I have no inside information on who will win the Oscars, but here are my picks for the winners:
BEST ACTOR: Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club
BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett for Blue Jasmine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave
BEST DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity
BEST MOVIE: 12 Years a Slave
If The Academy doesn’t want to deal with Woody Allen’s latest controversy, Cate Blanchett could lose and Amy Admas could win for American Hustle. Who do you think will win?
I haven’t seen anything so I’m stumped.
Bob, 2013 was very good year for Hollywood movies. You would really like CAPTAIN PHILLIPS with those Somali pirates.
Although I haven’t seen many of the nominated movies, I agree with all your choices. It’s mind-blowing to me that Matthew McConaughy (who I always used to accuse of acting with his dimples and his blindingly-white smile) is the odds-on favorite to take home the Best Actor. Perhaps there’s hope for Taylor Lautner yet!
Deb, the physical transformation Matthew McConaughy achieved in DALLAS BUYER’S CLUB is astonishing. And he’s transformed himself from a Romantic Comedy guy into a serious actor.
MM had already started his transformation with MAGIC MIKE and MUD. I can’t quibble with any of your picks.
Patti, Matthew McConaughy completely changed the trajectory of his career in the past three years. Amazing!
We rented MUD last week and are watching him in TRUE DETECTIVE as well. The change from his crappy movies with the likes of Kate Hudson or Katherine Heigl has been startling. I’m somewhat at a loss because we haven’t seen 12 YEARS A SLAVE but he would definitely get our votes. I think Jennifer Lawrence stole every scene she was in in AMERICAN HUSTLE – not easy to do opposite Christian Bale! – and she definitely has a chance at the SUpporting Actress upset. She was great.
Jeff, I loved Jennifer Lawrence’s performance in AMERICAN HUSTLE. I would have no problem with Jennifer winning.
OK, I checked. No Katherine Heigl but there were TWO movies with Kate Hudson and one each with J-Lo and Sarah Jessica Parker.
I hope 12 Years doesn’t get best picture, I don’t want the industry to think the portrayal of terribly grim, awful, sickening unpleasantness (from what I have read), however historically realistic, is what the movie going public wants. But the forces that decide these things have so much momentum that I can’t imagine the film not winning.
As for the other categories, since I have seen none of the films (we just finally got to watching Lincoln last week, (Captain Phillips is up next on the queue), I wouldn’t know who did the best jobs of acting. Isn’t a lot of the choices politics anyway? We watched the Golden Globes, so we’ll probably skip – no, wait, Barbara will watch, I will not.
Rick, you will enjoy CAPTAIN PHILLIPS. I hope 12 YEARS A SLAVE wins because it presents an unflinching view of slavery. Of course, with its brutality, 12 YEARS A SLAVE isn’t for everyone. Diane couldn’t watch it.
There was plenty of good acting in the movies we saw – McConnaughey & Leto, the four nominees from AMERICAN HUSTLE, Judi Dench, Bruce Dern and June Squibb (who was a hoot) in NEBRASKA, Cate Blanchett. I wasn’t that impressed with Sally Hawkins or Barkhad Abdi (the Somali pirate in CAPTAIN PHILLIPS) but only in comparison with their competition. Or Sandra Bullock.
Jeff, GRAVITY might surprise a lot of people (like me) and win BEST PICTURE. It was a very good year for movies.
I’m still betting on the Dallas Cowboys.
Dan, according the ESPN Mock Draft, the Cowboys are going to draft a defensive lineman in the First Round.
I’m sure there are plenty of good movies out there, but I hate to go to a theater. I quit Netflix, and I have hundreds of unwatched DVD’s in the house. Add in the MTV effects too many directors insist on using in their movies and you can see why they hold very little interest for me anymore. And get the hell off my lawn.
Bob, I have a couple hundred Blu-rays and DVDs I need to watch, too. My lawn is buried under a foot of snow.
Our lawn gets the foot of snow maybe overnight. I haven’t ever much respected the Oscars as much of a reliable measure of anything but logrolling in H’wood, and don’t see why I should change that opinion yet. They do occasionally slip up and give an excellent film or an extraordinary performance an Oscar (and the technical awards are better thus, but largely kept out of sight in comparison…because what’s important is seeing actors in uncomfortable clothes…though the occasional moment such as Geena Davis’s essential nudity at the Emmies can be amusing, not least for the discomfort of the audience).
Todd, the Oscars (like most awards) are just marketing. Most “Winners” get about $50 million boost in box office and DVD sales.
And certainly not least for seeing Davis essentially nude.
I’d say Patti is unfairly overlooking KILLER JOE as a film performance in which Matthew McConaughey was already moving away from Mr. Easy Stoner Prettyboy…though there were hints of this as early as CONTACT, from what I’ve seen (he give a subtler performance in that film that I think he’s usually given credit for).
Todd, I liked Matthew McConaughey in THE LINCOLN LAWYER and wished it had done better so there might be some sequels.
I don’t suppose you stayed up to watch the whole show, which was smart of you. BORING!!! Without reading any other commentary I thought Ellen was pretty much totally unfunny, the pizza stuff was lame, and her Liza joke (granted, the latter looks bad) was just nasty.
Also, there was not One Single Award that was the slightest surprise. Not one. And why couldn’t they cut the red csrpet show (aka Lara Spencer Does ABC promos) from 90 minutes to an hour and get the night over half an hour earlier. I must admit there were not hair or dress disasters a la Bjork or Gwynnie in past years. Most of the women looked nice.
But why was Kin Novak (yikes!) there? And the animated and superhero montages were worthless, pretty much.
Jeff, I was appalled at Kim Novak and Sidney Poitier. You’re right about no surprises. The Academy doesn’t want to give up their 3+ hours of Prime Time. The Awards Ceremony won’t get shorter, just more boring. Ellen was totally lame.
Wow! 100%, George!
I don’t usually watch award shows but I watched last night for Ellen and Pink. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Beth, I loved Pink but I could have done without Ellen.
Got them all, George. Way to go. Ellen was – I only saw bits of it between reading in another room – okay, Pink’s voice is strong but not pretty. There’s no need for the ill and infirm to be on these things. Matthew McConaughey’s acceptance was horrid. I’m going to watch Mr. Hulot.
Nicely picked!
The only film of the bunch I saw was Gravity and I am happy it won all the awards it did. Due to work and weather I wasn’t able to pick up a copy last week but I’ll be snagging it tomorrow when I hit the bookstore to pick up new releases.
Thanks, Carl! 2013 was a great year for movies. I can recommend all the nominees.
I don’t agree on McConaughey’s speech. I thought he did a pretty good job. I like any speech where they don’t just read a list of agents, etc. Speak from the heart and keep it as short as possible.
I was thinking of what bothered me about Ellen’s pizza stunt. It’s supposed to be the Academy Awsrds, not Ellen’s talk show or Jimmy Kimmel. In addition, it would have cut at least another fifteen minutes from the interminable show.
And stay off my lawn!
Jeff, I really liked Cate Blanchett’s speech. She made a strong case for movies that center around women.