Dallas Buyers Club looks really good. I'm not interested in the rest. Except maybe Nebraska. That could be interesting in a quiet kind of way.
Feev, I know what you're saying about time constraints. They're always worried about that stuff. I don't think it will add a whole lot of time onto the show. How long does it take to list 4 or 5 more names? It's not like they show clips. Most of the time they cut those too.
I'd hate to say it, it might be time to cut categories (when I say cut I don't mean get rid of the award, just don't give it away live). I'm mainly talking about Best Short Film Live Action and Best Short Film Documentary. These are typically two categories 99% of the audience hasn't even seen the nominees. There's no place to even find them without digging around the internet. I respect anybody who gets nominated in those categories, but they're too obscure for mainstream audiences.
Now, if the Academy would make the available to the public somehow, I would be more than happy to watch.
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They should cut shit no one really cares about. Best costume design, anyone?
Then it'll turn into the Grammys. I have a huge pet peeve with those awards as only a small fraction of awards are shown, and those are usually ones I don't even care about. I never even watch them anymore. So honestly I would hate it if they cut anything from the Oscars. There's not that many categories so it'd be weird if they cut one or two out. Also I like that there's only 5 nominations. I actually wish they would go back to just 5 for films. I know they had more nominations in the past but to me it just feels like a money making ploy. I think if you increase the amount of nominations then it lessens the others. It's an honor to get nominated. Of course there will be those times when it's a really strong year for film and people or films get snubbed, and then also the opposite where it's weak and films get nominated that wouldn't otherwise. That said, I think I've mentioned my complaints above. But the Oscars are progressively getting me more and more irritated over the past few years. I wish they would broaden their horizons when it comes to their nominations. It's almost the same circle every time.
Only the gentle are ever really strong.
28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
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The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
Well there is one thing that annoys me about the oscars. The show no love for Horror films at all...except for one category and that is maybe special effects and only one time did they win.....(American Werewolf in London). If you are going to have an awards show about movies consider all of them not just the thought provoking ones or have a category for horror films.
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28 in 23 (?)!!!!
63 in '23!!!!!!!!!!
My Collection: https://www.thedarktower.org/palaver...ion-Merlin1958
The Houston Astros cheated Major League Baseball from 2017-18!!!! Is that how we teach our kids to play the game now?????
Horror films don't get any love because most of them are crap. Comedies rarely get any love too. Most of them are also crap. I'd be all for genre specific categories, but where do you stop?
As far as expanding the acting categories, they wouldn't be forced to nominate 10 actors. In years that are light, only the deserving actors would get nominated. There would be a percentage taken just like Best Picture. So it wouldn't necessarily have to be 10 actors every year. Some years it would be 6, some years it would be 7.
I also understand what you're saying about the same old crew getting noms, but they are all giving solid performances. They deserve it. That being said, there are a bunch of first time nominees this year. Ejiofor, Abdi, Squibb, Hawkins, Nyong'o are all first timers. Dern has been around forever, but hasn't been nominated since 1979. This is also Leto's first nomination. He's been around for a little while, but disappeared from Hollywood for almost 5 years.
So I think there's just enough new faces to keep things interesting.
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I was super surprised that Her was nominated for BP. I thought it might get something for the screenplay, but not BP. If there was anything about the film that deserved a nom., though, it was Joaquin, who definitely deserved it. But I think you may be right about his attitude getting in the way of that.
Another big surprise for me was a lack of Monsters University, too. Hopefully its absence will give Frozen the win it deserves. (I also feel like that Pixar movies tend to be nominated just because they're Pixar, so it makes me happy that this isn't the case this year.)
I thought the same thing this morning.
I totally agree, Heather. When they first expanded the amount of BPs allowed, I liked it and thought it made sense to open up the category. But now it seems like it's just serving the purpose of showcasing what other members of the Academy picked as their favorites. Looking at the nominees the past few years (today, too), it's obvious what films won't win BP: Philomena, Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club, etc. Like you said, if there were only 5 slots for BP, would any of these end up nominated? I doubt it.
A NEW GAME BEGINS
Well, you guys are both totally right about the way BP has gone in recent years. The idea behind expanding the BP category was to allow more mainstream films to be nominated, which in turn would bring in a bigger audience to the telecast. That has seemed to backfire. Like you said, it's the smaller films that have wiggled their way in instead.
The few exceptions have been District 9, Inception, and Avatar. I guess you could consider films like Up and Toy Story 3 as films that probably wouldn't have gotten nominated if it wasn't for the expanded category.
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The academy is extremely rigid when it comes to genre. Something I find rather archaic considering how many films are blurring the lines between genres these days.
Take The Dark Knight for instance. A fantastic crime thriller that was expertly, and meticulously crafted, yet the academy decided to not give it any love since it was a "comic book movie".
True. I don't think they ever release any official stats on the subject, but from what I hear, Dark Knight was really close to getting a Best Picture nomination. I think they have to change in a bunch of ways actually.
There's no reason why Scarlett Johansson shouldn't receive more consideration for her voice work in Her. Don't even get me started how Andy Serkis should have been nominated for Lord of the Rings.
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These are my favourites as I go along watching them all. Will probably change by oscar time. Only doing the awards I care to care about.
