Another great year at the movies. It's been more challenging than ever for me to see all the nominated movies. (Two words: Candy Crush.) I also like to watch movies that were overlooked. I'm still frustrated that I wasn't able to watch Grownups 2, but I imagine that Adam Sandler has a legitimate beef.
Thanks to Redbox and Netflix US we were able to watch a lot of the movies without paying a lot of money. (Okay, so we watched two movies illegally on the computer too, but only because we were desperate.) The people in Hollywood are quite brilliant (well except Michael Bay, obviously) and I think they should get money for what they do. I feel shame. Despite all that, there are a few movies that we weren't able to see in time, such as August: Osage County, Saving Mr Banks, Frozen, Before Midnight and Fruitvale Station. We actually went to the Encore theatre in West Kelowna to watch August: Osage County but we had to get tickets at the concession and the lineup was so long that we were still in line when it started so we left. True story. And Encore, you may want to hire someone to work the ticket booth. Sheesh.
I'm currently watching the Red Carpet coverage in my Fruit O' The Looms. (Don't worry, I won't post a pic.) Nothing like leaving this until the last minute. Okay, I have devilled eggs and chicken wings to make, so let's do this.
Best Picture:
To me, the best picture this year was The Wolf Of Wall Street, but I'm not picking who I WANT to win but who WILL win. 12 Years A Slave will walk away with the big trophy this year. Gravity could pull an upset but my sources (Rolling Stone Magazine) tell me that won't happen.
Best Actor:
This may be the toughest category. You could make a case for all five of them. This is probably Leo's best chance for an Oscar thus far. (Whenever I call him Leonardo he always insists I call him Leo.) But I have a feeling this is Matthew McConaughey's year. I'm not sure you should award someone because they lost a lot of weight, but that's often how the Academy works. Either way Dallas Buyer's Club is a great movie and it's a great performance.
Best Actress:
I just noticed on my sheet that Ryan has picked Sandra Bullock. How many times have I told him to stop sniffing glue?! Nope. Cate Blanchett should and will win this for the otherwise somewhat forgettable Blue Jasmine. (editor's note: Ryan has since changed his pick to Cate Blanchett. COPYCAT!!)
Best Supporting Actor:
Jared Leto gave an amazing performance in Dallas Buyer's Club. And the Academy will reward him. This one's a lock. (As if I'm ever wrong.)
Best Supporting Actress:
Hmm. Ryan's picking Lupita Nyong'o from 12 Years A Slave. Can't argue with that pick. Except you have to keep in mind that the Academy is 93% white and 76% male. (It's nice to know that they are an accurate representation of society.) They don't like to vote for somebody who's name they can't pronounce. I'm betting that Jennifer Lawrence will win again. (She's also white. Did I say that out loud?) Now will she "accidentally" trip on the stairs again? Who knows.
Best Animated Feature:
I've only seen The Croods and thought it was quite good but clearly this will go to Frozen. One of these days I will even watch it.
Best Cinematography:
As awesome as Nebraska looked, the Academy hasn't picked a black and white movie since Casablanca. (I have no idea if that's true but I'm running out of time here. Check Wikipedia.) I'm going to have to go with Gravity. It looked incredible. If you didn't see it in 3-D in the theatre you missed out.
Best Costume Design:
I would like to see American Hustle win this one, but the Academy seems to like the big spectacle. I'll go with The Great Gatsby. (Another movie I didn't see this year but it looks dull and I fall asleep easily.)
Best Direction:
This to me seems like a two horse race. I would have no problem with Steve McQueen winning for 12 Years A Slave, but I think Alfonso Cuaron did an amazing job on Gravity and will win. He was even more important than Sandra Bullock in my opinion, yet she's the one that made $70 million (and counting) from it? Wow!
Best Documentary Feature:
I've only seen The Act Of Killing which was a very strange and disturbing movie reflecting on war in Indonesia. It wouldn't have my vote. I haven't been able to see 20 Feet From Stardom but I've been wanting to and I hear that it's really good. We'll go with that.
Best Documentary Short:
As usual I haven't seen any of these. I wonder if they are on Youtube. Too late for that. We'll just go to our usual eeny-meeny-miny-moe. Facing Fear!
Best Film Editing:
I'm kind of partial to the awesome Captain Phillips here, but I have to go with my (ample) gut. Gravity.
Best Foreign Language Film:
I've only seen one this year and it was The Hunt. (Thank you Net Flix US) It was actually one of my favorite movies of the year starring the main guy from the tv show Hannibal (no time to google his name, feel free) who could've also been nominated. I doubt any of the others could be better than this so, The Hunt.
Best Make-up And Hair:
Finally, Ryan's expertise. And he's telling me The Lone Ranger. What a weak year for this category though.
Best Song:
The Academy will not be able to overlook the power of Mandela combined with the power of Bono of U2. (And if this song doesn't win heads will roll!) Ordinary Love.
Best Production Design:
As I said the Academy loves a big spectacle which would lead towards The Great Gatsby but this time I'll make an exception and pick who I think SHOULD win. Gravity.
Best Animated Short:
Haven't seen them but most of the Academy probably hasn't either. Let's look for a catchy title. Room On The Broom. Sold!
Best Live Action Short Film:
I don't know. Helium. Let's move on.
Best Sound Editing:
People often get confused between sound editing and sound mixing. Sound editing is sound that has been edited and sound mixing is sound that has been mixed. Hope this clears things up. Gotta go with the groovy Gravity. (How's that for alliteration?)
Best Sound Mixing:
Gravity. As I was watching it in the theatre in my 3-D glasses I turned to Ryan and said "How 'bout that sound mixing?!"
Best Visual Effects:
Could this be the one Oscar for The Hobbit? No. No it couldn't. Gravity.
Best Adapted Screenplay:
The final two categories on here are my two favorite. Writers are the most underpaid yet often most brilliant people in the movie (and tv) industry. They are also arguably THE most important. I don't care how amazing Robert Deniro and Jack Nicholson are, even they couldn't save a movie as bad as Grownups 2. This year for adapted screenplay, I'm going with 12 Years A Slave.
Best Original Screenplay:
Another tough category but I think the script for Nebraska was too good and too timeless to overlook. I'll go with that.
There you have it. Time to boil the eggs and get the chicken wings in the oven. I'm expecting Ellen DeGeneres to be great. Hopefully she's not too nice. These celebrities need to be put in their place every once in awhile. I'll be live tweeting on Twitter (or The Twitter as my Mother calls it) @Coreyoke1 along with thousands of other people. It's a lot of fun. Enjoy the show!
No comments:
Post a Comment