Well it’s that time of year again (and I need to
procrastinate on studying for biology).
This year has been one of those really rare but every movie nominated is
really amazing. I am not going to lie,
trying to decide which will win and why is a challenge. I can point almost any
movie with nominations and say why I think it will win. Like last year, I will
give my choice for what I think SHOULD win and what I think WILL win.
Well here goes nothing….
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Best Actor in a Leading Role
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Christian
Bale (American Hustle)
Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Leonardo
DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Chiwetel
Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Matthew
McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
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Blah Blah Blah, its Leo’s year. Blah Blah it’s the revival
of McConaughey, its a MCCONAISSANCE.
Both is about all I have heard and read for the past few months. My
choice here is pretty simple: Chiwetel
Ejiofor. While I give credit to Matt and Christian for their
bodily sacrifices, Chiwetel
Ejiofor performance was just too good. Throughout 12 Years A Slave, his performance was
the center of the ever-changing cast. He didn’t exactly have an
ensemble to support him throughout his journey. It was him versus everyone
trying to hurt him (except Benedict Cumberbatch).
(that being said, Robert Redford got snubbed here for his
one man movie)
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Best Actress in a Leading Role
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Amy Adams (American
Hustle)
Cate
Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra
Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Meryl Streep (August:
Osage County)
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Another year, another Meryl nod. This category is tough
for me. I want to go with Amy Adams but Judi Dench was Judi Dench. Philomena
is another one of those movies that is a tear jerker that makes you think
about a time not so long ago where women were discriminated against for
shared behavior. She was the light in this movie.
Amy sorry, Jennifer Lawrence out did you.
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Best Actor in a Supporting Role
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Barkhad
Abdi (Captain Phillips)
Bradley
Cooper (American Hustle)
Michael
Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
Jonah Hill (The
Wolf of Wall Street)
Jared Leto (Dallas
Buyers Club)
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Jared Leto. Do I need to say anymore? His performance in Dallas Buyers Club was just wow. Just the way he was able to fully embody
Rayon and her struggle in a world where she is beyond an oddity. Jared Leto
is always believable in his roles and he makes sparse appearances as an actor
these days. Lets give him this one.
Second to him is Michael Fassbender (12 Years A Slave). I have loved Mr. Fassbender for a long time.
He is one of those actors that loves to play characters who are evil and not
looking for redemption. I just hope he gets a statue soon.
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Best Actress in a Supporting Role
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Sally
Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
Jennifer
Lawrence (American Hustle)
Lupita
Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Julia
Roberts (August: Osage County)
June Squibb (Nebraska)
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Jennifer Lawrence. I don’t need a reason. She played
beyond her years. Delightfully manipulative and perfect Long Island Italian
meets trailer white trash.
Honorable mention does go to Lupita though. Again, just a
robust performance in what would have otherwise been a one-man show.
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Best Animated Feature
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The Croods (Chris
Sanders, Kirk DeMicco, Kristine Belson)
Despicable
Me 2 (Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin, Chris Meledandri)
Ernest
& Celestine (Benjamin Renner, Didier Brunner)
Frozen (Chris
Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
The Wind
Rises (Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki)
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Frozen. Great movie and awesome to see Disney/Pixar
return to its musical animated roots.
The Wind Rises was also amazing. Not a kids movie by any
stretch of the imagination but really well done. Its also most like Miyazaki’s
last movie. So you never know with those academy people.
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Best Cinematography
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The
Grandmaster (Philippe Le Sourd)
Gravity (Emmanuel
Lubezki)
Inside
Llewyn Davis (Bruno Delbonnel)
Nebraska (Phedon
Papamichael)
Prisoners (Roger
A. Deakins)
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Gravity. Done. Cauron is always known for his work with Le
Sourd.
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Best Costume Design
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American
Hustle (Michael Wilkinson)
The
Grandmaster (William Chang Suk Ping)
The Great
Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
The
Invisible Woman (Michael O'Connor)
12 Years a
Slave (Patricia Norris)
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Again this is a tough one. I have a thing for period
costume and this year there was way too many well done costume dramas (Ask
Gerard).
