Our house has watched all the nominees this year and I am going to give my predictions for the Oscars as well as my own personal comments.
BEST PICTURE
I really liked a lot of the nominees so this one was hard to select but I am going to pick the movie that took me on a ride. I listened to a lot of discussions about this movie… was the character already dead? Was this just a dream from the beginning? I loved listening to the discussions as much as I enjoyed watching Sandra Bullock floating on the screen.
Best Picture
• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity
• Her
• Nebraska
• Philomena
• 12 Years a Slave
• The Wolf of Wall Street
BEST ACTOR
All the boys are all really fabulous actors and I was really torn here on who to pick. It is not the favored actor I am choosing I am liking the actor who caused my people to reach for the Kleenex the most and that would be the performance by Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave. It was a brilliant portrayal of survival and endurance.
Best Actor in a Leading Role
• 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
BEST ACTRESS
Well I must say all the actresses are stellar in their own right but you have to give it to Sandra Bullock for floating about the screen most of the movie all alone and showcasing so much emotion even when she was wearing that space helmet.
Best Actress in a Leading Role
• Amy Adams: American Hustle
• Cate Blanchett: Blue Jasmine
• Sandra Bullock: Gravity
• Judi Dench: Philomena
• Meryl Streep: August: Osage County
BEST ACTOR SUPPORTING ROLE
Supporting actors are the sidekicks that we all love and this year we have a wonderful list to pick from. We did really love Jared Leto in the movie that was all about body transformations but I am going to give my vote to an unknown who made me bark at the screen because his character was so realistic as a Somali pirate. And my two-leggers loved the line “everything gonna be OK“ I love it when my people laugh like that (they even sang a Bob Marley song called ‘Three Little Birds’ every time the actor said the line), which is why I give this one to the new comer in the pack, Barkhad Abdj.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
• 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
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Once again a long list of wonderful actresses and I am going to have to give it to a new comer to the American scene, who was riveting on the screen playing a slave subject to her master’s needs.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
• Sally Hawkins: Blue Jasmine
• Jennifer Lawrence: American Hustle
• Lupita Nyong’o: 12 Years a Slave
• Julia Roberts: August: Osage County
• June Squibb: Nebraska
BEST-ANIMATED Feature
We all love the art of animated movies in our house. I was happy to see Disney Studios finally putting out a fun feature. Frozen melted my heart and I definitely want to have a funny snowman as my sidekick. My two-leggers are against this but might get me a stuffed toy to play with.
Best Animated Feature
• The Croods: Chris Sanders, Kirk DeMicco, Kristine Belson
• Despicable Me 2: Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin, Chris Meledandri
• Ernest & Celestine: Benjamin Renner, Didier Brunner
• Frozen: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho
• The Wind Rises: Hayao Miyazaki, Toshio Suzuki
Best Cinematography
Well, as you can tell by my other picks that this is a no-brainer pick. WOOF the cinematography used to whirl you about in Gravity was amazing.
Best Cinematography
• The Grandmaster: Philippe Le Sourd
• Gravity: Emmanuel Lubezki
• Inside Llewyn Davis: Bruno Delbonnel
• Nebraska: Phedon Papamichael
• Prisoners: Roger A. Deakins
Best Costume Design
We did really find the 70’s garb to be realistic and loved the permed hair (is that a costume?) but I think the winner should be 12 Years a Slave for transforming the screen into a different era.
Best 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
Best Direction
Can you guess what I think is going to take the Oscars by storm! A wonderful storm of human determination, reality and hope.
Best 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
It is amazing to watch and hear the story of how the backup singer who has a spotlight behind the follow spot of the star. A reflection on musical notes behind the spotlight.
Best Documentary Feature
• The Act of Killing (Joshua Oppenheimer, Signe Byrge Sørensen
• Cutie and the Boxer (Zachary Heinzerling, Lydia Dean Pilcher
• Dirty Wars (Richard Rowley, Jeremy Scahill
• The Square (Jehane Noujaim, Karim Amer
• 20 Feet from Stardom (Nominees to be determined
Best Documentary Short
I think the dog in CaveDigger should have been nominated myself but want to give my 4 paws to the documentary The Lady in Number Six Trailer where we see that music can transform any tragedy into a dream.
Best Documentary Short
• CaveDigger: Jeffrey Karoff
• Facing Fear: Jason Cohen
• Karama Has No Walls (Sara Ishaq
• The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life: Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed
• Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall: Edgar Barens
Best Film Editing
Once again I am wagging my tail fast and furiously hoping to become an astronaut myself someday.
