Nearly a year removed, and I am still in disbelief. The masterpiece that is 12YAS, which boasts a predominantly black cast, actually won best picture! Wow!
A great choice for winners! And I am very happy 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture. Congrats Sasha- I know this was important for you.
I also will say this- Cate Blanchett is now one of the most deserving Best Actress winners EVER in this category. And her speech is one of the ages- gracious, refined, elegant, funny and heroic! For all the doubters on here (and you know who you are) that tried to say she wouldn’t win because of the stupid Scandal bullshit that had NOTHING to do with her- I hope you ate your humble pie with lot’s of crow on top. Always remember that it’s the PERFORMANCE that matter, and to not jump to conclusions about someone’s worth or merit. Blanchett should never have had any of that put on her shoulders and I am glad she has her Oscar. It’s just something to think about in the future- a few of you were way to quick to judge and make harsh comments. My two cents on that matter.
Fantastic year over all! Happy with 95% of the winners- and American Hustle deservedly get’s the cold shoulder. Nothing but a marketing machine.
Ok everyone i totally over it! for another mediocre year! was it really gonna be that difficult and painful for oscar to acutally declare a draw for best picture for both GRAVITY and 12 years a slave?
Honeslty, rhat would have been the best just resultset a new precendent and a POSITIVE ONE! that what i really would have loved to see. At least it was a split year but runner up for the longest suffering most neglected film genre in hollywood history just not good enough oscar not a disaster but not that much better than one considering they continue to be sooo far behind the 8 ball in regard to thankfully bout bloody time they correct interpertations through “slave” of their own history.
Anyway i never forgive myself as one of few Australians to put the focus on always justified and impressive winners that shined above the politics and machincations of oscars internalised unhealthy obsessions, that dear lovely Cate Blanchett has made history eveyone! and deservedly so! not since good ol’ “Rusty” Crowe showed he could be a force to reckon with and look intimidating and awesome at once in ancient roman- european atire too! not since then has there been a actor so celebrated and worthy of winning best actor/actress.
But guess what? Cate Blanchett has now overtaken Rusty and good ol Geoffrey Rush- but i predict he win another oscar before long and deserves it for his versatility and creativity inhis performances.
But Cate Blanchett is now the first aussie actor ever in AUSTRALIAN actors in hollywoods entire history to win 2 oscars- i rely on feedback from my parents to validate her worth which is really not hard to believe for her great performance in BLUE JASMINE! how could i see it? soo many things unique at the time to see and experience on the CRUISE! and too many time table clashes too unfortunately i missed ‘Blue Jasmine’
I personally feel her most memorable performance was the charasmatic and ultra eccentric and legendary Kathryn Hepburn but i not find it hard to believe a actress of her calibre would put any less effort in her role in ‘blue jasmine’.
And of course let not forget the lovely Catherine Martin- for being the most decorated australian oscar winner ever now wtih 4 statuettes with 100% success she owns totally and deserves to the categories of production design and costume design.
And frankly both these Aussies are hot to trot too…but just as talented.
Note to Baz Luhrman: Try to outdo your wife if you can….in the awards stakes in hollywood, and maybe, just maybe the writing and acting will shine on par with the brilliant artistry that your films are known for thanx to Mrs. Martin.
Cmon Baz you can do it!!! well another year…
and to the person that declared ‘gravity’ will be remembered for it influence nad game changing long after this oscars compared to the actual best picture winner spot on truth there..unfortunately for oscar
The 10 lowest-earning best picture winners (adjusted for inflation) club has a new member. And the bottom 3 are, alarmingly, 3 of the last five years’ best pictures:
1. The Hurt Locker ($17m)
2. The Artist ($44.6m)
3. 12 Years a Slave ($50m)
4. All the King’s Men (1949) ($60m)
5. Hamlet (1948) ($61m)
6. An American in Paris ($65m)
7. Crash ($67m)
8. Marty ($70m)
9. No Country for Old Men ($85m)
10. It Happened One Night ($86m)
Just the facts. Enough, though, with the Indie Spirits-esque Oscar lineups. Toss a bone to the critics and fans who *hearted* Catching Fire and Frozen, who belonged in the BP category a hell of a lot more than Philomena and Nebraska did.
Why do super 8 movies get robbed of visual effects. Poor peter jacksin. Just watched a video on you tube of him working at weta digital and he deserves more respect. He owns a studio for peep sajes. Hope he sweeps saturn awards
Keifer, you didn’t see Jonze’s win coming? That was one of the surest bets of the whole night. Sure they could’ve gone for American Hustle but Her won almost every single screenplay award before last night’s events.
Overall, great year for cinema. 12YAS secures itself a place in the Oscar history books. I suspect Gravity will be the Oscar film from this year that will stand the test of time. (a la Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, Gladiator, Return of the King, etc.) David O. Russell is on the cusp, his next film, if it’s a little more serious I think is going to make big waves, the guy is definitely due. Poor Leo, but he’s so beloved, he’s going to get one eventually. Him and Tom Cruise are due for some Oscar loving.
For me, there was only one huge surprise of the evening (in an evening that promised to hold lots of suprises), and that was Spike Jonze winning the original screenplay Oscar for “Her”.
I didn’t see that one coming at all.
All the other Oscars . . . well, it’s easy to say now in retrospect . . . but, let’s face it, they were a bit predictable in that they followed the historical course.
Really embarrassed for Kim Novak, Goldie Hawn and Liza Minnelli.
These women looked like a freak show with all the BAD plastic surgery and face lifts. Yuk. That’s what I hate about Hollywood. Phony faces to go with the phony people.
Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn never had any work done; they aged naturally and remained beautiful.
Why can’t these women realize that there is beauty to be found at any age? Mostly, it comes from within.
Why does this site refer to the documentary short winner as “Room 306” when it is called “The Lady in Number 6”? Both the prediction chart and a poster above called it “Room 306”. Is it an alternative title?
Other than a lifetime Oscar, which could be many years away, Leo’s best hope to win is probably as a producer like Brad Pitt just did. Same goes for Tom Cruise.
The greater adoration you get from females, the less likely you will win Best Actor. That’s just the sad truth.
Well after all those articles about how voters are most definitely not voting for 12 Years a Slave and how ignorant they are it’ll be refreshing to see Sasha pretend like she knew it was happening all along
In a night underscored by the historic win of ”12 Years a Slave,” it’s a shame that the producers of the Oscarcast, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, apparently only see race as literally a black-and-white issue. About their choice of presenters, they said, ”We sought to include a tremendous diversity of stars to represent not only this year’s nominees, but the legacy of the motion picture business as well.” African-Americans were well-represented by the likes of Will Smith, Sidney Poitier, Michael B. Jordan, Gabourey Sidibe, Jamie Foxx, etc.
But there was only one Latino/Hispanic presenter: Penelope Cruz. Anyone think to invite John Leguizamo, Jennifer Lopez, Andy Garcia or Oscar-winner Benicio del Toro? And not a single Asian or Asian-American. Not even a token? Ziyi Zhang (from the Oscar-nominated ”Grandmaster”)? Or John Cho? Lucy Liu? What about bringing back last year’s Oscar-winning director, Ang Lee, to present this year’s prize? … Is this really the best the Academy can do, in its broadcast to millions around the world?
“I’d just like to say a HUGE FUCK YOU to the producer of one of the other BP nominees who started spreading the word that 12 Years was too brutal for sensitive eyes. And then I’d like to say THANKS, ASSHOLE to his smarmy dickhead assistant who’s been bragging about that scheme.”
Fuck yeah!LOL
Skip Lievsay’s (Sound Mixing, Gravity) father is one of my customers at work, and I saw him this morning and he was SO excited about his son winning. It made me really remember how important the Oscars still can be. It’s easy to get jaded and frustrated when someone deserving misses out on a nomination and a win, but I got to see a proud father bragging on his son, the Academy Award winner, and it made me smile. Just thought I’d share!
