The National Board Of Review has awarded Her best film and Spike Jonze best director. Her, 12 Years a Slave, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Inside Llewyn Davis, American Hustle and The Wolf on Wall Street have each thrived throughout the precursor awards receiving a wide spread of nominations and wins, proving that this Fall season looks to redeem a very poor summer at the movies. Although, Her won’t see a wide release until January 10, 2014, it’s been screening to select audiences and critics who have received the film very, very warmly. This expected win will surely boost its chances in the upcoming Oscar season.

Spike Jonze’s track record speaks for itself and the trailer provides a haunting and thought-provoking cinematic landscape. Expect Joaquin Phoenix to be in the running for this year’s very competitive Best Actor category but considering how crowded it is, he may not quite make the grade. If he keeps turning The Master caliber performances, it’s only a matter of time until he is considered as much of a shoe-in as the likes of Daniel Day Lewis or Tom Hanks. 

What does this mean for the rest of award season? It’s anyone’s game really. 12 Years a Slave has seemed to lose some serious moment in these precursor awards but I would still be surprised if it didn’t do some serious damage at the Oscars. The aforementioned films however have certainly been delivering the proverbial chink to 12 Year’s armor.

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