Oscar Picks & Snubs
It’s no secret with my friends and family that I love movies. Oscar night is my Super Bowl and in the weeks leading up to the big show I probably spend more time and energy than I should attempting to see every nominated film and performance.
An uneven script, but great performances and outstanding costumes and hair in American Hustle.
A few years ago The Academy expanded the Best Movie category to include up to 10 nominees, this year (based on the percentage of votes each film received), there’s 9. What’s interesting to me about this year’s Oscars is that there doesn’t seem to be a clear favorite amongst viewers or Academy voters. I’m certainly no expert, but based on the buzz, and the early award season results, it looks like a three-way race between 12 Years A Slave, Gravity and American Hustle. I’d put my money on 12 Years A Slave taking home the biggest prize on March 2. Performance awards? I’m guessing Matthew McConaughey, Cate Blanchett, Jared Leto and Lupita Nyong’o will be winners.
No Academy love for Tom Hanks.
The biggest surprise for me is all the Oscar love for the technically beautiful, but otherwise lame, Gravity. The biggest snubs? Tom Hanks, who carried the entire Captain Phillips and Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ sublime, but understated performance in Enough Said.
There’s still four weeks until the awards are handed out on the first Sunday in March, plenty of time to catch quite a few movies. My don’t miss list would include:
Philomena – for the amazing Judy Dench
American Hustle – for art direction, plus over-the-top performances from Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence
Dallas Buyers Club – for terrific McConaughey and Leto
Captain Phillips* – for perfectly tense, tight storytelling
Blue Jasmine*– for brilliant star turns from Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins
*available in video
If you’re into making your own picks and keeping score during the show, a great printable ballot is here. The show will be hosted by Ellen DeGeneres and begins at 8 pm on March 2. The pre-show red carpet snarkiness begins at 6 pm on E Channel. I can hardly wait.
