This year's Best Picture nominees were disappointing after the golden assortment of independent and big-budget films last year. Nonetheless, some of them have what it takes to win. Once again, here they are: American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, 12 Years a Slave, and The Wolf of Wall Street.
American Hustle has everything anyone could ever want out of a Best Picture nominee: solid acting, some fights, romance, a fun soundtrack, and an interesting plot. That is not to say that it is very new, as hustlers have been portrayed a thousand times over. Still, it is one of the top three contenders, for better or worse, alongside Gravity and 12 Years a Slave.
Captain Phillips was really nothing special. Something about ships and Tom Hanks tend to appeal to Academy voters. Overall the acting is nothing more than ordinary. The film is full of blue, orange, and white, but its nomination leaves me feeling nothing more than blue.
Dallas Buyers Club was riveting, using its $5.5 million budget to the max. The acting from McConaughey and Leto is ridiculous and amazing. The cinematography was effective if not very inventive. Unfortunately it does not stand a chance for the top prize, but acting will almost certainly be victorious.
Gravity can win every technical award there is, but it should not win Best Picture. The story is linear, the acting is not very good, and the screenplay is terrible. This film contains not storytelling but a technical experiment. The experiment has obviously garnered it much success thus far, but I say, "No more!"
Her is probably one of the most deserving nominees. It has great cinematography and acting. Despite minute flaws in the screenplay, it was a great story told in the best way possible. It has no shot, but I would love for it to win.Nebraska is a good film that has good dialogue and good acting. There is nothing exceptional about it, but it does what it does well.
I am still surprised that Philomena got nominated, but I am not outraged. The acting was solid and the cinematography was adequate. I just don't see what was so great about it. Luckily, it really isn't a contender. However, it is nice to see more and more small-budget films at the Oscars. I appreciate this film standing as a microcosm of the power of independent film.
12 Years a Slave stands as a Spielberg-esque picture just when we thought we had escaped from Steven for a couple of years. There is nothing new about the cinematography or the story, of course, but the acting is phenomenal. Particularly Lupita Nyong'o. There was a time when I thought American Hustle would win, but now I think Slave will. We will know soon enough.
The Wolf of Wall Street is something special. Historically, the Academy has not always been so open to films with three hours of debauchery. Martin Scorsese can make it happen. With great acting all around and a distinct, personal style for a larger-than-life true story, Wolf is one of the few nominees that deserves the top prize.Although I would love to see Her or Wolf win Best Motion Picture of the Year, 12 Years a Slave is likely to win. It makes you wonder if the Academy feels safer giving Europeans the prize for telling a pure American story that was told by an American just last year. Just because Django Unchained was made humorous and more enjoyable does not mean that it took the slavery subject lightly. And it certainly was more stylish than Slave. I think the acting was the determining factor. The acting was great in both films, but Nyong'o was more affective and effective in showing the despair of slavery than Kerry Washington was in her comparable role in Django. Furthermore, Slave is nominated in three of the four acting categories, whereas Django was only nominated in one.
That is all for the 2014 Road to the Oscars. I will be posting my thoughts on the results tomorrow. Thank you all for reading, and enjoy the Oscars tonight!
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