Best Film Editing
• American Hustle: Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers, Alan Baumgarten
• Captain Phillips: Christopher Rouse
• Dallas Buyers Club: John Mac McMurphy, Martin Pensa
• Gravity: Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
• 12 Years a Slave: Joe Walker
Best Foreign Language Film
All these stories were told and shot very well. My vote goes to a story told in bluegrass song, a love story bent and beautifully shot.
Best Foreign Language Film
• The Broken Circle Breakdown: Belgium
• The Great Beauty: Italy
• The Hunt: Denmark
• The Missing Picture: Cambodia
• Omar: Palestine
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Transformation! Transformation! Transformation!
Best Makeup and Hairstyling
• Dallas Buyers Club: Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews
• Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (Stephen Prouty
• The Lone Ranger: Joel Harlow, Gloria Pasqua-Casny
Best Original Score
Of course my pick is Gravity again because when you have a movie that takes you on a journey with one main character in outer space you need a BIG sound to fill the heart chasing moments as well as the lost moments.
Best Original Score
• The Book Thief: John Williams
• Gravity: Steven Price
• Her: William Butler, Owen Pallett
• Philomena: Alexandre Desplat
• Saving Mr. Banks: Thomas Newman
Best Original Song
Another great female belt song by Disney!
Best Original Song
• Happy: Despicable Me 2
• Let It Go: Frozen
• The Moon Song: Her
• Ordinary Love: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Best Production Design
Production is the stitches that hold the fabric of a film together, and this year 12 Years a Slave was sewn together with intricate production. Four tail wags and a woof!
Best Production Design
• American Hustle: Judy Becker, Heather Loeffler
• Gravity: Andy Nicholson, Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woollard
• The Great Gatsby: Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn
• Her: K.K. Barrett, Gene Serdena
• 12 Years a Slave: Adam Stockhausen, Alice Baker
Best Animated Short Film
This is a group of wonderful shorts and there are some great dogs featured too My vote goes to Mr. Hublot and his wonderful robot dog!
Best Animated Short Film
• Feral: Daniel Sousa, Dan Golden
• Get a Horse!: Lauren MacMullan, Dorothy McKim
• Mr. Hublot: Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares
• Possessions: Shuhei Morita
• Room on the Broom: Max Lang, Jan Lachauer
Best Live Action Short Film
Very hard category, I was taken by all of them in different ways some were funny, some were heart breaking and others uplifting. So I am going to place my vote this year for “Just Before Losing Everything” for the nerve wrenching moments in time it takes you to.
Best Live Action Short Film
• Aquel No Era Yo: That Wasn’t Me: Esteban Crespo
• Avant Que De Tout Perdre: Just Before Losing Everything : Xavier Legrand, Alexandre Gavras
• Helium: Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson
• Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa?: Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?: Selma Vilhunen, Kirsikka Saari
• The Voorman Problem: Mark Gill, Baldwin Li
Best Sound Editing
Is there sound in space? There is in Gravity, and it’s the best.
Best Sound Editing
• All Is Lost: Steve Boeddeker, Richard Hymns
• Captain Phillips: Oliver Tarney
• Gravity: Glenn Freemantle
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: Brent Burge, Chris Ward
• Lone Survivor: Wylie Stateman
Best Sound Mixing
I know you think I have launched a one-way ticket to outer space with my votes and well, you would be right.
Best Sound Mixing
• Captain Phillips: Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith, Chris Munro
• Gravity: Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Tony Johnson
• Inside Llewyn Davis: Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland
• Lone Survivor: Andy Koyama, Beau Borders, David Brownlow
Best Visual Effects
To The Moon Sandra! What a team!
Best Visual Effects
• Gravity: Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, Eric Reynolds
• Iron Man 3: Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash, Dan Sudick
• The Lone Ranger: Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams, John Frazier
• Star Trek Into Darkness (Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann, Burt Dalton
Best Adapted Screenplay
To take a story and play it out on screen is a talent. To do that for free is a passion which is why I have chosen 12 Years a Slave by John Ridley who took on the project for “spec”. It is more than a mere “spec” it is a SPECtacular screenplay!
Best Adapted Screenplay
• Before Midnight: Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
• Captain Phillips: Billy Ray
• Philomena: Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
• 12 Years a Slave: John Ridley
• The Wolf of Wall Street: Terence Winter
Best Original Screenplay
The 70’s, the scandal, the Hustle!
Best Original Screenplay
• American Hustle: Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
• Blue Jasmine: Woody Allen
• Dallas Buyers Club: Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack
• Her: Spike Jonze
• Nebraska: Bob Nelson
Well, those are my picks, no bones about it! If you have other picks let me know and have fun watching the Oscars!
