Friday, February 28, 2014

Oscar madness: Yes, I'm crazy, but I only have 12 movies to go...

I suck at math, so my figures might be slightly off, but as of today, I have seen 45 of the 57 films nominated for the 86th Academy Awards, which air March 2 on ABC. That means I only have 12 more to go...

And I don't think I will make it to 57.

I might be able to squeeze in a few more this weekend, but honestly, some of these films are impossible to find. *Sigh* Still. Here's my rundown and predictions for this year's movies. I'm chronicling it here for posterity's sake. And possibly as proof that I belong in a padded room because I realize no one cares what my picks are at all. Actually, the common response is, "Um, how in the heck did you see so many nominations? Do you have a lifetime pass with your local theater chain?!?" Kind of. I get free screening passes thanks to both my job and GoFoBo (anyone can sign up, nationwide, for free screenings. Check it out). Plus, Netflix has some of these. iTunes has some. Vimeo has some. You just have to search for them. Usually, I watch these movies and think "That was nominated? Why?!?" This year, I'm awed by how great the field is. 

Anyway. My overall favorite film was the short documentary The Lady in No. 6: Music Saved My Life, followed by Philomena. Folks, I wish everyone would watch The Lady in No. 6: Music Saved My Life. It. Is. Amazing. I adored it so much. It conveys such a profound message. If it doesn't win, I will be so mad!

That said, here are my individual picks...

>Best Picture (seen them all!)
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Who I think should win: It's a toss up between 12 Years a Slave, Philomena and Nebraska.
Who I think WILL win: This is a tough category, all films are great, but I think either Gravity or 12 Years a Slave will surprise people and take this one. American Hustle is a strong contender, too.


>Best Actor in a Leading Role (seen them all!)
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)

Who I think should win: Everyone, but I think Dern or DiCaprio are my favorites.
Who I think WILL win: Leonardo DiCaprio

>Best Actress in a Leading Role (seen them all!)
Amy Adams (American Hustle)
Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

Who I think should win: Sandra Bullock or Judi Dench. Honestly, Bullock was better in Gravity than she was in The Blind Side, for which she won an Oscar.
Who I think WILL win: Cate Blanchett

>Best Actor in a Supporting Role (seen them all!)
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)
Who I think should win: Jared Leto
Who I think WILL win: Jared Leto — he really nailed this role

>Best Actress in a Supporting Role (seen them all!)
Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
June Squibb (Nebraska)

Who I think should win: Lupita Nyong'o
Who I think WILL win: Jennifer Lawrence

>Best Animated Feature (seen 4 of these)
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)

Who I think should win: Frozen
Who I think WILL win: (I haven't seen The Wind Rises, but...) Frozen

>Best Cinematography (seen them all!)
The Grandmaster (Philippe Le Sourd)
Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Inside Llewyn Davis (Bruno Delbonnel)
Nebraska (Phedon Papamichael)
Prisoners (Roger A. Deakins)

Who I think should win: Gravity
Who I think WILL win: Gravity

>Best Costume Design (seen 4 of these)
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)
Who I think should win: American Hustle
Who I think WILL win: The Great Gatsby

>Best Directing (seen them all!)
American Hustle (David O. Russell)
Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
Nebraska (Alexander Payne)
12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
Who I think should win: Martin Scorsese
Who I think WILL win: It's a toss up between Russell, Scorsese and Cuarón

>Best Documentary Feature (seen them all!)
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)

Who I think should win: Dirty Wars
Who I think WILL win: The Act of Killing

>Best Documentary Short (seen 3 of these)
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)
Who I think should win: The Lady in No. 6: Music Saved My Life
Who I think WILL win: (I haven't seen Facing Fear or Prison Terminal, but...) The Lady in No. 6: Music Saved My Life

>Best Film Editing (seen them all!)
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)

Who I think should win: American Hustle
Who I think WILL win: Gravity

>Best Foreign Language Film (only seen 1)
The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)
The Great Beauty (Italy)
The Hunt (Denmark)
The Missing Picture (Cambodia)
Omar (Palestine)

Who I think should win: The Hunt (It's the only one I've seen!)
Who I think WILL win: I hear great things about The Great Beauty, so I'm picking that one

>Best Makeup and Hairstyling (seen 2 of these)
Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Stephen Prouty)
The Lone Ranger (Joel Harlow, Gloria Pasqua-Casny)

Who I think should win: I haven't seen Bad Grandpa, but...Bad Grandpa
Who I think WILL win: Dallas Buyers Club

>Best Original Score (seen 4 of these)
The Book Thief (John Williams)
Gravity (Steven Price)
Her (William Butler, Owen Pallett)
Philomena (Alexandre Desplat)
Saving Mr. Banks (Thomas Newman)

Who I think should win: I haven't seen The Book Thief, but...Saving Mr. Banks
Who I think WILL win: The Book Thief

>Best Original Song (seen 3 of these)
Happy (Despicable Me 2)
Let It Go (Frozen)
The Moon Song (Her)
Ordinary Love (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)

Who I think should win: Let It Go
Who I think WILL win: Ordinary Love

> Best Production Design (seen them all!)
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)
Who I think should win: All of them, but I'll pick 12 Years a Slave
Who I think WILL win: American Hustle

>Best Animated Short Film (seen them all!)
Feral (Daniel Sousa, Dan Golden)
Get a Horse! (Lauren MacMullan, Dorothy McKim)
Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares)
Possessions (Shuhei Morita)
Room on the Broom (Max Lang, Jan Lachauer)

Who I think should win: Room on the Broom (It has Agent Scully's voice in it!)
Who I think WILL win: Get a Horse! or Mr. Hublot

>Best Live Action Short Film (seen them all!)
Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me) (Esteban Crespo)
Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything) (Xavier Legrand, Alexandre Gavras)
Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?) (Selma Vilhunen, Kirsikka Saari)
The Voorman Problem (Mark Gill, Baldwin Li)

Who I think should win: Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything) 
Who I think WILL win: Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)

>Best Sound Editing (seen 3 of these)
All Is Lost (Steve Boeddeker, Richard Hymns)
Captain Phillips (Oliver Tarney)
Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Brent Burge, Chris Ward)
Lone Survivor (Wylie Stateman)

Who I think should win: I haven't seen All Is Lost or The Hobbit, but...Lone Survivor
Who I think WILL win: All Is Lost (I'm sure Redford has plenty of friends in the Academy)

>Best Sound Mixing (seen 4 of these)
Captain Phillips (Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro)
Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Tony Johnson)
Inside Llewyn Davis (Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland)
Lone Survivor (Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, David Brownlow)

Who I think should win: Inside Llewyn Davis
Who I think WILL win: Inside Llewyn Davis

>Best Visual Effects (seen 4 of these)
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)

Who I think should win: Gravity
Who I think WILL win: Gravity

>Best Adapted Screenplay (seen 4 of these)
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)

Who I think should win: Philomena
Who I think WILL win: The Wolf of Wall Street

>Best Original Screenplay (seen them all!)
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)

Who I think should win: Nebraska
Who I think WILL win: Her

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