This is a crapshoot.. so I am going to go with the dark
horse, “The Great Gatsby”.
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Best Directing
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American
Hustle (David O. Russell)
Gravity (Alfonso
Cuarón)
Nebraska (Alexander
Payne)
12 Years a
Slave (Steve McQueen)
The Wolf of
Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
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This is another one of those tough ones. I just flipped a coin between Cuaron and
Russell. Cuaron won out. Gravity
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Best Documentary Feature
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The Act of
Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen)
Cutie and
the Boxer (Zachary Heinzerling, Lydia Dean Pilcher)
Dirty Wars (Richard
Rowley, Jeremy Scahill)
The Square (Jehane
Noujaim, Karim Amer)
20 Feet
from Stardom (Nominees to be determined)
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Hard Choice.. 20 Feet from Stardom and The Square were
both amazing. But I have a feeling the academy members may go for 20 Feet.
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Best Documentary Short
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CaveDigger (Jeffrey
Karoff)
Facing Fear (Jason
Cohen)
Karama Has
No Walls (Sara Ishaq)
The Lady in
Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
Prison
Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall (Edgar Barens)
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The Lady in Number 6 was in the news during the Oscar
voting because its “star” passed away. If not for that, I would go with Cave
Digger
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Best Film Editing
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American
Hustle (Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, Alan Baumgarten)
Captain
Phillips (Christopher Rouse)
Dallas
Buyers Club (John Mac McMurphy, Martin Pensa)
Gravity (Alfonso
Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
12 Years a
Slave (Joe Walker)
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Gravity.
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Best Foreign Language Film
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The Broken
Circle Breakdown (Belgium)
The Great
Beauty (Italy)
The Hunt (Denmark)
The Missing
Picture (Cambodia)
Omar (Palestine)
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Best Makeup and Hairstyling
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Dallas
Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Jackass
Presents: Bad Grandpa (Stephen Prouty)
The Lone
Ranger (Joel Harlow, Gloria Pasqua-Casny)
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Best Original Score
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The Book
Thief (John Williams)
Gravity (Steven
Price)
Her (William
Butler, Owen Pallett)
Philomena (Alexandre
Desplat)
Saving Mr.
Banks (Thomas Newman)
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Best Original Song
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Happy (Despicable
Me 2)
Let It Go (Frozen)
The Moon
Song (Her)
Ordinary
Love (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)
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For the first time in a long time, Disney used its immense
vault of Broadway talent to bring a story to life. I wish this could get more
than two nominations along with some recognition for the Lopezs.
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Best Production Design
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American
Hustle (Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler)
Gravity (Andy
Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woollard)
The Great
Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
Her (K.K.
Barrett, Gene Serdena)
12 Years a
Slave (Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker)
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Best Visual Effects
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Gravity (Tim
Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
The Hobbit:
The Desolation of Smaug (Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David
Clayton, Eric Reynolds)
Iron Man 3 (Christopher
Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, Dan Sudick)
The Lone
Ranger (Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, John
Frazier)
Star Trek
Into Darkness (Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann,
Burt Dalton)
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Gravity out of pity. Though I believe Hobbit is the real
winner here.
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Best Adapted Screenplay
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Before
Midnight (Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke)
Captain
Phillips (Billy Ray)
Philomena (Steve
Coogan, Jeff Pope)
12 Years a
Slave (John Ridley)
The Wolf of
Wall Street (Terence Winter)
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I think both 12 Years and Philomena were amazing. Going to
be tough.
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Best Original Screenplay
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American
Hustle (Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell)
Blue
Jasmine (Woody Allen)
Dallas
Buyers Club (Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack)
Her (Spike
Jonze)
Nebraska (Bob
Nelson)
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Her won't get much Oscar night. Its one of the most
original movies I have seen in a long time. We'll see this movie become more
relevant as time goes on.
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Best Picture
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ARG!!!!!!!! This is so tough! There are three movies that
I really think were just that good this year: Dallas Buyers Club, 12
Years a Slave and Her.
I am going with 12 Years (see my review). But honestly
this year is one of those years when any of the nominated movies could win
and I could accept it (ok except Wolf of Wall Street).
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