2014 Oscars

[bedeviled]

Well, after BD80 forced me to watch a few episodes of the Gong Show in the 'Top 5 Films of Winter' thread, I promised myself I'd never set foot there again. So, here is a separate thread for Oscar discussion as the season progresses.

Major Nominations:
BEST PICTURE
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years as a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTOR
Chistian Bale - American Hustle
Bruce Dern - Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years as a Slave
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club

BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams - American Hustle
Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock - Gravity
Judi Dench - Philomena
Meryl Streep - August: Osage County

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
Michael Fassbender - 12 Years as a Slave
Jonah Hill - The Wolf of Wall Street
Jard Leto - Dallas Buyers Club

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years as a Slave
Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
June Squibb - Nebraska

ANIMATED FILM
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
Frozen
The Wind Rises

CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Grandmaster, Gravity, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska, Prisoners
DIRECTING: American Hustle, Gravity, Nebraska, 12 Years as a Slave, Wolf of Wall Street
DOCUMENTARY: The Act of Killing, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars, The Square, 20 Feet from Stardom
FOREIGN LANGUAGE: The Broken Circle Breakdown, The Great Beauty, The Hunt, The Missing Picture, Omar
ORIGINAL SCORE: The Book Thief, Gravity, Her, Philomena, Saving Mr. Banks

[brevity]

I'm not emotionally invested this year, but I would like to point out something.

For those of you that like to watch as many nominees before the ceremony, it's easier than usual. Watching the 9 films nominated for Best Picture will cover all 5 directing nominees and 16 acting nominees. Add Blue Jasmine and August: Osage County to complete the actors. Those 11 films also give you 9 of 10 writing nominees and 3 to 5 nominees in each of many technical categories.

[Jim3k]

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
Michael Fassbender - 12 Years as a Slave
Jonah Hill - The Wolf of Wall Street
Jard Leto - Dallas Buyers Club

Serious omission: Jared Leto -- Dallas Buyers club.

Given the demands of the role, he's far and away the leader.

Otherwise a pretty decent list.

[bedeviled]

Oops, typo...Or, would you believe that 'Jard' is his drag name?? I didn't think he deserved it, but, now that I think about it, it is surprising to me how weak the set of Supporting Actor nominees are in comparison to the Best Actor nominees (+ Tom Hanks, Joaquin Phoenix, and Robert Redford).

As for the list, it is just a list and not my picks. My own picks are slightly out of alphabetical order, lol. I wanted to provide a list of the nominees for easy reference. My post was more along the lines of "put your post-nominations thoughts here."

[Jim3k]

Oops, typo...Or, would you believe that 'Jard' is his drag name?? I didn't think he deserved it, but, now that I think about it, it is surprising to me how weak the set of Supporting Actor nominees are in comparison to the Best Actor nominees (+ Tom Hanks, Joaquin Phoenix, and Robert Redford).

As for the list, it is just a list and not my picks. My own picks are slightly out of alphabetical order, lol. I wanted to provide a list of the nominees for easy reference. My post was more along the lines of "put your post-nominations thoughts here."

Sorry; my dyslexia, lazy eye (or something) missed it. Normally I ignore spelling errors.

[JasonEvans]

As always, many of the nominees have little shot at winning. In bold below are the films/performers that I think have a realistic shot at winning each award.

BEST PICTURE
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years as a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST ACTOR
Chistian Bale - American Hustle
Bruce Dern - Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years as a Slave
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club

There is a slight chance that American Hustle becomes some phenomenon that sweeps a bunch of awards and carries Bale along for the ride, but I doubt it.

BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams - American Hustle
Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock - Gravity
Judi Dench - Philomena
Meryl Streep - August: Osage County

I am tempted to only bold Blanchett for this award. She is a prohibitive favorite.

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
Michael Fassbender - 12 Years as a Slave
Jonah Hill - The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club

Like Best Actress, I think Best Sup Actor is a done deal. But, if Leto doesn't win then Fassbender is the next logical choice.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years as a Slave
Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
June Squibb - Nebraska

Who deserves to win or who will win? I think Lawrence shouldn't have even been nominated but the Academy looooves her. Nyong'o is the other main contender here and did an amazing job.

ANIMATED FILM
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
Frozen
The Wind Rises

Tough category as I know very little about a couple of the nominees, but Frozen seems to be a lock here.

