Awards season is getting pretty hectic now as three critic groups announced their winners for 2013 thus allowing several films and actors to take advantage in the Oscar race.
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Firstly, the Boston Society of Film Critics announced their winners with early favourite 12 Years a Slave clinching three awards. The slavery drama won Best Picture, Best Director (Steve McQueen) and Best Actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor).

The film held off competition from Martin Scorsese’s upcoming crime thriller The Wolf of Wall Street which finished runner-up in FIVE categories.

Cate Blanchett continued her strong start to awards season with another Best Actress for Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine. Best Supporting Actor was awarded to the late James Gandolfini for his role in Enough Said (which also won Best Screenplay) while veteran June Squibb was named Best Supporting Actress for the indie-dramedy Nebraska.

Other standout winners included the Coen Brother’s Inside Llewyn Davies (Best Use of Music), Rush (Best Editing), Gravity (Best Cinematography) and The Wind Rises (Best Animated Film).

The full list of winners are below (with runner-ups):

BEST FILM
12 Years a Slave
(RU – The Wolf of Wall Street)

BEST DIRECTOR
Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
(RU – Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street)

BEST ACTOR
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
(RU – Leonardo Di-Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street)

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
(RU – Judi Dench – Philomena)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
James Gandolfini – Enough Said
(RU – *TIE* Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips & Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
June Squibb – Nebraska
(RU – Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave)

BEST SCREENPLAY
Nicole Holofcener – Enough Said
(RU – Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gravity
(RU – The Grandmaster)

BEST EDITING
Rush
(RU – The Wolf of Wall Street)

BEST USE OF MUSIC
Inside Llewyn Davies
(RU – Nebraska)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The Wind Rises
(RU – Frozen)

BEST NEW FILMMAKER
Ryan Coogler – Fruitvale Station
(RU – Joshua Oppenhiemer – The Act of Killing)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Wadaja
(RU – Blue is the Warmest Color)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Act of Killing
(RU – Blackfish)

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Meanwhile, the New York Online Film Critics gave 12 Years a Slave its second crucial win of the day as it added another three victories to its awards cabinet.

The film also secured another Best Actor win for British star Chiwetel Ejiofor while newcomer Lupita Nyong’o was named Best Supporting Actress.

However director Steve McQueen lost out in his own category to Alfonso Cuaron for his helming of the sci-fi blockbuster Gravity (which also won Best Cinematography).

Cate Blanchett was another name to recieve a second critics group win as she won Best Actress while Jared Leto scooped the Best Supporting Actor prize for Dallas Buyers Club.

Spike Jonze won Best Screenplay for his upcoming film Her while Ryan Coogler clinched his second Best Debut Director award of the day for his work on Fruitvale Station.

French drama Blue is the Warmest Color also did well with two gongs for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Newcomer for actress Adelé Exarchopoulos.

There were also sole win for American Hustle (Best Ensemble), Inside Llewyn Davies (Best Use of Music) and The Wind Rises (Best Animated Film).

The full list of winners are below:

BEST FILM
12 Years a Slave

BEST DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

BEST ACTOR
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

BEST SCREENPLAY
Spike Jonze – Her

BEST ENSEMBLE
American Hustle

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gravity

BEST USE OF MUSIC
Inside Llewyn Davies

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Adelé Exarchopoulos – Blue is the Warmest Color

BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR
Ryan Coogler – Fruitvale Station

BEST ANIMATED FILM
The Wind Rises

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Blue is the Warmest Color

BEST DOCUMENTARY
The Act of Killing
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Finally, Los Angeles delivered a couple of unexpected surprises to stamp their authority on this year’s Oscar race.

There was a remarkable three ties from this year’s group with the biggest talking being Best Picture which was shared between the sci-fi blockbuster Gravity and Spike Jonze’s romantic dramedy Her.

The former also won Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron (his second win of the day) as well as technical success in Best Editing and Best Cinematography (a hat trick of accolades for Emmanuel Lubezki).

Her (which recently earned recogntion at the National Board of Review) also won Best Production Design but fared well as a runner up in the Best Director and Screenplay categories to continue its surprise run with the critics.

The other notable ties saw Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) share her third Best Actress win of the day with Adelé Exarchopoulos for Blue is the Warmest Color. More surprisingly, Jared Leto was joint winner of Best Supporting Actor with James Franco for his scene-stealing turn in Spring Breakers.

12 Years a Slave failed to make it a trio of wins in Best Picture with Lupita Nyong’o the only individual to celebrate with her triumph in the Best Supporting Actress shortlist.

Bruce Dern sealed another Best Actor win for the indie-dramedy Nebraska ahead of 12 Year’s Chiwetel Ejiofor while Before Midnight clinched the Best Screenplay gong for Richard Linklater and actor/writers Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.

T-Bone Burnett sealed a critic awards hat-trick with victory in the Best Use of Music category for his work on Inside Llewyn Davies.

Finally, Ernest & Celestine snatched Best Animated Film from the grasp of The Wind Rises while Blue is the Warmest Color secured its second Best Foreign Language Film win.

The full list of winners are below (with runner-ups):

BEST FILM
*TIE* Gravity/Her

BEST DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity
(RU – Spike Jonze – Her)

BEST ACTOR
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
(RU – Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave)

BEST ACTRESS
*TIE* Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine/ Adelé Exarchopoulos – Blue is the Warmest Color

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
*TIE* James Franco – Spring Breakers & Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
(RU – June Squibb – Nebraska)

BEST SCREENPLAY
Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy – Before Midnight
(RU – Spike Jonze – Her)

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gravity
(RU – Inside Llewyn Davies)

BEST EDITING
Gravity
(RU – Upstream Color)

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Her
(RU – Inside Llewyn Davies)

BEST MUSICAL SCORE
T Bone Burnett – Inside Llewyn Davis
(RU – Arcade Fire and Owen Pallett – Her)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Ernest & Celestine
(RU – The Wind Rises)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Blue is the Warmest Color
(RU – The Great Beauty)

BEST DOCUMENTARY
Stories We Tell
(RU – The Act of Killing)