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Meryl Streep and Juliette Lewis in August: Osage County |
American Hustle and Gravity lead the race with 10 nominations apiece wile 12 Years a Slave followed with 9. Hustle in addition to a Best Actress nomination for Adams, received acting shout-outs for Christian Bale (a surprise given the competition), Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper. This rare feat means back-to-back records for David O. Russell films, as American Hustle and last year’s Silver Linings Playbook are among the few films to receive acting nominations in all four categories. No film has ever won all four (Network and A Streetcar Named Desire won three), so will Hustle make history? Oddly enough, though, the widely acclaimed hairstyles for which the cast of American Hustle has been garnering attention (re: Bradley Cooper’s man curls) was the film’s main omission in the race. Hustle is the film to beat, though, if those four acting nominations are a sign of anything.
Oscar Noms – The Good:
-Meryl Streep: Streep
now has 19 nominations, thus breaking her own record. Will she tie Katherine
Hepburn’s record of four wins?
-Julia Roberts: It’s
not a supporting role, but it’s an Oscar-worthy performance.
-Blue Jasmine: Hooray
for that nomination for Sally Hawkins! It’s well deserved, as is Woody Allen’s
nomination for Best Original Screenplay and Cate Blanchett’s nom for Best
Actress. (If anyone should beat Meryl, it should be her.)
-The Broken Circle Breakdown: Belgium lands a worthy nomination
in the Best Foreign Language Film category, which compensates for some
egregious omissions on the shortlist.
-20 Feet From Stardom: The best documentary to be released this
year (I count Stories We Tell as a 2012
film) brings its subject into the spotlight.
-12 Years a Slave: No
surprises there, but phew!
-The Grandmaster: The film itself was marred by a recut, but it
earned well-deserved nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Score, making
it (I believe) the first Wong Kar Wai film to be nominated.
-Leonardo DiCaprio,
Marty, and The Wolf of Wall Street: Because
every Oscar party will be better with Quaaludes. Although the fact that the
Academy has officially made the phrase “Two time Academy Award nominee Jonah
Hill” part of popular culture is a novelty.
-Ernest and Celestine: The underdog pair of the little mouse and bear made the cut. Félicitations!
-Judi Dench: That Philo-mania really is contagious!
-Ernest and Celestine: The underdog pair of the little mouse and bear made the cut. Félicitations!
-Judi Dench: That Philo-mania really is contagious!
Oscar Noms – The Not-so-Good
-Canadian content: The
snub for Stories We Tell in the Best
Documentary category might be the worst error of them all! (Equally hosed was
fellow frontrunner Blackfish.) Sarah
Polley’s beautiful film is arguably the most beautiful and intelligent documentary
film in years. Also left in the dust were fellow CanCon shorts Gloria Victoria and Subconscious Password, although it should be noted that members of Arcade Fire earned a nomation for Best Score for Her
-Robert Redford: How
does this performance miss? It was a competitive year for Best Actor—even Tom
Hanks missed out!—but this omission is disappointing considering the difficulty
of the role. Ditto Alex Ebert's Golden Globe winning score, which fills the silence of Redford's performance in this great film.
-Enough Said: The snubs for James Gandolfini`s performance and Nicole Holofcener`s script are disappointing.
-Enough Said: The snubs for James Gandolfini`s performance and Nicole Holofcener`s script are disappointing.
-Inside Llewyn Davis: Two nominations (sound mixing and
cinematography). What happened?
-No Oprah: I
would have voted for Sally Hawkins, though, so I can’t complain.
-12 Years a Slave: Missing the nominations for cinematography
and score is a surprise, but hopefully not too bad of an omen.
-Rush: Really? Really? Not a single technical nomination? Did
that film edit itself?
We proceed with the nominations:
The Hunt - Denmark
The Missing Picture - Cambodia
Omar - Palestine
We proceed with the nominations:
Best Picture:
Best Director:
Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Best Actor
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Actress
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Best Supporting Actor
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Supporting Actress
June Squibb, Nebraska
Best Original Screenplay
American Hustle -
David O. Russell, Eric Singer
Nebraska – Bob Nelson
Best Adapted Screenplay
Before Midnight –
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
Best Documentary Feature:
The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
Dirty Wars
The Square
Best Animated Feature:
The Wind Rises
Best Foreign Language Film:
The Broken Circle Breakdown - Belgium
The Great Beauty - Italy The Hunt - Denmark
The Missing Picture - Cambodia
Omar - Palestine