My Opinions on This Year's Academy Awards Nominations

As a kid, I loved the Academy Awards. I would stay up far too late on a school night to watch them. I would strain my eyes to the end to see who won "Best Picture". I almost always agreed with them. I was very easily swayed as a child. If you told me "Shakespeare in Love" was the best movie of the year, I would agree with you. My 19-year old self was even convinced of the greatness of "Crash", a movie I haven't even thought about after seeing it for my first and only time. 

It wasn't until I started learning more about the voting process that I started to lose respect for the Academy Awards. When I read that Ernest Borgnine, a voting member of the Academy, refused to watch 2002's "Brokeback Mountain" simply because he disagreed with the presentation of homosexuality, I lost a lot of hope that the Academy Awards were an accurate summation of the opinion of film. Borgnine's refusal to accurately assess a film can't be an isolated incident. How many nominated films went unwatched simply because of the personal beliefs of a voter. Did an Academy member simply not watch "Saving Private Ryan" or "Django Unchained" because they were too violent for their taste? Did last year's "Zero Dark Thirty" not get watched because of the political beliefs of a member?  People are already admitting they refuse to watch this year's "12 Years a Slave" because it makes them uncomfortable. If a member didn't "have" to watch every movie, how many nominated films have gone unwatched simply because of lack of interest or time?

The Academy's refusal to consider most foreign films and almost all animated films as "Best Picture" options is also ridiculous. The fact that "WALL-E" was not nominated in the 2008's Best Picture contest, while "Frost/Nixon" was is absolutely insane. 2006's "Pan's Labyrinth" is an absolutely spell-binding and amazing film. If it were in English and not Spanish, there is little to no way it would have been ignored. When was the last time you thought of "Letters from Iwo Jima" or "Babel", two films that were nominated for Best Picture while "Pan's Labyrinth" was simply only nominated for Best Foreign Language film. The award is not "Best Live-Action Picture". It is not "Best English Language Picture". It is "Best Picture". It should be considered this. If it is a movie, it has the potential to be nominated. Can you honestly say a Pixar film like "WALL-E" or "Up" is less of a film than a Woody Allen film where it seems as if the camera was just placed in the middle of a group of actors? Does the fact that a film is comprised of polygons instead of actors make it less of a movie?

In 2009, in an attempt to make the race more interesting, the Academy increased the amount of Best Pictures nominations from five to ten. It had been capped at five since 1943. This change was an odd choice. Would the Academy be able to watch and assess twice as many movies? Why stop at ten? Why not have 20? 

I am going to write this article as if I were voting for the nominations. I don't care about predictions. There are pages and pages of predictions out there. If you are interested in the Vegas odds or rumors, you can find them. Here I will give you my opinion of the "Best" choice in almost every category. "Best" is not the same as "Favorite". My "favorite" movie is "Almost Famous". I will never in a moment say that is the "Best Movie" I have ever seen. "Almost Famous" is not a better film than hundreds of other films. I love it though. I would watch it every day if there were more hours in a day. A film's re-watchablity is not an accurate summation of its worth. When was the last day you sat down and say "I really want to watch "Schlindler's List" again?" That does not diminish how great it is. My favorite film of 2013 was "The Wolf of Wall Street". It is not the "Best Picture" of 2013 though. It is the most entertaining film I saw but that does not mean it is a "better" film than "12 Years a Slave". My top 10 list of 2013 was based on "favorites", not "greatness".

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

The clear winner here for me is "12 Years a Slave". While every movie on this list was good, "12 Years a Slave" is the "Best Picture". It is a jaw-dropping display of film-making. Every shot is gorgeous. Almost every performance is fantastic. Hans Zimmer's score is wonderful. It might not be as re-watchable as the other nine nominations, but it is the "Best" film. While I agree that "Gravity" is a technological marvel, I found it to be a bit disappointing. Those who loved it will no doubt be able to explain how it is "Best Picture". I found it to be beautiful but repetitive and thematically flawed. "Philomena" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" were two of my favorite films of the year but neither is a "better" picture than "12 Years A Slave".

