The Oscars Predictions 2014

The Oscars are just round the corner and I thought I would give my thoughts and predictions on the nominees this year. I'm only going to do the categories that I have seen most of the films in, I'll tell you who I want to win and who will most likely win because unfortunately they are rarely the same.

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

I'm a massive fan of Scorsese and would love to see him win this award, however I think it will go to Steve McQueen.

Best Picture
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years A Slave
The Wolf Of Wall Street

The film I would most like to see win this is The Wolf of Wall Street. All the films this year are brilliant but The Wolf of Wall Street tops it, however I think it will be 12 Years A Slave that gets it.

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

Hands down Matthew McConaughey, I feel for Leonardo DiCaprio and I wanted this to be his year but I want McConaughey to get it and think he will also.

Best Actress
Amy Adams – American Hustle
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Judi Dench - Philomena
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

This is probably the category I am least sure about. My favourite performance on this list is from Amy Adams so I hope she gets the award.

Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Michael Fassbender - 12 Years A Slave
Jonah Hill – The Wolf Of Wall Street
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

I really want Michael Fassbender to get this one, he was one of the best things about 12 Years a Slave. However there is a lot of hype around Jared Leto so I have feeling he could be taking the award instead.

Best Supporting Actress
Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o – 12 Years A Slave
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
June Squibb – Nebraska

Out everybody on this list Jennifer Lawrence is the stand out performance for me. However I can see The Academy giving it to newcomer Lupita Nyong'o, either way they it will be well deserved.

Best Original Screenplay
Eric Singer & David O. Russell – American Hustle
Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine
Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack – Dallas Buyers Club
Spike Jonze – Her
Bob Nelson - Nebraska

For me this is a showdown between American Hustle and Her. I have no idea how it might turn out though. May the best screenplay win!

Best Adapted Screenplay
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke – Before Midnight
Billy Ray – Captain Phillips
Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope – Philomena
John Ridley – 12 Years A Slave
Terence Winter – The Wolf Of Wall Street

Hands down Before Midnight should get this award! However because of the dodgy rules of adapting it might not be held as highly as its other competitors because it's not really adapted from anything apart from the characters from previous films in the trilogy. Fingers crossed though!

Best Cinematography
The Grandmaster

Gravity

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska
Prisoners

It's got to be Inside Llewyn Davis right? Surely...

Best 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

When editing I have always been told that more is better. So why Gravity is on this list and The Wolf of Wall Street isn't is beyond me! However I feel it will be either Captain Phillips or 12 Years A Slave because both have excellent editing.

Best Original Score

John Williams, The Book Thief

Steven Price, Gravity

William Butler and Owen Pallett, Her

Alexandre Desplat, Philomena
Thomas Newman, Saving Mr. Banks

Best Visual Effects

Gravity - Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould

The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug - Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds

Iron Man 3 - Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick

The Lone Ranger - Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier

Star Trek Into Darkness - Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton

Gravity should definitely win both of these, the score was great and come on, the effects were mind blowing! And who nominated The Hobbit? Apart from Smaug that film's visual effects were terrible!

So that concludes my opinions on The Oscars for 2014. It's a strong year, most of the films nominated are really, really good so I'm happy.

Do you agree with who I want to win and who I reckon will most likely win? Let me know in the comments below!

Thanks for reading!

Quick Reviews #6

Oscar season is upon us and over in the UK we are finally getting to see some of the contenders which have been out in the USA for a month now. Taking advantage of this, over a period of 24 hours I went to see The Wolf of Wall Street and 12 Years a Slave. Below are my reviews for both films.

The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese is my favourite director, I look up to the man, he is a big inspiration so therefore I couldn't wait for his latest film with the super talented Leonardo DiCaprio. The film is a masterpiece and very reminiscent of Scorsese's best film Goodfellas. The film is adapted from the autobiography of Jordan Belfort, a sly banker with a addiction to money, sex and drugs. The film is crazy from the beginning and never runs out of steam. Every scene in its three hour running time is fast paced, funny and beautifully shot. How this film isn't up for a best editing Oscar is beyond me! Scorsese has a great eye for pacing among other things and the story is just so well told. Although not technically a comedy, I actually laughed more at this film then I did when I saw Anchorman 2 the other week. One stand out scene that involved Belfort on drugs (although there are many) had me in stitches! The acting is great with Leonardo DiCaprio giving a brilliantly enigmatic performance that will undeservedly be snubbed at the Oscars yet again. Everybody else is also brilliant including Jonah Hill who is becoming a force to reckon with. The film has been criticised for 'glorifying' what these bankers were doing, but by the time the films ends I did not want to be in any of their shoes. Apart from being slightly long there aren't really any flaws plus, I don't care about watching three hours worth of footage from the best director around today. Scorsese just doesn't get lazy, with this being one of the last few films we will see from him, he still puts many younger directors to shame, he takes risks and he isn't afraid to move the camera around as much as possible. I am rating the film a 5/5. On another note, don't watch this with your Mum!

12 Years a Slave 

A bit more serious than The Wolf of Wall Street, 12 Years a Slave is also based on a true story, this time one about Solomon Northup, a free man who was kidnapped and spent 12 horrible years as a slave. The film is no doubt going to win big at the Oscars not only due to it's delicate subject matter, but also because of it's great cinematography and heartbreaking tale. Compared to Steve McQueen's previous work, this film is a little bit more safe, going for more of a linear narrative rather than his more experimental style, however this film still has a lot of powerful imagery that is really well used to provoke a wide range of emotions whilst viewing. It was nice to see a change of pace, with McQueen adding many long shots letting us observe certain moments that drag on (in a good way) to try and fully engage us with the troubles and hardships of the characters. Each character was so well written with plenty of layers that make none of them stereotypical. The film is quite tough to watch at times, with a lot of violence shown at it's most graphic, it was nice to be reminded that I wasn't fully desensitised to it. The film was educational, it showed things that happened during this period of time that I was unaware about. Similarly to films about the holocaust, it makes you feel guilty knowing the capabilities of the human race and ultimately Solomon becomes our eyes and ears of the era as he witnesses terrible events which have all been drawn from reality. It's a sad and heartbreaking tale and you don't come out of the cinema fully happy knowing that this period in time happened and racism still exists today. It's also very well acted with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender giving some of their best performances in this film.  It's an enlightening film that captures the incredible story of Solomon Northup in a very powerful way, I am giving the film a rating of 5/5.

Two excellent but very different films, both up for a lot of Oscars. The competition is big this year! What did you think of the films? Did you enjoy them as much as I did? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!