 Years a Slave

All is Lost

Gravity

Her

Spring Breakers

Stoker

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Let It Go,” Frozen

“The Moon Song,” Her

“Oblivion,” Oblivion

“So You Know What It’s Like,” Short Term 12

“Together,” The Great Gatsby

 “Young and Beautiful,” The Great Gatsby

BEST ANIMATED FILM

Despicable Me 2
Frozen
Monsters University

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Beyond the Hills

Blue is the Warmest Color

The Grandmaster
The Great Beauty

In the House

Like Someone in Love

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM

20 Feet from Stardom

The Act of Killing

Blackfish

Leviathan

Stories We Tell

BEST ENSEMBLE CAST

12 Years a Slave

The Bling Ring

Enough Said

Frances Ha

Inside Llewyn Davis

Short Term 12

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Elizabeth Debicki, The Great Gatsby

Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color

Brie Larson, Short Term 12

Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave

Mickey Sumner, Frances Ha

BREAKTHROUGH FILMMAKER

Fede Alvarez, Evil Dead
Lake Bell, In A World...
Destin Daniel Cretton, Short Term 12
Chad Hartigan, This Is Martin Bonner
Joshua Oppenheimer, The Act of Killing
Stacie Passon, Concussion