We’re pretty proud of our possible nominees prediction for the 2014 Academy Awards, we’ve nailed them! Now that the 2014 Oscar nominees were announced last week, we’ve had time to see all the movies and we’re going to try to take another stab at predicting who’s going to win the coveted statue at the 86th Academy Awards ceremony, held on Sunday, March 2nd. We’ve had a poll in our office here at 10Awesome.com and we’re going to share our predictions with you.
10. Best Foreign Feature
‘The Hunt’ (Denmark)
‘The Broken Circle Breakdown’ (Belgium)
‘The Great Beauty’ (Italy)
‘Omar’ (Palestinian territories)
‘The Missing Picture’ (Cambodia)
Our favorite, by far, is ‘The Great Beauty’ (La Grande Bellezza) and we think this one’s going to take away the Oscar for Best Foreign Feature. It’s such an amazing picture that truly touches you and makes you contemplate your past and future – something that a great movie is supposed to do. We urge you to see it, because we know that foreign films with subtitles aren’t high up on people’s watchlists.
9. Best Animated Feature
‘The Wind Rises’
‘Frozen’
‘Despicable Me 2’
‘Ernest & Celestine’
‘The Croods’
Although chances are that ‘Frozen’ is going to win, we’re really rooting for ‘The Croods’. That movie was hilarious! We haven’t seen anything so witty and cute since ‘Finding Nemo’. The whole idea of a family of cavemen being forced to get out of their cave and face the ever changing world is new and great potential and they really nailed it! Good luck, guys!
8. Best Adapted Screenplay
‘12 Years a Slave’ — John Ridley
‘Before Midnight’ — Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater
‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ — Terence Winter
‘Captain Phillips’ — Billy Ray
‘Philomena’ — Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
While ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ is a fierce movie with an even fiercer screenplay, it simply can’t win over ‘12 Years a Slave’. I mean look at it this way: the story of a cunning stock broker (Jordan Belfort) who made millions of dollars by basically stealing it from people and who, when given the change, ratted on all of his associates to get fewer days in prison, versus the story of a free man (Solomon Northup) who was tricked and sold into slavery, a man who went through hell for 12 years and then returned home to his family. No brainer, right?!
7. Best Original Screenplay
‘American Hustle’ — David O. Russell and Eric Warren Singer
‘Blue Jasmine’ — Woody Allen
‘Her’ — Spike Jonze
‘Nebraska’ — Bob Nelson
‘Dallas Buyers Club’ — Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack
The 2014 Oscar nominees include Woody Allen! Hurray for that! The Academy doesn’t really love Woody Allen, but they might just make an exception this time. In our office poll there was a tie between ‘Blue Jasmine’ and ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ but to be honest I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Woody Allen is going to take home the Oscar. Or at least Diane Keaton is going to do that for him.
6. Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Lawrence — ‘American Hustle’
Lupita Nyong’o — ‘12 Years a Slave’
June Squibb — ‘Nebraska’
Julia Roberts — ‘August: Osage County’
Sally Hawkins — ‘Blue Jasmine’
Lupita Nyong’o has been sweeping all the awards this award season and we think the Academy will give her an Oscar for sure. Her only real contender is Julia Roberts. Go Lupita! That woman was simply amazing in ’12 Years a Slave’ and some scenes will get completely stuck in your head for years to come, like that scene when she was dancing indoors and she was hit in the head with a heavy object. That seemed so real that it sent chills down our backs.
5. Best Supporting Actor
Barkhad Abdi — ‘Captain Phillips’
Bradley Cooper — ‘American Hustle’
Jonah Hill — ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’
Jared Leto — ‘Dallas Buyers Club’
Michael Fassbender — ‘12 Years a Slave’
We believe that it is Jared Leto’s time to shine, even though the ladies in our office are swooning over Michael Fassbender. The man was good (and truth be told he should have been nominated last year for ‘Shame’), but Jared Leto was much better in portraying a transsexual woman dying of AIDS. It’s not the first time he lost weight for a role and it won’t be the last.
4. Best Director
Steve McQueen — ‘12 Years a Slave’
David O. Russell — ‘American Hustle’
Alfonso Cuaron — ‘Gravity’
Alexander Payne — ‘Nebraska’
Martin Scorsese — ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’
While all the movies in this category were masterfully directed, there is one that stands out, that we think will win: ‘American Hustle’. David O. Russell really did a great job at directing this movie and this fact should be acknowledged. We’re sorry, but we don’t think Martin Scorsese stands a chance of winning this, he’ll be once again snubbed!
3. Best Actress
Amy Adams — ‘American Hustle’
Cate Blanchett — ‘Blue Jasmine’
Judi Dench — ‘Philomena’
Sandra Bullock — ‘Gravity’
Meryl Streep — ‘August: Osage County’
God, if Meryl wins again, we won’t hear the end of it! That’s why we think Cate Blanchett has this Oscar in the bag. She was spectacular as the obnoxious socialite in ‘Blue Jasmine’ and there is no one who deserves it better than her. Sorry, Sandy, but your space odyssey wasn’t too impressive. Especially when you planted your feet on the ground – that scene was downright cringe-worthy.
2. Best Actor
Bruce Dern — ‘Nebraska’
Chiwetel Ejiofor — ‘12 Years a Slave’
Matthew McConaughey — ‘Dallas Buyers Club’
Leonardo DiCaprio — ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’
Christian Bale — ‘American Hustle’
Matthew McConaghey for the win! He was brilliant in the movie ‘Dallas Buyers Club’, not for losing all that weight and getting so comfortable with his role, but for everything that he brought to the character. He simply was a great fit for the role, even Ron Woodruf’s sister agrees with this.
1. Best Movie
‘12 Years a Slave’
‘The Wolf of Wall Street’
‘Captain Phillips’
‘Her’
‘American Hustle’
‘Gravity’
‘Dallas Buyers Club’
‘Nebraska’
‘Philomena’
We had another tie: between ‘American Hustle’ and ‘Dallas Buyers Club’. To be honest we simply cannot decide. Who do you think deserves it more and who do you think will get it? We loved how entertaining ‘American Hustle’ was but we adored how touching ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ was.
What do you think of these 2014 Oscar nominees? Do you have any favorites? Any predictions you would like to share with us? If so, then drop us a line in the comment section below, we’re open for discussion!
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