Wednesday, February 12, 2014

2014 Oscar Predictions


Here are my predictions:

Best picture
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
The Wolf of Wall Street

I believe that this is mainly a two horse race between 12 Years a Slave and Gravity, with American Hustle as an outside possibility.

I did not feel that 12 Years a Slave resonated with me a great deal, whereas Gravity blew me away and was by far my favorite film of last year. I think that the weighting is likely with 12 Years a Slave and Gravity, but I’m going to go with my gut and say that Gravity will win.

Best director
Alfonso Cuarón - Gravity
Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave
Alexander Payne - Nebraska
David O. Russell - American Hustle
Martin Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street

I can’t see anyone over Alfonso Cuarón taking this one home.

Best lead actor
Christian Bale - American Hustle
Bruce Dern - Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street

I would love to see this go to Leonardo DiCaprio, who I thought was brilliant in The Wolf of Wall Street, but believe that this is likely between Chiwetel Ejiofor and Matthew McConaughey.

I wasn’t really sold by Chiwetel Ejiofor’s performance in 12 Years a Slave (which is one of the reasons that the film didn’t win me over), as such I’m saying Matthew McConaughey.

Best lead actress
Amy Adams - American Hustle
Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
Judi Dench - Philomena
Meryl Streep - August: Osage County
Sandra Bullock – Gravity

My choice would be Sandra Bullock, but the favorite is currently Cate Blanchett (and I can’t comment because I haven’t seen Blue Jasmine). Everyone on this list with the exception of Amy Adams has won an Oscar in the past and as such, she may stand a chance due to this (and her great performance in American Hustle.

I think that any other year this would be Cate Blanchett, but her hopes may have been tarred by the current controversy associated with Woody Allen and as such I’m going with Amy Adams.

Best performance by an actor in a supporting role
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

Although I haven’t seen the film, based on the part that has been played by him (and also based on the other nominees), I going with Jared Leto for this one.

Best performance by an actress in a supporting role
Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o - 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
June Squibb – Nebraska

I would really like this to go to Jennifer Lawrence and in any other year it probably would, but seeing as she won best actress last year I’m think that this is unlikely. As such I believe that Lupita Nyong’o will win this.

Best animated feature film of the year
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
Frozen
The Wind Rises

I’d be surprised if it were anything else.

Achievement in cinematography
The Grandmaster - Philippe Le Sourd
Gravity - Emmanuel Lubezki
Inside Llewyn Davis - Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska - Phedon Papamichael
Prisoners - Roger A. Deakins

Gravity again – It was a remarkable achievement i cinematography.

Achievement in costume design
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

A tough call between American Hustle and The Great Gatsby, but in view of the fact that The Great Gatsby isn’t up for Best Picture (and also because I selfishly loved the outfits on both Jenifer Lawrence and Amy Adams), I’m going with American Hustle.

Best documentary feature
The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square
20 Feet from Stardom

No prediction made – I don’t know enough about each film to comment.

Best documentary short subject
CaveDigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

No prediction made – I don’t know enough about each film to comment.

Achievement in film editing
American Hustle - Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten
Captain Phillips - Christopher Rouse
Dallas Buyers Club - John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa
Gravity - Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
12 Years a Slave - Joe Walker

Gravity - Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger

Best foreign language film of the year
The Broken Circle Breakdown, Belgium
The Great Beauty, Italy
The Hunt, Denmark
The Missing Picture, Cambodia
Omar, Palestine

No prediction made – I don’t know enough about each film to comment.

Achievement in makeup and hairstyling
Dallas Buyers Club - Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa - Stephen Prouty
The Lone Ranger - Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny


Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
The Book Thief - John Williams
Gravity - Steven Price
Her - William Butler and Owen Pallett
Philomena - Alexandre Desplat
Saving Mr. Banks - Thomas Newman

Not too sure about this one, but I’m hoping that this will share the Gravity love.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
Happy from Despicable Me 2
Let It Go from Frozen
The Moon Song from “Her
Ordinary Love from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

A great song... I’d be disappointed if this didn’t win.

Achievement in production design
American Hustle -  Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler
Gravity - Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard
The Great Gatsby - Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn
Her - Production Design: K.K. Barrett; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena
12 Years a Slave - Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice Baker


Best animated short film
Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot
Possessions
Room on the Broom

I’ll probably be wrong on this one, but I have to put down Room on the Broom.

Best live action short film
Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)
Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)
Helium
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)
The Voorman Problem

No prediction made – I don’t know enough about each film to comment.

Achievement in sound editing
All Is Lost - Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns
Captain Phillips - Oliver Tarney
Gravity - Glenn Freemantle
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Brent Burge
Lone Survivor - Wylie Stateman

The sound awards are always hard to judge, but I’m going with Gravity.

Achievement in sound mixing
Captain Phillips - Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro
Gravity - Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson
Inside Llewyn Davis - Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
Lone Survivor - Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow

The sound awards are always hard to judge, but I’m going with Gravity.

Achievement in visual effects
Gravity - Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug -Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds
Iron Man 3 - Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick
The Lone Ranger - Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier
Star Trek Into Darkness - Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton


Best adapted screenplay
Before Midnight - written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
Captain Phillips - screenplay by Billy Ray
Philomena - screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
12 Years a Slave - screenplay by John Ridley
The Wolf of Wall Street - screenplay by Terence Winter


Best original screenplay
American Hustle - Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine - Written by Woody Allen
Dallas Buyers Club - Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack
Her - Written by Spike Jonze
Nebraska - Written by Bob Nelson

This is a tough one to call. Spike Jonze has one in the past, but Her certainly is original (if you ignore Electric Dreams), Dallas Buyers Club also has a lot of momentum. Ultimately, I believe that voters will want this to go to David O. Russell for American Hustle.


Overall, I’m slightly concerned that my judgement may have been slightly biased by my love of Gravity (especially since for the current Oscar’s favourite I have only predicted 2 awards), but I guess that we will see come Oscar night (in about 2 ½ weeks).

As always, I will post the results, together with how I have done on this blog.