Pretty enjoyable Oscar show

Last night was a fun Oscar night. I went to an Oscar party for the first time and with people who are ambitious to make their way in to Hollywood. I went 18/24 in my Oscar picks, it was better than I expected. I enjoyed Ellen as a host, there was no musical number, all the singing coming from musicians singing for Best Song and Pink's tribute to Wizard of Oz. The famous selfie garnered over 2 million retweets shattering the previous record by Barack Obama. The pizza delivery guy portion was pretty funny, I think it was the smart approach to go with interacting with the celebrities instead the typical jokes all night which usually gets tiring every year. 

Best Picture

I think everyone knew that 12 Years A Slave was going to win Best Picture. The movie won almost every best picture for every award show that took place in the past two months. I really enjoyed Gravity for being short and sweet and the special effects that they put on for show. 12 Years A Slave had so much grit and I enjoy watching movies that can put you in an emotional state. I think that and the historic nature of the film helped it win over the spectacle that Gravity introduced to audiences. 

Best Director

I knew Cuaron was getting this just like Ang Lee received his last year. It would have been a great win if McQueen would have won but it was great to see a Latin American director come home with the prize. 

Best Actor

Matthew McConaughey's character was impressive, the changes he went through going from someone who didn't take the disease seriously and someone who though he was invincible to then team up with Jared Leto's character showed that he needed help in order to survive and would do anything to keep himself from dying. 

Best Actress

I havent seen Blue Jasmine yet but same thing with a lot of the other winners last night, they have been raking up awards the past two months. It was obvious that Cate Blanchett was going to win, I enjoyed that both her Oscars are separated by ten years showing how much she has grown since Aviator.

Best Supporting Actor

If I had a vote I honestly would have picked Michael Fassbender for his grit and realistic portrayal in 12 Years A Slave. I understand why Leto won, he was brilliant in his role and the scene where he meets his dad would probably make anyone cry. Especially anyone who has had their own parental issues and disagreements. 

Best Supporting Actress

Lupita Nyong'o deserved her win here, it was hard not to cry throughout her scenes, the whipping scene, her struggle throughout the whole film and when Solomon Northup is set free and all she can do is collapse because she knows there is no hope she will ever be free. 

One thing I enjoyed from watching the nominees for each actor is there are some movies I still want to watch based on the portion in which they focused on each performance made me consider watching August:Osage County and Nebraska. 

Spike Jonze received many writing awards that he had to win Best Original Screenplay. 

I would have assumed that either John Ridley (12 Years A Slave) or Terrance Winter (Wolf of Wall Street) were taking home the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. 

Gravity picked up many technical awards which is highly deserved: FIlm Editing, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Original Score. 

Frozen picked up two awards for "Let It Go"-- Original Song and Best Animated Film

I wasn't the hugest fan of the Great Gatsby but Catherine Martin definitely deserved her wins for Costume Design and Production Design. I probably would have picked Michael Wilkinson from American Hustle but I don't have the greatest knowledge when it comes to fashion. 

If there is one thing I would hope for is that Oscars is a middle award show for movies instead of the final one because by the time the Oscars come around you pretty much know who is going to win before the show begins. There weren't many surprises this year even though there were great performances on display this year. I'm intrigued for next year's award show when it is back in February instead of March. 

To another great year of movies. 

And the Oscar nominees are.....

Best picture

"12 Years a Slave"

"American Hustle"

"Captain Phillips" 

"Dallas Buyers Club"

"Gravity" 

"Her" 

"Nebraska" 

"Philomena" 

"The Wolf of Wall Street

I saw 12 Years, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Gravity and Wolf of Wall Street. I'm not surprised the first 4 got nominated. I did enjoy Wolf of Wall Street but I'm a bit shocked it got a Best Picture nom. I will be watching Her this weekend and I definitely wanted to watch Dallas Buyers Club and possibly Nebraska. If I had to choose a movie I would go with Gravity or 12 Years A Slave. I assume 12 Years takes the Oscar and if not it will go to American Hustle. 

Director

Alfonso Cuarón, "Gravity"

Steve McQueen, "12 Years a Slave"

Alexander Payne, "Nebraska"

David O. Russell, "American Hustle"

Martin Scorsese, "The Wolf of Wall Street"

Saw 4 of the 5. As much as everyone would say Russell or McQueen. I would put McQueen over Russell but I think Cuaron should win. Gravity will win for Cinematography for sure but directing such a different kind of film should be taken accounted for.

Lead actor

Christian Bale, "American Hustle"

Bruce Dern, "Nebraska"

Chiwetel Ejiofor, "12 Years a Slave"

Matthew McConaughey, "Dallas Buyers Club"

Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Wolf of Wall Street"

I would love to see Leo win, McConaughey has the momentum and will probably end up taking the statue. 

