The Official 2014 Oscar Contest Thread

[Still Servant]

Welcome to the Official Oscar Contest Thread.

Rules

Copy the list below and highlight who you think will win (not who you want) and repost it.

IMPORTANT: Don't forget the tie breaker. It's simple: Basically, everybody will submit their choices like usual, except they will also add which film they think will win the most Oscars and give a number. In case of a tie, who ever has the closest number without going over is the winner.

Predictions have to be in by showtime, so there is no rush to post them. We still have a few months until Oscar night. I myself will be waiting for the last possible moment to post my predictions. I still have films to watch, buzz to follow and articles to read.


BEST PICTURE

“12 Years a Slave”
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“Philomena”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

BEST DIRECTOR

David O. Russell, “American Hustle”
Alfonso Cuaron, “Gravity”
Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

BEST ACTOR

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

Amy Adams, “American Hustle”
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

“American Hustle” – Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
“Blue Jasmine” – Written by Woody Allen
“Her” – Written by Spike Jonze
“Nebraska” – Written by Bob Nelson
“Dallas Buyers Club” – Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack

BEST 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

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”
Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County”
Sally Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine”

BEST 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”

BEST ANIMATED FILM

“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Ernest & Celestine”
“Frozen”
“The Wind Rises”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

“The Grandmaster”
“Gravity”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“Prisoners”

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Michael Wilkinson, “American Hustle”
William Chang Suk Ping, “The Grandmaster”
Catherine Martin, “The Great Gatsby”
Michael O’Connor, “The Invisible Woman”
Patricia Norris, “12 Years a Slave”

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

“The Act of Killing”Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
“Cutie and the Boxer” Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher
“Dirty Wars” Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
“The Square” Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer
“20 Feet from Stardom” Nominees to be determined

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

“CaveDigger” Jeffrey Karoff
“Facing Fear” Jason Cohen
“Karama Has No Walls” Sara Ishaq
“The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed
“Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall” Edgar Barens

BEST 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 Walker

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

“The Broken Circle Breakdown” Belgium
“The Great Beauty” Italy
“The Hunt” Denmark
“The Missing Picture” Cambodia
“Omar” Palestine

BEST 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

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

John Williams, “The Book Thief”
Steven Price, “Gravity”
William Butler and Owen Pallett, “Her”
Alexandre Desplat, “Philomena”
Thomas Newman, “Saving Mr. Banks”

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams

“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

“The Moon Song” from “Her”
Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze

“Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
Music by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen; Lyric by Paul Hewson

BEST 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

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

“Feral” Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
“Get a Horse!” Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim
“Mr. Hublot” Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares
“Possessions” Shuhei Morita
“Room on the Broom” Max Lang and Jan Lachauer

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

“Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)” Esteban Crespo
“Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)” Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
“Helium” Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
“Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)” Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
“The Voorman Problem” Mark Gill and Baldwin Li

BEST 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

BEST 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

BEST 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 Dalton

[Merlin1958]

As always, there will be a $25 donation in the name of the winner for the "Grand Prize HF Giveaway"!!!



Remember folks, you can't win it, if you aren't in it!!!

[Shannon]

Haven Foundation aside, anyone care to make a little friendly wager? I'm always down for some gamblin'. Well, it's not gambling for me because I plan on winning.

[Still Servant]

Somebody has to take Heather down. She's won 4 years in a row (there was a 3 way tie in 2012 between me, Heather and Ricky.) I, for one, am tired of playing the role of the Buffalo Bills. I've come in second to Heather all 3 years, besides of course 2012.

[Merlin1958]

Winning donation has been made. Go forth and predict away!!!

You win, you get 2.5 entries into the "Grand Prize Drawing"!!!!

Spoiler:

I never win this stuff!! LOL

[Still Servant]

Winning donation has been made. Go forth and predict away!!!

You win, you get 2.5 entries into the "Grand Prize Drawing"!!!!

Spoiler:

I never win this stuff!! LOL

Just to be clear, this isn't the official contest thread so all predictions are just for fun. I won't be starting the official contest thread until the actual nominations come out.

[Merlin1958]

Winning donation has been made. Go forth and predict away!!!

You win, you get 2.5 entries into the "Grand Prize Drawing"!!!!

