Official 2014 Oscar Nominations Thread (1 Viewer)

[Hanson]

Actually, it was the distributor's fault :"France entered with Gilles Bourdos's Renoir instead of Abdellatif Kechiche's Blue Is the Warmest Color, which won the Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, because the latter's French distributor elected not to release it in France prior to the Oct. 1 deadline."It will be eligible for next year's Oscars. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscars-surprises-snubs-best-foreign-667261

 

[Michael Elliott]

What did France do? re: Clooney. I didn't expect him to get nominated but I wouldn't have complained if he did. From everything I'm reading it seems Redford is the biggest shock. I'm guessing, like the public, people just weren't interested in watching a one man show. Really too bad but not that shocking.

 

[Brett_M]

I think another thing against Clooney was that even for a supporting role, he had a fairly small part in Gravity.

Is it smaller than Beatrice Straight in Network? She won BSA with less than 6 minutes of screen time.

 

[mattCR]

To be fair, Blue is the Warmest Color was not eligible for this year's Foreign Language category. You can blame France for that.

Yeah, I just read that.. because it didn't get released in it's home country before October 9. Argh. Oh well. Great way to make sure a whole lot of foreign films are never eligible.

 

[Mark-P]

We have a clean sweep potential this year. There is a film that has nominees in the five major categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

 

[Ejanss]

I still blame the Weinsteins:If they hadn't acted like obnoxious nomination-hogs who insisted they "always" be there since the 1996 Year of Four Miramaxes, we wouldn't have that annual nominee out of five known as the Miramax Bribe.
If they weren't so intent on creating the Miramax Bribe, they wouldn't spending millions of dollars of studio publicity on full-blown FYC campaigns all November, December and January.
If they hadn't been bending voters' ears with full-blown FYC campaigns, the committee wouldn't have shortened the voting period by a month to shut them up.
And if they hadn't shortened the voting period by a month, it'd have given the voters time to think up their OWN nominations, instead of just rubber-stamping the Golden Globe and critics'-arthouse nominees. ("I read somewhere Nebraska and Her were contenders!")

They thought increasing the nominees would make the awards more "interesting", and it ended up having the opposite effect. (Actually, they did it to give Pixar a reserved Picture slot after Wall-E "should" have beaten Slumdog, but then Cars 2, Brave and Monsters U came out, and the seat remained empty.)

I also remember when Ain't It Cool News (first) did that big hoax stunt suggesting that one of their columnists had hacked an "exclusive" on Price-Waterhouse's voting and gotten the nominations one week early, revealing the "Picture, Actor and Director sweep for Spike Jonze and 'Being John Malkovich'" (snicker!)
It wasn't true then, and it ain't any truer about "Her" now.

 

[Ejanss]

We have a clean sweep potential this year. There is a film that has nominees in the five major categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

Yeah, having not seen it, enlighten me: WHY American Hustle??
Like most folks, I read the description of "the true story of ABSCAM", and was probably expecting Argo II, and the trailer just seemed to be another partying Wolf of Wall Street in 70's clothes, that seemed to be more in love with its own "good to be bad" sleaziness than actual contemporary history. Is there some reason it's really, y'know, that good?

(Although someone once pointed out that you'll know the Picture winner right away from Editing, Score and Screenplay. I started using that as a pool-betting tip over the last few years, and...THEY'RE RIGHT.
Hustle is up there, and so is Gravity, with two of each.)

 

[Brandon Conway]

I was certain there would be a Song nomination for the hilarious "Please, Mr. Kennedy".

Deemed ineligible for being too similar, mostly lyrically ("I don't wanna go...") to other 60s protest songs that inspired it.

And yes, it's an absurd aspect of the rules.

Well, I saw 8 out of the 9 Best Pictures. Maybe I'll go out and watch Dallas Buyers Club now. Anyway, was shocked that Tom Hanks didn't get a nom for Captain Phillips but I have to say the 5 nominees were deserving. Just a crowded field. Also, surely there were enough good films to warrant 10 Best Picture nominees.

When the Academy announced the change from 10 Nominees to anywhere from 5-10 they revealed that going back twenty years there never would be a year that would have had 10. So 9 seems to be the norm from actual votes per the current system. Maybe in a weak year we'll get only 8, but I doubt it.


Best Picture is between 12 Years a Slave, Gravity and American Hustle. I'll be happy with either 12 Years a Slave or Gravity, but I'll be greatly disappointed if American Hustle wins.

