UPDATED: Predictions for the 86th Academy Awards

I have now added my predictions for the rest of the categories for tonight's awards.  I apologize because time restraints have kept me from being able to proofread the added section.

We are on the eve of the biggest awards show for North American cinema, so it makes sense to forego the typical movie review in favour of making my predictions for tomorrow night’s Oscar Awards.  Earlier this week on The Breakdown Podcast (it was recorded two weeks ago) fellow podcaster Christopher Spicer and I made known our thoughts on the most deserving candidates for the major categories, as well as predicting who we thought would win.  Even in the short amount of time that has passed since then, I have found my predictions have ended up changing.  So, here is my list of who I predict will end up taking home the statuette tomorrow night.

Best Supporting Actor

I believe a lot of the potential for this award mainly rests on two people this year.  Jared Leto for his role as the drag queen Rayon who is dying of AIDS in Dallas Buyers Club, and Barkhad Abdi for his role as the Somali pirate captain who boarded the Maersk Alabama in Captain Phillips.  While I personally believe that Abdi had the more impressive performance, I think the Academy will end up giving the award to Leto, whose role was more in line with what people would call ‘Oscar Bait.’  Even saying that, a win for Leto would be deserved and justified as he gave a career performance as a fragile, caring, passionate, and dying soul.  Leto has laid low from Hollywood while focusing on his music career, and this performance is one that should remind people just how much talent this artist has within him.

Prediction - Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress

The main two people in contention for this award right now are American Hustle’s Jennifer Lawrence, and 12 Years a Slave’s Lupita Nyong’o.  Lawrence continues to show the world just how talented she is in her role of the wife of a con-man, who is able to manipulate and bend him to her will.  She demonstrates charm, humour, and energy in a way that we have not yet seen from her.  However winning an Oscar last year may hinder her chances, as voters may want to give someone else a shot.  The other main threat to the award is feature film newcomer Lupita Nyong’o, an actress who captured many people’s hearts for her portrayal of a slave girl in 12 Years a Slave.  There were many complexities to the role as she was a broken person, talented, artistic, innocent, and hard working.  She was the kind of person who we ached for, because we could only imagine the potential life that she could have had if not for the horrific life of slavery she was a part of.  As well, Nyong’o won the Supporting Actress award from the Screen Actors Guild which is the largest voting branch of the Academy, and what I believe will put her over the top.  While I think Lawrence should win the award, I believe the imperfect voting system of the Academy will keep her from taking it home back to back.

Prediction - Lupita Nyon’o, 12 Years a Slave

Best Actor

This is an incredibly tight category which saw two deserving veterans in Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips) and Robert Redford (All Is Lost) being left off of the ballot.  One of the names in serious contention is Chiwetel Ejiofor for the lead role in 12 Years a Slave, a role that won him a BAFTA for Best Lead Actor.  He portrays a free black man in America who is kidnapped and sold into slavery, a man who refuses to give up hope of returning to his family through some of the most vile scenarios one could imagine.  Ejiofor masters the performance and leads the rest of the stellar cast to excellence, and shows the multiple skills of this seasoned actor.  Eating up almost all of the conversation right now is Matthew McConaughey for his role of bigoted AIDS victim Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club.  McConaughey lost a great deal of weight for this role, a visual that does not leave the mind quickly, but it is not the reason why he is getting all of the talk.  The performance is a dynamic triumph as he is able to bring so much life and emotion to this character that we feel disgust for, and yet yearn to see him come around.  He has been gobbling up all of the major awards on route to the Oscars, and it is hard to see tomorrow night turning out any differently.

