Announcement: 2014 Academy Award Nominations – Surprises & Snubs!

This morning, actor Chris Hemsworth (who starred in last year’s “Thor: The Dark World” and  “Rush”) announced the 86th Academy Awards® nominations with Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Cheryl Boone Isaacs at 5:38am (pacific), from the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, CA. Boone Isaacs described the announcement of the nominations as a celebration of “the heroes of moviemaking”, which led to her introduction of Hemsworth, “lucky for us, we have a superhero with us”.  As expected, there are some inevitable  surprises and snubs, which I will touch on below.  Below are the entire nominees….

 

BEST PICTURE

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

Surprises: Philomena, I suppose. But, it’s not that much of a surprise. “Dallas Buyers Club” has clearly benefited from an immense campaign.

Snubs: No “Inside Llewyn Davis”. My favorite movie of 2013 didn’t make the list. It could easily replace “Dallas Buyers Club”.

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DIRECTING

• David O. Russell – American Hustle
• Alfonso Cuarón  – Gravity
• Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
• Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street
• Alexander Payne – Nebraska

Surprises: Alexander Payne. He deserves it, but it’s a slot that many thought would go to Paul Greengrass for “Captain Phillips”.

Snubs: Joel & Ethan Coen for “Inside Llewyn Davis”

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ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

• Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
• Bruce Dern – Nebraska
• Christian Bale – American Hustle
• Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
• Matthew McConuaghey – Dallas Buyers Club

Surprises:  Christian Bale. Not that he doesn’t deserve it, it’s just that much of the talk was around Tom Hanks getting a nom for “Captain Phillips”

Snubs: No Oscar Isaacs for “Inside Llewyn Davis” or Joaquin Phoenix for “Her”

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ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

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

Surprises: Meryl Streep. I mean, really? When does she NOT get nominated.

Snubs: It would’ve been great to see Brie Larson get a nom for “Short Term 12”. This category does have a tendency to once in a while include first-timers and relatively unknowns (like last year), but the choices here are quite predictable.

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ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
• Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
• Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
• Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
• Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street

Surprises: Bradley Cooper, I guess. Just because there was talks of Daniel Brühl (“Rush”) was also a name being tossed around. But, when I first saw “American Hustle”, I knew it would get nominated in every acting category, so here we are.

Snubs: I felt Steve Coogan did some fine work in “Philomena”, but I didn’t think his name would make it.

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ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

• Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
• June Squib – Nebraska
• Lupita Nyong’O – 12 Years a Slave
• Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
• Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
  

Surprises: Julia Roberts. I mean….I just didn’t see that coming. Her performance was fine, but not worth a nomination.

Snubs: Honestly, none come to mind immediately.

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Writing (Original Screenplay)

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

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

• John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave
• Richard Linklater, Ethan Hawke & Julie Delpy – Before Midnight
• Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street
• Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope – Philomena
• Billy Ray –  Captain Phillips

Surprises: None

Snubs: “Short Term 12” would’ve been nice.

 

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BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

• The Croods
• Despicable Me 2
• Frozen
• Ernest and Celestine
• The Wind Rises

Surprises: Ernest and….who?!?! Even though I’m not a fan of “Despicable Me 2”, I’m kind of stumped that this got a nom.

Snubs: None.

 

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FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

• The Broken Circle Breakdown – Belgium
• The Hunt – Denmark
• The Great Beauty – Italy
•  The Missing Picture – Cambodia
• Omar – Palestine

Surprises: Never even heard of “Omar” or “The Missing Picture” – good for them.

Snubs: No “Blue is the Warmest Color”. I guess it’s not surprising that this controversial French film got snubbed. It’s too bad, because it had some of the best performances of the year.

 

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BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

• The Act of Killing
• Cutie and the Boxer
• Dirty Wars
• The Square
• 20 Feet from Stardom

Surprises: While, it’s good to see them there – “Cutie and the Boxer” (now streaming on Netflix) and “Dirty Wars” – two films which didn’t really get much “year-end”  buzz.