Lead actress

Amy Adams, "American Hustle"

Cate Blanchett, "Blue Jasmine"

Judi Dench, "Philomena"

Meryl Streep, "August: Osage County"

Sandra Bullock, "Gravity"

I sure hope Redbox has Blue Jasmine because everyone is saying that Blanchett is the hands down favorite. In the movies I watched I would probably put Adams over Bullock. 

Supporting actor

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”

I'm a bit shocked that Jonah Hill is nominated here. I haven't seen Dallas but seems that Leto will take home the statue considering the role he played and his Globe win. In movies that I have watched I'd like to choose Fassbender and see him take him the prize.

Supporting actress

Sally Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine”

Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”

Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”

Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County”

June Squibb, “Nebraska”

It's hard for someone to win an Oscar in the same category two years in a row and I think Nyong'o will end up winning this category. It wouldn't surprise me if J Law won but it's tough to do. 

Animated feature film

“The Croods”

“Despicable Me 2”

“Ernest & Celestine”

“Frozen”

“The Wind Rises”

I saw Frozen and Despicable Me 2. My vote would 100% go to Frozen.

Cinematography

“The Grandmaster,” Philippe Le Sourd

“Gravity,” Emmanuel Lubezki

“Inside Llewyn Davis,” Bruno Delbonnel

“Nebraska,” Phedon Papamichael

“Prisoners,” Roger A. Deakins

Like I said earlier Lubezki for Gravity.

Visual effects

“Gravity,” Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds

“Iron Man 3,” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick

“The Lone Ranger,” Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier

“Star Trek Into Darkness,” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Daltonis 

I assume Gravity will pick up this one as well. 

Adapted screenplay

“Before Midnight,” written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke

“Captain Phillips,” screenplay by Billy Ray

“Philomena,” screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope

“12 Years a Slave,” screenplay by John Ridley

“The Wolf of Wall Street,” screenplay by Terence Winter

 I would love to read these scripts in order to make such a decision but I wouldn't be surprised if John  Ridley would win this category.

Original screenplay

“American Hustle,” written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell

“Blue Jasmine,” written by Woody Allen

“Dallas Buyers Club,” written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack

“Her,” written by Spike Jonze

“Nebraska,” written by Bob Nelson

With Her winning it's share of screenplay awards I think this or American Hustle would take home the prize.

I really have no idea how to choose some of the next categories since I didn't see any foreign language films or any of the shorts or documentaries but I'll leave the nominees up here if I see any of these movies that change my mind I'll make some edits. I'll bold my random selections for costume and other random categories. 

Costume design

“American Hustle,” Michael Wilkinson

“The Grandmaster,” William Chang Suk Ping

“The Great Gatsby,” Catherine Martin

“The Invisible Woman,” Michael O’Connor

“12 Years a Slave,” Patricia Norris

Documentary feature

“The Act of Killing”

“Cutie and the Boxer”

“Dirty Wars”

“The Square” 

“20 Feet from Stardom”

Documentary short subject

“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”

Film editing

“American Hustle,” Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten

“Captain Phillips,” Christopher Rouse

“Dallas Buyers Club,” John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa

“Gravity,” Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger

“12 Years a Slave,” Joe Walke

Foreign language film 

“The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Belgium

“The Great Beauty,” Italy

“The Hunt,” Denmark

“The Missing Picture,” Cambodia

“Omar,” Palestine

Makeup and hairstyling

“Dallas Buyers Club,” Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews

“Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa,” Stephen Prouty

“The Lone Ranger,” Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

Original score

“The Book Thief,” John Williams

“Gravity,” Steven Price

“Her,” William Butler and Owen Pallett

“Philomena,” Alexandre Desplat

“Saving Mr. Banks,” Thomas Newman

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”

Production design

“American Hustle,” Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler

“Gravity,” Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard

“The Great Gatsby,” Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn

“Her,” Production Design: K.K. Barrett; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena

“12 Years a Slave,” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice Baker

Animated short film

“Feral”

“Get a Horse!”

“Mr. Hublot”

“Possessions”

“Room on the Broom”

Live action short film

“Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)”

“Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)”

“Helium”

“Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)”

“The Voorman Problem”

Sound editing

“All Is Lost,” Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns

“Captain Phillips,” Oliver Tarney

“Gravity,” Glenn Freemantle

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” Brent Burge

“Lone Survivor,” Wylie Stateman

Sound mixing

“Captain Phillips,” Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro

“Gravity,” Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro

“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson

“Inside Llewyn Davis,” Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland

“Lone Survivor,” Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow