The 86th Academy Awards are quickly approaching with many tough choices to make. There is a three-way tie for the front-running position in the Best Picture race and many new faces in the acting categories. Some films, like Gravity and American Hustle, received an astonishing ten nominations in different categories. With many excellent accomplishments in the movie world this past year, it’s bound to be an exciting ceremony. In order to keep any reader from going insane, I’ve kept my predictions down to Best Picture, Best Director, and the acting categories only.
BEST PICTURE
The nominees for Best Picture include Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska, Philomena, Captain Phillips, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Her.
I predict that 12 Years a Slave will win Best Picture with its heart-breaking performances, and portrayal of cruelty to slaves. It has been described as “the most important movie of 2013” and is critically acclaimed by critic after critic. It’s clearly not a happy movie but it shows cruelty with a bare face. I think Gravity also has a good chance of winning Best Picture because, trust me, you’ve never seen anything like it before. However, 12 Years a Slave is the same way because there has never been such an honest and uncomfortable slavery movie like it before. American Hustle had some stellar acting performances but the story was a bit lacking. Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska, and Philomena may not have received enough popularity to make it to the top. Her is probably too new, The Wolf of Wall Street may be too vulgar, and Captain Phillips is just old enough to hardly be on the radar.
BEST DIRECTOR
The nominees include Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity, Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave, David O. Russell for American Hustle, Alexander Payne for Nebraska, and Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall Street.
I predict that Alfonso Cuaron will win the Oscar for this category due to the fact that Gravity is visually one of the most impressive movies I’ve seen. Sandra Bullock had a beautiful performance, the movie would go from practical silence to deafening chaos in the blink of an eye, it’s the most scientifically accurate space movie in recent years, and this film required the creation of new technology to accomplish. And there has been word that Cuaron could receive the statue for directing instead of his film winning Best Picture.
I think Steve McQueen is in second for this award with his brutally honest depiction of slavery in 12 Years a Slave. David O. Russell also has a good chance since this is now his third directing nomination in the past five years and maybe this is his time to shine. Alexander Payne has won two Oscars for writing and this could be his chance to win his third Oscar. As for Martin Scorsese, he has been nominated time after time since 1981, and won the Best Director Oscar in 2006 for The Departed. My guess is that the Academy voters will let another director have their time in the spotlight.
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
The nominees include Christian Bale in American Hustle, Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club, Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave, Bruce Dern for Nebraska, and Leonardo DiCaprio for The Wolf of Wall Street.
This is a really tough category; I don’t really have a clear prediction. Christian Bale won Best Supporting Actor for 2010’s The Fighter. I personally don’t feel like Bale’s performance in American Hustle was necessarily Oscar-worthy. The things he did to create his character were Oscar-worthy (gaining 30 pounds to have a gargantuan gut, changing his British accent to a north-eastern American accent, wearing a ridiculous hair piece each day) but I don’t think the character itself was his best work. Maybe I’m wrong, but I’ve seen Bale do a lot better and I’d rather see another actor win this year.
Bale wasn’t the only one to drastically change his body for a role this year; Matthew McConaughey lost over thirty pounds from his already slender frame to portray an average Texan man that contracts AIDs in the 1980s in Dallas Buyers Club. This is also McConaughey’s first time at the Oscars. Until recent years, he has never been seen as much more than a leading man in romantic comedies, but he has been proving us wrong again and again.
This is also Chiwetel Ejiofor’s first time at the Oscars. He portrayed real-life slave Solomon Northrup, a free man that was tricked into slavery and spent twelve years doing forced labor under cruel slave owners. Ejiofor’s portrayal was heart-breaking and full of emotional turmoil and I believe he really deserves to win this year.
Bruce Dern hasn’t been nominated for acting since 1978’s Coming Home, so who knows if his semi-senile performance in Nebraska will be enough for him to finally win an Oscar.
And finally we come to poor Leonardo DiCaprio. This is his fourth acting nomination since his career began and this undeniably talented man has never won an Oscar for some reason. I personally think he should’ve won back in 1993 for his very believable portrayal of a mentally handicapped teenager, but perhaps it was too soon and for the better that he didn’t win an Oscar at that age. Leo could finally win an Oscar this year just so all the Internet memes will stop.
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
The nominees include Sandra Bullock in Gravity, Amy Adams in American Hustle, Judi Dench in Philomena, Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine, and Meryl Streep in August: Osage County.
I predict that either Sandra Bullock or Amy Adams will win in this category. Sandra played a quiet, wounded, reluctantly brave biomedical engineer that goes into space to apply her equipment to a spacecraft. She carries the majority of the movie by herself and she does a beautiful job of it. Amy Adams on the other hand, played a vindictive, manipulative, clever, and seductive con artist in American Hustle.
