This morning, the nominations for the 86th Annual Academy Awards were announced and, as usual, no nomination reading goes without the occasional slap across the face. I wasn't surprised to see Gravity get 10 nominations, but American Hustle getting 10 as well? Then again, this is from the same group of people who gave Bad Grandpa an Oscar nomination, so I'm not that surprised. As usual, I'll give you the list of nominees in the categories of acting, directing, and best picture and my predictions of who will win and who SHOULD win.
Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
Michael Fassbender - 12 Years A Slave
Jonah Hill - Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club
Who Will Win: Jared Leto has the odds in his favor with his stellar performance as Rayon, a cross-dressing AIDS patient who works at selling non-FDA approved medicine with Matthew McConaughey. If Leto win the SAG awards on January 18th, then the lead singer of 30 Seconds to Mars could be walking away with the big one.
Who Should Win: As much as I enjoyed Leto's heartfelt performance, Michael Fassbender's role as the sadistic Edwin Epps had me biting my nails and cowering in my chair with fear and excitement. For me, Fassbender should get the Oscar; he was snubbed from being nominated for his harrowing performance in Shame two years ago and he's managed to raise the bar as the vicious slaveowner in 12 Years A Slave.
Best Supporting Actress
Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years A Slave
Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
June Squibb - Nebraska
Julia Roberts - August: Osage County
Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine
Who Will Win - I would be surprised if Jennifer Lawrence won the Oscar for the second time in a row; then again, it did happen to Tom Hanks and Spencer Tracy. Given all the praise she has been getting for her performance as Patsy, the long-suffering captive in 12 Years A Slave, Lupita Nyong'o will probably win.
Who Should Win: June Squibb added the laughter and energy to Alexander Payne's bleak comedy, Nebraska, as Bruce Dern's spry and caring wife and it shouldn't go unnoticed. Also, even though she wasn't nominated, Amy Adams should have gotten recognition for her brilliantly nuanced performance in Her or Scarlett Johansson should have gotten a nomination just for her voice as Samantha.
Best Actress
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Who Will/Should Win: Its a showdown between Cate Blanchett for her performance as a modern Blanche Dubois in Woody Allen's San Francisco love story, Blue Jasmine, and Amy Adams for her portrayal as a sexy con artist amidst the Abscam Scandal in American Hustle. Either way, I would be pleased to see either one win. However, I think Amy Adams should have been nominated for Her instead of American Hustle.
Best Actor
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 Will Win: In this category, its anybody's game. Leonardo DiCaprio and Mathew McConaughey both got Best Actors awards at the Golden Globes last week, Chiwetel Ejiofor has recieved across the board raves for 12 Years A Slave and Bruce Dern received the Best Actor award at Cannes. For the first time in this category, I'm stumped on who I think has the chances of winning since this was a great year in acting.
Who Should Win: Personally, in my heart of hearts, I would love to see Bruce Dern win for his performance as Woody Grant in Nebraska. Not since Coming Home has Bruce Dern given such a profound performance, yet the irony is that his work on Nebraska is most subtle rather than intense as was his work over the last 50 years.
Best Director
David O. Russell, American Hustle
Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
Alexander Payne, Nebraska
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
Who Will/Should Win: It is a neck-to-neck battle between Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity and Steve McQueen for 12 Years A Slave, but my money is on McQueen. McQueen's epic and harrowing vision of slavery before the Civil War is both beautiful and hard to watch. Gravity might be a technological feat for the eyes, but its the storytelling and imagery from McQueen's eyes that makes 12 Years A Slave, if not one of the best films of the year, but one of the best films of the last five years.
Best Picture:
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
The Wolf of Wall Street
Which Film Will Win: 12 Years A Slave. Need I say more?
Which Film Should Win: 12 Years A Slave
What's Wrong With This Picture? Besides the ridiculous 2011 rule that the Academy has of having 9 nominations instead of 10 in the Best Picture Category, The Coen Brothers were royally snubbed for their darkly funny and moving look at the New York folk scene in Inside Llewyn Davis. In addition to being snubbed for Best Directing and Best Original Screenplay, Oscar Issac and John Goodman were tossed aside in the Best Actor and Supporting Actor categories! Then, as I said before, the Academy is the same group of people that had Bad Grandpa get an Oscar nomination, or Ben Affleck get snubbed last year in the Best Director category.
Anyway, at least there's some comfort in that Ellen DeGeneres is hosing this year rather than Seth MacFarlane, who made last year's ceremony into a 3 hour plus crap fest. Am I on the money with this year's choices, or am I way off the mark? Let me know your predictions and tune in on March 2nd to see who garners the gold.
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