Prediction – Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress

This is most likely the most tightly packed category of the performance awards, with performances like Emma Thompson in Saving Mr. Banks and Brie Larson in Short Term 12 not even being able to make the cut, although both were definitely deserving.  There is Oscar titan Meryl Streep (August: Osage County) who plays a pill popping, self-esteem crushing, steam-roller matriarch of a picture-perfect dysfunctional family.  Dame Judi Dench (Philomena) who plays one of the most heartwarming roles I have ever encountered, in the real life story of an elderly woman trying to track down the son she put up for adoption in her teens.  Sandra Bullock (Gravity) is a one woman show in this special effects masterpiece of disaster in space, bringing panic, desperation, and a drive to survive and make it back to earth against all odds.  Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) in her portrayal of a woman who fell in love (and dependant) on a life of means as identity, but then crashes back to earth and is forced to rebuild.  And finally, Amy Adams (American Hustle) who plays the most grounded and sane of the characters in the film, a person who is able to put on a front to make a con, but is also looking for more substance in life.

Out of all of these wonderful performances, I have to pick Cate Blanchett to win.  With all of the talent representing the ladies this year, she was the one who was head and shoulders above the rest, as she nailed home a nuanced performance that depended on so much vocal expression, facial details, and body language to communicate the constantly changing mental state that she was rolling through.  She shows skills worth of the award, as well as having taken home almost all of the awards leading up to the big night.

Prediction – Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine

Best Director

This is a category that has changed in the two weeks since recording the podcast.  This is not because the pack is as competitive as the Lead Actress category, but because there are three people (as well as their movies, which is the next category) who feel interchangeable as to who could win.  There is David O. Russell (American Hustle), a man who is able to create fully shaped characters and guide actors to career performances (last year his movie Silver Lining’s Playbook took nominations in all four performance categories, and this year the same has happened with American Hustle).  Alfonso Cuaron created the visual and emotional 3D thrill ride of Gravity, showing that you do not need a large cast and intricate plot to tell a good story.  And then there is Steve McQueen {12 Years a Slave), who was able to reign in the audiences focus amongst horrible situations in beautiful locations, full of amazing cast members, and tell a tale of hope and perseverance.   If any of these men win, there is no injustice at all, and while I desire for Russell to win, I think it will be the technical skills shown by Cuaron that will take the prize.

Prediction – Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity

Best Picture

Just like the last category, this field seems to be dominated by three films.  American Hustle is a stylish, character driven, vibrant story based on the ABSCAM operation in the 1970s.  The movie captures a wonderful feel of the times through the performances of the actors, the costumes, the music, and the environment.  It is a well-crafted tale of ambition and identity, and the search for it, among criminals and cops.  Gravity is a beautifully shot space adventure of survival with seamless use of CGI, as well as not having the human element lost in all of the pixels.  Sure, it was short on dialogue, but a good story does not necessarily need that if it is told correctly, and such was the case with Gravity.  In the cold, dark of space, we were introduced to the warm heart of Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), and we were invested fully in her struggles and desired to see her come out on top.  12 Years a Slave is a beautiful period piece, making great work of locations and wardrobe, to tell a very ugly and sad tale of slavery.  While some people may be put off by the depressing nature of the content, the intent of the movie is not to dwell on it, but to highlight the human fight to hold onto hope against all despair.  Backed by great casting and performances across the board, it is a film that is able to accomplish the task that it set out to do.

As with the Best Director category, it is no shame if any of these nominees win.  While there are six others who are hoping for the biggest prize in Hollywood (The Wolf of Wall Street, Philomena, Nebraska, Captain Phillips, Her, and Dallas Buyers Club), they are all outside chances at this point even though there could always be an upset.  The big question is going to come down to how the majority of the voters lean, and what they hold as preference.  If they are squeamish of brutal tales, they will most likely not be voting for 12 Years a Slave.  If they are fans of vibrant acting performances, they may be shifting towards American Hustle.  If they view the technical aspects and their integration into the greater story as a key component, then Gravity is a likely vote.  My thoughts are that the movie which will take home the most votes will be 12 Years a Slave, as it has a great representation of all of the different aspects of the movie machine, such as music, setting, cinematography, script, casting, acting, directing, and wardrobe.  I mainly find myself leaning back and forth between it and American Hustle, which is another film that embraces all aspects of film making, creating a situation for me where I cannot feel confident of predicting definitively either way.