I have a theory that Will was supposed to present Director and Angelina (Brad’s wife) and Sidney (other reasons) had Best Picture. They rehearsed both ways to see if 12YAS was looking at BP win or not. It didn’t look like a sure thing (needed at least one more trophy earlier to see if people loved it or not) in the end. Sort of makes more sense to have two presenters for BP and not for BD. Or Academy producers actually knew the outcome and changed it because of that.
Was the first matrix a anticipated movie or surprise hit. Watched it last night and its a scifi masterpiece. Was sandra bullock the first choice to play annie in speed. Was speed the true hit of the summer movie season. I was only 12 and curious to see it but i was not allowed to watch r rated movies.
I’d like to ask the Academy to consider GODZILLA for Best Visual Effects sight unseen. Without a doubt the most effective I’ve seen in a trailer all year. It’d be a good step toward repairing that cred, VFX branch, after that PACIFIC RIM snub.
Best speech: blanchett, mccoughaney and 20 feet from stardom
Worst speech: glenn close and whoopi goldberg and not because they were the worst they were tearjerking, sad, and fading away.
Ellen Degeneress was hysterical. As for the winners…(yawn!) no surprises here. I did like Jared Leto’s dedication to AIDS victims during his acceptance speech. ‘Gravity’ wins an impressive 7 awards, while ’12 Years a Slave’ and ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ take 3 each. Poor ‘American Hustle.’ Such a fun film to watch, so much love and effort put into it, and no Oscar to show for it :(. The same can be said for ‘Nebraska.’ Oh well. It was a hell of a show. I’m already wondering who the Academy will select to host the show, next year. What about Kevin Hart? That would be interesting.
1. The fact that AMPAS chose to honour work by Cuaron, Jonze and McQueen on the same night shows that they aren’t as stodgy as some of those voters who chose to expose themselves early to bloggers and the press would indicate. Were they plants by desperate campaigns from less successful films?
2. That audiences are more than happy to sit through a 3 1/2 hr telecast about films, shorter in length, that they complained were “too long.”
This ceremony was probably the best I’ve seen in terms of the quality of live performances. All singers really prepared well and delivered well (live). It was much better than what the majority of live concerts can manage nowadays. I have so many bad memories of live performances at the Oscars in the past, but this time it was amazingly good. I’m going to re-watch some of the gigs just for the pleasure of it.
Mabuhay to my Filipino compatriot Robert Lopez, the first Filipino-American to win the Oscar for the popular song “Let It Go”. Being the youngest Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-and Tony Award winner is a record in itself. Congratulations for raising the Filipino spirit today!
Excellent night, excellent winners (HOORAY for Spike Jonze and Steve McQueen!!), but how could they pick that stupid Frozen-song over Pharrell Williams and Karen O?!? But anyway, great night though.
Al, here’s a list of stuff for 2014. Some, but not all of this stuff will be deep in the awards race:
Potential Awards Bait:
Inherent Vice (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Gone Girl (dir. David Fincher)
Foxcatcher (dir. Bennett Miller)
Exodus (dir. Ridley Scott)
Fury (dir. David Ayer)
Big Eyes (dir. Tim Burton)
Trash (dir. Stephen Daldry)
The Immigrant (dir. James Gray)
Serena (dir. Susanne Bier)
The Search (dir. Michel Hazanavicius)
The Imitation Game (dir. Morten Tyldum)
Specialty/Genre Stuff:
Snowpiercer (dir. Bong Joon-ho)
The Raid 2: Berendal (dir. Gareth Evans)
The Rover (dir. David Michod)
Midnight Special (dir. Jeff Nichols)
Jane Got A Gun (dir. Gavin O’Connor)
They Came Together (dir. David Wain)
A Walk Among The Tombstones (dir. Scott Frank)
Interesting Mainstream Fare:
Interstellar (dir. Chris Nolan)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (dir. Wes Anderson)
Noah (dir. Darren Aronofsky)
The Interview (dir. Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg)
Transcendence (dir. Wally Pfister)
Big Hero 6 (dir. Don Hall & Chris Williams)
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (dir. Matt Reeves)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (dir. Anthony & Joe Russo)
X: Men Days Of Future Past (dir. Bryan Singer)
Godzilla (dir. Gareth Edwards)
Guardians Of The Galaxy (dir. James Gunn)
The Hobbit: There And Back Again (dir. Peter Jackson)
Jupiter Ascending (dir. The Wachowskis)
22 Jump Street (dir. Phil Lord & Chris Miller)
Jersey Boys (dir. Clint Eastwood)
Indies & Outliers:
Boyhood (dir. Richard Linklater)
Nymphomaniac 1 + 2 (dir. Lars Von Trier)
Birdman (dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu)
Maps To The Stars (dir. David Cronenberg)
Under The Skin (dir. Jonathan Glazer)
Calvary (dir. John Michael McDonagh)
The Drop (dir. Michael R. Roskam)
Magic In The Moonlight (dir. Woody Allen)
Zero Theorem (dir. Terry Gilliam)
Only Lovers Left Alive (dir. Jim Jarmusch)
The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby: His & Hers (dir. Ned Benson)
Whiplash (dir. Damien Chazelle)
Locke (dir. Steven Knight)
The Cut (dir. Faith Akin)
Two Days, One Night (dir. The Dardennes)
The Double (dir. Richard Ayoade)
Night Moves (dir. Kelly Reichardt)
Possibly 2015 Releases:
Queen Of The Desert (dir. Werner Herzog)
Men Women & Children (dir. Jason Reitman)
Carol (dir. Todd Haynes)
Knight Of Cups (dir. Terrence Malick)
The Creed Of Violence (dir. Todd Field)
Manglehorn (dir. David Gordon Green)
The Lobster (dir. Yorgos Lantthimos)
Unicorn Store (dir. Miguel Arteta)
Squirrel To The Nuts (dir. Peter Bogdanovich)
Blackbird (dir. David Mamet)
Untitled Noah Baumbach/Greta Gerwig film set in a public school
As for my own predictions – like I said, I focused on getting as many categories right as possible in my other contest, where there are more prizes. @AD I went for the Gravity sweep scenario, in the end, as insurance against 12 Years losing big, so I didn’t really try too hard, as I thought clear 1st place was way too difficult to get anyway. I got 18/24 here, but I got 19/21 in the other one (missed: Original Screenplay and Editing, and there are no short categories there), which will probably be enough to get a prize, but not good enough for 1st place, I imagine, seen as there were very few surprises. Last year 19/21 WAS enough for 1st, if I remember correctly, but there were far more surprises.
Let’s see… what did I get wrong with my predictions this year, and what did I get right?
WRONG: American Hustle DID get zero Oscars; my intuition that Lawrence would win again was incorrect, but I did end up betting on Lupita, against my gut feeling, so that probably doesn’t qualify; Gravity DID win more than 6 and still lost BP; Gatsby did win Production Design as well (I predicted this in the other contest, because it was the safer bet, but I thought there’d be an upset); Frozen did win Song as well (again, I played it safe and predicted this, but thought U2 would upset, which is what I had in the contest here).
RIGHT: 12 Years a Slave WAS the favorite all along, just like I said (even though I do think it was close); the split did happen and WAS predictable; 20 Feet from Stardom OF COURSE won Best Documentary (wish it’d been Dirty Wars, though); the stats held fast everywhere, as expected – BP remains a highly predictable category; no chances for the likes of Wolf, Philomena, Her, Nebraska or Phillips to win BP – I said as much, and the fact that they got 1 award between them proves they never stood any chance (and I would add Dallas to that list, because the stats are very clear for that one as well, even though it got its expected 3 Oscars); I maintain my opinion that these six shouldn’t have been given chances of more than 10% total (if that), no matter what.
