86th Annual Academy Awards

I’m back!  I’ve pretty much abandoned this blog due to other time restrictions, but I had to make time for my yearly Oscar post.  I have more fun writing this than pretty much anything else so there was no way I was going to miss a year.  It just do happens that this was one of the best years for movies in recent memory, with a ton of award worthy movies getting recognized.  It was hard to make a lot of these picks because all the nominations were amazing filled with great performances and awesome writing.  So, here are my picks and predictions…

Best Cinematography

            Nominations: The Grandmaster (Philppe Le Sourd), Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki), Inside Llewyn Davis (Bruno Delbonnel), Nebraska (Phedon Papamichael), Prisoners (Roger Deakins)

            Who I Want To Win: Roger Deakins

            Who I Think Will Win:  Emmanuel Lubezki
            WHO WON: Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)

            I’ll be honest, this is Lubezki’s award and I really have no problem with that.  Gravity was an amazing visual movie and I was blown away by the things that were done.  I really wanted to put his name under the “want to win” line, but I’m still mad about last year’s award.  Roger Deakins was flat out robbed.  I am so offended by Skyfall not being recognized for how perfectly the camera shots were set up that I’m not going to be happy until Deakins gets his just due.  He’s the Susan Lucci of cinematography.  It feels like he’s been nominated every year since the mid to late 90’s and has never won.  This isn’t going to be the year, but I’m supporting him until he takes home that statue.

Best Animated Feature

            Nominations: The Croods, Despicable Me, Ernest & Celestine, Frozen, The Wind Rises

            Who I Want To Win: Frozen

            Who I Think Will Win: Frozen
            WHO WON: FROZEN

           

            I didn’t get to see all the films in this category so it probably isn’t fair to comment but I don’t think there is much doubt that Frozen is a shoe in.  I missed out on Ernest & Celestine and The Wind Rises.  I’ve heard a lot of good things about The Wind Rises and I know there is a lot of fans of anime out there who would love to see it win, but I the genre doesn’t do much for me.  My question with this category is, what are we supposed to be looking at?  Is this award supposed to go to the best all around film or the best animation in a film?  The Croods was stunning to watch.  In my mind, the animation was light years ahead of the other movies I saw.  But, the story kind of sucked.  I could have cared less about what was going on, but I loved watching it.  Frozen, on the other hand, was pretty standard across the board.  It looked like a typical Disney animated film and it sounded like a typical Disney animated film, and it played out like a typical Disney film.  I enjoy Disney animated films, so I have no problem with Frozen taking the gold home, but if this is supposed to go to the best animation, The Croods should be winning.

Best Documentary Feature

            Nominations: The Act of Killing, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars, The Square, 20 Feet from Stardom

            Who I Want To Win: The Act of Killing

            Who I Think Will Win: 20 Feet from Stardom
            WHO WON: 20 Feet from Stardom

           

            I shouldn’t even be listing this category because I only saw one of the films, The Act of Killing, so I really have nothing to go on.  But, I love this category so much I feel the need to chime in, even if it’s a little ignorant.  The funny thing is I have no excuse for not seeing all of them other than I just didn’t have the time.  All except 20 Feet from Stardom are streaming on Netflix.  From everything I’ve heard, 20 Feet from Stardom is the odds on favorite.  Lucky for me the one movie I saw was good enough that I’m okay saying I want it to win.  The Act of Killing was so different and unbelievable and poignant that it certainly deserves an award.  I can’t say that it’s more of those things than the other four movies, but what I saw was certainly amazing and would have been my favorite in past years.