Actor in a Leading Role
Bruce Dern - "Nebraska"
Chiwetel Ejiofor - "12 Years A Slave"
Matthew McConaughey - "Dallas Buyers Club"
Christian Bale - "American Hustle"
Leonardo DiCaprio - "The Wolf of Wall Street"

This might be the hardest category to vote for. Both Ejiofor and McConaughey delivered great performances although I honestly don't know if either did a truly amazing job. For the Golden Globes I voted for Ejiofor in a quick gut-reaction. A vote for McConaughey is also respectable though. I fear though that vote is not necessarily just for his performance in "Dallas Buyers Club". It might be for "Dallas Buyers Club" and his wonderful, yet all too brief part in "The Wolf of Wall Street". Maybe it is for his master-class of acting he is exhibiting in HBO's "True Detective". A vote should be for the film nominated and that film only. It should not be for the "year" or a career. After re-watching both "12 Years a Slave" and "Dallas Buyers Club", I am voting for McConaughey. The physical transformation McConaughey delivered here is incredibly impressive. It showed great respect for the role. Not for one moment do we see McConaughey in his film. His drastic transformation in addition to a near chameleon-esque performance narrowly beats out Ejiofor.

Actor in a Supporting Role
Barkhad Abdi - "Captain Phillips"
Michael Fassbender - "12 Years A Slave"
Jared Leto - "Dallas Buyers Club"
Bradley Cooper - "American Hustle"
Jonah Hill - "The Wolf of Wall Street"

This is between Fassbender and Leto. Leto deserves the award. He completely became his character and truly "supported" the film. Fassbender was great but Leto helped his film far more.

Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett - "Blue Jasmine"
Sandra Bullock - "Gravity"
Judi Dench - "Philomena"
Meryl Streep - "August: Osage County"
Amy Adams - "American Hustle"

Amy Adams deserves this award. In "American Hustle" her character is an American who is trying to act as if she were British. In the film, her character is not a good actress. This is a performance of a great actress acting as if she were a poor actress. In several instances, she is expected to switch between character types in the same scene. "American Hustle" is an "actor's film" and Adams is easily the best thing in it. While I loved Dench in "Philomena", Adams delivered the better performance.

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"

Nyong'o is easily the best of these five. A vote for any of the other four is ridiculous.

Animated Feature Film
"The Croods"
"Despicable Me 2"
"Frozen"
"The Wind Rises"
"Ernest & Celestine"

While I loved "Ernest and Celestine", "Frozen" narrowly beats it.

Cinematography
"The Grandmaster"
"Gravity"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Nebraska"
"Prisoners"

I'm not sure where the cinematography begins and the visual effects end in "Gravity". It is a beautiful movie but I don't know if if I would be awarding the visual effects or the cinematographer with a vote. Although it has no chance of winning, I'm going with "Prisoners". While it was not a great film, it looked amazing. One scene near the end involving a dangerous drive at night through hard rain was jaw-dropping in how gorgeous it was.

Costume Design
"American Hustle"
"The Grandmaster"
"The Great Gatsby"
"The Invisible Woman"
"12 Years a Slave"

It is between "12 Years a Slave" and "The Great Gatsby". In a gut-reaction, I'm going with "The Great Gatsby".

Directing
Alfonso Cuaron - "Gravity"
Steve McQueen - "12 Years A Slave"
Alexander Payne - "Nebraska"
David O. Russell - "American Hustle"
Martin Scorsese - "The Wolf of Wall Street"

While I may not have loved "Gravity" as much as most people, I can tell you the direction is great. Still, I believe McQueen did a better overall job. There is some staging and framing that is just wonderful. A scene involving a near-hanging is one of the best directed scenes of any film this year.

Documentary (Feature)
"The Act of Killing"
"20 Feet from Stardom"
"Cutie and the Boxer"
"Dirty Wars"
"The Square"

"The Act of Killing" is the easy choice for me here. It is a truly amazing piece of art. A vote for "20 Feet from Stardom" is simply voting for "favorite" or "easiest to watch". It was entertaining and interesting but that is all. "The Act of Killing" is spell-binding. It is everything that the documentary genre can be. I have not seen "Cutie and the Boxer" or "The Square" but I find it hard to believe that they are better than "The Act of Killing".