Anyway, I’m happy! 🙂 My favorite movie of the year won BP – how often can one say that these days?! (Hint: almost never!) And all of the stats held up because of it, so I don’t have to reevaluate my BP methods either… Also particularly happy about Lupita, Frozen’s two Oscars, Gatsby’s two Oscars (these were two of my big favorites this year), Gravity’s Best Original Score win (its most deserved win, in my opinion) and, honestly, even American Hustle’s 0/10 score. Just seems right… And I loved the ceremony, very funny (although a lot of presenters stuttered, which was a little weird). I hope they liked it too and they bring Ellen back next year!
I miss the honorary awards too on the oscar telecast it made the show something to look forward too. There should have a special night and private night for those who have died in the film industry not with a billion people watching.
Are you guys planning on doing an Oscar Podcast all about your reactions to the winners and losers, because I would love to hear what the night was like for you guys, what you thought of the results, and what may have surprised you.
My “Way-to-soon to even bother with” predictions for Best Picture nominees are:
Exodus – Ridley Scott
Foxcatcher – Bennett Miller
Fury – David Ayer
Gone Girl – David Fincher
Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson
Interstellar – Christopher Nolan
Unbroken – Angelina Jolie
So very happy about 12 Years, Lupita and Cate. Matthew McM and Jared Leto, while not my faves in their categories, are worthy winners who did great work so it’s a surprisingly satisfying Oscar night.
Loved Ellen, loved the pizzas and the selfies. She relaxed the stars and it felt a bit more like the Globes than the usually stuffy Oscars, so that’s good.
But the choice a few years back to remove the honorary awards was a stupid decision. They found time to play not 1 but 2 uninteresting “hero” montages but can’t make time for 88 year old legend Angela Lansbury, whose film career began in 1944, to receive her overdue honorary Oscar during the ceremony?? Instead she’s relegated to less than a minute clip of a taped speech. And Angelina Jolie, who’s an Oscar winner and happens to be the partner of the man who wins best picture, can’t accept her humanitarian award on stage? I’ve been watching the Oscars since 1969, and some of the most memorable moments were honorary awards. In their increasingly useless attempts to get younger people to watch the show (as if those mediocre montages are going to lure them to the TV) they’ve lost sight of what makes the Oscars the Oscars.
Also, what was the point of flying Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joey Luft out to LA just to have them sit in the audience while Whoopi Goldberg did the intro to the (totally unnecessary) homage to the Wizard of Oz? Liza may be a mess but she’s an Oscar winner and you’d think she’d be up on stage for the tribute to her mother’s most iconic film.
After last year’s absurd and unnecessary 10 year (!) anniversary tribute to Chicago (a film they produced of course) I’m hoping the Academy dumps Neil Meron and Craig Zadan as producers.
But Ellen and all those worthy winners were a nice surprise and made the show enjoyable.
My niece is a budding animator and has already won a couple of local awards here in Australia. I told her to dream big and she too, could be up there at the podium on Oscar night!! She loved Frozen! Im just so proud of Cate Blanchett, she is our best actor hands down!
But, as of now, the movie I’m most looking forward to, even if it’s already another “space movie” is Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.
“A group of explorers make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.”
I don’t know if there will be a movie as “important” as 12 Years a Slave in 2014, but I have a suspicion that Unbroken will be the easy front-runner. I mean, “A chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.” You can’t beat that I don’t think.
So it turned out I was right. Gravity is this year’s Life of Pi with 3 additional tech wins, best sound, best sound editing, and best editing.
What a great night. Fuck yeah, 12 Years won the biggie, all this talk about Oscar voters’ not wanting to see the film was obviously all rhetoric and nonsense.
all this talk about Oscar voters’ not wanting to see the film was obviously all rhetoric and nonsense.
Since it was some of the Oscar voters who themselves said they didn’t watch 12 Years a Slave it’s obviously not nonsense.
Nobody every claimed that NOBODY in the Academy was watching 12 Years a Slave. But we knew it was dozens or possibly hundreds.
But as I tried to demonstrate in one of my longass boringass comments, it was possible for 500 or more members of the Academy to skip 12 Years a Slave — just as long as those voters who DID watch it placed it high on their ballots.
We just weren’t sure that there would be enough votes to push it over the 50% line. So the more voters who claimed they were not watching it, the more troubling the situation seemed.
===
I’d just like to say a HUGE FUCK YOU to the producer of one of the other BP nominees who started spreading the word that 12 Years was too brutal for sensitive eyes. And then I’d like to say THANKS, ASSHOLE to his smarmy dickhead assistant who’s been bragging about that scheme.
I hope the assistant gets canned and then I hope the producer continues to make incredibly amazing movies as he’s done for years. And next time I’d like to see him win an Oscar fairly instead of trying to undermine the movies he’s mad about.
“I am still stunned that American Hustle got nothing after winning three Bafta Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and three Critics Choice Awards.”
AND tied for the most Oscar nominations, with 10. Very weird, very weird indeed… but good! 🙂 So overrated…
“Bring back Chris Rock!”
Seconded, but not because I didn’t like Ellen – I did. I’m just a big Chris Rock fan.
“Was hoping Gravity would pull it out in the end, but it looks like it just couldn’t overcome the lack of screenplay and more actor nominations.”
Remember back when all of the Gravity fanboys were trampling on each other to be the first to tell us how these two weren’t relevant in Gravity’s case?
I love Oscar season! Everybody thinks they can reinvent the wheel when it comes to Best Picture every year, and yet the stats, same as they’ve been for over 15 years, easily prove them wrong, time and time again…
P.S.: I can’t wait to see how many of those who are saying there were NO surprises AT ALL got 24/24 in AD’s contest! Should be tough for Sasha & co. to deal with having to award all of those co-winners… 🙂
Happy for cuaron winning two oscars. Cate blanchetts performances are better than meryl streeps. 20 feet from stardom was a good and interesting documentary. Like when chris evans did the pop culture hero segment and sally field doing the ordinary hero segment. Braveheart lawrence of arabia saving private ryan star wars lotr and to kill a mockingbird are my favorite movies. Add gravity dallas buyers club and 12 years a slave to that list. Ill rent in the heat of the night from the library. Frozen is still in the top ten its week #15 for it. It was a dark movie like the lion king was. Overall great show. Whoopi goldberg should come bsck next year or bette midler. Ellen is way too over friendly. Shes seems like a great person and nice person to have a consveration with. But her opinions are not deep or personal.
Well….predictable utterly utterly predictable…incidentally there are far less comments post oscar at this stage in this section then there were last year.
So, ladies and gents oscar have gone down the same foolish path of correcting a oversight to make amends for a mistake of the past a lie of ommission for their part…about a fil which let face it is above all else about AMERICA’S own historic cultural ideological and unfortunately veyr real struggle.
So 12 years a Slave wins best picture.
HOWEVER how many times previously have their been a runner up that has TOTALLY OUTSTRIPPED AND HUMILIATED IN OSCARS EYES THE BEST PICTURE WINNER by quantity AND quality of the film’s work in each category it has won…that GRAVITY THEY fantastic brilliant hugely ambitious groundbreaking game changer of a movie won more than twice the amount of oscars that ‘Slave’ won.
What does that tell you? it tells you oscar would like to think they ‘got it right’ and therein lies the problem.
In oscar’s eyes..they have relegated, snorted at and disposed of GRAVITY as anything but best picture material to the less than it deserves place of runner up.
By doing this oscar show their flavour as it been for far too long of ignoring the TRUE best picture winner- the flm that wins clear majority of oscars in a range of categories and with it best director to boot.
But 7 vs. 3 wins if it were any less than 3 oscar wins seriously? i declare ‘Slave’ in the way oscar wants to present it as a failure in it ability to accumulate and appeal to even oscatrs own base instinct, null and void.
Yet it came sooo dangerously close to being part of a humiliating part of past best picture winners to win so mmuch fewer oscars than the runner up.
That would be a utter embarassment and humiliation for oscar.
In this obsession becoming very off putting to the movie going public and even critics alike, well at least the more intelligent educated ones such as individual columnists like from this site and from some isolated parts of the american press (this most certainly excludes the critics circles form the ‘intelligent’ equation)
But fortunately for oscar it simply something they had to do..or be berated by the blacks in the film industry and beyond…it was irrefutable and there was no doubt in my mind.
With respect Sasha, a lot of people here do not appreciate when you talk up a film which is clear favourite as a sort of disguised underdog. well hate to say as we all did ‘told you so’ but this was always gonna be the end result. In this context this is the ONLY thing that pple are not happy with who write on this site take that as a compliment for everything else your write is smarter and more insightful and with more wisdom than any other film blog site to date…but every site and columnist has their flaws right? this one is your one…but i let it fly after saying it just once cos of the abovbe reasons.
But fact is Sasha…it was always ALWAYS a given…and it proven again that it fair to say without shadow of a doubt the science themed film is waiting to be embraced with it crowining glory for best picture…this is a tentative step.
Now that the past has been ‘corrected’ in oscars mind but not done any justice really to the publics preference which clearly was ‘gravity’ but you know?
snarl at the public tell them they dont matter that what oscar have done too much for my liking in the alst 30 yrs of their history.
And everytime they snub totally or ‘tease’ us like this year with GRAVITY’S chances FOR BEST picture, they just do it in a last desperat bid for ratings..
it remains to be seen by us that shape a films success and keep the film industry going…that we get our recognition via the film that BOTH the critics choice and pples choice.
It not a disastrous result by any means “slave” to me seen on it own is a brilliant film and the best since hurt locker but amazingly NOT better but the politics of oscars machinations and self interest for their own self satisfaction is the story here.
And mark my words oscar you made the shit truly hit the fan the next time a film better in scienc theme relaity or fiction it a ghost that will long haunt you and you will out of pressure likely embrace a future science themed film less worthy than GRAVITY after all it was the TRUE best picture abnd the quanitry = QUALITY 7 oscars is a par with other highly regarded oscar winners most notably SCHINDLERS list both these films are huge quality and so are several others…different films but both reshape the way film is seen experienced and percieved and recieved by audineces the world over.
That where the compariosn end obviouslty..
But in terms of quanity of oscars and quality that number and achievement is there that the TRUE biggest story of the oscars..in context of oscatrs own decisions and flaws fully exposed the list speaks for itself…7 for runner up vs. 3 for the winner.
And so like that ends another outcome of mediocrity and disappointment this is why this is the only post and i last to write ghere this time…pfffft let see what disappointment oscar will serve next year
Nice! They’re already on YouTube, huh. I suppose. If a video is not up within like 5 minutes of the actual event, then that’s practically considered slow.
Bryce, we’re you a bit disappointed that Gravity didn’t win BP? I was for like 5 minutes. Then I came to my own conclusion that I would be very happy for 12 Years a Slave, and be as gracious as possible.
I went out and wasn’t expecting to so I left DVR set and the thing only recorded 3 hours. Cut right after Original Screenplay. Just terrible, I’m raving mad. The winners list looks terrific. Great set. Most happy about GRAVITY winning Best Editing for two reasons:
1) Really happy that Alfonso Cuaron won two Oscars.
Plus, for many, the case can be made for others as well, like these:
Citizen Kane, A Clockwork Orange, The Exorcist, Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Raging Bull, The Shawshank Redemption, L.A. Confidential, Crouching Tiger-Hidden Dragon, TLOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Pianist, Mystic River, Letters from Iwo Jima, There Will Be Blood
Here are my final predictions- I am posting this right before the telecast! Hope this uploads in time- it’s been lagging in speed recently:
BEST PICTURE: 12 Years a Slave
BEST DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
BEST ACTOR: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: 12 Years a Slave
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Her
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gravity
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Great Gatsby
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: The Great Gatsby
BEST SOUND: Gravity
BEST SOUND EDITING: Gravity
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Gravity
BEST SONG: “Let It Go”, Frozen
BEST FILM EDITING: Gravity
BEST MAKEUP: Dallas Buyers Club
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Gravity
BEST FOREIGN FILM: The Great Beauty
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: Helium
BEST ANIMATED SHORT: Mr. Hublot
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Frozen
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: 20 Feet from Stardom
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: The Lady in Number 6
Hope I did okay- wish me luck! Carol Chambers and me are watching together.
For me, Gravity and The Wolf of Wall Street now join the exclusive club of very good movies to NOT win Best Picture. I have on my list:
The Wizard of Oz, Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Saving Private Ryan, Sideways, Brokeback Mountain, Avatar, The Social Network or Inception, Life of Pi or Zero Dark Thirty, and now Gravity or The Wolf of Wall Street.
The “or” are obviously for being from the same year.
It was wonderful of Leto to mention the victims of AIDS in his acceptance speech, so I’m disappointed that McConaughey failed to do the same. He didn’t even make a reference to Ron Woodroof, the guy he played in ”Dallas Buyers.” I wish he’d done that instead of rambling about how he’s always chasing the guy he wants to be in 10 years. I imagine he thought it sounded humble, but it came off so self-congratulatory.
I suppose Matthew McConaughey will celebrate his win by going home and getting naked and playing the bongos all night. Then someone will call the cops on him again.
There’s so many great performances by Cate for you to visit Al.
She and Dench were electric in Notes on a scandal. Her breakthrough film ‘Oscar and Lucinda’ with Ralph Fiennes, ‘Paradise Road’ with Glenn Close; ‘Little Fish’. ‘The Shipping News’.
Sorry, I wanted to say “Gravity won 2 more than I actually had on my predictions” instead of “Gravity one 2 more than I actually had on my predictions”
I wasn’t a fan of 12 Years a Slave at all, but I’m so fucking glad that a gifted man like Steve McQueen is an Academy Award winner.
It was a great evening. Not only it was enjoyable but we saw 3 of the most talented filmmakers on earth go home with an Oscar. McQueen, Cuarón and Jonze are now Oscar winners.
Gravity one 2 more than I actually had on my predictions. As a fan, I’m on the moon that a film like this was close to win Best Picture. One day genre bias will be over.
Overall, it was fun, internet-driven to make it more enjoyable and they stepped up the game on many aspects of the presentation. Still some things to polish. Be more creative to present some of the categories, but to finish my statement, this were the more enjoyable Oscars since Hugh Jackman’s.
Ah, okay. I need to bone up on Cate Blanchett. I really liked her in The Aviator and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I have never seen Notes on a Scandal. In terms of I’m not There, I thought it was an atrociously horrible movie.
Blanchett’s performance in Elizabeth was robbed by Paltrow back in the day. I actually thought Blanchett’s performance in the Aviator which she won for was less than stellar.
Not all winners were my personal choices, but I wasn’t upset with them either. Maybe it was predictable, but for the first time in a long time, all the winners (minus documentary) felt right.
No one ever said life, or the Oscars, is fair. It seems unjust that some people can win on their very first Oscar bid (Nyong’o, Leto and McConaughey), while others are still waiting to get a statuette after 5 tries (Adams, DiCaprio). At least Adams’ 5 Oscar nominations have been packed within an 8-year span; DiCaprio’s 5 nominations cover 20 years.
To answer Al’s query, it’s interesting: Both Adams and DiCaprio are 39. Based on past history, I think the older white Academy voters are far likelier to reward the pretty Adams before they crown Leo.
to Z: what are the other 4 Best Actor/Best Supp Actor movie winners in history? i can only think of GOING MY WAY and BEN-HUR.
oh…and thrilled that AMERICAN HUSTLE won nada.
I’m really happy with how things turned out tonight! I remember months back when Sasha proclaimed “American Hustle” as the Best Picture Winner. Then, of course it was Gravity because “you can’t predict a split.” I always believed 12YAS could do it and I’m so happy it won! Congratulations to Matthew, Lupita, Jared and Cate!
Congratulations to Alfonso Cuaron for Best Director!
Spike Jonze and John Ridley deserved their screenplay wins and I’m glad Gatsby was recognized for Costumes and Production Design! I’m still pulling for Leo to win one day at long last but I can’t begrudge Mr. McConaissance! Amen to that and All right, All right, All right!
I have to say that this year’s Oscar ceremony is the most agreeable one I’ve seen in the past several years, with the technically groundbreaking, emotionally compelling “Gravity” and the socially and historically important “12 Years a Slave” both garnering significant recognition.
I also found the telecast to be thoroughly entertaining, due to both Ellen Degeneres’ humor and the consistently absorbing musical numbers (I thought Idina Menzel sounded to Glee-ish in this rendition of Let it Go; i.e. phenomenal vocals, no emotional connection). I also wish they had axed the second hero bit/Captain America advertisement, and that they had cut commercial breaks during the last six awards to make up for time, but alas the Oscars are never perfect .
I am a bit sad to see “American Hustle” go 0-10, but the Oscars could never take away how much I love the film; like Paul Verhoeven’s best films, it’s shinily polished trashed, but trash that nevertheless manages to touch upon qualities intrinsic to American culture, particularly the delusional justification of greed and deception as means to acquire wealth and and power.
Jennifer Lawrence as Nomi Malone. Just imagine that, oh my, oh my.
Was hoping Gravity would pull it out in the end, but it looks like it just couldn’t overcome the lack of screenplay and more actor nominations.
Still, I’m thrilled it won many of the categorical awards – notably Best Director. Gravity was truly one of the finest directorial achievements I have seen in recent years. A well-deserved win for Alfonso Cuaron.
I still love bill murray no matter how old he is. Istill love the hobbit even though its losing, lotr will age well. I’m beginning to hate dicaprio as a actor. Bring it on bette midler and pink. Cate blanchett is the next meryl streep. Look for more nominees in the future from her. Jared leto is just good and lets hope he stays that way. Peter otoole will be forever loved and so will roger ebert.
Was I the only one who was totally shocked by Poitier’s frailty. And yet, if I had only seen a photo, I would have never guessed it. The man is his late 80′s and still looks great.
^^ No, not I. He’s been making public appearances and he’s about 86. Harry Belafonte is the same age and he seems to have aged better.
The Academy is becoming more open but not that fast. There was no way the British-made historical nonfiction Oscar-bait epic was going to lose to a sci fi film. Maybe in 5 to 10 years, but not today. This is the same body that awarded the King’s Speech over everything for god’s sake, it’s crazy Gravity was even able to mount a late charge.
Ah, what a night!! Woo hoo for all of the winners. Okay, so Gravity didn’t win Best Picture, but thank goodness the alternative was 12 Years a Slave!! That was an excellent pick. Feel bad for Leonardo DiCaprio. He looked like he was having a bad night all night. 🙁
Oh well, time to start looking forward to next year??
Here’s some I think might be in the running, and their (currently scheduled) American release dates.
The Grand Budapest Hotel – 7 March 2014
Noah – 28 March 2014
Jersey Boys – 20 June 2014
Jupiter Ascending – 18 July 2014
Get on Up – 1 August 2014
The Giver – 15 August 2014
Gone Girl – 3 October 2014
Interstellar – 7 November 2014
Fury – 14 November 2014
Inherent Vice – 12 December 2014
Exodus – 12 December 2014
Paddington – 12 December 2014
Unbroken – 25 December 2014
Into the Woods – 25 December 2014
The surprises were dallas buyers club winning 3. The wild card categories like short films, documentaries, and foreign films. The moments were sidney potier and angelina jolie slowly walking out onto oscars stage, jennifer lawrence is a bitch in real life, in memoriam tribute from glenn close, ellen in the audience not on the stage, booing for the umpteeth remake of the great gatsby, crying that visual effects was a five way horse race in the end. Love of all those nominees for visual effects. There were exciting movies, alfonso cuaron winning director, john ridley’s speech for 12 years a slave. Now i know what the true story was about and those typewriters in the background were pretty cool. Steve mcqueen jumping like he just won a touchdown in the supwr bowl. Thank the lord for mcgoughaney believing in god and himself everyday. Thats keeping it real. Lupita got a bigger applause than halle berry. Pharell williams, an african american just happy to be there. Is jim carrey back. Cant wait for dumb and dumber to. Seeing benedict cumberbatch becsuse i love his voice as smaug, the slave plantation owner, khan, and the fifth estate. Thank god meryl did not win because that august osage county movie looks terrible
Setting aside the quality of both “GRAVITY” and “12 YEARS A SLAVE” for a moment, I suppose tonight demonstrated two examples of blind voting. An Academy member, in the end, will most likely vote for the heavier film (even if they don’t vote it enough for other categories) rather than the one sweeping the statuettes across the board.
In the end, both McQueen and Cuarón have the Oscars they deserved so much.
Happiest for THE GREAT BEAUTY win. Best Film of the Year. Has Sasha seen it YET?
I don’t know if Sasha has. I watched it for the 3rd time last night. Enthralling. It’s my 2nd favorite movie of last year. Inside Llewyn David is #1. 12 Years a Slave, #3. Fruitvale Station and Wolf of Wall Street, #4 and #5.
This takes me back to the days of the Hurt Locker win on this website. Man, those were good times. Ryan and Stone can finally feel a little bit of vindication in their predictions this year. It’s been awhile.
About the host (Ellen D.), I don’t think her efforts were #that terrible.
That said, I find it lukewarm mostly on her part; and possibly because — no offense — I hadn’t expected much from her even prior to the broadcast or the announcement of their choice as to who was going to host this year’s Oscar, I’m now OK with the overall show “tonight”. Anyway, to be fair, I’d like to watch it again, properly, without lagging — it might put her into a new light to me (or not).
I think we can all agree that the four acting winners gave eloquent, memorable speeches tonight. That’s something you can’t say every year. And for that I’m happy.
10 for Warner. says something about 12 Years that they held on against Warner to take BP.
I enjoyed the show. It felt more of one piece than previous ceremonies. Liked the clustering of the BP nominees….. cudda cut Pink. Ellen was bland, but we laughed so, WTF.
great way for Pitt to get an Oscar
Glad McConaughey won, but his speech was self-absorbed.
Why do any of you care? It’s all fun and entertaining – but why do you care? It’s a prize for people in an industry that almost NONE OF YOU are involved. It’s stupifying.
Why do any of you care? It’s all fun and entertaining but why do you care? It’s a prize for people in an industry that almost NONE OF YOU are involved. It’s stupifying.
— AMERICAN HUSTLE joins GANGS OF NEW YORK and TRUE GRIT with an 0 for 10 night — the record for Oscar losses is 0/11 by THE TURNING POINT and THE COLOR PURPLE.
— GRAVITY wins the second most Oscars (7) without winning Best Picture. In 1972, CABARET won 8 Oscars, but lost to THE GODFATHER for Best Picture.
— Cate Blanchett is the 19th multi-Oscar winning actress (40th overall) and the 12th performer to win a lead and supporting Oscar.
— DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is the 5th film to win Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
— 12 YEARS A SLAVE is the 22nd Best Picture to not win Best Director. It’s also the first time since 1951-1952 that consecutive Best Pictures didn’t also win Best Director.
— Alfonso Cuaron is the first Mexican to win Best Director.
I’m listening to Lupita’s speech, pretty moving.
Someone mentioned that John Ridley seemed to ignore Steve McQueen….and from all the acceptance speeches I’ve seen, Steve has not mentioned Ridley or given him credit and that could be the coolness. You notice that Ridley is never included in the “group” interviews….I dunno….maybe that’s why?