Best Original Screenplay

            Nominations: American Hustle, Blue Jasmine, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, Nebraska

            Who I Want To Win: Her

            Who I Think Will Win: Her
            WHO WON: Her

           

            This category traditionally goes to a quirky indie movie that doesn’t have the support to win Best Picture.  That movie this year is clearly Her.  I really like Her more than I expected.  It was way more accessible than most of Spike Jonze’s movies, yet the concept seemed much more off putting.  It wasn’t off putting at all.  It was really well done and very deep and tender.  I attribute the effectiveness of the film to the writing.  This easily could have been a disaster of a movie, but the characters and relations that Jonze created felt so real the movie worked.  I didn’t feel that the writing really stood out on any of the other films.  Nebraska is another indie darling that may get some love in this category, but I didn’t think it was on the level of excellence that Her is on.  The only other movie I can see stepping into Her’s way would be American Hustle.  There is always the possibility that American Hustle gets the award as a consolation for not winning any of the bigger prizes.

Best Adapted Screenplay

            Nominations: Before Midnight, Captain Phillps, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street

            Who I Want To Win: Philomena

            Who I Think Will Win: 12 Years a Slave
            WHO WON: 12 Years a Slave

            The same line of thinking for Original Screenplay goes along with Adapted Screenplay, but I have a sneaking suspicion that 12 Years a Slave is going to get this nod.  This year is packed with quality movies that all deserve awards, but 12 Years a Slave was the stand out of the bunch.  The question is, will the awards be dispersed amongst the good movies or will they all just be given to the best?  I loved Philomena, but don’t think it was quite good enough to get Best Picture, so I would really like to see it get this one.  A lot of the movie’s charm has to do with the chemistry between Steve Cogan and Judie Dench, but I think the basis of that relationship is in the writing.  I also want to take the time to put on record that I don’t get the Richard Linklater “Before…” movies.  I know people love these movies and think that they are the best thing ever put on film, but I fell asleep 15 minutes into Before Sunrise and have had no desire to try watching again.  I’m sorry for all of you that love these movies, but they suck!  Watching paint dry is more entertaining then watching these two characters that I don’t care about prattle on about nothing.

Best Supporting Actress

            Nominations: Sally Hawkins, Jennifer Lawrence, Lupita Nyong’o, Julia Roberts, June Squibb

            Who I Want To Win: Sally Hawkins

            Who I Think Will Win: Lupita Nyong’o
            WHO WON: Lupita Nyong'o

            I’ll get my Julia Roberts rant out of the way first.  Those of you who know me are probably expecting it, so here we go… I didn’t even have to see August: Osage County to know that she shouldn’t have gotten this nomination.  She’s not a good actress, there is nothing likable about her, and she annoys the piss out of me.  She is Julia Roberts in everything she does.  There is no range at all in her acting.  So, I didn’t see the movie.  And, I’m still secure in the fact that I just gave a fitting analysis of her performance in it… Ok, on to the deserving nominations.  I enjoyed June Squibb in Nebraska, but I wasn’t really impressed with her acting.  Part of the charm for me was that she appeared to be acting obviously bad and that became endearing.  I love Jennifer Lawrence, but her character did nothing for me.  My favorite this year was Sally Hawkins.  Everyone is talking about Cate Blanchett’s performance but I was pulled into that movie by Hawkins.  There was something about the genuineness of that character paired with the walking disaster that she was that was endlessly interesting.  Hawkins did a great job making her character more interesting and important than the lead.  For me Blue Jasmine was all about Hawkins and not Blanchett at all.  That being said, Lupita Nyong’o put in an amazing performance in a great movie that is going to be hard for the voter’s to ignore.  As much as I would like to see Hawkins win, I can’t be upset if Nyong’o win because she was equally impressive.

Best Supporting Actor:

            Nominations: Barkhad Abdi, Bradley Cooper, Michael Fassbender, Jonah Hill, Jared Leto