Spoiler:

I never win this stuff!! LOL

Just to be clear, this isn't the official contest thread so all predictions are just for fun. I won't be starting the official contest thread until the actual nominations come out.

I gotcha, the donation is "official" though so go forth and predict. You make the ultimate call, Servant. Cool?

I just pay. LOL

[Heather19]

Somebody has to take Heather down. She's won 4 years in a row (there was a 3 way tie in 2012 between me, Heather and Ricky.) I, for one, am tired of playing the role of the Buffalo Bills. I've come in second to Heather all 3 years, besides of course 2012.

No ones taking me down. I plan to continue my winning streak

[Merlin1958]

Somebody has to take Heather down. She's won 4 years in a row (there was a 3 way tie in 2012 between me, Heather and Ricky.) I, for one, am tired of playing the role of the Buffalo Bills. I've come in second to Heather all 3 years, besides of course 2012.

No ones taking me down. I plan to continue my winning streak

Bitch!! LOL LOL LOL

[Still Servant]

Winning donation has been made. Go forth and predict away!!!

You win, you get 2.5 entries into the "Grand Prize Drawing"!!!!

Spoiler:

I never win this stuff!! LOL

Just to be clear, this isn't the official contest thread so all predictions are just for fun. I won't be starting the official contest thread until the actual nominations come out.

I gotcha, the donation is "official" though so go forth and predict. You make the ultimate call, Servant. Cool?

I just pay. LOL

Always cool, bro. I just didn't want people to think that any predictions they made here were locked in.

[webstar1000]

Wow... I had NO IDEA that was Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club... I just never looked it up who played the role. I was just blown away.. still think Daniel Bruhl deserves it though...

[Heather19]

Somebody has to take Heather down. She's won 4 years in a row (there was a 3 way tie in 2012 between me, Heather and Ricky.) I, for one, am tired of playing the role of the Buffalo Bills. I've come in second to Heather all 3 years, besides of course 2012.

No ones taking me down. I plan to continue my winning streak

Bitch!! LOL LOL LOL

Golden Globes are this sunday. Can't wait to watch them. I also need to get to watching some of the films. What I hate is that most of them are released in limited theaters right beforehand, so I never get to see alot of them prior to the awards shows. I really wish the studios would do something about this. There's been many films in the past that had earlier releases and done just fine.

[Ricky]

Somebody has to take Heather down.

[fernandito]

Someone needs to make Heather an offer she can't refuse.

[Still Servant]

So true, Heather. I wish more studios would go the VOD route with their films. I'd be more than willing to fork over 7 bucks to watch for 12 Years A Slave at home.

Films like that should really think about that.

[Heather19]

There were a number of films nominated at the Globes that I had never even heard of. Either I'm completely out of the loop or were there some that haven't even had a limited release yet?

I never thought of VOD, but that would be a great way for small films to be seen. And the more people that see them prior to the award ceremonies, I think would give the films an even bigger push.

[Still Servant]

There were a number of films nominated at the Globes that I had never even heard of. Either I'm completely out of the loop or were there some that haven't even had a limited release yet?

I never thought of VOD, but that would be a great way for small films to be seen. And the more people that see them prior to the award ceremonies, I think would give the films an even bigger push.

Yeah, there were a bunch of movies that haven't gotten a wide release yet, or just came and went. Kate Winslett was nominated for Labor Day, a film that doesn't get a wide release until another week or two I think.

The Globes are never a great way to predict the Oscars because they split the movie categories into comedy and drama. I think it's safe to say that 12 Years A Slave and American Hustle are the front runners for Best Picture. No surprise there, we kind of knew that already. I think it's clear now that Matthew McConaughey is the leader for Best Actor. He's really hot right now. Then again DiCaprio could come on strong and steal it. I was a little surprised he won the Globe.

It looks like Cate Blanchett is the leader for Best Actress. I thought Sandy B was going to be the front runner, but it looks like it's Blanchett now. Although watch out for Amy Adams. She's been nominated so many times in her young career but has yet to win. She took home the Globe for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy. That should help.

I think Jared Leto is a lock for Best Supporting Actor and I'm starting to think J-Law is going to win her second Oscar in a row.

