Oscar Nominations

Below are the Academy Award Nominations for 2014. See below to see nominees and how well I did with my predictions!

Best Picture

• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity
• Her
• Nebraska
• Philomena
• 12 Years a Slave
• The Wolf of Wall Street

I'm pretty glad with how this went! If you see my predictions, I got my top 5 in, and picked Her for 6th slot, Wolf of Wall Street for 7th, Dallas Buyers Club for 8th, and Philomena for 10th. My only error was putting Saving Mr. Banks in 9th, and ahead of Philomena. Had I not, I would've scored 100% on this. (8/9)

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)

I'm very, very surprised Tom Hanks was left out of this one, but as I'm not a Tom Hanks fan, I'm 100% fine with this choice. However, I also wasn't a big fan of American Hustle, and the more support it gets, the more bummed I am. While Christian Bale and Leonardo DiCaprio managed to sneak in over Tom Hanks and Robert Redford, I thought Bale was a little bland in Hustle. Though I'll have to give it a second watch. (4/5)

Best Actress

• Amy Adams (American Hustle)
• Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
• Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
• Judi Dench (Philomena)
• Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

I swapped around who would get in this one a million times yesterday, but none of my predictions had Emma Thompson being left out. I know some had, but I didn't see it happening. Though with Banks shut out almost altogether, it's not surprising. (4/5)

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)

Somehow I figured it was either Jonah Hill or Bradley Cooper, but not both. Seems I was wrong again. Daniel Bruhl was the one to miss out, but Rush was snubbed entirely. (4/5)

Best Supporting Actress

• Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
• Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
• Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
• Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
• June Squibb (Nebraska)

Oprah Winfrey is the one left out here (as is the Butler entirely). However, The Butler was on shaky ground before this, so I'm not overly surprised to see it left out here. (4/5)

Best Director

• David O. Russell (American Hustle)
• Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
• Alexander Payen (Nebraska)
• Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
• Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)

One of my risks paid off with Scorsese getting in, but Jonze didn't make the cut. Instead, Alexander Payne made it in, who I originally had sitting in Jonze's place. (4/5)

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• Rchard Linklater, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy (Before Midnight)
• Billy Ray (Captain Phillips)
• Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope (Philomena)
• John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)
• Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Got this one exactly right! (5/5)

Writing (Original Screenplay)

• Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell (American Hustle)
• Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine)
• Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack (Dallas Buyers Club)
• Spike Jonze (Her)
• Bob Nelson (Nebraska)

I had assumed the Coen's could get in here, but it seems there's much support for Dallas Buyers Club, and not enough for Inside Llewyn Davis (4/5)

Animated Feature Film

• The Croods
• Despicable Me 2
• Ernest & Celestine
• Frozen
• The Wind Rises

I had predicted Monsters University over Ernest & Celestine. A mistake, it seems. (4/5)

Cinematography

• Philippe Le Sourd (The Grandmaster)
• Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity)
• Bruno Delbonnel (Inside Llewyn Davis)
• Phedon Papamichael (Nebraska)
• Roger Deakins (Prisoners)

I had mentioned the Grandmaster possibly sneaking in here, but made the mistake of picking 12 Years a Slave over it. (4/5)

Film Editing

• American Hustle
• Captain Phillips
• Dallas Buyers Club
• Gravity
• 12 Years a Slave

I knew predicting Rush was a long shot, but what I didn't expect was for Dallas Buyers Club to make it in here. (4/5)

Music (Original Score)

• John Williams (The Book Thief)
• Steven Price (Gravity)
• William Butler and Owen Pallett (Her)
• Alexandre Desplat (Philomena)
• Thomas Newman (Saving Mr. Banks)

I'm pretty upset because I had originally taken All Is Lost out and replaced with Desplat for Philomena. Really regretting not doing this in the end. I love seeing Desplat nominated (He's a favourite). However I was surprised by the inclusion of Her over 12 Years A Slave. (3/5)

Music (Original Song)

• "Alone Yet Not Alone" from Alone Yet Not Alone
• "Happy" from Despicable Me 2
• "Let It Go" from Frozen
• "The Moon Song" from Her
• "Ordinary Love" from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

This is a category I knew I didn't know much about. I predicted Frozen, Her and Mandela, but not Alone Yet Not Alone (never heard of it), and Despicable Me 2. I'm thrilled with the inclusion of Despicable Me 2. The song is so fun and catchy it's great to see it included.  (3/5)

Sound Mixing

• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Lone Survivor
• Inside Llewyn Davis

Surprisingly, I did pretty well. The only one I missed with the Hobbit getting in over Rush. 

(4/5)

Sound Editing

• All is Lost
• Captain Phillips
• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Lone Survivor

I had a feeling All Is Lost could go the way of Drive and only make sound editing. Again, my original prediction was to leave it in only here. I'm regretting I didn't stick with that instinct. Again, I only missed out on Hobbit getting in over Rush. (4/5)

Production Design

• American Hustle
• Gravity
• The Great Gatsby
• Her
• 12 Years a Slave

I'm pretty happy with these noms. Gravity got in over my prediction of Inside Llewyn Davis, but overall I think these are all pretty worthy. (4/5)

Visual Effects

• Gravity
• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Iron Man 3
• The Lone Ranger
• Star Trek into Darkness

Didn't do well on this one. While I got Gravity, Hobbit and Iron Man correct, I picked Pacific Rim and Oblivion over Lone Ranger and Star Trek (I still stand by them being the better) (3/5)

Costumes

• American Hustle
• The Grandmaster
• The Great Gatsby
• The Invisible Woman
• 12 Years a Slave

I'm happy Invisibly Woman made it in here, as I was unsure on this one. However, the Grandmaster snuck in again taking the place of Catching Fire (which I knew was a long shot in the first place) (4/5)

Makeup and Hairstyling

• Dallas Buyers Club
• Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
• The Lone Ranger

I was really hoping Jackass wouldn't make it in here, but it seems to have stolen the place of American Hustle. But it means one less nomination for Hustle, which is fine by me. (2/3)

I did really well on nominations this year. The lowest I went was 3/5 (which was for about 4 categories I believe), but other than that I had a solid 4/5 for most categories. While I picked all the Best Picture nominees in my top 10, I had predicted Saving Mr Banks would get in over Philomena, which the opposite happened. 

I ended off with 76/97, which is 78%! I did much better than the last 2 years, and am very pleased with most of the nominations. Nothing too shocking this year, which is a nice change from last year. Will see how the rest of the season goes leading up!

For now I still want to say 12 Years A Slave will win Best Picture, but after today and the Globes, I've become increasingly unsure. American Hustle is a film that does not deserve to win, in my opinion, but we'll see.