The best of 2013, based on reaction

I’ll be tied up all weekend tabulating the votes of the 50 or so members of the Southeastern Film Critics Association.

This will effectively mark the end of my professional movie watching for the year -anything I haven’t seen by now can’t figure in this end-of-the-year poll, though conceivably it might make its way into my end-of-the-year wrap-up (which will run in the Style section on Dec. 29). That’s when I traditionally unveil my Top 10and alternative Top 10, and make other remarks about the year in movies. But this is the column where I reveal how I voted in the annual SEFCA poll (we’ll have the results of the group voting next week).

As I’ve said many times before, I don’t take these things terribly seriously - I have no idea how anyone can really determine whether Brie Larson in Short Term 12 was actually better than Meryl Streep in August: Osage County. I can only speak to my reaction to the portrayals. I’m just doing the best I can to sort them into an order that feels reasonable - I don’t think in terms of hierarchical rankings, but I understand the need for the convention. Anyway, the most I can hope to do is start some arguments. So here goes, this is how I voted:

BEST ACTOR

1. Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis

2. Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

3. Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave

BEST ACTRESS

1. Brie Larson, Short Term 12

2. Meryl Streep, August: Osage County (I understand The Weinstein Company is pushing for Streep to be nominated for a supporting role, with Julia Roberts getting the lead bid. But Streep is the real lead here.)

3. Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

1. James Gandolfini, Enough Said

2. Matthew McConaughey, Mud

3. Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

1. Margo Martindale, August: Osage County

2. Lea Seydoux, Blue Is the Warmest Color

3. Scarlett Johansson, Her

BEST ENSEMBLE

1. Mud

2. August: Osage County

3. American Hustle

BEST DIRECTOR

1. Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis

2. Spike Jonze, Her

3. Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

1. Spike Jonze, Her

2. Joel and Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis

3. Jeff Nichols, Mud BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

4. Ghalia Lacroix and Abdellatif Kechiche, Blue Is the Warmest Color

5. Destin Daniel Cretton, Short Term 12

6. John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave

BEST DOCUMENTARY

1. After Tiller

2. The Act of Killing

3. Leviathan

(This was an extraordinarily rich category this year. For my list of the year’s 20 best documentaries see blooddirtangels.com.)

BEST FOREIGN-LANGUAGE FILM

1. The Hunt (Danish)

2. Blue Is the Warmest Color (French)

3. Renoir (French) BEST ANIMATED FILM

4. The Wind Rises

5. Monsters University

6. Frozen

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

1. Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity

2. Bruno Delbonnel, Inside Llewyn Davis

3. Sean Bobbitt, 12 Years a Slave

THE GENE WYATT AWARD FOR FILM THAT BEST EVOKES THE SPIRIT OF THE SOUTH

1. Mud

2. The Spectacular Now

3. Muscle Shoals

Email: pmartin@arkansasonline.com

www.blooddirtangels.com