I don’t think that’s fair Simone. Leto and MM killed it in their roles, they’re for sure deserving. (I would’ve given it to Leo as well though). 12YAS was clearly Oscar bait too but no one is taking their achievement away from them.
Nearly a year removed, and I am still in disbelief. The masterpiece that is 12YAS, which boasts a predominantly black cast, actually won best picture! Wow!
“One day genre bias will be over.”
Has it ever occurred to you Gravity didn’t win because it was simply not the best picture?
A great choice for winners! And I am very happy 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture. Congrats Sasha- I know this was important for you.
I also will say this- Cate Blanchett is now one of the most deserving Best Actress winners EVER in this category. And her speech is one of the ages- gracious, refined, elegant, funny and heroic! For all the doubters on here (and you know who you are) that tried to say she wouldn’t win because of the stupid Scandal bullshit that had NOTHING to do with her- I hope you ate your humble pie with lot’s of crow on top. Always remember that it’s the PERFORMANCE that matter, and to not jump to conclusions about someone’s worth or merit. Blanchett should never have had any of that put on her shoulders and I am glad she has her Oscar. It’s just something to think about in the future- a few of you were way to quick to judge and make harsh comments. My two cents on that matter.
Fantastic year over all! Happy with 95% of the winners- and American Hustle deservedly get’s the cold shoulder. Nothing but a marketing machine.
At least now I can read something other than how racist the Academy is. Time for everyone to move forward!!!
Ok everyone i totally over it! for another mediocre year! was it really gonna be that difficult and painful for oscar to acutally declare a draw for best picture for both GRAVITY and 12 years a slave?
Honeslty, rhat would have been the best just resultset a new precendent and a POSITIVE ONE! that what i really would have loved to see. At least it was a split year but runner up for the longest suffering most neglected film genre in hollywood history just not good enough oscar not a disaster but not that much better than one considering they continue to be sooo far behind the 8 ball in regard to thankfully bout bloody time they correct interpertations through “slave” of their own history.
Anyway i never forgive myself as one of few Australians to put the focus on always justified and impressive winners that shined above the politics and machincations of oscars internalised unhealthy obsessions, that dear lovely Cate Blanchett has made history eveyone! and deservedly so! not since good ol’ “Rusty” Crowe showed he could be a force to reckon with and look intimidating and awesome at once in ancient roman- european atire too! not since then has there been a actor so celebrated and worthy of winning best actor/actress.
But guess what? Cate Blanchett has now overtaken Rusty and good ol Geoffrey Rush- but i predict he win another oscar before long and deserves it for his versatility and creativity inhis performances.
But Cate Blanchett is now the first aussie actor ever in AUSTRALIAN actors in hollywoods entire history to win 2 oscars- i rely on feedback from my parents to validate her worth which is really not hard to believe for her great performance in BLUE JASMINE! how could i see it? soo many things unique at the time to see and experience on the CRUISE! and too many time table clashes too unfortunately i missed ‘Blue Jasmine’
I personally feel her most memorable performance was the charasmatic and ultra eccentric and legendary Kathryn Hepburn but i not find it hard to believe a actress of her calibre would put any less effort in her role in ‘blue jasmine’.
And of course let not forget the lovely Catherine Martin- for being the most decorated australian oscar winner ever now wtih 4 statuettes with 100% success she owns totally and deserves to the categories of production design and costume design.
And frankly both these Aussies are hot to trot too…but just as talented.
Note to Baz Luhrman: Try to outdo your wife if you can….in the awards stakes in hollywood, and maybe, just maybe the writing and acting will shine on par with the brilliant artistry that your films are known for thanx to Mrs. Martin.
Cmon Baz you can do it!!! well another year…
and to the person that declared ‘gravity’ will be remembered for it influence nad game changing long after this oscars compared to the actual best picture winner spot on truth there..unfortunately for oscar
The 10 lowest-earning best picture winners (adjusted for inflation) club has a new member. And the bottom 3 are, alarmingly, 3 of the last five years’ best pictures:
1. The Hurt Locker ($17m)
2. The Artist ($44.6m)
3. 12 Years a Slave ($50m)
4. All the King’s Men (1949) ($60m)
5. Hamlet (1948) ($61m)
6. An American in Paris ($65m)
7. Crash ($67m)
8. Marty ($70m)
9. No Country for Old Men ($85m)
10. It Happened One Night ($86m)
Just the facts. Enough, though, with the Indie Spirits-esque Oscar lineups. Toss a bone to the critics and fans who *hearted* Catching Fire and Frozen, who belonged in the BP category a hell of a lot more than Philomena and Nebraska did.
Goldie hawn look bad.
Hobbit deserved a nod for best makeup in dwarfism
Why do super 8 movies get robbed of visual effects. Poor peter jacksin. Just watched a video on you tube of him working at weta digital and he deserves more respect. He owns a studio for peep sajes. Hope he sweeps saturn awards
,J
Instead of Hero’s, perhaps the theme of the Oscars last night should have been:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbO2_077ixs&feature=kp
“Really embarrassed for Kim Novak, Goldie Hawn and Liza Minnelli.”
Hate to say it (cause I have much respect for these actresses), but I agree – they looked totally bizarre.
Yep, Spike Jonze was a sure thing. Also, cinematographer Roger Deakins (11-time nominee) not winning was also the surest of things.
And if your name is Kevin O’Donnell (20-time nominee for sound editing), you can bet you won’t win as well.
Keifer, you didn’t see Jonze’s win coming? That was one of the surest bets of the whole night. Sure they could’ve gone for American Hustle but Her won almost every single screenplay award before last night’s events.
Overall, great year for cinema. 12YAS secures itself a place in the Oscar history books. I suspect Gravity will be the Oscar film from this year that will stand the test of time. (a la Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, Gladiator, Return of the King, etc.) David O. Russell is on the cusp, his next film, if it’s a little more serious I think is going to make big waves, the guy is definitely due. Poor Leo, but he’s so beloved, he’s going to get one eventually. Him and Tom Cruise are due for some Oscar loving.
For me, there was only one huge surprise of the evening (in an evening that promised to hold lots of suprises), and that was Spike Jonze winning the original screenplay Oscar for “Her”.
I didn’t see that one coming at all.
All the other Oscars . . . well, it’s easy to say now in retrospect . . . but, let’s face it, they were a bit predictable in that they followed the historical course.
Really embarrassed for Kim Novak, Goldie Hawn and Liza Minnelli.
These women looked like a freak show with all the BAD plastic surgery and face lifts. Yuk. That’s what I hate about Hollywood. Phony faces to go with the phony people.
Sophia Loren and Audrey Hepburn never had any work done; they aged naturally and remained beautiful.
Why can’t these women realize that there is beauty to be found at any age? Mostly, it comes from within.
Why does this site refer to the documentary short winner as “Room 306” when it is called “The Lady in Number 6”? Both the prediction chart and a poster above called it “Room 306”. Is it an alternative title?
Other than a lifetime Oscar, which could be many years away, Leo’s best hope to win is probably as a producer like Brad Pitt just did. Same goes for Tom Cruise.
The greater adoration you get from females, the less likely you will win Best Actor. That’s just the sad truth.
Well after all those articles about how voters are most definitely not voting for 12 Years a Slave and how ignorant they are it’ll be refreshing to see Sasha pretend like she knew it was happening all along
In a night underscored by the historic win of ”12 Years a Slave,” it’s a shame that the producers of the Oscarcast, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, apparently only see race as literally a black-and-white issue. About their choice of presenters, they said, ”We sought to include a tremendous diversity of stars to represent not only this year’s nominees, but the legacy of the motion picture business as well.” African-Americans were well-represented by the likes of Will Smith, Sidney Poitier, Michael B. Jordan, Gabourey Sidibe, Jamie Foxx, etc.
But there was only one Latino/Hispanic presenter: Penelope Cruz. Anyone think to invite John Leguizamo, Jennifer Lopez, Andy Garcia or Oscar-winner Benicio del Toro? And not a single Asian or Asian-American. Not even a token? Ziyi Zhang (from the Oscar-nominated ”Grandmaster”)? Or John Cho? Lucy Liu? What about bringing back last year’s Oscar-winning director, Ang Lee, to present this year’s prize? … Is this really the best the Academy can do, in its broadcast to millions around the world?
So much for ”tremendous diversity”!
“I’d just like to say a HUGE FUCK YOU to the producer of one of the other BP nominees who started spreading the word that 12 Years was too brutal for sensitive eyes. And then I’d like to say THANKS, ASSHOLE to his smarmy dickhead assistant who’s been bragging about that scheme.”
Fuck yeah!LOL
Skip Lievsay’s (Sound Mixing, Gravity) father is one of my customers at work, and I saw him this morning and he was SO excited about his son winning. It made me really remember how important the Oscars still can be. It’s easy to get jaded and frustrated when someone deserving misses out on a nomination and a win, but I got to see a proud father bragging on his son, the Academy Award winner, and it made me smile. Just thought I’d share!
I have a theory that Will was supposed to present Director and Angelina (Brad’s wife) and Sidney (other reasons) had Best Picture. They rehearsed both ways to see if 12YAS was looking at BP win or not. It didn’t look like a sure thing (needed at least one more trophy earlier to see if people loved it or not) in the end. Sort of makes more sense to have two presenters for BP and not for BD. Or Academy producers actually knew the outcome and changed it because of that.
Crazy?
My short Oscar wrap-up
http://www.fassinatingfassbender.com/2014/03/so-glad-this-oscar-season-is-over.html
Was the first matrix a anticipated movie or surprise hit. Watched it last night and its a scifi masterpiece. Was sandra bullock the first choice to play annie in speed. Was speed the true hit of the summer movie season. I was only 12 and curious to see it but i was not allowed to watch r rated movies.
jared leto just stay cool with your mom and you’ll be alright.
Al, not in the least.
Chris,
I’m sure POSH is somewhere in there.
I’d like to ask the Academy to consider GODZILLA for Best Visual Effects sight unseen. Without a doubt the most effective I’ve seen in a trailer all year. It’d be a good step toward repairing that cred, VFX branch, after that PACIFIC RIM snub.
I wonder if Jolie winning an honorary Oscar was the factor that pushed Pitt’s film over the top in what was clearly a close race.
joe calahan March 3, 2014 at 1:17 am
gravity had a fantastic screenplay imo
^^
Gravity was a very simple LOST IN SPACE movie, but it had great technicals.
Best speech: blanchett, mccoughaney and 20 feet from stardom
Worst speech: glenn close and whoopi goldberg and not because they were the worst they were tearjerking, sad, and fading away.
Ellen Degeneress was hysterical. As for the winners…(yawn!) no surprises here. I did like Jared Leto’s dedication to AIDS victims during his acceptance speech. ‘Gravity’ wins an impressive 7 awards, while ’12 Years a Slave’ and ‘Dallas Buyers Club’ take 3 each. Poor ‘American Hustle.’ Such a fun film to watch, so much love and effort put into it, and no Oscar to show for it :(. The same can be said for ‘Nebraska.’ Oh well. It was a hell of a show. I’m already wondering who the Academy will select to host the show, next year. What about Kevin Hart? That would be interesting.
Best speech: Cate
Worst: Matthew
Best presenter: Murray
Worst: Travolta
Best gag: Pizza
Worst gag: lottery
Best Ellen Joke: “Jonah Hill showed something I havent seen in a long time”
Worst: “Amy Adams, you went to college, right ?
Best aging: Poitier
Worst: Novak
Best performance: Happy
Worst: that screaming lady from the documentary
Good list, Chris Price.
Maybe they are included and I missed them:
Two Faces of January (H Amini)
Mojave (Wm Monahan)
A Most Violent Year (JC Chandor)
Macbeth (J Kurzel)
Two things we learned last night:
1. The fact that AMPAS chose to honour work by Cuaron, Jonze and McQueen on the same night shows that they aren’t as stodgy as some of those voters who chose to expose themselves early to bloggers and the press would indicate. Were they plants by desperate campaigns from less successful films?
2. That audiences are more than happy to sit through a 3 1/2 hr telecast about films, shorter in length, that they complained were “too long.”
This ceremony was probably the best I’ve seen in terms of the quality of live performances. All singers really prepared well and delivered well (live). It was much better than what the majority of live concerts can manage nowadays. I have so many bad memories of live performances at the Oscars in the past, but this time it was amazingly good. I’m going to re-watch some of the gigs just for the pleasure of it.
Tero – AH not only got 10 nominations, also had four acting nods in four different categories….! So it is different! A masterpiece treatment..!
Herbert Ross, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Joel & Ethan Coen… it’s not the worst group to join, David O. Russell.
The Turning Point is – if possible – even worse than American Hustle whereas the other three made solid two-digit losers.
Mabuhay to my Filipino compatriot Robert Lopez, the first Filipino-American to win the Oscar for the popular song “Let It Go”. Being the youngest Emmy-Grammy-Oscar-and Tony Award winner is a record in itself. Congratulations for raising the Filipino spirit today!
Excellent night, excellent winners (HOORAY for Spike Jonze and Steve McQueen!!), but how could they pick that stupid Frozen-song over Pharrell Williams and Karen O?!? But anyway, great night though.
Al, here’s a list of stuff for 2014. Some, but not all of this stuff will be deep in the awards race:
Potential Awards Bait:
Inherent Vice (dir. Paul Thomas Anderson)
Gone Girl (dir. David Fincher)
Foxcatcher (dir. Bennett Miller)
Exodus (dir. Ridley Scott)
Fury (dir. David Ayer)
Big Eyes (dir. Tim Burton)
Trash (dir. Stephen Daldry)
The Immigrant (dir. James Gray)
Serena (dir. Susanne Bier)
The Search (dir. Michel Hazanavicius)
The Imitation Game (dir. Morten Tyldum)
Specialty/Genre Stuff:
Snowpiercer (dir. Bong Joon-ho)
The Raid 2: Berendal (dir. Gareth Evans)
The Rover (dir. David Michod)
Midnight Special (dir. Jeff Nichols)
Jane Got A Gun (dir. Gavin O’Connor)
They Came Together (dir. David Wain)
A Walk Among The Tombstones (dir. Scott Frank)
Interesting Mainstream Fare:
Interstellar (dir. Chris Nolan)
The Grand Budapest Hotel (dir. Wes Anderson)
Noah (dir. Darren Aronofsky)
The Interview (dir. Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg)
Transcendence (dir. Wally Pfister)
Big Hero 6 (dir. Don Hall & Chris Williams)
Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (dir. Matt Reeves)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (dir. Anthony & Joe Russo)
X: Men Days Of Future Past (dir. Bryan Singer)
Godzilla (dir. Gareth Edwards)
Guardians Of The Galaxy (dir. James Gunn)
The Hobbit: There And Back Again (dir. Peter Jackson)
Jupiter Ascending (dir. The Wachowskis)
22 Jump Street (dir. Phil Lord & Chris Miller)
Jersey Boys (dir. Clint Eastwood)
Indies & Outliers:
Boyhood (dir. Richard Linklater)
Nymphomaniac 1 + 2 (dir. Lars Von Trier)
Birdman (dir. Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu)
Maps To The Stars (dir. David Cronenberg)
Under The Skin (dir. Jonathan Glazer)
Calvary (dir. John Michael McDonagh)
The Drop (dir. Michael R. Roskam)
Magic In The Moonlight (dir. Woody Allen)
Zero Theorem (dir. Terry Gilliam)
Only Lovers Left Alive (dir. Jim Jarmusch)
The Disappearance Of Eleanor Rigby: His & Hers (dir. Ned Benson)
Whiplash (dir. Damien Chazelle)
Locke (dir. Steven Knight)
The Cut (dir. Faith Akin)
Two Days, One Night (dir. The Dardennes)
The Double (dir. Richard Ayoade)
Night Moves (dir. Kelly Reichardt)
Possibly 2015 Releases:
Queen Of The Desert (dir. Werner Herzog)
Men Women & Children (dir. Jason Reitman)
Carol (dir. Todd Haynes)
Knight Of Cups (dir. Terrence Malick)
The Creed Of Violence (dir. Todd Field)
Manglehorn (dir. David Gordon Green)
The Lobster (dir. Yorgos Lantthimos)
Unicorn Store (dir. Miguel Arteta)
Squirrel To The Nuts (dir. Peter Bogdanovich)
Blackbird (dir. David Mamet)
Untitled Noah Baumbach/Greta Gerwig film set in a public school
Gail Withers – your prescience is uncanny! 🙂
gravity had a fantastic screenplay imo. American hustle was an up and down twisted script.
