Oscar Postmortem Pt. 3: The show

Properly reviewing an Oscar ceremony can be tedious business, so I'm not gonna do it. Not properly, at least. The whole never quite amounts to the sum of its parts (although the Condon/Mark production from 2009 comes awfully close), so it's easiest just to look back and assess those parts at face value. Let's take a look at some moments that stood out (for me anyway) at the 86th Academy Awards

After last year's show hosted by Seth McFarlane came under such harsh critical fire, the pressure was on returning producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to atone. They made all the safest possible choices, and it started with the selection of Ellen Degeneres to return as host after her first kick at the can seven years ago.

Ellen assures viewers around the world, "We're fine. Thank you for your prayers" in regards to the rain.

One Category at a Time: Supporting Actor

Plenty of variety for Oscar voters to choose from in this category, which didn't deviate too far from my own preferences. The only actor who could claim to be snubbed is Daniel Bruhl, who was excellent in Rush. I must admit I'm saddened by it. I thought he was good enough to be nominated back in 2005 for the wonderful German comedy Goodbye, Lenin, and a nomination looked like it was in the cards this time, especially after being up for the Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and SAG Award. That said, there is a certain justice to this cruelty, as a nomination for him here would've been blatant category fraud, so let's be happy we skirted that controversy.

Anyway, of the actual nominees, a clear frontrunner has asserted himself:

My Award nominations: Supporting Actor

The story of the year seemed to be more about the leading men (and that's fair), but there was still some excellent work from the supporting ranks. Read about my five picks for the Best Supporting Actors of 2013 after the cut.

SAG winners

So the Screen Actors Guild has had their say, and for the most part, they were in lock step with the beat the season has set so far.

All the expected actors followed up on their BFCA wins two days ago, with the only category of some dispute being supporting actress. Lupita Nyongo's win tonight over chief competition Jennifer Lawrence (who won just last year) seems to have effectively settled that question though.

SAG, PGA Preview

The first of the industry's top guilds to announce their winners for 2013 will be the Screen Actors Guild (broadcast live tonight) and the Producers Guild of America (tomorrow).

All eyes are on American Hustle to snatch SAG's coveted Best Ensemble award, but nothing's ever set in stone. Remember just last year that another starry David O. Russell ensemble piece, Silver Linings Playbook, was also pegged to take this category, only to be trumped by eventual Best Picture juggernaut Argo, despite it not winning any individual acting honours. So it is possible that 12 Years a Slave could still pull the same trick it did at the Globes and the Critics Choice; keeping a lower profile all night before popping up in the final envelope.

Critics Choice Awards

So the critics choice awards have been announced, and as usual, they're up to their old anticipatory ways, opting for whichever titles (at this point in the race at least) appear to be the leading contenders in their respective categories. I was astonished at just how many winners I was guessing right mere seconds before they were called, but with a group this predictable that's hardly a significant feat.

One category I was happy to guess wrong was Supporting Actress. It did not go the way of Golden Globe victor Jennifer Lawrence, but instead went to the only contender in that field who I think should even be uttered in the same breath as the word "Oscar", the lovely Lupita Nyong'o. She gave a beautiful speech to boot. It may be down to the SAG Award to break the tie.

In addition to Nyong'o, the film picked up Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture, but Gravity ruled the trophy tally with seven wins, although two of them were for dubious genre categories Best Sci-Fi/Horror Movie ("Sci-fi" my ass) and Best Actress in an Action-Movie (which Sandra delightfully poked holes in during her acceptance speech by thanking the likes of Jackie Chan and Sylvester Stallone for teaching her everything she knows -- heehee!).

One more random thought... I can totally see Dallas Buyers Club winning it's semi-surprising Best Makeup nomination. Besides my own bias in thinking that the work in the film is really quite good, it struck me that every time McConaughey and (especially) Leto take the stage this season -- and they may do so again at SAG -- viewers will get to see just how different they look in real life. Plus it's the lone Best Picture nominee in a category where its only competition are two critically dismissed movies that are really not in the Academy's wheelhouse. How many of them saw Bad Grandpa or The Lone Ranger?

Anyway, check out all the Critics Choice winners (and my rambling commentaries) after the cut.

Golden Globes live blog

The Golden Globes are starting in about 15 minutes, and I'll be updating with my commentary on developments as they happen.

7:50 Got my port poured and ready to go. Let's end these inane red carpet interviews and get the show rolling.

8:00 And we're off!

Gravity and Her win with LA critics

In a deadlocked voting slog that yielded three ties, the LA Film Critics Association finally finished announcing their year-end superlatives, and the conjoint winners of their Best Picture prize are Gravity and Her.

Gravity also nabbed honours for Directing, Cinematography, and Editing (all of them very possible Oscar victories too). Her only managed to win one additional award for Production Design, but was runner-up for Music, Director, and Screenplay.

Speaking of Screenplay, that's my favourite pick of the day, going to Before Midnight, which I'll be rooting for all year long in this category. Another selection that delights me is Ernest & Celestine for Animated Feature. Even though its English translation has not yet been released, the warm and whimsical story of a bear and mouse forming an unlikely friendship still won me over in its native French tongue. Besides, we wouldn't want The Wind Rises hogging all the critics awards, would we?

The other two ties of the came in the Acting races, with Best Supporting Actor going between Jared Leto and James Franco, and Best Actress going between Cate Blanchett and Adele Exarchopoulos.

Full list of winners below.

NY Critcs surprise with American Hustle

Even in a year as strong as this one, the New York Film Critics Circle managed to make a Best Picture selection that has many pundits baffled: David O. Russell's American Hustle, whose reviews from recent press screenings have been mixed. Obviously, we won't be in a position to assess the NYFCC's decision in until we get to see the film itself in a little less than a month, but it certainly wasn't what many people expected to see triumph here. It also won for Screenplay and Supporting Actress Jennifer Lawrence.

Picking up big acting wins were Robert Redford of All Is Lost (a movie that continues to piss me off in its coy reluctance to open wide), and Cate Blanchett of Blue Jasmine (this just might be the first of a long list of awards leading up to an eventual Oscar win). Dallas Buyers Club's Jared Leto nabbed Supporting Actor while Steve McQueen took Best Director for 12 Years a Slave.

One final note, I'm super thrilled to see Sarah Polley claim the prize for Best Non-Fiction Film for her brilliant Stories We Tell, and hope it translates into an Oscar nod.

Full list of winners below:

Review - Dallas Buyers Club

The year is 1985, and Texan electrician Ron Woodroof (Matthew McConaughey) sits frozen on a hospital bed, paralyzed for a moment in stubborn disbelief at the life-changing news he's just received: He's not going to live to see 1986. He's not even going to live to see the end of the month, as the calendar on the wall of his trailer reminds him with a sting. He's contracted HIV, and at a time when the virus is so misunderstood and under-researched that odds of surviving the next 30 days are slim.

Forced to confront his own misconceptions about the disease and the prejudices of his so-called “friends”, Ron remarkably manages to turn his darkest hour into the most meaningful seven years of his life, as he uses his considerable wiles to acquire all manner of unapproved but effective treatments to keep himself – along with hundreds of other AIDS patients – alive to fight another day. He founds the Dallas Buyers Club, also the title of this terrific new film that chronicles his true story, so that sufferers can circumvent the FDA's corrupt regulations and receive symptom-relieving drugs directly from Ron's makeshift office/motel room.