I hope you’re all as excited about the 86th Annual Academy Awards as I am. 2013 was a pretty good year in film (more on that later) and Ellen will be hosting the ceremony. Lots of excitement! Here, I’m going to talk about what I think should win, and what I think will win. Yeah? Yeah.
Best Original Song – Best Original Score – Costume Design – Production Design – Foreign Language Film – Visual Effects – Film Editing – Cinematography – Writing – Animated Feature – Directing – Acting – Best Picture
“Alone yet not Alone” from Alone Yet Not Alone – Music by Bruce Broughton; Lyric by Dennis Spiegel
“Happy” from Despicable Me 2 – Pharrell Williams
“Let it Go” from Frozen – Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
“The Moon Song” from Her – Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze
“Ordinary Love” from Mandella: Long Walk to freedom – U2
“Let it Go” is almost definitely going to win. I really like the song, but I do think a lot of what made it brilliant was the animation that took place during the song. The only other song on the list that has a shot is “Ordinary Love”. But with “Let it Go” having won the critics choice award, it’s almost a sure thing that it will win the Oscar.
Another great song from 2013 was “I See Fire” from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug by Ed Sheeran. The song coming right after the cut when everything went to hell was actual perfect.
The Book Thief – John Williams
Gravity – Steven Price
Her – William Butler and Owen Pallett
Philomena – Alexandre Desplat
Saving Mr. Banks – Thomas Newman
I’m actually less informed about this category this year than I usually am. My first instinct is to say it should go to John Williams, because this is John Williams we’re talking about, and his score for The Book Thief is absolutely beautiful. After that, I would probably say Her. It was so perfect for the film and had a huge interaction with the story. Philomena and Saving Mr. Banks were also really strong. That being said, Gravity is probably going to win the Oscar. Which upsets me, because I didn’t even notice there was a score for Gravity. I always thought that best score should go to the score that’s really a part of the story telling – and Gravity’s wasn’t. For me, it’s the weakest one on the list. But, you know, what can you do.
American Hustle – Michael Wilkinson
The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin
The Grandmaster – William Chang Suk Ping
The Invisible Woman – Michael O’Connor
12 Years a Slave – Patricia Norris
The Great Gatsby is probably going to win. This is one of the few times in history where I actually don’t really have an opinion. I mean, my opinion is that the costumes in all of these movies looked fantastic, and I will not be upset no matter who it goes to.
American Hustle – Judy Becker (Production Design); Heather Loeffler (Set Decoration)
Gravity – Andy Nicholson (Production Design); Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard (Set Decoration)
The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin (Production Design); Beverley Dunn (Set Decoration)
Her -K.K. Barrett (Production Design); Gene Serdena (Set Decoration)
12 Years a Slave – Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Alice Baker (Set Decoration)
This one is, again, probably going to The Great Gatsby. The movie looked beautiful. I mean, you’re watching it and you know exactly who made it because it has the same sort of feel to Moulin Rougue, but still. Beautiful. I would have liked to see a nomination for The Desolation of Smaug in this category, though. But they all looked great – you really felt the 70s in American Hustle, you could feel the subtle futuristic setting of Her, 12 Years really immersed you within the time and the situation, and Gravity was…you know….in space.
I’m only bring this up because I’m pissed off. I’ve only see a couple of the films in this category, but something terrible has happened.
The Broken Circle Breakdown – Belgium
The Great Beauty – Italy
The Hunt – Denmark
The Missing Picture – Cambodia
Omar – Palestine
Somehow, Blue is the Warmest Color was not nominated. Are you kidding me? Like are you actually serious right now? That movie was absolutely beautiful! It won the critics choice award and it wasn’t even nominated for the Oscar. Not the first time in history this has happened, but it pisses me off almost every time. I’m not saying that movies here don’t deserve to be nominated. Just, Blue is the Warmest Color.
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
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
Iron Man 3 – Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick
Gravity is definitely going to win this. And it deserves to win. The effects were beautiful.
American Hustle – Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten
Captain Phillips – Christopher Rouse
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
Dallas Buyers Club – John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa
12 Years a Slave – Joe Walker
The winner of this award traditionally goes on to win Best Picture. That being said, Gravity, the visual spectacle that it was, it probably going to win. It has no chance was winning Best Picture, but it’ll probably get this one. I understand, but I would also be glad to see it go to 12 Years or Dallas. Or Her. Her was brilliantly cut together.
The Grandmaster – Philippe Le Sourd
Gravity – Emmanuel Lubezki
Inside Llewyn Davis – Bruno Delbonnel
Nebraska – Phedon Papamichael
Prisoners – Roger A. Deakins
First and foremost, 12 Years a Slave should have been nominated in this category. They used one camera and had 35 days to shoot (which is unheard of) and it came out wonderfully. 12 Years was certainly strong enough to win in this category. Unfortunately, Gravity is probably going to win. While it was very visually pleasing, in generally, the cinematography was ‘nothing special’ for me. What I really think should win (based on what I’ve seen so far) is Her – the cinematography was really a part of the story. it was kind of completely perfect.
Before Midnight – Written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
12 Years a Slave – Screenplay by John Ridley
Captain Phillips – Screenplay by Billy Ray
The Wolf of Wall Street – Screenplay by Terence Winter
Philomena – Screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
This one’s going to 12 Years a Slave. It has to. If I haven’t said it already, the film was beautiful. It was an actual piece of art. I would accept it going to The Wolf of Wall Street (it won’t), but current evidence suggests it going to 12 Years. And 12 Years definitely deserves it.
Original Screenplay
Her – Spike Jonze
American Hustle – Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
Blue Jasmine – Woody Allen
Dallas Buyers Club – Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack
Nebraska – Bob Nelson
The writing categories are two of the strongest this year. That being said, Her is going to win. I won’t accept any other winner. The screenplay was absolutely brilliant.
The Croods – Chris Sanders, Kirk DeMicco and Kristine Belson
Despicable Me 2 – Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin and Chris Meledandri
Frozen – Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and Peter Del Vecho
The Wind Rises – Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
Ernest & Celestine – Benjamin Renner and Didier Brunner
I love all of these movies, but Frozen is definitely going to win. And I really think it deserves to.
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón
American Hustle – David O-Russell
Nebraska – Alexander Payne
12 Years a Slave – Steve McQueen
The Wolf of Wall Street – Martin Scorsese
While it would certainly be nice to see Scorsese win again (he won in 2006 for The Departed), this year it’s going to Alfonso Cuaron. I’m almost certain of it. That being said, I would really love to see Steve McQueen win. What with the tough subject material, and the fact that they had one camera and 35 days and produced something of such quality, I think he really deserves it even over Alfonso. Gravity is, by far, not the best of Alfonso Cuaron. He certainly deserves and Oscar, just not for Gravity. I also would have loved to see Jean-Marc Vallée nominated for Dallas Buyers Club. And it is completely criminal that Spike Jonze wasn’t nominated in this category.
My thing is, this category had such potential to be one of the strongest this year. I haven’t seen Nebraska yet, but Gravity is probably Alfonso Cuaron’s weakest film to date. And American Hustle – well, what made the movie was the acting. I understand, I do. But, for me, these are five of the best directors of the year – not exactly the top five directors of the year.
Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
June Squibb – Nebraska
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Lupita Nyong’o not only completely deserves to win, she’s definitely going to win. I’m very happy about that.
Supporting Actor
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street
It has been a fantastic year for actors. Truly. That being said, Jared Leto is definitely going to win, and he definitely deserves to win. Again, super happy about that.
Actress
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County
Amy Adams – American Hustle
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Judi Dench – Philomena
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
I haven’t gotten to Philomena or Blue jasmine yet (I’m working on it), but all evidence suggests that Cate Blanchett is going to win. From what I’ve seen so far, the only other person I’d accept winning this year is Meryl Streep.
Actor
Again, fantastic year for actors. Check out this line up.
Chiwetel Eljiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Christian Bale – American Hustle
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Matthew McConaughey is almost definitely going to win. And – as much as it pains me to say it – I can completely see why. This year, I would have given it to Chiwetel Eljiofor for his positively brilliant performance in 12 Years, but I will not be upset when Matthew McConaughey wins. He gave a fantastic performance – definitely Oscar worthy.
American Hustle – Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon
12 Years a Slave – Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen and Anthony Katagas
The Wolf of Wall Street – Pending
Dallas Buyers Club – Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter
Nebraska – Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa
Gravity – Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman
Her – Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze and Vincent Landay
Philomena – Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan and Tracey Seaward
Captain Phillips – Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca
There are some years where I am completely stumped and cannot even form a coherent opinion on what should win. Like in 1994 – Forest Gump, Pulp Fiction, and The Shawshank Redemption were all nominated. I still have no idea which was truly the better of the three. This is not one of those years. While I wasn’t crazy about American Hustle or Gravity (and August: Osage County definitely should have been nominated) I understand that both are serious contenders. That being said, it has to go to 12 Years a Slave. I might be the only person that thinks that 12 Years is going to win (a lot of other people think it’s going to American Hustle) bu all evidence really suggests it’s going to 12 Years. It won the Golden Globe, when everyone thought it was going to Gravity. It won the Critics choice award (historically the best Oscar predictor) when everything thought it was going to American Hustle. American Hustle has more nominations that 12 years (10 to 9), but American Hustle is projected to win one (makeup) while 12 Years is protected to win two of the bigger ones (supporting actress, adapted screenplay). While the most Oscars of the night are almost definitely going to Gravity, Gravity has just about no chance – it’s always been between 12 Years and American Hustle. Best how the award season is going, right at the end of the race, Gravity is pulling up a bit. If anything other than 12 Years wins, I am going to give up. For me, it’s easily the best picture of the year. Hence, it’s winning the damn award.
Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments below. I’ll have my list of the best films of 2013 up soon.
Have a nice day!
The Paradoxical Paradigm 