Cate Blanchett has already won an Oscar for her supporting role in The Aviator and she has received a lot of attention for her role in Blue Jasmine this year when she plays a wealthy woman that loses it all and has to move in with her middle-class sister. She has a good shot but I think the dominating Amy Adams or the one-woman-show Sandra Bullock pulled off in Gravity may prevent her from getting a statue.
Judi Dench won for Best Supporting Actress for Shakespeare in Love in 1999, and she has been nominated plenty of other times, but I think the lack of attention towards her and Philomena in general may prevent an Oscar win for this year.
And finally we have Meryl Streep who has set yet another record for nominations, this woman has racked up eighteen nominations over the years and she’ll have plenty more I’m sure. She just won two years ago for playing Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady so I’d be a lot happier if it went to a newer actor.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
The nominees include Jonah Hill for The Wolf of Wall Street, Bradley Cooper for American Hustle, Michael Fassbender for 12 Years a Slave, Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club, and Barkhad Abdi for Captain Phillips.
This is another tough category. I predict that Jared Leto will win for Dallas Buyers Club since the already thin man lost a bunch of weight, shaved off his eyebrows, and dressed in drag to portray and transgender man that has contracted AIDs. Leto’s middle name apparently is Dedicated. Leto sure came back with one heck of a role after a long absence from film to go on tour with his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars.
Next up we have Jonah Hill. I think it would be cool to see a normally comedic, lesser known actor win. However, his sidekick role to DiCaprio may not be enough to overpower Leto’s role that stole the show.
This is Bradley Cooper’s second Oscar nomination; he was nominated last year for playing Pat Solitano in Silver Linings Playbook. I think he deserved to win last year, but he was going up against Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, and let’s face it, nobody had a chance (Day-Lewis definitely blew everyone else’s performance out of the water). In American Hustle, Cooper plays a borderline psychotic FBI agent that will bend the rules if it’ll help his case. I thought he was thoroughly entertaining and hilarious. I’d love to see him win, but I mean, Jared Leto shaved off his eyebrows!
Yay! Michael Fassbender, the incredibly underrated, incredibly talented actor has finally received his first Oscar nomination. I’d say he’s in second to win in this category. This year he played the searing, cruel, drunken, bipolar slave owner in 12 Years a Slave. He ran shivers up your spine and he was as cruel as they come, but he still seemed like a human. I also would love to see Fassy win but he’s talented enough that this will definitely not be his last trip to the Oscars.
And then there’s Barkhad Abdi, a first-time actor in his late twenties that surprised everyone this year with his role as a desperate Somali pirate taking over a ship. This guy seems pretty cool and very humble. When asked about his nomination he usually says something about how it all happened so quickly and that he’d love to see where else he could go in Hollywood. I think it’d be really awesome to see this guy win.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
The nominees include Julia Roberts for August: Osage County, June Squibb for Nebraska, Sally Hawkins for Blue Jasmine, Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle, and Lupita N’yongo for 12 Years a Slave.
I predict that Lupita N’Yongo will win for Best Supporting Actress. Never heard of her? Join the Club. This lovely young lady has never starred in another major motion picture before 12 Years a Slave. And her role as Patsey, the prize slave of her crazed owner, Edwin Epps (Fassbender), was truly heartbreaking in every sense. You just want to hold her and give her a million bars of soap.
Julia Roberts: she’s gorgeous, talented, and a four-time nominee. She won Best Actress back in 2000 for Erin Brokovich and she did a different role this year as the aggravated, provoked, exasperated daughter of Meryl Streep in August: Osage County. She’s perfectly capable of taking the gold, but hopefully the shining Lupita will overcome the odds.
Sally Hawkins. I really don’t know much about her because I’ve never seen any of her movies. This is her first Oscar nomination. She played a modest, blue-collar, kind-hearted sister of a wealthy (and judgemental) socialite. However, I don’t feel there is a ton of support for her to win.
Then we have the absolutely adorable June Squibb (even her name is adorable!). The 84-year-old actress plays the foul-mouthed wife of Bruce Dern in Nebraska. This is her first nomination, but who knows if she’ll be able to overcome the fresh-faced Lupita.
And finally, there’s Jennifer Lawrence. Who doesn’t love this girl? She’s smart, funny, beautiful down-to-earth, and one heck of an actress. This is her third Oscar nomination and she already won last year for her role as Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook. She’s not even 25. Now, I love Jennifer and I think she’s a wonderful actress, but I don’t think he role as the loud-mouthed, self-centered housewife in American Hustle should be her second Oscar win. She’s done better (check out Catching Fire) and she will do better. This role was very good, but not her best.