Best Picture: Her
Best Director: Alfonso Cauron
Best Actor: Christian Bale
Best Actress: Amy Adams
Best Original Screenplay: Her
Best Cinematography: Gravity
Best Film Editing: American Hustle
Best Original Score: Her
Best Original Song: Her
Best Production Design: hHer
Best Sound Editing: Gravity
Best Sound Mixing: Gravity
Best Visual Effect: Gravity
I do not think those last three will change in my predictions lol
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Best Picture Nominees:
“12 Years a Slave”
“American Hustle”
“Captain Phillips”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
“Gravity”
“Her”
“Nebraska”
“Philomena”
“The Wolf of Wall Street”
I need to view "Her" and Philomena"
Having not seen 2 of the movies, my favorite is "Gravity".
My prediction (non-binding at this time) is "12 Years A Slave"
I predict that Her/Gravity and American Hustle will be the big winners with 4-5 oscars each. Gravity will take technical oscars. American Hustle/Her I think are pick em odds for Production Design and Original Screenplay. American Hustle will get 1 or 2 acting Oscars. Predicting either Her or American Hustle will take best picture, though I have not seen the rest I just can't seem be that good. Even Gravity as great as it was wasn't as good. Captain Phillips tonight. Saving Marty for last. Also going to watch Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight since Before Midnight has an oscar nomination for Adapted Screenplay and I've put off watch them long enough as I hear they are amazing. Hopefully I can find some of the foreign film nominees but those are usually very difficult. Even amour was difficult and it had a best picture nomination.
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truly exceptional year: bears haven't seen any of the movies nominated in any of the categories
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BEST PICTURE
“12 Years a Slave”
BEST DIRECTOR
Steve McQueen, “12 Years a Slave”
BEST ACTOR
Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Wolf of Wall Street”
BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams, “American Hustle”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“American Hustle” – Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“Philomena” – Screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, “American Hustle”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jared Leto, “Dallas Buyers Club”
BEST ANIMATED FILM
“The Wind Rises”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Nebraska”
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
William Chang Suk Ping, “The Grandmaster”
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“Dirty Wars” Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“CaveDigger” Jeffrey Karoff
BEST FILM EDITIN
“Dallas Buyers Club” John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“Omar” Palestine
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
“The Lone Ranger” Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, “Philomena”
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
“The Great Gatsby”
Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“Room on the Broom” Max Lang and Jan Lachauer
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“Helium” Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
BEST SOUND EDITING
“Gravity” Glenn Freemantle
BEST SOUND MIXING
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“Gravity” Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould
tie breaker: American Hustle” 3
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Non-King collection
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Well, since some people are already posting their Oscar predictions, I guess now would be a good time to post the official rules. I also ask the Mods to change the name of the thread to "The Official 2014 Oscar Contest Thread." Thank you.
This is the fifth year I'm running the Oscar contest. We had 7 participants last year, which is good, but we can do better. I'm hoping to build on that this year. Don't forget to tell your other DT.org friends to come on over and submit their predictions. All are welcome. We always have a lot of fun predicting the winners and seeing who comes out on top. It's just for fun.
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.
Remember, these are just educated guesses. None of us have seen every film nominated and I doubt if anybody has seen any of the documentary short subject nominees. Just make an educated guess. Or an uneducated guess. For those of you who have access to time machines or have the ability to alter time and space, you will not be allowed to participate in this contest. Fuck you time traveler.
Good luck and have fun.
Past results:
2010 results
Heather - 15
Servant - 14
Turtlex - 14
Cody - 8
Seymour - 8
Odetta - 4
2011 results
Heather - 17
Servant - 15
Path - 14
Mattrick - 14
Ricky - 12
Merlin - 11
Feev - 8
2012 results
Servant - 14
Heather - 14
Ricky - 14
Stockerlone - 12
Shannon - 11
Thorin- 10
Mattrick - 9
Feev - 8
Garrell - 8
Odetta - 5
Mystima - 4
2013 results
Heather - 20
Servant - 17
Ricky - 15
Matt - 14
Stockerlone - 13
Feev - 12
Pablo - 10
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Thank you Pablo and Stockerlone for your submissions. When you guys get the chance, just post which film you think will walk away with the most wins.
Pablo, don't forget to choose a winner for both Best Live Short and Best Documentary Short categories. Just make a guess. Can't hurt.
Also, you guys can make changes to all your choices right up until showtime.
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I've got to alter my strategy and not take a few dark horses but at the same time, I took Ang Lee last year and I doubt many people did and he won. I just can't go againt a sure, sure bet like I did with Day-Lewis last year. I'm great at picking things like Production Design, Cinematography and Editing but sometimes the acting ones can be so subjective it's hard for me not to pick my favourite and think like the Academy.
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BEST PICTURE
12 Years a Slave
BEST DIRECTOR
Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
BEST ACTOR
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
BEST ACTRESS
Judi Dench, “Philomena”
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Her – Written by Spike Jonze
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
12 Years a Slave – Screenplay by John Ridley
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi, “Captain Phillips”
BEST ANIMATED FILM
“Frozen”
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Gravity”
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Patricia Norris, “12 Years a Slave”
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Dirty Wars- Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Karama Has No Walls- Sara Ishaq
BEST FILM EDITING
Gravity- Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“The Hunt” Denmark
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Dallas Buyers Club- Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
John Williams, “The Book Thief”
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Gravity
Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
Feral- Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
Helium- Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
BEST SOUND EDITING
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- Brent Burge
BEST SOUND MIXING
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug- Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds
Does whatever a spiderman does.