Well folks, it’s that time again. Thursday morning was the movie fan’s equivalent to Christmas morning, except with a much higher chance of heartache.
The nominations were announced for the 86th Academy Awards. There were, per usual, outrageous omissions and pleasant surprises. I, Lumination Network Entertainment Editor Logan Butts, will break down the morning’s most important moments.
Biggest Surprises:
1. No Tom Hanks: Believed to be a lock for one acting nomination, and in the running for two, the always lovable Tom Hanks was left out of both the Best Actor field for his riveting turn in Captain Phillips and the Supporting Actor field for his role in Saving Mr. Banks. I believe that he most likely canceled himself out by being in the running for both awards.
2. Lack of Saving Mr. Banks nominations: Speaking of Saving Mr. Banks, it was completely shut out of the major categories, only receiving a Best Original Score nomination. For a film thought to be right up the voting body’s alley, the film went home without a single nomination.
3. Sally Hawkins in, Oprah out: In the Best Supporting Actress race, Oprah Winfrey was predicted by most prognosticators to receive a nod for her role in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, which was shut out as well. Instead, her spot went to Sally Hawkins for the film Blue Jasmine, proving once again that the voters love performances from Woody Allen films. Cate Blanchett is the front-runner in the Best Actress category for her performance in the same film.
Worst Snubs:
1. Inside Llewyn Davis: Although it always seemed to be more of a critical darling than a true awards contender, Inside Llewyn Davis deserved more than two nods in cinematography and sound mixing.
2. 12 Years a Slave’s Sean Bobbit: For a film whose cinematography has been praised as some of the best work of the past decade, it is unbelievable that Bobbitt was left out on Oscar morning. Although the Academy did a great job of nominating underrepresented films in Prisoners and The Grandmaster in that category, they still should have found a way to include 12 Years a Slave.
3. The Wolf of Wall Street‘s Thelma Schoonmaker: Schoonmaker edited countless hours of footage to somehow condense Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street into a three-hour film. The work she put into that film is some of the best editing I have ever seen, and I cannot see how it was left out of the editing category.
The Front-runners:
1. American Hustle: David O’Russell’s film about con men and women tied for the most nominations with 10, including nominations in every major category. For the second year in a row, an O’Russell movie has netted acting nods in all four of the acting categories, a first in Academy history (the first of the two films being last year’s Silver Linings Playbook). The voters’ widespread love for the film is obvious. American Hustle should be the primary front-runner for the duration of voting.
2. 12 Years a Slave: Steve McQueen’s harrowing tale of a free man who was captured and sold into slavery has been called an essential piece of viewing by many film critics, but will it find success with the Oscars? The film has nominations in all of the major categories it is eligible for, as well as nine nods overall. In the end, 12 Years a Slave may prove to have too difficult subject matter to garner enough votes to win the big prizes.
3. Gravity: Alfonso Cuaron’s foray into space showed audiences what only films can do given a large enough budget and an ambitious director. Gravity tied American Hustle for the most nominations with 10, but that number is boosted by the many technical nods for Gravity, which lacks key spots in the screenplay and acting categories (save for Best Actress nominee Sandra Bullock). Although the film will have the support of the technical branch of the Academy, I do not think it has enough nominations in the major categories to be the favorite.
Photo from Bing.com