 Prediction – 12 Years a Slave

Best Animated Picture

This category is leaving out what some critics to believe is one of the best of the year in Monsters University, a movie that could have had a shot at winning.  Within the list of contenders, I think the runaway favourite is Frozen, a film which has really caught on with audiences around the globe and keeps the reliance of a princess needing a prince to save her from entering into the film.

Prediction – Frozen

Best Cinematography

This is the only category where early Oscar hopeful Prisoners was able to land a nomination, as well as being only one of two nominations for the greatly undervalued Coen brothers film, Inside Llewyn Davis.  While both were beautifully shot (especially Inside Llewyn Davis), I believe they will not have much of a chance against the dazzling Gravity.

Prediction – Gravity

Best Costume Design

While the wardrobe in 12 Years a Slave was magnificent, I think the true wonder in this category is American Hustle. A lot of 70s period pieces display the big lapels, but Hustle was able to do it in a vibrant manor that stood out without being distracting or stereotypical.  From dresses to suits, the film oozed the style and heart of the times.

Prediction – American Hustle

Best Documentary Feature

With some incredible entries in this category, it is not an easy decision to make.  Early on in the race, there were a lot of indicators that The Act of Killing and Tim’s Vermeer were solid contenders.  With Tim’s Vermeer not making it onto the ballot, and the emotionally draining content and length of The Act of Killing, I believe the most likely candidate will be 20 Feet From Stardom, a documentary that has been steamrolling lately and dominating much of the conversation around this category.

Prediction – 20 Feet From Stardom

Best Documentary Short

I really need to plead some ignorance on this category, as I have not been able to get a feel towards how the nominees are faring.  Blindly trying to pin the tail on the donkey, I am going with Facing Fear, a documentary that follows the chance meeting of a gay man and a neo-Nazi who ruthlessly attacked him twenty five years earlier.  Stories of discrimination and reconciliation can make for memorable material that stands out.

Prediction – Facing Fear

Best Film Editing

This one is a bit of a toss-up for me, as I see American Hustle, Captain Phillips, and Gravity all being possible winners.  Hustle was able to catch a lot of energy, and the pace played well with the story.  Captain Phillips was able to deliver non-stop tension on the high seas, and a lot of that was due to how it was put together.  Gravity was a disaster adventure that felt absolutely seamless in its deliver, bringing the audiences perspective from all angles of the action in smooth transitions.

Prediction – Gravity

Best Foreign Language Film

A strong contender for this award, Blue is the Warmest Colour, was not able to qualify for nomination as it did not get released in time in its home country.  Also missing from the list of nominees are early contenders Wadjda, and The Past, leaving the field open for other movies to step up to the plate.  Myself, I am going to be leaning towards Denmark’s drama, The Hunt.

Predition – The Hunt

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

This is only a field of three, and oddly enough we see the fellows from Jackass gaining a nomination for Bad Grandpa.  Also nominated was The Lone Ranger, but perhaps the fact that it performed so poorly in the box office will keep it from being seen as a real voting favourite.  That leaves the smart money on Dallas Buyers Club for the outstanding visuals we got of Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto as they battled AIDS.

Prediction – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Original Score

This pick was very easy for me to make, and that is for Gravity.  This movie really is a great demonstration of just how a film can use all aspects to convey the story and the emotions to the audience.  The music, much like the visuals, audio, and editing, fit perfectly into the bigger picture, making it a well-oiled machine.

Prediction – Gravity

Best Original Song

This is a category which was not without controversy, as the little known faith-based film Alone Yet Not Alone ended up with a nomination that shocked many people.  It later got disqualified because of breaching the guidelines for promoting it thanks to an email from its composer (and former Governor of the Academy) Bruce Broughton, who urged voters to consider it for nomination.  This move broke the campaigning rule that states promotions must be made to the general public, and not strictly to Academy members.  After a while, the dust had settled and the conversation could finally revolve around the other nominees.  Currently, I feel that the song that is gathering the most attention and has the best chance of winning is Let it Go, from Frozen.

