Oscars 2014: Official Predictions

Hello and happy Oscar sunday movie fans!  I have returned from a long, and eventful hiatus to bring you up to speed on the biggest night of the year for the film industry.  Oscar sunday is pretty much christmas for film fans, and is easily in my top 3 nights of the year.  The other two would probably be Halloween and Christmas, but today will always have a special meaning to me.  Today I will list my predictions on the major awards to be handed out this evening (no, no best documentary short).  Tonight is the biggest night for most people and Hollywood, and intend to treat it with the respect that it deserves.  By the way, Breaking Bad is awesome( I finished the entire series between my last post and now....oops).  Thanks Netflix.

Best Visual Effects

1.  Gravity
2.  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
3.  IronMan 3
4.  The Lone Ranger
5.  Star Trek:  Into Darkness

Winner:  Gravity

-  This award should be won in a landslide.  The effects rendered in Gravity might be the best ever done, and certainly the most revolutionary visual work done since perhaps The Phantom Menace.  Cuaron did a masterful job putting this film together, and I think the biggest proof of the visual success achieved by this film is the group of people asking me how long they were in space shooting this movie.....


Best Adapted Screenplay

1.  12 Years a Slave
2.  Before Midnight
3.  Captain Phillips
4.  The Wolf of Wall Street
5.  Philomena


Winner:  12 Years a Slave

-  I never like to bet against Scorsese, but 12 Years has simply built up too much momentum at this point.  The people involved have made a true masterpiece out of the book, and very much so deserve the award for so beautifully portraying perhaps the greatest injustice ever done on man by the hand of America.  This film could very well sweep the awards show, and I would not be surprised.


Best Director

1.  David O Russell, American Hustle
2.  Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity                                                                
3.  Martin  Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
4.  Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave

5.  Nebraska, Alexander Payne


Winner:  Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity

-  All of these men did a fanstastic job with their films this year, and all merit some type of award recognition.  But the Oscars does not care about second best, only the highest level of work will garner you an award here.  10 yeas from now, I bet the only movie from this list that people will still be talking about will be Gravity.  It revolutionized the business and forever changed the standard for visual effects.  Just like I believe the first person to blame when a movie fails is the director; likewise he is also the first person to praise when a film succeeds.  I see no higher honor for Cuaron than this Oscar, which I believe he will win.


Best Animated Feature Film

1.  The Croods
2.  Despicable Me 2
3.  Frozen
4.  Ernest and Celestine
5.  The Wind Rises

Winner:  Frozen

-  Let it go haters.  This film is going to win by a large margin.  Frozen is still in theaters, and is still making money!  Its been out now for over 12 WEEKS, and is still going strong as it approaches the 1 billion mark for overall gross.  Remarkable.  I personally liked Despicable me 2 better, but there is no denying the award to Frozen this year.  

Actress in a Supporting Role

1.  Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
2.  Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
3.  June Squibb, Nebraska
4.  Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
5.  Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine

Winner:  Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle

-  The Academy, like me, loves J-Law.  23 years old, and already has her 3rd nomination at the biggest awards ceremony of the year.  Very impressive.  Don't tell me she doesn't deserve it because she absolutely does.  Every award show has been split between her and Lupita Nyong'o of 12 years a slave.  I would not be surprised if Lawrence lost to her because she too was magnificent.  I just think that the academy is going to reward Jen for talent this years, and whether you think that is fair or not is simply the reality of things.  Yes I am tremendously biased on this one, but hey I love her.

Actor in a Supporting Role

1.  Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
2.  Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
3.  Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
4.  Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
5.  Bradley Cooper, American Hustle

Winner:  Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

-  It kills me not to give this to the Fass, but I am a realist.  Leto has swept every major award in this category, and I will admit that he was fantastic in the film.  He have a truly inspiring performance as the aids ridden trans-sexual in Dallas Buyers Club that is material the Academy just loves to eat up.  I did not know much about Leto up until this year, but everything I have heard and seen leads me to believe that he is a great guy, and if Fassbender had to lose to anyone; I am glad it is him.  

Best Actress in a Leading Role

1.  Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
2.  Amy Adams, American Hustle
3.  Meryl Streep, August:  Osage County
4.  Judy Dench, Philomena
5.  Sandra Bullock, Gravity

Winner:  Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

-  Like Leto, Blanchett has nearly swept all the major awards thus far, and tonight should be no different.  All that crap about the predictions made by twitter based off of chatter is complete bull.  It predicted Amy Adams would win, and although she was great; she was no where near the excellence of Blanchett this year.

Best Actor in a Leading Role


1.  Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
2.  Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
3.  Christian Bale, American Hustle
4.  Bruce Dern, Nebraska
5.  Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Winner:  Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

-  For the longest time, I thought that Ejiofor had this award locked up, and he still might win, but after seeing Dallas Buyers Club I now understand what all the buzz is about. McConaughey is the real deal, and he deserves this award.  He brought a great mixture of realness, comedy, and drama to the role that I think would have been extremely hard to replicate.  Something tells me that Leo might sneak in and steal the award, and there would be no argument from me, but ultimately I think that  McConaughey is the frontrunner heading into tonight, and will be leaving with some nice hardware.



Best Picture

1.  American Hustle
2.  Captain Phillips
3.  Philomena
4.  Her
5.  12 Years a Slave
6.  Dallas Buyers Club                                
7.  Gravity
8.  Nebraska
9.  The Wolf of Wall Street    



Winner:  12 Years a Slave

-  This is the award that everyone wants.  The last award.  The most important award.  Its down to 9 films out of the thousands that came out last year, and boy do we have some good ones.  To me it comes down to 3 possible winners.  Gravity, American Hustle, and 12 years a slave.  Gravity is the most revolutionary film, American Hustle has the most star power, and 12 years is simply the best.  Which film would I personally choose?  That would be "Her".  I loved that movie, and it had so much heart and realness that I think it is a much more important film than any of the others.  It shows a really dangerous reality that we are heading towards, and displays that reality beautifully.  It will not win however, and I am fine with that as 12 years is definitely deserving.  Keep an eye on Wolf of Wall street as I have no idea how the academy views a film like that.  It could win every award or no awards;   I just do not know.


Biggest Winner:  12 Years a Slave

Biggest Loser:  Captain Phillips

Biggest Snub:  Her


Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a fantastic Oscar sunday!  Stay tuned for upcoming posts and reviews as I have some new things to try out on this blog that I think you all will like.  And I will do all I can to be more consistent with my posting.  Thanks again, and until next time......Happy Oscars.


-  Big D