Oscars 2014

[PlasticRam]

People can discuss Oscars in this thread if they wish to.

My predictions:

-12 Years A Slave will win Best Picture
-Cuaron will win Best Director, I'm hoping McQueen
-I hope and predict DiCaprio will win Best Actor (McCounaghey is the fav though)
-Blanchett the clear fav to win Best Actress
-Gravity will sweep the technical categories, I liked that movie only in those aspects
-The Hunt wins Foreign Language
-No chance Finnish nominee wins Best Live Action Short Film

As a general question, how respected are the Oscars among critics/in general? There are some weird choices often.

Edit: But I mean Cuaron does deserve at least some of the credit how the movie appeared visually.

[JimmyJazz]

Oh, boy, the "meat parade" (in the memorable words of George C. Scott) begins.

Well, I really don't hold much respect for the Oscars, or any major awards show generally. I think it is a truly shallow enterprise that serves as Hollywood's kissing of its own ass mostly. Throughout its history, great directors, both domestic (Welles, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Lubitsch, Hawks, Altman) and foreign (Pretty much all of them!) have been completely shunned by the Academy, so it pretty helps to sum up their interest (or lack thereof) in the true art of the cinema.

Nevertheless, it is fun to try to predict what wins, particularly when you have actual bets (and thus money) on the awards (I don't, for the record).

Here are my predictions, as well as who I think should win out of the nominees:

Picture: Will: 12 Years a Slave Should: Wolf of Wall Street
Director: Will: Alfonso Cuaron Should: Scorsese
Actor: Will: McCounaghey Should: DiCaprio
Actress: Will: Blanchett Should: Adams
Supporting Actor: Will: Leto Should: Rather weak nominee list this year IMO
Supporting Actress: Will: Nyongo Should: Same as above
Original Screenplay: Will: A tough toss up between Her and American Hustle, but the former IMO Should: Her (the one choice this awards ceremony I probably won't disagree with)
Adapted Screenplay: Will: 12 Years a Slave Should: Before Midnight (which should've been Original Screenplay, and should have received nominations in other major categories as well, including Picture and Director)
Technical Awards: Will: Gravity Should: Deservedly Gravity
Foreign Film: The Great Beauty, though Jia Zhangke's masterpiece A Touch of Sin should have been nominated and won instead of this overrated and shameless Fellini-Rossellini knock-off.
Animated: Frozen
Documentary: 20 Feet from Stardom, though the amazing and horrifying Act of Killing should instead.

As for your last question, the mainstream critics seem to devote a lot of space to it, but most alternative critics (working for things like Village Voice, Chicago Reader, Time Out, Sight and Sound) as well as the vast majority of academics all regard the Oscars as a complete trivial joke not authoritative on anything to do with the art of cinema.

[whuntva]

@JimmyJazz sequels are always adapted. They say "based on characters from the first film". Stupid rule, but it is a rule.

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave (Though I liked all but AH)
Director: Cuaron
Actor: McCounaghey
Actress: Blanchette
S.Actor: Leto (though I'm rooting for Fassbender)
S. Actress: N'Yongo
Screenplay: Her (Original) 12 Years (Adapted)
Technical: Gravity. All of them. Mixing may go to Lone Survivor, but Gravity is the favorite across the board.
Foreign: Great Beauty may win. The Hunt is what should win.
Animated: Frozen. Easily.
Documentary: The Act of Killing (Haven't seen it, but heard only good things about it)

[JimmyJazz]

Was right about Leto winning Sup. Actor.

Update: Gravity scooped up Best Visuals, beginning its entirely unsurprising technical awards spree.

[PlasticRam]

So hoped for The Hunt to win... 5 star-film in my opinion and Mikkelsen did a fantastic performance.

[Blanco]

I did not see most of the nominated films, so I could not give my predictions. But here I am, haha... ha u_u

[Blanco]

Damn! They didn't let Alfonso talk. :C
I hope he can do it in a few minutes.

Edit: Hey, by the way! I just realized that Lupita, Alfonso and El Chivo were all born in Mexico City. Yeah!

[JimmyJazz]

Of course, Alain Resnais didn't get included in the Memoriam. News this morning some are saying as an excuse, but one of the greatest and most important filmmakers who ever lived could (and should) have easily been added right off the bat. The Academy totally sucks.

[JimmyJazz]

Otherwise, my predictions at going perfectly. If I was betting tonight, I would have made a lot of money!

[Nassim]

Otherwise, my predictions at going perfectly. If I was betting tonight, I would have made a lot of money!

No you wouldn't have ! No upset this year, all the winners were the odds on favorite (except live action short and animated short)
I strongly disagree with you on the supporting actors category being weak, the ones from the 3 movies I have seen (Leto, Fassbender and Cooper) were all excellent in their roles with surprisingly nuanced performance ; and at least unlike last year it is REALLY a supporting role who won, not an actor in over 2/3 of the movie's scenes (as great as Christopher Waltz was in Django).
Same for the actresses, Lawrence, Nyong'o , Hawkins and Squibb were all excellent.

if there was one weak category, it was best actress were lots of this year's performances have been overlooked. And while I think Cate Blanchett was really good in her role, it was for a character who lacks range, being neurotic, pretentious and rambling through all the movie, I like Amy Adams more in that aspect, her character was more rich and interesting. I have seen the Dench and Streep's movies but from what I heard they pretty much were nominated based on the fact that they are Judi Dench and Meryl Streep, weren't they ?

I enjoy the Oscars race, but if there was an award I would give some credit to it would most likely be the Golden Globes !

[JimmyJazz]

I haven't ever betted on Oscars before, so didn't know how it plays out usually. As for your points, I ultimately just don't respect the Oscars (or Globes) at all, and I feel that it degrades the art of cinema immensely for all of its existence. A large amount of the movies nominated I either felt were overrated (12 Years a Slave, Gravity), very good but not mind-blowing (Nebraska, American Hustle), or were great but were practically shut out of winning anything (Wolf, Her). Before Midnight getting a measly little screenplay nomination and Inside Llewyn Davis (TSPDT's most critically acclaimed film of 2013) being completely snubbed for nominations was absolutely criminal IMO. The one I like is the BAFTAs actually, but even then they have increasingly more mainstream and blandly middle-brow as of late.

[Jirin]

I don't care much about the Oscars in general but I think 12 Years A Slave and Gravity deserve their praise completely.

Of course, Inside Llewyn Davis deserves the same amount.