Prediction – Let it Go, Frozen

Best Production Design

In this category, one in which Gravity could easily win, I am going against the awards behemoth and picking The Great Gatsby, a movie period piece that strove to show the opulence of the roaring twenties.

Prediction – The Great Gatsby

Best Animated Short/Live Action Short

I am completely at a loss for who will be winning these categories so I will be deferring to The Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinber’s picks for two reasons.  First, he has an awesome first name.  Secondly, his predictions have lined up fairly closely to mine, so I trust where his head is at.  Third, I know I didn’t say there would be a ‘third,’ he is really experienced and has a proven track record.

Animated Short Prediction – Get a Horse!

Live Action Short Prediction – Helium

Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing

Both of these categories are going to get the same prediction from me, and that is Gravity.  I just cannot see how this film will not be sweeping the technical awards this year as it paid so much attention to detail in bringing together all of the combined elements of filmmaking.

Prediction for Both Categories – Gravity

Best Visual Effects

One movie that is missing from contention is Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion, which had visuals that were immaculate and it was almost impossible to tell what was a set piece and what was CGI.  Of the contenders on the list, the easy choice to make is Gravity, because it was not just the best looking picture this year, but perhaps the best looking of all time.

Prediction – Gravity

Best Adapted Screenplay

While I truly believe that Before Midnight was the best of all screenplays this year, I am worried that it is just not on enough people’s minds.  I think the most likely option here is for 12 Years a Slave to walk away with the award, but a heartwarming upset by Philomena is not out of the picture.

Prediction – 12 Years a Slave

Best Original Screenplay

In this category I find myself constantly wavering back and forth between Her and American Hustle, as both were extremely well written.  In the end, I am going with Hustle, which was able to create vivid and fully dimensional characters, with added elements of tension and humour.

Prediction – American Hustle

During the broadcast of the awards, I will be doing a live blog following the events of the show, so please feel free to jump onto the blog tomorrow night as the events unfold.

The Oscars, And The Great Moments They Left Out

There were some mighty financial triumphs in 2013 in theatres which lead the way to setting some all-time records, including highest grossing year.  A very popular format has crept into movie production where big budgets are thrown around in the attempt of achieving billion dollar success.  This format, while successful for some, has seen failures that have led to massive changes.  Sony, because of suffering from a few flops in After Earth and White House Down has decided to distribute fewer movies in the coming years because of the money they lost.  I find it interesting that they are looking at doing that but not looking at their production format, which is ultimately the issue.

Financials aside, it really was a great year for movies.  Many times I find myself questioning the legitimacy of some Best Picture nominations that have made the list for lack of quality films, but that was not the case this year.  The nominations for the Oscars came out yesterday, and I thought I would take a few minutes to highlight some of the wonderful things that were not able to gain recognition from the Academy.  There were some ridiculous snubs that seemed almost impossible for me to comprehend, but I will only glance briefly at those and spend more time trying to encourage you to check out some content that is Oscar worthy but never had the marketing and campaigning behind them to make the cut.  Trust me when I say this, some of the stuff is every bit as good, if not better than what received nominations (a sad testament to the nomination process).

The Snubs

Three big ones come to mind immediately for me, and shocked me greatly when I read the list of nominees yesterday morning.  First of all, Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips) did not just give a performance worthy enough of a nomination, but one that was good enough to win.  The last few minutes of the film were all in Hank’s hands, and he delivered all of the concluding emotions completely by himself.  Hanks not making the ballot is a major mistake as he performed better than some of the actors who made the cut.

