Film critics rejoice, be ready to give your best insight on as many movies as you can. That’s right everyone, it is awards season. One of the biggest events of the awards season is The Academy Awards and what is thought to be the biggest category of them all, the prestigious best picture category. Everyone has their favorite movie of the year, but only nine have been nominated this year when the max is 10 films per year. With movies such as 12 Years a Slave, which won the Drama Golden Globe and the predicted winner, Gravity, and American Hustle, which won the comedy Golden Globe, topping many people’s choices for best picture winner it is a tight race going into the final month.

Of the nine films that have been nominated, six of them are rated R, restricting many students from attending them.

Many of these movies were not big at the box office. Besides Gravity — one of the biggest winners at the box office this year with a total of 261 million dollars — movies such as Nebraska had a very low box office, only collecting 11.8 million dollars.

Many people have not been able to get into the theater to see movies that only show at limited places. “I haven’t seen any of them,” said US English teacher Randall Findlay, who teaches Seminar in Visual Narrative and advises Film Club.

Nonetheless many students and teachers still have their favorites. Junior Shaan Bijwadia has seen a whopping six of the films nominated. “My favorite was American Hustle for its phenomenal acting,” Bijwadia said.

Students agree on the front runners for the category, “12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Captain Phillips are the ones that jump out at me to win,” sophomore Riley Wheaton said.

“I think that 12 Years a Slave will win because of its theme and a strong performance in the leading role,” Bijwadia said.

Still hold out hope that there could be an upset in the making. “I really have a hard time choosing between Nebraska and Philomena,” sophomore Anna Biggs said.

Gravity and American Hustle top the list with ten Oscar nominations each, with American Hustle nabbing a nomination in each of the four acting categories (Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor); 12 Years a Slave follows close behind with nine nominations.

The Academy has chosen these films: American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, Gravity, Nebraska, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave, and The Wolf of Wall Street. Best Film category will be the last award given on March 2, tune in at 7 p.m. to see all the winners.