In the directing side of things, I think Alfonso Cuaron will be considered the front runner. The directing category should be especially interesting come Thursday when Oscar nominations are released. If you remember, last year turned the category on its head when Affleck, Bigelow and Hooper were all snubbed. Should be interesting.

[Heather19]

Yeah, last years picks for director were bizarre. And while I haven't seen his movie yet I'd love to see Leo win an Oscar. I think he's highly underrated and just seems to be getting stronger and stronger. But I'd also be extremely surprised because the Oscars don't seem to be a fan of his. Honestly I'll be surprised if he even gets nominated, but maybe his Globe win will help. The Oscars kind of irritate me in a sense because its always the same group that gets nominated year after year, regardless of the film they're in.

[Ricky]

I think it's safe to say that 12 Years A Slave and American Hustle are the front runners for Best Picture.

I thought Sandy B was going to be the front runner,

I'm starting to think J-Law is going to win her second Oscar in a row.

In the directing side of things, I think Alfonso Cuaron will be considered the front runner.

It does seem like 12 Years and Hustle seem to be the frontrunners for BP. Then again, this time last year I never would've thought that Argo would've won (I still don't think it deserved to).

I don't know how I feel about Sandra winning Best Actress. She was great and carried the film (pretty much) by herself, but I think the script didn't give her as much to do as it could've. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind seeing Cuaron winning for director. Gravity is my favorite film from this past year.

The Oscars kind of irritate me in a sense because its always the same group that gets nominated year after year, regardless of the film they're in.

That, in addition to horror films always getting snubbed.

[Still Servant]

The nominees are in:

BEST PICTURE

“12 Years a Slave”
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“Philomena”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”

BEST DIRECTOR

David O. Russell, “American Hustle”
Alfonso Cuaron, “Gravity”
Alexander Payne, “Nebraska”
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
Martin Scorsese, “The Wolf of Wall Street”

BEST ACTOR

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

Amy Adams, “American Hustle”
Cate Blanchett, “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock, “Gravity”
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
Meryl Streep, “August: Osage County”

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

“American Hustle” – Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
“Blue Jasmine” – Written by Woody Allen
“Her” – Written by Spike Jonze
“Nebraska” – Written by Bob Nelson
“Dallas Buyers Club” – Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack

BEST 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

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Lupita Nyong’o, “12 Years a Slave”
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
June Squibb, “Nebraska”
Julia Roberts, “August: Osage County”
Sally Hawkins, “Blue Jasmine”

BEST 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”

BEST ANIMATED FILM

“The Croods”
“Despicable Me 2”
“Ernest & Celestine”
“Frozen”
“The Wind Rises”

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

“The Grandmaster”
“Gravity”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“Prisoners”

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Michael Wilkinson, “American Hustle”
William Chang Suk Ping, “The Grandmaster”
Catherine Martin, “The Great Gatsby”
Michael O’Connor, “The Invisible Woman”
Patricia Norris, “12 Years a Slave”

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

“The Act of Killing”Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
“Cutie and the Boxer” Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher
“Dirty Wars” Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
“The Square” Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer
“20 Feet from Stardom” Nominees to be determined

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT

“CaveDigger” Jeffrey Karoff
“Facing Fear” Jason Cohen
“Karama Has No Walls” Sara Ishaq
“The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed
“Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall” Edgar Barens

BEST 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 Walker

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

“The Broken Circle Breakdown” Belgium
“The Great Beauty” Italy
“The Hunt” Denmark
“The Missing Picture” Cambodia
“Omar” Palestine

BEST 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

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

John Williams, “The Book Thief”
Steven Price, “Gravity”
William Butler and Owen Pallett, “Her”
Alexandre Desplat, “Philomena”
Thomas Newman, “Saving Mr. Banks”

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

“Alone Yet Not Alone” from “Alone Yet Not Alone”
Music by Bruce Broughton; Lyric by Dennis Spiegel

“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams

“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez

“The Moon Song” from “Her”
Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze

“Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
Music by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen; Lyric by Paul Hewson

BEST 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

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

“Feral” Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
“Get a Horse!” Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim
“Mr. Hublot” Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares
“Possessions” Shuhei Morita
“Room on the Broom” Max Lang and Jan Lachauer

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM

“Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)” Esteban Crespo
“Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)” Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
“Helium” Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
“Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)” Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
“The Voorman Problem” Mark Gill and Baldwin Li

BEST 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

BEST 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

BEST 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 Dalton

Wow, a very interesting morning. It's clear to me now that 2013 was another strong year in film. Packed with tons of great performances for A-List actors and newcomers alike. There were a few surprises for the actors that got nominated, but more surprises for the ones that didn't get nominated. I suppose this was inevitable considering how strong of a year it was for actors, especially in the lead category. Actually, that seems like a good place to start.