            Who I Want To Win: Bradley Cooper

            Who I Think Will Win: Jared Leto
            WHO WON: Jared Leto

            I feel like Jared Leto is a sure thing in this category, but as much as I enjoyed his performance, I can’t look past my gimmick theory.  The theory says that people fawn over people who play gimmick roles even though those gimmick roles are easier to make interesting than a straight role.  In other words, it’s not hard to pull of a character that comes with set traits that make them interesting, like being a transvestite or being mentally disabled, you’re given a set of behaviors that you just have to mimic.  Taking a normal person off a page and making them interesting with out a bunch of clichés to play off of is much more skillful.  Jared Leto did a good job with his role but it’s still a gimmick role.  I would much rather see Bradley Cooper take home the prize.  I wasn’t crazy about American Hustle but Cooper was a standout in my eyes.  I really enjoyed what he did with the character and brought something to a movie that didn’t really pull me in otherwise.  And I need to take a minute and say something about Jonah Hill getting nominated.  Could someone tell me what he did to deserve it?  He was Jonah Hill in that movie.  It required no acting whatsoever.  You could have played that performance next to Superbad and not noticed a difference.  I like Jonah Hill, don’t get me wrong, but there is no way that he deserved a nomination for that role.

Best Actress

            Nominations: Amy Adams, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench, Meryl Streep

            Who I Want To Win: Judi Dench

            Who I Think Will Win: Cate Blanchett
            WHO WON: Cate Blanchett

            Can we just say that Meryl Streep is the best actress every year and who ever wins this award is second best?  Like I said earlier, I haven’t seen August: Osage County, but have you ever seen a sub-par Meryl Streep role?  Okay, we can pretend that Mama Mia didn’t happen.  She’s the best and it’s almost not fair that she take up a nomination every year.  You’re great Meryl, we get it.  By the way, I would institute the same rule for Daniel Day-Lewis and the Best Actor category too.  I’m pretty sure Blanchett is going to get this one.  She has all the buzz right now and it was certainly a worthy role.  If I was giving out the awards this one would be Judi Dench’s hands down.  I really enjoyed Philomena and most of that came from the performances that Dench and Coogan put in.  She played the role so perfect.  It’s a role that might be hard for people today to understand but Dech did a perfect job of making irrational responses to situations seem rational and understandable.  There was something softer about Dench’s performance that made me appreciate it more than Blanchett.

Best Actor

            Nominations: Christian Bale, Bruce Dern, Leonardo DiCaprio, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Matthew McConaughey

            Who I Want To Win: Chiwetel Ejiofor

            Who I Think Will Win: Chiwetel Ejifor
            WHO WON: Matthew McConaughey

            If this was a Best Actor of the Year award I’d be giving it to McCoaughey.  If you add up all his roles he had an amazing year.  Dallas Buyer’s Club was great.  His scene in The Wolf of Wall Street was the best in the movie.  And everyone seems to have forgotten about Mud, which was one of my favorites of the year.  But unfortunately it’s just best actor in one role, and nobody was better in one role this year than Chiwetel Ejifor.  12 Years a Slave was the best movie this year and that was almost solely due to Ejior’s job.  It easily could have been played over the top, but it wasn’t.  Ejifor’s ability to subtly convey the emotion behind a totally fucked up story was amazing.  Bruce Dern just stared blankly at the camera for an hour and a half.  Christian Bale was good, which is always is, but he did nothing that made me interested in the character or the movie.  DiCaprio was good as well, but nothing felt special about what he was doing.  Ejifor carried a great movie, pulling the audience in and pulling at the heart strings.

Best Director

            Nominations: David O. Russel, Alfonso Cuaron, Alexander Payne, Steve McQueen, Martin Scorsese

            Who I Want To Win: Alfonso Cuaron

            Who I Think Will Win: Steve McQueen
            WHO WON: Alfonso Cuaron

            There’s a couple ways I could go with my predictions on this one.  One is that 12 Years a Slave is going to get Best Picture so the voters throw Gravity a bone and give the statue to Cuaron as a consolation prize.  The other is that 12 Years a Slave walks away with everything.  I am going with the second scenario even though the quality of the movies nominated this year is much better than it has the last few.  I think Cuaron is deserving either way.  Gravity had some problems but direction wasn’t one of them.  The way the movie looked and was directed was truly amazing.  I think McQueen did a great job as well, but there was just something about Gravity that grabbed me.  It wasn’t the acting or the writing, so it must have been the directing.

