Oscar 2014 - Nominations

So .. here we go again :) Since last year I managed to recover a bit on the prediction matching, I'm not giving up this unhealthy habit of dedicating almost two blog months for Oscars (although, looking at the 2014 nominations, I doubt I can repeat the accuracy rate). In any case, the motivation is, as usual, less awards related and more to stop a bit on a movies selection which on average is above average :) + to dissect some details that are typically lost behind the "big picture" .. well, in my own "expertise" limits = expect the usual risks for nonsense ramblings (especially if the entries are written late enough). I won't re-re-restart the blah-blah on "why for Oscars, and not for Globes or smth else ?". In brief, the reason for that relates to the voting system, which remains pretty much the most balanced among all (maybe excepting the BAFTAs). So, let's cut it short, and check out the nominations for this year:

BEST PICTURE

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

LEADING ACTOR

- Christian Bale in “American Hustle”
- Bruce Dern in “Nebraska”
- Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street”
- Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”
- Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club”

SUPPORTING ACTOR

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

LEADING ACTRESS

- Amy Adams in “American Hustle”
- Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine”
- Sandra Bullock in “Gravity”
- Judi Dench in “Philomena”
- Meryl Streep in “August: Osage County”

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

- Sally Hawkins in “Blue Jasmine”
- Jennifer Lawrence in “American Hustle”
- Lupita Nyong'o in “12 Years a Slave”
- Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County”
- June Squibb in “Nebraska”

ANIMATED FEATURE

- “The Croods”
- “Despicable Me 2”
- “Ernest & Celestine”
- “Frozen”
- “The Wind Rises”

DIRECTING

- David O'Russell for “American Hustle”
- Alfonso Cuarón for “Gravity”
- Alexander Payne for “Nebraska”
- Steve McQueen for “12 Years a Slave”
- Martin Scorsese for “The Wolf of Wall Street”

CINEMATOGRAPHY

- Philippe Le Sourd for “The Grandmaster”
- Emmanuel Lubezki for “Gravity”
- Bruno Delbonnel for “Inside Llewyn Davis”
- Phedon Papamichael for “Nebraska”
- Roger Deakins for “Prisoners”

ORIGINAL SCORE

- John Williams for “The Book Thief”
- Steven Price for “Gravity”
- William Butler & Owen Pallett for “Her”
- Alexandre Desplat for “Philomena”
- Thomas Newman for “Saving Mr. Banks”

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

SOUND MIXING

- “Captain Phillips”
- “Gravity”
- “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
- “Inside Llewyn Davis”
- “Lone Survivor”

SOUND EDITING

- “All Is Lost”
- “Captain Phillips”
- “Gravity”
- “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
- “Lone Survivor”

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

- “American Hustle”
- “Blue Jasmine”
- “Dallas Buyers Club”
- “Her”
- “Nebraska”

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

- “Before Midnight”
- “Captain Phillips”
- “Philomena”
- “12 Years a Slave”
- “The Wolf of Wall Street”

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

- “The Broken Circle Breakdown” - Belgium
- “The Great Beauty” - Italy
- “The Hunt” - Denmark
- “The Missing Picture” - Cambodia
- “Omar” - Palestine

PRODUCTION DESIGN & SET DECORATION

- “American Hustle”
- “Gravity”
- “The Great Gatsby”
- “Her”
- “12 Years a Slave”

VISUAL EFFECTS

- “Gravity”
- “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
- “Iron Man 3”
- “The Lone Ranger”
- “Star Trek Into Darkness”

COSTUME DESIGN

- “American Hustle”
- “The Grandmaster”
- “The Great Gatsby”
- “The Invisible Woman”
- “12 Years a Slave”

MAKEUP

- “Dallas Buyers Club”
- “Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa”
- “The Lone Ranger”

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”

LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

- “Aquel No Era Yo”
- “Avant Que De Tout Perdre”
- “Helium”
- “Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa?”
- “The Voorman Problem”

ANIMATED SHORT FILM

- “Feral”
- “Get a Horse!”
- “Mr. Hublot”
- “Possessions”
- “Room on the Broom”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

- “The Act of Killing”
- “Cutie and the Boxer”
- “Dirty Wars”
- “The Square”
- “20 Feet from Stardom”

DOCUMENTARY SHORT

- “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”

As usual, we'll start next week to "browse" the categories, as many as I'll have time for. Probably breaking the ice with VFX, as in the previous years ...