Other thoughts:

- A couple minor noms for Cinematography and Sound for Inside Llewyn Davis? Total bummer. Deserved far more, but just didn't find its audience.- Hanks shut out is right decision despite two fine performances. Field's just too crowded.- Gravity, Wolf, and 12 Years pretty much got what was expected, and rightfully so.- Dallas Buyers Club has become the late dark horse.- The Butler and Fruitvale Station lockout: expected with the recent fading, but still somewhat surprised at no representation whatsoever.- Monsters University (one of the funnier films of the year) has to be better than The Croods (which admittedly I have yet to see)- Oscar Isaac in ILD is one of the Top 3 performances of the year next to Ejiofor and DiCaprio. I expected the lack of recognition, but it still stings me.- Golden Globe win, apparently loved film, and all other nominees are prior winners? Expect Amy Adams to win Best Actress, folks, even though she's the least effective performance of the movie.

 

[Tino]

We have a clean sweep potential this year. There is a film that has nominees in the five major categories: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.

No chance for a sweep IMO. Of those five, picture, and screenplay maybe. Hope not as it's the most overrated film of the nominees...again IMO.

 

[Tino]

Cate Blanchette a lock for Blue Jasmine. Not Amy's year.

 

[Brandon Conway]

That's what they said about Daniel Day-Lewis in 2003, but Adrien Brody won against a field of previous winners.

 

[Tino]

Hey anything is possible.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Cate Blanchette a lock for Blue Jasmine. Not Amy's year.

Also, depending on the campaigning and marketing, AH is fresh in people's minds, BJ, not so much.

 

[JohnMor]

Personally, I am stunned Emma Thompson did not receive a nomination for Saving Mr. Banks.

Well, the buzz around town was not that positive toward her or the film in general, and even less so for Hanks, so I'm not surprised.

Do Academy members actually watch the films they vote for?

I can't speak for all, but my clients most assuredly do. They get and watch all their screeners, plus most of them go to the movies pretty regularly throughout the year as well.

 

[Craig S]

Is it smaller than Beatrice Straight in Network? She won BSA with less than 6 minutes of screen time.

And Judi Dench won BSA for playing Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare In Love with only 8 minutes of screen time.

 

[Craig S]

The great Roger Deakins picked up his 11th Cinematography nomination for his typically superb work on Prisoners. I expect he will remain a bridesmaid, however, as I don't see how Emmanuel Lubezki can lose for Gravity.

 

[Tino]

Also, depending on the campaigning and marketing, AH is fresh in people's minds, BJ, not so much.

With Cates win as best actress at the SAG's (Adams wasn't even nominated), and considering that actors make up the bulk of the Academy, I still believe Cate will win easily. The most undeserving nomination in my opinion is Despicable Me 2 as best animated film. I thought it was one of the worst of its kind..a mindless soulless sequel devoid of imagination. Thankfully it has zero chance of winning as Frozen will take that prize.

 

[Michael Elliott]

If Cate Blanchett doesn't walk away with the Best Actress Oscar it's pretty exciting because it means there must be one hell of a performance coming up later in the year.

That's what I wrote on August 28 on the film's official thread here. I don't know, the second the movie ended it just seemed like I had seen one of the greatest performances in decades, not just the greatest of the year. I don't think another performance came close this year and especially from the other nominees. Bullock and Adams were GREAT but Blanchett was just on another level.


EDIT TO ADD: I think this also confirms that Woody Allen is the greatest screenwriter of all time. I know this could lead to a great debate (Billy Wilder perhaps) but just look at how many awards his actors have won from his words.

 

[FoxyMulder]

Do Academy members actually watch the films they vote for?

It's all political, lots of money is spent on getting these nominations, it's never about the best film or best actor.

I mostly gave up on award ceremonies years ago, even this site has awards, you could call the ones at this site far more democratic as people get to vote ( without bribes ) but are people here voting for ( as an example ) the "best 3D blu ray release" or simply voting for films they liked and enjoyed, there is a difference in my opinion but let's leave it at that.

 

[Tino]

Quote:"It's all political, lots of money is spent on getting these nominations, it's never about the best film or best actor."Disagree completely Malcolm. That sentiment has been thrown around for decades. I just don't see it that way. For the most part, I think the Academy has a great track record in honoring films. Sure there are aggressive campaigns by producers and studios, but never for a moment do I believe an Oscar was "bought". I believe they just reflect the thoughts and opinions of the academy at that time.