I'm shocked to see Tom Hanks get snubbed for not one, but two movies (Captain Phillips and Saving Mr. Banks) I thought he was a lock for at least one nom. I think it surprises a lot of people that Robert Redford wasn't nominated. Leading to today, many people expected the 77-year-old actor to pick up his first acting nomination since 1974 (The Sting). I'm also surprised Joaquin Phoenix (Her) didn't get nominated. I'm starting to wonder if his attitude toward the Academy is starting to hurt him. At least when it comes down to a strong category filled with other deserving actors.

In the Best Actress category, Meryl Streep continues to get unconditional love from the Academy. Saving Mr. Banks continues to get snubbed as Emma Thompson, a virtual lock many thought, is left without a nomination.

I'm not sure I'd call it a snub, but I really wanted Daniel Bruhl to get nominated for Rush. The film didn't really connect with audiences and kind of disappeared. I never thought Wil Forte would get nominated. I must say though, Jonah Hill picking up his second Oscar nomination is quite a surprise. He's certainly deserving, I just never would have thought he'd be a 2 time Oscar nominee after watching films like Supebad and Knocked Up. Two films I love, but didn't think he'd be that kind of actor.

Best Supporting Actress was pretty standard. I didn't think Oprah deserved a nomination. You have to do a movie more than every 20 years for me to pay attention.

The overall snubbing of Inside Llewyn Davis was also surprising. No Best Picture nomination, no Best Actor nomination for Oscar Isaac, no Best Director nomination for the Coen brothers. Not even a nomination for best song. Davis seemed like one of those films that was bred for Oscar season. I'm not sure what happened.

I'm also surprised about Her. It gets nominated for Best Picture, but not directing nom for Jonze or and acting nom for Phoenix. Jonze did pick up an Original Screenplay nomination.

Some other odds and ends: I'm a little surprised Monsters U didn't get nominated in the animated category. I'm surprised Blackfish didn't get nominated for Best Documentary. It seems like that film has been getting a lot of attention lately.

It's not all bad news, I'm really happy about most of the nominations. Especially Leo for Wolf of Wall Street. I feel he's been snubbed by Oscar in the past. He's more than deserving. I'm rooting hard for Amy Adams who has 4 Oscar nominations in her young career. This is her first in a leading role and she is going up against some Oscar stalwarts in Dench, Streep, Blanchett, and Bullock. I'm also happy that Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa got a nomination for Best Makeup. The makeup really is great in that movie. Glad it got recognized.

Okay, that's enough for now. Once the contest actually begins, you can copy and past the list above and highlight who you think will win. It should be fun over the next few months discussing some of these films, especially once more people get a chance to see them.

Stay tuned in this very thread. I have a stance I'm taking against Oscar that I'm interested in getting your thoughts on. It's time for Oscar to change a little.

[mae]

Exciting to see two traditionally animated films up for Best Animated Feature.

[webstar1000]

Hate that RUSH got snubbed though... He deserved a nom for that acting I thought

[fernandito]

[Still Servant]

Hate that RUSH got snubbed though... He deserved a nom for that acting I thought

I agree, which makes this a perfect time to talk about what's been bothering me about the Oscars more and more every year. A few years ago, they changed the rules to allow up to 10 films to get nominated. A change that wasn't that drastic considering this is how it once was. My question is, why stop there?

Why not expand the acting categories along with the directing categories? I don't see any reason why allowing more than five great actors to be nominated for Best Actor is such a bad thing. Film has evolved since the first Oscar ceremony. There are more films per year than ever before. It only makes sense for the categories to expand.

I just think it's a natural progression. If we are going to honor up to 10 films, why not honor up to 10 directors as well as actors? Thoughts?

[Shannon]

Dammit, now I have to watch a lot of movies I don't really want to.

Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club, Blue Jasmine, and Philomena; I'm looking at you.