Nominations for the 86th Academy Awards were announced this morning and the interweb is all a buzz either cheering or sneering at the nominees. 2013 was a strong year for film and those lucky/good enough to warrant an invite to Hollywood’s glitziest night are some truly deserving pictures and personalities.
But just like film and our opinions of them, the nominations are all subjective. Most of the nominees in this the crop of Oscar hopefuls have been making waves for a while (even as far back as their respective festival runs) but some, like Lone Survivor, managed to grab a last minute nod(s) of recognition
Sony’s American Hustle and Warner Bros’ Gravity led the pack taking 10 nominations overall followed by Fox Searchlight’s 12 Years A Slave which had nine. Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Her, Nebraska, Philomena even The Wolf Of Wall Street are all expected be we think the Academy dropped the ball a bit.
No Rush? How about Ain’t Them Bodies Saints? Only one nod for Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom? And including Emma Thompson’s snub only two for Saving Mr. Banks? Also, no Daniel Brühl for supporting actor??…for shame! Also the hype machine was put into overdrive to sell American Hustle. Now we LOVE David O’Russell but that film, a stylized nod to Goodfellas and all things Scorsese ,played like like a fruit smoothie; fine in parts but together it’s a sloppy mess with little cohesion.
Still some surprises and delights did abound like Alexandre Desplat taking a nod for the score to Philomena. Also overlooking Hans Zimmer for 12 Years A Slave makes sense because Hans has said many times his job was to stay out of the way of the movie. Remember all the music you don’t remember hearing? That was the whole point.
So if you haven’t seen them everywhere else have a look at the full list of nominees below…our picks, as always, are in ORANGE.
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Christian Bale in “American Hustle”
Bruce Dern in “Nebraska”
Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”
Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club”
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Barkhad Abdi in “Captain Phillips”
Bradley Cooper in “American Hustle”
Michael Fassbender in “12 Years a Slave”
Jonah Hill in “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club”
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Amy Adams in “American Hustle”
Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock in “Gravity”
Judi Dench in “Philomena”
Meryl Streep in “August: Osage County”
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Sally Hawkins in “Blue Jasmine”
Jennifer Lawrence in “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong’o in “12 Years a Slave”
Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County”
June Squibb in “Nebraska”
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR
“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Ernest & Celestine”
“Frozen”
“The Wind Rises”
ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Grandmaster” – Philippe Le Sourd
“Gravity” – Emmanuel Lubezki
“Inside Llewyn Davis” – Bruno Delbonnel
“Nebraska” – Phedon Papamichael
“Prisoners” – Roger A. Deakins
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
ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING
“American Hustle” – David O. Russell
“Gravity” – Alfonso Cuarón
“Nebraska” – Alexander Payne
“12 Years a Slave” – Steve McQueen
“The Wolf of Wall Street” – Martin Scorsese
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“The Act of Killing” (Drafthouse Films)
“Cutie and the Boxer” (RADiUS-TWC)
“Dirty Wars” (IFC Films)
“The Square” (Netflix in association with Worldview Entertainment and Participant Media)
“20 Feet from Stardom” (RADiUS-TWC)
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“CaveDigger”
“Facing Fear”
“Karama Has No Walls” (Mudhouse Films)
“The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life”
“Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall”
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
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
“The Broken Circle Breakdown” (Tribeca Film) – Belgium
“The Great Beauty” (Janus Films) – Italy
“The Hunt” (Magnolia Pictures) – Denmark
“The Missing Picture” (Strand Releasing) – Cambodia
“Omar” (Adopt Films) – Palestine
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
ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)
“Alone Yet Not Alone” from “Alone Yet Not Alone”
“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
“The Moon Song” from “Her”
“Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“Philomena”
“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”
ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN
“American Hustle”
“Gravity”
“The Great Gatsby”
“Her”
“12 Years a Slave”
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot
Possessions
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
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
ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND MIXING
“Captain Phillips” – Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith
“Gravity” – Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” – Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges,
“Inside Llewyn Davis” – Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
“Lone Survivor” – Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow
ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS
“Gravity” (Warner Bros.) Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” (Warner Bros.) Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds
“Iron Man 3” (Walt Disney) Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick
“The Lone Ranger” (Walt Disney) Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier
“Star Trek Into Darkness” (Paramount) Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton
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
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
Cheryl Boone Isaacs (president, New Academy Of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) announced this year’s nominees along with Chris Hemsworth. The Oscars will air on Sunday, March 2nd at the Dolby Theatre and be hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. What do you think of the nominees? Have you seen everything that got a nod this year?