Documentary (Short Subject)
"CaveDigger"
"Facing Fear"
"Karama Has No Walls"
"The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life"
"Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall"

I did not watch any of these films. Sorry.

Film Editing
"American Hustle"
"Captain Phillips"
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Gravity"
"12 Years a Slave"

"Gravity" was a technological marvel. It was a taut and suspenseful experience. The editing made this film the way it is. "12 Years a Slave" was great but I can't honestly say the editing made the film what it was. In fact, it could probably have used a few scenes cut. No minute of "Gravity" is wasted.

Foreign Language Film
"The Broken Circle Breakdown" - Belgium
"The Great Beauty" - Italy
"The Hunt" - Denmark
"The Missing Picture" - Cambodia
"Omar" - Palestine

"The Hunt" was a deeply disturbing film. It was great though. It is the only film of the five that I saw unfortunately. I honestly don't feel I can vote for this category without having seen all of the five.

Makeup and Hairstyling
"Dallas Buyers Club"
"Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa"
"The Lone Ranger"

I am not against an award going to "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa". The makeup was great. Still "Dallas Buyers Club" did quite a lot at helping McConaughey and Leto fully become their characters.

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

"Gravity" and "Her" were the only two scores I can truly remember shining in their films. Alexandre Desplat in "All is Lost" and Hans Zimmer in "12 Years a Slave" were both robbed of nominations. The music in "Her" was wonderful and helped that film immensely.

Music (Original Song)
"Let it Go" - "Frozen" - Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
"Ordinary Love" - "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom" - U2, lyrics by Paul Hewson, aka Bono
"Happy" - "Despicable Me 2" - Pharrell Williams
"The Moon Song" - "Her" - music by Karen O, lyrics by Karen O and Spike Jonze
Nomination recinded: The song "Alone Yet Not Alone" from "Alone Yet Not Alone" was originally nominated for later removed from the list it was discovered that musician Bruce Broughton emailed members of the group's music branch to make them aware of the submission during the nominations voting period, a move Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs, Academy President said "creates the appearance of an unfair advantage."

As much as I loved "Let it Go", it is not better than "The Moon Song". "The Moon Song" perfectly touches on the overall theme of "Her". It helps that film in a way that "Let it Go" doesn't necessarily do. 

Production design
"American Hustle"
"Gravity"
"The Great Gatsby"
"Her"
"12 Years a Slave"

Them parties, tho.

Short Film (Animated)
"Feral"
"Get a Horse!"
"Mr. Hublot"
"Possessions"
"Room on the Broom"

I only saw "Get a Horse", therefore I can't vote for this category.

Short Film (Live Action)
"Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)"
"Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)"
"Helium"
"Pitaako Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)"
"The Voorman Problem"

I saw none of these. I'm sorry.

Sound Editing:
"All Is Lost"
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Lone Survivor"

Sound made "Gravity" the film it is. It gets my vote.

Sound Mixing:
"Captain Phillips"
"Gravity"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Inside Llewyn Davis"
"Lone Survivor"

Ditto.

Visual Effects
"Gravity"
"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug"
"Iron Man 3"
"The Lone Ranger"
"Star Trek Into Darkness"

The same can be said for the visual effects. Without visual effects, "Gravity" is very little, in my opinion.

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"Before Midnight" - Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke
"Captain Phillips" - Billy Ray
"Philomena" - Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
"12 Years A Slave" - John Ridley
"The Wolf of Wall Street" - Terence Winter

I'm voting for this category with the film script that I would most likely sit and read. "Before Midnight" has wonderful moments of dialogue and tells believable characters. It might be thought that the movie was improvised but the fact that every line was actually written makes it clearly the winner.

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

"Her" has some of the best dialogue I've heard in a movie in years. It is easily the most original and thoughtful film of this group. It is my vote.