With the BAFTA nominations having been announced a number of films stood out while others missed the cut.
The biggest snub of the morning was "Dallas Buyers Club." The film has been surprising pundits throughout the last few weeks scoring big nominations at the Screen Actors Guild and later at the Producers Guild of America. However, the BAFTA ignored it completely. While the film has not been released in the U.K., the film still qualified for the awards race. As a result, the omission of Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey hurts their front-runner position. The BAFTA's are known for having many Oscar members vote for these awards and most of the time the organization matches with the Academy. A missed opportunity with the BAFTA can mean losing the Oscar.
With Leto and McConaughey out of these races, the two actors now have to win the SAG and Golden Globe awards in order to still continue in the lead.
Another big snub was "The Wolf of Wall Street." Even though the film obtained four nominations including Best Director for Martin Scorsese, the movie failed to get into the Best Film category.
Meanwhile, "Lee Daniel's The Butler" only scored two nominations and continued to lose chances of a Best Picture nomination.
Spike Jonze's "Her" had an off day losing out on the Best Original Screenplay nomination. The movie is a lock for the Academy but with no Original Screenplay nomination at the BAFTA, the race now looks wide open.
One of the biggest omissions of the morning was "Inside Llewyn Davis." The film has been losing steam throughout the week after having missed on nominations for the Directors Guild, Writers Guild and PGA. The film obtained three nominations but failed to get a Best Film and Best Director nod.
While these films missed, "Philomena" had a great morning getting four nominations including a Best Film. The nomination was expected; the BAFTA's always recognize a British film. "Philomena" is the Weinstein Company's strongest Best Picture candidate, so a nomination for the BAFTA could strengthen its campaign for the Academy Awards.
The BAFTAs will take place on Sunday, Feb. 16, 2014 and will be held at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. The ceremony will be hosted by Stephen Fry and broadcast on the BBC.