Emma Thompson was the major bright spot in Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks, and whatever issues I may have had with the arrangement of the story, the content, and the delivery, she is undeniable in the fact that she pulled off a high calibre performance.  I love Amy Adams (not like that, my wife reads this), but Thompson delivered a lot more range and was more deserving of the spot.  That being said, I am rooting for Adams and hoping for her to take it home.

The last of the big shocks I had was over Inside Llewyn Davis not making the list for Best Picture.  While the other two that I mentioned happened because their spots got taken by other quality actors, there is no such reason for the Coen brother’s latest movie from being denied.  It was a beautifully shot movie whose visuals, people, and sounds all gave off the feel of a needle hitting the vinyl in a movie about the New York folk music scene in the early 60s.  From the wonderful cinematography to the soul rapturing music, the movie was the complete package of talent.  In the category of Best Picture there can be up to ten nominations, and this year there was only nine which makes the absence of the critically acclaimed Inside Llewyn Davis very hard to understand, because there was an obvious spot for it to hold.

Those are the three biggest ‘snubs’ that I could think of.  There are a number of others that are less blatant, in my opinion, and I won’t really go into those because the primary purpose here is to be positive about the great things from this year that people may not know about otherwise (at the end of the article I talk a bit about a few of the other ‘snubs’).  So let’s first talk about some of what happened this year that is on par (or better) than what got nominated, but was left out of the discussion for whatever reason.

Oscar Quality Martial

Short Term 12 is a movie about a group home for extremely troubled teens and the people who work there.  It follows Grace (Brie Larson), one of the employees at the group home, who through the movie seeks to overcome the demons from her own past as she attempts to do everything she can to lead these kids out of their shadows and towards a quality of life that they could never imagine.  It is a tear jerker, it is a tough watch, but it is also heartwarming and touching right to the core.  The performance of Larson was one of the best female performances of the year, and if the right distributor was behind the movie and campaigning, she should have easily gotten on the ballot.  The movie, as a whole, is definitely Oscar quality and is one of the best of the year.  I whole heartedly recommend this movie with the warning that it does deal with some very hard issues, but not in a way that is to leave people crying, but to win them over to the side of hope and second chances.

Fruitvale Station is a movie about Oscar Grant, a man who was shot by transit officers in Oakland on January 1^st 2009.  While it is based on a true story, it filled out with a narrative of Grant at a crossroads in his life and having to choose which direction he will be taking, and acting accordingly.  This story gives us a personal attachment to the character, who we know will inevitably die.  Director Ryan Coogler does a wonderful job of building the atmosphere and, even though we know a gunshot will occur, delivers shock and pain with the tragedy that unfolds.  It is a very powerful story that celebrates life and faces the loss of death.  Fruitvale Station could have easily been more seriously in the talks for best picture, Michael B. Jordan’s portrayal of Oscar Grant was worthy of awards attention, Octavia Spencer (who played grant’s mother) is on par with anyone else in the Best Supporting Actress category, and director Ryan Coogler deserved more serious consideration.  The film could have easily fit into multiple Oscar categories, but unfortunately it got lost in the shuffle, possibly because of its earlier release date as well as being over shadowed by some big name talent.

Poor Sam Rockwell, that’s what I have to say.  He always turns in a great performance and is largely underappreciated for his skills.  In The Way Way Back, Rockwell had a career performance as an immature and unlikely father figure to a boy who is suffering under the weight of lack of confidence and under the gun of his mother’s jerky boyfriend.  Rockwell manages to completely steal every scene he is in as well as being able to deliver every emotion needed for his role.  As far as I am concerned, it was easily one of the best supporting actor performances of the year and if his name was Brad Pitt or Johnny Depp, he would be enjoying the elation of receiving an Oscar nomination.  With so much of the talent this year coming from serious fare, Rockwell showed that comedic/heartwarming performances can still hold their own.