Best Picture

            Nominations: American Hustle, Captain Phillps, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street

            Who I Want To Win: 12 Years a Slave

            Who I Think Will Win: 12 Years a Slave
            WHO WON: 12 Years a Slave

            This is an exceptional year for movies.  I think this is the first time since I started doing this post that I have no problem with any of the nominated movies winning.  The only movie I didn’t get a chance to see was Captain Phillips.  I enjoyed watching every other movie.  There was nothing that bored me to tears or offended my intelligence or filled me with disdain.  These are all extremely worthy movies that would have won in almost any of the last 5 years.  Unfortunately they all have to compete with each other, which leaves a tough discussion about who wins the big prize.

            American Hustle was an entertaining movie but it left me kid of lacking.  I wasn’t completely interested in the characters which left me with a disconnect with the story.  I didn’t totally care what happened to anyone, which makes me feel that it didn’t accomplish everything it meant to or should have.

            Dallas Buyers Club was an amazing story about an era we are not that far removed from.  I really enjoyed all the performances and felt it was a story that needed to be told.  It’s scary to think that it wasn’t that long ago that this happened, yet is kind of a forgotten moment in our history.  Any other year I would be pushing for this movie to win, but at the end of the day it just didn’t strike me on all the levels that 12 Years a Slave did.

            Gravity was a visual wonder.  I was blown away watching this film and totally engrossed in everything that was going on.  Cuaron is a great visionary and I hope some day he wins because I love his movies, but I don’t feel this is the one.  There were some holes in the story and I wasn’t as impressed with Sandra Bullock as others seemed to be.  Normally I would argue that because she was on the screen alone for the whole movie and I remained interested in the movie it was a sign of a great performance, but I think my awe with the film had more to do with other factors than Bullock’s acting.

            Her surprised me.  I’m not a huge fan of Spike Jonze and find most of his films hard to tap into and enjoy, but this movie was pretty engrossing.  When you hear the premise the knee jerk reaction is to think it’s silly or absurd, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.  Jonze handles the subject wonderfully, creating a world where everything makes sense and is totally believable.  It’s a wonderful movie on loneliness and relationships and I highly suggest everyone give it a viewing.  In the end, though, it just doesn’t have the weight to beat out this year’s heavyweights.

            Nebraska was a fun little indie that takes a great look at getting old and the problems with family and small town America.  It’s a collection of great characters and a wonderful story, but I think it is much stronger as a Best Screenplay nominee than a Best Picture.  It has some good performances and a very stylistic look.  At the end of the day, however it just doesn’t compare to the film making of its competition this year.

            Philomena was probably my favorite movie of the year.  I really enjoyed the chemistry between Steve Coogan and Judi Dench.  The characters they brought to the screen were well drawn.  They were able to showcase a deep complexity that made the story work in a way it wouldn’t with lesser performances.  I loved the mix of humor and poignancy that was presented.  It spoke to a generation of thinking that is passé and looked down upon in this day and age, but did so in a way that was humanizing not patronizing.  I would love to see this movie win, but I don’t really think it has much of a shot.

            The Wolf of Wall Street was a highly entertaining movie but when all was said and done I’m not sure what it was getting at.  Much of the movie was over the top no matter how real it was and I feel like it could have used a little more editing.  There were large portions of the movie that just didn’t need to be there or scenes that went on much too long.  That being said, there were still some amazing moments, like the lunch scene between Leonardo and McCoaughey.  I really liked the movie, but I feel like there was a better movie if some things were changed a little.  I know, who am I to say what Martin Scorsese should be doing with his movie?  Nobody.

            12 Years a Slave is the clear winner for me.  It had great performances.  It told an amazing story.  It did it all without beating a message over your head or making the story super sappy and emotional.  It’s an incredibly troubling story that blows your mind and leaves you asking tons of questions.  At the same time, it was amazingly entertaining and compelling.  This is everything a great movie should be.