2013 Muriels: Best Director

We're out of blowouts at this point - all the remaining categories were nothing if not competitive. Indeed, this category looked for a while like it could swing towards any one of the top five. That our winner eventually pulled ahead is no reflection on the runners-up. (Seriously, look at that score grouping.)

Third place:



Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave [97 points / 15 votes]

Second place:



Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity [101 points / 16 votes]

And your winner...

2013 Muriels: Best Cinematic Moment

While this category always inspires a healthy variety of citations, including many offbeat choices and solo votes, this year appears to have left our voters scattered. The list of various scenes, moments and sequences is the longest and most varied we've ever put together, covering territory from the highest of the high to the lowest of the low, from All Is Lost to You're Next and everything in between. (In what other category is, say, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty going to get a shout-out?) You'd think this meant that we couldn't come to a consensus. Yet our winner took the title by the widest margin in the category's history, more than doubling the point total of the second-place finisher. Even when we don't agree, we still find ways to agree.

Usually, I like to go over some scenes that got significant support without winners. But I'm having a bear of a time finding these things this year. So fuck it, we'll jump right in to the top tier.

Third place:

Hotel argument, Before Midnight [138 points / 13 votes]

Second place:



Opening shot, Gravity [142 points / 14 votes]

And your winner...

2013 Muriels: 10th Anniversary Award for Best Film of 2003

This year, there were two races that went absurdly down-to-the-wire. This was the less close of the two of them. (The other is still to come. Oooh, excitement!) Also, I might be just a touch biased, but I feel the voting body squeaked out the right winner here. Good job, guys.

Third place:



Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (Quentin Tarantino) [124 points / 19 votes]

Second place:



Lost in Translation [130 points / 20 votes]

And your winner...

2013 Muriels: Best Screenplay

And now... now we start getting into the meat of the thing. It's only major categories from here until Sunday. (I know. They're all major. Some are more major than others.)

Third place:



Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis [135 points / 19 votes]

Second place:



Spike Jonze, Her [160 points / 26 votes]

And your winner...

2013 Muriels: Best Documentary

New category this year! Wish it had been more competitive race, honestly, but let's be honest - there was really only one film that had a shot at winning this category, and it wasn't the one that took home the Oscar last night.

Third place:



Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley) [72 points / 18 votes]

Second place:



Leviathan (Lucien Castaing-Taylor & Véréna Paravel) [77 points / 18 votes]

And your winner...

2013 Muriels: Best Ensemble Performance

With the traffic jam going on between the runners-up (10 points separate second place from fourth), you'd think this was a real close race. It wasn't.

Third place:



American Hustle [106 points / 17 votes]

Second place:



The World's End [112 points / 18 votes]

And your winner...

2013 Muriels: Best Cinematography

One of the nice things about the Body of Work category is it often lets us highlight people whose work would otherwise fall victim to vote-splitting and end up in the middle reaches of the results. It's rare we see a guy fight so hard against himself that someone else takes the crown from him. But... well, lookit this here: Third place:



Gravity (director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki) [104 points / 15 votes]

Second place:



To the Wonder (director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki) [123 points / 18 votes]

And your winner...