The Place Behind the Pines entered theatres fairly early in 2013, and perhaps that is what caused it to be forgotten come Oscar time.  It is a very ambitious (some think to a fault) movie that explores nature versus nurture in the relationships, behaviours, and choices made by three different generations of fathers and sons.  Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper hand out very nuanced and powerful performances, with characters that lay the groundwork for the philosophy and premise of the entire film.  I do believe that if this movie was released in October it would have been in close contention for a number of categories, and is a solid case for the release and marketing games that distributors play in order to give their films the best chances at awards.

Missing from the Lead Actor category this year was the young Tye Sheridan for his performance in Mud, where he plays a rough kid from the southern swamps of America who has his concepts of love challenged.  The movie, which came out in early May of 2013, did extremely well with critics and was one of the better performing limited release movies of the year and was able to make $24 million worldwide.  Matthew McConaughey garnered a lot of the attention for the film (for his performance as Mud), and was rightly deserved of that attention.  However, the real standout performance in the movie was by the young Sheridan who showed multiple abilities and gives hope for great performances to come.  He was supposed to be attached to the next Star Wars movie, but then JJ Abrams wanted to focus more on the older characters and Sheridan was no longer needed.  Even though he missed out this year, I am positive it will not be long before his name pops up in awards and he gets the recognition he deserves.

One nomination that was seemed to be an accepted given was that Before Midnight would be up for Best Adapted Screenplay, which was written by director Richard Linklater, and the movie’s stars Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy.  The script should be a serious contender for winning the award, but even better than the wonderfully realistic and flowing conversations in the movie were the performances by Hawke and Delpy who gave life to them.  As we watch Jesse (Hawke) and Celine (Delpy) go through the issues of love that has grown formulaic and routine, we grow to accept these characters as real, which is partly due to the script, but also the to ease that their performances are delivered with.  We lose the sense of watching actors on the screen and begin feeling like we are peering in on an actual relationship, an accomplishment that rarely happens and Ethan Hawke and July Delpy are deserving of recognition for their near perfect performances.

Great Things From 2013

Not everything that is great from the year is Oscar worthy, but there is still a lot of amazing things that need a little bit of attention as well.  One of those is Sarah Polley, who has come a long way from her role in Road to Avonlea, and is establishing herself as an Oscar calibre director.  Her documentary, Stories We Tell, was in close contention for a nomination this year, and some people (myself included) are surprised that it did not make the cut.  However, the important fact is that Polley shows amazing talent and that we should get excited and pay close attention to her future projects.

Speaking of female talent, Rooney Mara further established herself this year with three amazing performances in Side Effects, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, and Her.  She has already been nominated for an Oscar, so the world is not surprised by her abilities, but the three stellar roles she has this year go to show that her nomination was not a one-time deal.  She will be back in the awards race again, and she has proven that she is someone that we should be watching as an actress on the rise.

On the male side of up and coming actors (Tye Sheridan aside), Dane Dehaan has emerged onto the scene and could be able to develop into something special a few years from now.  This year he was in The Place Beyond the Pines, Kill Your Darlings, Devil’s Knot (which will see limited release in 2014), and brought life to the fictional narrative in Metallica’s concert film, Through the Never.  His name may not be well known right now, but I am really confident that he is going to keep growing in his talents and exposure and should not be far removed from landing some very key roles.

One of the great movies of this year was The Way Way Back, which was able to stick out as a quality, heartwarming comedy when there has been a lot of serious, ‘based on real life’ content dominating headlines.  I would never say that the movie itself is of Oscar quality, but it succeeds in delivering all of the emotions that it sets out to, and shows the script writing and directing talents of Jim Rash and Nat Faxon.  It is a film that a wide range of audiences could really enjoy, and I find it to be winner of my ‘Gem of the Year’ award (if such an award existed), following in the fun and touching footsteps of last year’s winner, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Last year also saw the emergence of Lake Bell, and all of the talent that she has to offer Hollywood with her parody comedy, In a World… which is based on the very competitive world of voice overs.  Bell wrote, directed, and starred in the movie, which carried with it a lot of comedy, fun, as well as being able to deliver a message of female empowerment, something that is pretty much missing from most movies.  This was the first feature film directed and written by Bell, who was able to create a solid character for herself, as well as develop some very entertaining and interesting supporting characters.  Plus, the film has an old-school music montage of people training and prepping their vocal chords which is one of the parody moments from the year that I will remember most.  It is an all-around solid film that, like The Way Way Back, should be enjoyable for most audiences.

