The 2014 Oscar nominations were announced this morning and I have already made note of some of the “surprise” omissions in my post with the complete list of nominees, but it’s always better to open up a new thread to look at little closer and see what surprises the Academy had to offer.
Now I know the headline uses the word “snub”, but that’s just more out of familiarity since there really isn’t anything such as a snub as there are only so many slots to be filled, which is why when making predictions for the nominees if the films and performances you predicted would be nominated didn’t get in, they were probably replaced by those films you almost predicted would be nominated. That said, let’s go down the line shall we?
Best Picture
No big surprises here unless you look at the nominations as a whole, which would be to realize the Academy didn’t dig Saving Mr. Banks all that much as many had it predicted for a nomination (myself included), but it was eventually replaced by Philomena. I say “replaced” considering the other eight nominees were the same ones I had predicted as I felt the other two films that stood a chance were Inside Llewyn Davis and August: Osage County. Clearly, however, the Academy dug Llewyn only a little more than it did Banks if nomination totals are any indicator.
- American Hustle
- Captain Phillips
- Dallas Buyers Club
- Gravity
- Her
- Nebraska
- Philomena
- 12 Years a Slave
- The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actor
The biggest surprise here is no nomination for Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips), though I’m sure others will be just as surprised Robert Redford (All is Lost) also walked away empty handed, just as the film did.
Christian Bale‘s nomination, however, helped David O. Russell‘s film become his second in a row to land nominations in all four acting categories. That alone may be the biggest surprise of the morning.
- Christian Bale (American Hustle)
- Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
- Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
- Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
- Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress
It was probably the most interesting race on the board when you consider the “Who’s In, Who’s Out?” factor as I polled the readers and after more than 1,700 people participated the majority thought it would be Meryl Streep on the outside looking in, but nope, she added to her record nomination total yet again, bringing it to 18.
The one contender most thought was safe, scoring the third most votes in the poll, was Emma Thompson, but as already noted, the Academy wasn’t digging on Saving Mr. Banks. There are only five slots folks.
- Amy Adams (American Hustle)
- Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
- Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
- Judi Dench (Philomena)
- Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)
Best Supporting Actor
Probably the most surprising acting category as Bradley Cooper managed to score his second nomination in a row. Two names I predicted that didn’t make the cut were Daniel Bruhl (Rush) and the late James Gandolfini (Enough Said) and while I’m a little surprised Bruhl didn’t make the cut, I’m happy to see Jonah Hill find his way in among the nominees.
- Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
- Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
- Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
- Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)
- Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Supporting Actress
Eh, nothing too shocking here. I guess if you’re looking for a big “surprise” it would be Sally Hawkins scoring a nomination while Oprah Winfrey (Lee Daniels’ The Butler) looks on from the sidelines, but in my opinion that’s probably for the best as most anyone that assumed Winfrey was getting the nod assumed so because she’s Oprah, not because her performance was necessarily high caliber.
- Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
- Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
- Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)
- Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
- June Squibb (Nebraska)
Best Director
I am a little surprised to see Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips) miss the cut, but with Hanks also missing out on Best Actor while the film scored a Best Picture nomination, it just goes to assume both were just below that bubble line and barely beat out for a nomination.
It was a tough call predicting between Scorsese, Payne and Spike Jonze (Her), however. Yet, again, with Her getting a fair share of nominations along with both Wolf and Nebraska, it goes to show it was a tight race.
- David O. Russell (American Hustle)
- Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
- Alexander Payne (Nebraska)
- Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
- Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
The only nomination I didn’t predict here was I had Tracy Letts‘ August: Osage County screenplay getting a nod over Winter and Wolf. So, nothing too surprising here at all.
- Rchard Linklater, Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy (Before Midnight)
- Billy Ray (Captain Phillips)
- Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope (Philomena)
- John Ridley (12 Years a Slave)
- Terence Winter (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Writing (Original Screenplay)
I nailed my predictions on this one, but it still saddens me a little to see the Coens and Inside Llewyn Davis walking away with so few nominations.
- Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell (American Hustle)
- Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine)
- Craig Borten and Melisa Wallack (Dallas Buyers Club)
- Spike Jonze (Her)
- Bob Nelson (Nebraska)
Animated Feature Film
Pixar’s Monsters University misses the cut, replaced by the mammoth box office success of Despicable Me 2. Don’t count this as a surprise as much as it is a good thing.
- The Croods
- Despicable Me 2
- Ernest & Celestine
- Frozen
- The Wind Rises
Documentary (Feature)
One of the biggest surprises of the day was no nomination for Sarah Polley‘s Stories We Tell, which has been racking up precursor awards. It’s also interesting to see Blackfish left off the list. Personally the inclusion of Cutie and the Boxer is a little disappointing as that’s one doc that didn’t do much for me, but the other noms are well deserved and top notch pictures.
- The Act of Killing
- Cutie and the Boxer
- Dirty Wars
- The Square
- 20 Feet from Stardom
Foreign Language Film
Eh, I had Two Lives instead of The Missing Picture. Otherwise, this one was rather predictable.
- The Broken Circle Breakdown
- The Great Beauty
- The Hunt
- The Missing Picture
- Omar
Cinematography
Philippe Le Sourd scored an ASC nom and now an Oscar nom. Good on him. However, the fact Sean Bobbitt (12 Years a Slave) was once again left off the list is disappointing if you ask me. That guy kills it each time out and can’t get any Oscar love.
- Philippe Le Sourd (The Grandmaster)
- Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity)
- Bruno Delbonnel (Inside Llewyn Davis)
- Phedon Papamichael (Nebraska)
- Roger Deakins (Prisoners)
Film Editing
We all knew American Hustle, Gravity and 12 Years a Slave were getting in, that’s just how it goes with the films that are front runners to win Best Picture, it was a question of which other two would make the cut and I went with Rush and Wolf of Wall Street. Clearly I was wrong.
- American Hustle
- Captain Phillips
- Dallas Buyers Club
- Gravity
- 12 Years a Slave
Music (Original Score)
Seeing John Williams nominated for The Book Thief and Thomas Newman for his uninspired work on Saving Mr. Banks nominated over Alexander Ebert for All is Lost is disappointing, but… I’m over it. Also, no score nomination for Hans Zimmer (12 Years a Slave) is a surprise, I had him at #1.
- John Williams (The Book Thief)
- Steven Price (Gravity)
- William Butler and Owen Pallett (Her)
- Alexandre Desplat (Philomena)
- Thomas Newman (Saving Mr. Banks)
Music (Original Song)
Way to go Academy, now I have to add Alone Yet Not Alone to my database!
- “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
Sound Mixing
Speaking for both sound categories, I was nervous I didn’t predict 12 Years a Slave in either category considering I thought the sound in that film was wonderful, but when does that necessarily translate to Oscar? I also thought the sound in Oblivion was great, but look how that turned out.
- Captain Phillips
- Gravity
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- Lone Survivor
- Inside Llewyn Davis
Sound Editing
Double nom for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug! Must have been the pronunciation of Sm-ow-Guh that helped it here.
- All is Lost
- Captain Phillips
- Gravity
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- Lone Survivor
Production Design
- 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
Costumes
It amazes me, just make a period film and boom, your chances for an Oscar nomination for Best Costumes skyrockets. Was anyone really talking about the costumes in The Invisible Woman?
- American Hustle
- The Grandmaster
- The Great Gatsby
- The Invisible Woman
- 12 Years a Slave
Makeup and Hairstyling
I went with American Hustle instead of Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa. Now I want Bad Grandpa to win and I want Johnny Knoxville to accept the award.
- Dallas Buyers Club
- Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
- The Lone Ranger
That does it for me folks. I’d love to read your thoughts on the nominations in the comments and please answer the poll question directly below. I don’t know about you, but outside of the lack of nominations for Inside Llewyn Davis, All is Lost and Her, I’m not too concerned about the way things turned out. Sure, I have favorites above what was nominated in several categories, but what does that have to do with the Oscars?
The Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood and Highland Center.