Snubs: “Stories We Tell” and “Blackfish”

 

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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

 

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ART DIRECTION  (Production Design) 

• Judy Becker (Production Design); Heather Loeffler (Set Decoration) –  American Hustle
• Andy Nicholson (Production Design); Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard (Set Decoration) – Gravity
• Catherine Martin (Production Design); Beverley Dunn (Set Decoration) – The Great Gatsby
• K.K. Barrett (Production Design); Gene Serdena (Set Decoration) – Her
• Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Alice Baker (Set Decoration) – 12 Years a Slave

Surprises: None

Snubs: None

 

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CINEMATOGRAPHY

Philippe Le Sourd –  The Grandmaster
Emmanuel Lubezki – Gravity
Bruno Delbonnel –  Inside Llewyn Davis
Phedon Papamichael –  Nebraska
Roger A. Deakins – Prisoners

Surprises:  Considering “Inside Llewyn Davis” didn’t get any love in any other category, I’m surprised. It deserves this nom but I’m still surprised. Also, “The Grandmaster” is a surprise – again, it also is a deserved nom.

Snubs: Let’s just get this out of the way, Roger Deakins will likely not win – once again. Remember “Skyfall” last year?

 

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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

 

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FILM EDITING

• Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten – American Hustle
• Christopher Rouse – Captain Phillips
• John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa – Dallas Buyers Club
• Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger – Gravity
• Joe Walker – 12 Years a Slave

NOTE: the winner here will likely tell us who wins Picture 

 

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MAKEUP

• Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews – Dallas Buyers Club
• Stephen Prouty –  Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
• Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny – The Lone Ranger

Surprises: All three of these are a surprise, actually. Really. 

Snubs: There’s a long list.

NOTE: It IS cool though that “Bad Grandpa” got nom. Heh heh.

 

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MUSIC (Original Score)

• John Williams – The Book Theif
• Steven Price – Gravity
• William Butler and Owen Pallett – Her
• Alexandre Desplat – Philomena
• Thomas Newman – Saving Mr. Banks

Surprises: I guess we can’t have this category and not see John Williams

Snubs: Golden Globe winner Alex Ebert for “All is Lost”

 

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MUSIC (Original Song) 

• “Alone Yet Not Alone,” Alone Yet Not Alone;  music by Bruce Broughton, lyrics by Dennis Spiegel
• “Happy,” Despicable Me 2; music and lyrics by Pharrell Williams
• “Let It Go,” Frozen; music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
• “The Moon Song,” Her; music by Karen O., lyrics by Karen O. and Spike Jonze
• “Ordinary Love,” Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom; music by Paul Hewson, Dan Evans, Adam Clayton, and Larry Mullen, a.k.a. U2; lyrics by Paul Hewson, a.k.a. Bono

NOTE:  I’d be willing to wipe this category out all together.

 

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SHORT FILM (Animated)

• 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

 

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SHORT FILM (Live Action)

• Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?) – Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
• 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
• The Voorman Problem -Mark Gill and Baldwin Li

 

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SOUND EDITING

• Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns – All Is Lost
• Oliver Tarney – Captain Phillips
• Glenn Freemantle – Gravity
• Brent Burge – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Wylie Stateman –Lone Survivor

 

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SOUND MIXING

• Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro – Captain Phillips
• Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro – Gravity
• Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland, Inside Llewyn Davis
  Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow –  Lone Survivor

 

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VISUAL EFFECTS

• Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould –  Gravity
• Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds –  The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
• Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick – Iron Man 3
• Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier – The Lone Ranger
• Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton – Star Trek Into Darkness

 

 

So….”American Hustle” and “Gravity” received the most nominations with each film receiving 10 nominations, while “12 Years a Slave” received 9 .  Other heavily nominated films include “Dallas Buyers Club”,” Captain Phillips” and “The Wolf of Wall Street”.

Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2013 will be presented on Sunday, March 2, 2014, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center and televised live on the ABC Television Network. The presentation, produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, also will be televised live in more than 225 countries and territories worldwide.