Shane Carruth, the director of Primer (a 2004 independent science fiction film) returned and delivered Upstream Color, a movie with science fiction elements woven into a relationship tale of healing from a traumatic experience.  That’s what I get from it, at least, as it is a film that could be interpreted so differently from everyone who views it.  Turn off the phone, send the kids to bed, and leave nothing of distraction in your life as you will need all of your brain power for this movie that tells you very little and leaves everything up to you to figure out.  There are aspects that I am not sure about from this movie, but it was just so nice having to figure my own way through a quality movie as opposed to how most movies feel the need to over inform you of everything and treat the audience like they are too stupid to figure anything out on their own.  It also had a wonderful performance from Amy Seimetz, who I am hoping will have a breakthrough performance soon so we can see her in more films.

Another great thing from this year that I would love to talk about is the performances of first time actors Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips) and Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave).  They were both awarded with nominations for their performances, which kind of disqualifies them from this article, but I could not resist by bring them up.  Both were able to perform onscreen with well-established talent and marvellously held their own.  They are both interesting stories that add some humanity to the Oscars, especially considering Abdi’s profession prior to his Oscar nominated performance was driving taxis.

A Brief Look at Some of Those Left Out of the Nominations

As I had said earlier, the point of this was to reflect positively on the year, but I do want to mention some of the contenders that were on the edges of nomination that did not receive their glory.  The documentaries Stories We Tell and Blackfish were both ones that I had easily assumed would be able to make the cut, but shocked many people by having been left off of the ballot.  The real interesting story of the documentary category is The Square, which is pushed by Netflix.  The online streaming company made ground with having their first Emmy nominated original programing in 2013, and it is possible that they may soon have an Oscar to add to their credentials.

 While I enjoyed Lee Daniel’s The Butler, I was not shocked that it did not come up with a best picture nomination.  I was, however, shocked that Oprah Winfrey did not secure a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her portrayal as a multi-dimensional wife of the White House butler.  She had received a nomination from the Screen Actors Guild (the people who would be able to vote her to an Oscar nomination), but ended up losing her spot to Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine) who had not received a Screen Actors Guild nomination, but seemed to have some momentum building around her lately.

Left off of the Lead Actor nominations list was Robert Redford who was the one man show in All is Lost, a movie where his sailboat faces disaster in the open ocean.  There are no other actors in the movie, and Redford’s performance has been widely praised.  It was not to be, though, as he did not end up with the nomination.  Redford figures that the reason for that happening is due to the lack of promotion and campaigning by Roadside Attractions, the North American distributor for the film.

A few snubs that happened in the Best Foreign Language Film category happened before the nominations were even announced.  Two movies that were expected to be nominees never ended up making the voter’s short list for the category.  Missing out was Wadjda, the critically acclaimed movie from Saudi Arabia, which was not only the first Saudi film ever made, but it was also directed by a female.  Also missing from the short list was The Past, directed by Asghar Farhadi who had directed A Separation which won 2012’s Best Foreign Language Film.

Missing out was Daniel Bruhl, who was in the running for a Supporting Actor nomination for his role in Ron Howard’s Rush.  His performance was extraordinary and received a nomination for the Golden Globes.  Because the Golden Globes are nominated by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, it was not surprising that they nominated the Spanish actor.  The real surprise was when the SAG nominated him shortly after, giving real weight to his chances of getting some Oscar loving for his depiction of Austrian Formula One driver, Niki Lauda.