DIRECTING: American Hustle, Gravity, Nebraska, 12 Years as a Slave, Wolf of Wall Street

Cuaron is about as close to a lock as you will find in this always competitive category. McQueen has the best shot at beating him.

-Jason "I guess this is me making my picks... sorta. Does anyone want to set up a spreadsheet or something so we can all make formal picks in every category and have a little contest?" Evans

[brevity]

BEST PICTURE
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years as a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

DIRECTING: American Hustle, Gravity, Nebraska, 12 Years as a Slave, Wolf of Wall Street

Cuaron is about as close to a lock as you will find in this always competitive category. McQueen has the best shot at beating him.

I haven't seen any of the three films, but I would guess the Picture and Director races look like this:

PICTURE
1. 12 Years a Slave
2. American Hustle
3. Gravity

DIRECTOR
1. Gravity
2. American Hustle
3. 12 Years a Slave

This is an interesting dynamic, and should stay that way for the next month or so unless Steve McQueen wins over the Directors Guild. The Screen Actors Guild supports American Hustle, while the Producers Guild had Gravity slide into a tie with 12 Years a Slave.

[throatybeard]

Terrible omissions in all of the nominations: Before Midnight and Mud.

[weezie]

We watched Blue Jasmine last night. Have to admit, Cate Blanchett is something else. She does a spectacular job and so far is my front runner.

You're welcome DBR!

[Olympic Fan]

Terrible omissions in all of the nominations: Before Midnight and Mud.

Anybody else surprised by the omission of Tom Hanks? He's an Oscar favorite over the years and his role in Oscar nominated Captain Phillips ware critically praised.

There was even some talk that he could get a best supporting nomination for Saving Mr. Banks ... although I don't agree with that one ... it was a nice impression of Walt Disney, but not Oscar-worthy (IMHO). But I was a bit surprised that Emma Thompson didn't get a nomination for Mr. Banks.

And while I don't think the film itself is Oscar worthy, it was far better than several films that were nominated (especially the stale Her -- one of the most clichéd themes in science fiction -- and the self-indulgent Wolf of Wall Street).

[Chicago 1995]

We watched Blue Jasmine last night. Have to admit, Cate Blanchett is something else. She does a spectacular job and so far is my front runner.

You're welcome DBR!

She was fabulous. So was Sally Hawkins. Blanchett was better, my wife and I both thought, than Amy Adams or Meryl Streep.

I'm still just aghast that American Hustle is raking in all these awards. I have no problem with Adams's nomination, and I can understand Bale's. But nothing else from that film was award worthy, IMO. It was pretty much terrible, particularly Cooper and the script. That it got a screenwriting nomination and August: Osage County didn't is laughable.

So my endorsement of Blanchett probably means less since I didn't get the "brilliance" of American Hustle. But I'll endorse her nonetheless.

[Jim3k]

I know it's an animated Disney thing aimed at pre and early teens. But after seeing it this afternoon, I have to say that it is a truly remarkable film. It deseerved to be nominated as best film, but was not. It is up for best animated and animated director as well as (now) one song.

But this is a masterpiece and should have gotten wider recognition. Best pic; best soundtrack, best technical stuff, best adaptation--the soundtrack has now spawned a sing-along movie.

This is a super fine film.

Even adults without target-age children will love it. My theater had a mixture of kids/parents and senior couples. Received wrmnly by all.

[There is also a throwback cartoon of early Mickey and Minnie which blends (quite well) with a more modern Mickiy and Minnie. Well done and quite fun.]

[weezie]

Just back from seeing Dallas Buyers...give it to Jared Leto.
Phenomenal acting job.

[roywhite]

I know it's an animated Disney thing aimed at pre and early teens. But after seeing it this afternoon, I have to say that it is a truly remarkable film. It deseerved to be nominated as best film, but was not. It is up for best animated and animated director as well as (now) one song.

But this is a masterpiece and should have gotten wider recognition. Best pic; best soundtrack, best technical stuff, best adaptation--the soundtrack has now spawned a sing-along movie.

This is a super fine film.

Even adults without target-age children will love it. My theater had a mixture of kids/parents and senior couples. Received wrmnly by all.

[There is also a throwback cartoon of early Mickey and Minnie which blends (quite well) with a more modern Mickiy and Minnie. Well done and quite fun.]

And huuuge box office hit; something like $866 million so far; saw the Disney CEO on one of the financial channels the other day, and he couldn't stop talking about Frozen and what it had done for the company and the brand. I've seen some critics call it the best Disney animated feature in a long time.