End of the Year Look at the Best Picture Race

A lot of the pretenders have been eliminated and conventional wisdom (whoever that is) is saying that nine pictures will be nominated again for the top Oscar award and that the race is between three of them -- 12 Years a Slave, Gravity and American Hustle.

So, if there are nine nominees, these are the pictures I see right now filling those slots:

12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
Saving Mr. Banks
The Wolf of Wall Street