Oscars 2014

That time of the year again.

Captain Philips? Wasn't that about that captain who claimed all the credit for saving a ship from pirates , who I recall became very unpopular with his acquaintances on the boat, IIRC. I think it was a meme some time ago, or maybe on tumblr or some other site. Bah

Kind of a dry season. Not a ton of buzz for these movies compared to last year.

-sees Lone Ranger in two categories-

...You have got to be fucking kidding me.

The only heavyweight nominee I've seen this year is Gravity, so I can't say much about the others. They just better not screw up on Best Song like the Golden Globes did. But they probably will. Depends on whether or not they give BAF to The Wind Rises.

edited 16th Jan '14 11:57:45 AM by Mort08

What do you know, I've actually seen one of the movies nominated for best picture and I've heard of three others. That doesn't always happen.

One of them is makeup. They better not be talking about Depp.

At least Hobbit is in the visual effects category although the lack of Thor 2 disturbs me.

edited 16th Jan '14 12:16:56 PM by Kostya

Despicable Me 2 got nominated for best Animated feature film, but Monsters University didn't?

edited 16th Jan '14 2:38:46 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Disappointed not to see Frozen nominated for Best Picture, oh well at least it got nominations for Best Original Song and Best Animated Picture. I also was surprised to see that The Secret Life of Walter Mitty did not get nominated for Best Cinematography nor Best Score. While it might not have been a darling for the critics, I think that the cinematography and score were superb and I was hoping to see someone at least acknowledge it.

Finally, Puella Magi Madoka Magica The Movie: Rebellion should have received a final nomination for Best Animated Feature, but I think a two factors came to play: 1. The Wind Rises will be the last film by Hayao Miyazaki. 2. You do have to watch the TV series first before you see Rebellion. So, I guess I'm not surprised, but given the creativity of the animation and the subversive plot, my inner otaku kind of wished that Rebellion got a nomination.

And now my predictions:

• Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave (I want Gravity to win, but I think that the people behind the Oscars are old-fashioned... and old habits die hard.)
• Best Actor: Leonardo Di Caprio (Hollywood must be sick of hearing people complain about how Leo never gets recognized as a legit actor, so I think they'll give him this in an effort to shut them up.)
• Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron (I have a bad feeling that it is serve as a consolation prize for Gravity a la Brokeback Mountain.)
• Best Actress: Sandra Bullock (No contest.)
• Best Supporting Actor: Michael Fassbender (Also not much of a contest.)
• Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence (She was awesome in American Hustle.)
• Best Animated Feature: Frozen (Sorry Hayao, but no other film in its category came close. Don't get me wrong, The Wind Rises, Rebellion, and Despicable Me 2 are all really good movies, but Frozen is IMO the first Disney masterpiece in quite a while. A surefire.)
• Best Cinematography: Gravity (Should've gone to Walter Mitty, but it was not nominated and Gravity looked really good too.)
• Best Score: Gravity (The score is nothing short of moving, frightening, and amazing.)
• Best Original Song: "Let It Go" (A national phenomenon right now. Disney can't possibly lose this one.)
• Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years A Slave (A well-written drama that fits the bill as Oscar Bait. Should be an easy win.)
• Best Original Screenplay: Blue Jasmine (I love how Woody Allen creates dialogue in films such as this and Midnight in Paris, so I think he's going to get an Oscar for it.)
• Best Visual FX: Gravity (The visuals of this movie brought back 3-D from the dead. No surprise if it wins this award.)

edited 16th Jan '14 12:42:38 PM by sanfranman91

Monsters University deserved an Animated Film nomination, it was at least as good as Despicable Me 2. And how does The Hobbit NOT at least get a nomination for makeup/hair? Frozen is a fine film but not nearly good enough to deserve a Best Picture nomination. The Academy's 10 spaces for Best Picture don't seem to have enabled it to broaden the types of films it nominates, just choose a wider selection of dramas, biographies, and period pieces.

Predictions (largely based on awards won so far):

- Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave

- Best Director: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity (SHOULD be Steve Mc Queen for 12 Years a Slave, but I'm not expecting it any more)

- Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave. I will be outraged if he doesn't get this, he was exceptional.

- Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine. She has won every award in this category this year. It's a pity for Sandra Bullock but she'll have to console herself with her utterly undeserved Oscar for The Blind Side and pretend it's for Gravity instead.

- Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle. In terms of my preferences, it's a toss-up between her and Lupita Nyong'o for 12 Years a Slave - and they've both won a few awards from the different associations of film critics - but going by the Golden Globes it seems likely it'll be Jen. And she did do a spectacular, hilarious job in American Hustle. I recommend the movie if you haven't seen it, it's a lot of fun and the plot takes some good twists and turns.

- Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club. He's won every other award for this category.

- Best Original Screenplay: American Hustle

- Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave

- Best Animated Film: Frozen

I suppose I should go see her, in order to have an opinion on whether it deserves all its nominations. Personally, for an original, dramatic, emotional, and funny take on emerging technology I think Robot And Frank deserved some serious recognition, but somehow nobody seems to have noticed it. Much more innovative than a love story.

EDIT: Hey, shouldn't Pacific Rim be nominated for visual effects? It wasn't much more than an entertaining film, but the visuals were awesome.

edited 16th Jan '14 12:52:48 PM by WarriorEowyn

I'm rather disappointed that my boy Joaquin Phoenix wasn't nominated for Her. It was a great performance and he was very much snubbed last year for his phenomenal acting job in The Master. He expressed some negative feelings about the Oscars shortly before last year's show and I think that really hurt his chances of winning.

At least Her was nominated for Best Picture. It was a wonderful film that had a lot to say about human relationships and the human condition in general.

On another note, I just thought about how funny it would be if Jonah Hill won Best Supporting Actor for Wolf of Wall Street and Leo didn't win Best Actor.

Definitely give Her a try. The only criticisms I have of it is one rather juvenile moment of humor and the ending could've been handled slightly better.

edited 16th Jan '14 1:47:13 PM by Kentok

Frozen's an animated film, there was no chance it'd even get considered for a Best Picture nomination.

Correction: Frozen's not a Pixar film.

Beauty And The Beast was nominated for Best Picture, so it's not just a Pixar thing. But Frozen isn't on the same level as Beauty And The Beast (aside from "Let it Go", the songs are middling at best, and the plot doesn't flow as cleanly).

I know it's been many years since, but I wish Beauty and the Beast did win. It would have brought an end to that annoying stereotype.

Personally, I think Up should have won over The Hurt Locker and Avatar. In my opinion, it and District 9 were the best films of its year.

edited 16th Jan '14 2:08:13 PM by WarriorEowyn

I thought Frozen has been kinda overrated as well. We still have a bit to go to see Disney films like they were at the height of the Renaissance.

American Hustle no contest. It'll sweep. For one, it's got "American" pointlessly shoved in the title, and that is catnip to the Academy. It's pointlessly set in the past, it has pointless musical interludes, and it has pointless about-faces in morality and preachy ending. There's even a bit with JLaw morphing into a depraved bisexual in one scene.

(That being said, it's a workmanlike movie and think Amy Adams deserves to win for it. I loved the film, but you could practically see David O. Russell lurking in every frame, hunting for trophies.)

edited 16th Jan '14 2:27:29 PM by johnnyfog

I'm betting on 12 Years a Slave for Best Picture and at least one of the actor awards. The Great Gatsby will probably win Best Costumes. Gravity will probably get Visual Effects and/or Cinematography, which I'd be fine with.

edited 16th Jan '14 2:36:14 PM by Mort08

Okay, I don't get why Iron Man 3 is in visual effects instead of either Man Of Steel (say what you will about the plot, I think the effects were better than Iron Man's), or Thor 2.

While I liked Di Caprio's performance in The Wolf Of Wall Street, I don't really want him to win since (IMO) that movie was just terrible (it kinda felt like a Seltzer And Friedberg movie with some good actors).

edited 16th Jan '14 3:31:58 PM by IFwanderer

You know, the only role of Leo's I found believable was in The Departed. Thinking back, I realized why: He's an in-over-his-head actor, playing an in-over-his-head undercover cop.

Wow, did you just... insult Scorsese?

What about Shutter Island?

So THE LONE FUCKING RANGER gets nominated for effects and Pacific Rim DOESN'T?

As if we needed further proof that the Oscars are a joke.

edited 16th Jan '14 5:10:21 PM by Psyclone

No, I insulted the movie.

edited 16th Jan '14 5:52:59 PM by IFwanderer

So, care to enlighten us on why a Scorsese movie is in the same phrase/category as stuff like Meet The Spartans?

edited 16th Jan '14 6:04:30 PM by Quag15

Like I said, I didn't like the movie, and to me it had the same feel of "this is a movie about unrepentant assholes being assholes" as those movies. Nobody is perfect, and like every other director, Scorsese can do a movie that at least one person (in this case, me) believes to be terrible, even if most of the things he does/did are extremely good.

Maybe we should move this to the movie's thread to avoid derailing this. Don't you think?

edited 16th Jan '14 6:04:21 PM by IFwanderer