As for my own predictions – like I said, I focused on getting as many categories right as possible in my other contest, where there are more prizes. @AD I went for the Gravity sweep scenario, in the end, as insurance against 12 Years losing big, so I didn’t really try too hard, as I thought clear 1st place was way too difficult to get anyway. I got 18/24 here, but I got 19/21 in the other one (missed: Original Screenplay and Editing, and there are no short categories there), which will probably be enough to get a prize, but not good enough for 1st place, I imagine, seen as there were very few surprises. Last year 19/21 WAS enough for 1st, if I remember correctly, but there were far more surprises.
Let’s see… what did I get wrong with my predictions this year, and what did I get right?
WRONG: American Hustle DID get zero Oscars; my intuition that Lawrence would win again was incorrect, but I did end up betting on Lupita, against my gut feeling, so that probably doesn’t qualify; Gravity DID win more than 6 and still lost BP; Gatsby did win Production Design as well (I predicted this in the other contest, because it was the safer bet, but I thought there’d be an upset); Frozen did win Song as well (again, I played it safe and predicted this, but thought U2 would upset, which is what I had in the contest here).
RIGHT: 12 Years a Slave WAS the favorite all along, just like I said (even though I do think it was close); the split did happen and WAS predictable; 20 Feet from Stardom OF COURSE won Best Documentary (wish it’d been Dirty Wars, though); the stats held fast everywhere, as expected – BP remains a highly predictable category; no chances for the likes of Wolf, Philomena, Her, Nebraska or Phillips to win BP – I said as much, and the fact that they got 1 award between them proves they never stood any chance (and I would add Dallas to that list, because the stats are very clear for that one as well, even though it got its expected 3 Oscars); I maintain my opinion that these six shouldn’t have been given chances of more than 10% total (if that), no matter what.
Anyway, I’m happy! 🙂 My favorite movie of the year won BP – how often can one say that these days?! (Hint: almost never!) And all of the stats held up because of it, so I don’t have to reevaluate my BP methods either… Also particularly happy about Lupita, Frozen’s two Oscars, Gatsby’s two Oscars (these were two of my big favorites this year), Gravity’s Best Original Score win (its most deserved win, in my opinion) and, honestly, even American Hustle’s 0/10 score. Just seems right… And I loved the ceremony, very funny (although a lot of presenters stuttered, which was a little weird). I hope they liked it too and they bring Ellen back next year!
American Hustle went home empty handed like I predicted!
I miss the honorary awards too on the oscar telecast it made the show something to look forward too. There should have a special night and private night for those who have died in the film industry not with a billion people watching.
Sweet. Thanks Ryan. Looking forward to it. 🙂
I’m going to bed now. Tired. Good night everyone. Happy Oscars!!
🙂
Sasha & Ryan,
Are you guys planning on doing an Oscar Podcast all about your reactions to the winners and losers, because I would love to hear what the night was like for you guys, what you thought of the results, and what may have surprised you.
Probably we’ll try to record it tomorrow night, Al. Might be Wednesday before it’s online.
PGA winner = BP winner = 12YAS
DGA winner = BD winner = Cuaron
WGA winner = Screenplay winner = Jonze
SAG acting winners = Acting winners
Is there any point in watching the Oscar show?
And when Will Smith walked out to give Best Picture I thought, did some Hollywood legend call in sick at the last minute??
My “Way-to-soon to even bother with” predictions for Best Picture nominees are:
Exodus – Ridley Scott
Foxcatcher – Bennett Miller
Fury – David Ayer
Gone Girl – David Fincher
Inherent Vice – Paul Thomas Anderson
Interstellar – Christopher Nolan
Unbroken – Angelina Jolie
So very happy about 12 Years, Lupita and Cate. Matthew McM and Jared Leto, while not my faves in their categories, are worthy winners who did great work so it’s a surprisingly satisfying Oscar night.
Loved Ellen, loved the pizzas and the selfies. She relaxed the stars and it felt a bit more like the Globes than the usually stuffy Oscars, so that’s good.
But the choice a few years back to remove the honorary awards was a stupid decision. They found time to play not 1 but 2 uninteresting “hero” montages but can’t make time for 88 year old legend Angela Lansbury, whose film career began in 1944, to receive her overdue honorary Oscar during the ceremony?? Instead she’s relegated to less than a minute clip of a taped speech. And Angelina Jolie, who’s an Oscar winner and happens to be the partner of the man who wins best picture, can’t accept her humanitarian award on stage? I’ve been watching the Oscars since 1969, and some of the most memorable moments were honorary awards. In their increasingly useless attempts to get younger people to watch the show (as if those mediocre montages are going to lure them to the TV) they’ve lost sight of what makes the Oscars the Oscars.
Also, what was the point of flying Liza Minnelli, Lorna Luft and Joey Luft out to LA just to have them sit in the audience while Whoopi Goldberg did the intro to the (totally unnecessary) homage to the Wizard of Oz? Liza may be a mess but she’s an Oscar winner and you’d think she’d be up on stage for the tribute to her mother’s most iconic film.
After last year’s absurd and unnecessary 10 year (!) anniversary tribute to Chicago (a film they produced of course) I’m hoping the Academy dumps Neil Meron and Craig Zadan as producers.
But Ellen and all those worthy winners were a nice surprise and made the show enjoyable.
My niece is a budding animator and has already won a couple of local awards here in Australia. I told her to dream big and she too, could be up there at the podium on Oscar night!! She loved Frozen! Im just so proud of Cate Blanchett, she is our best actor hands down!
But, as of now, the movie I’m most looking forward to, even if it’s already another “space movie” is Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.
“A group of explorers make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.”
Sammy,
I don’t know if there will be a movie as “important” as 12 Years a Slave in 2014, but I have a suspicion that Unbroken will be the easy front-runner. I mean, “A chronicle of the life of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic runner who was taken prisoner by Japanese forces during World War II.” You can’t beat that I don’t think.
So guys, what would be the “IMPORTANT” movie for 2014?? Any predictions??
So guys, what would be the “IMPORTANT” movie for 2014??
what’s the gayest movie in 2014? (I think it’s our turn again)
PGA and DGA are very important but having no screenplay nomination really kills a movie. That’s what happened to Gravity.
Headline of the night:
Five BP movies went home empty handed! – TWOWS, American Hustle, Nebraska, Philomena, Captain Phillips.
So it turned out I was right. Gravity is this year’s Life of Pi with 3 additional tech wins, best sound, best sound editing, and best editing.
What a great night. Fuck yeah, 12 Years won the biggie, all this talk about Oscar voters’ not wanting to see the film was obviously all rhetoric and nonsense.
Since it was some of the Oscar voters who themselves said they didn’t watch 12 Years a Slave it’s obviously not nonsense.
Nobody every claimed that NOBODY in the Academy was watching 12 Years a Slave. But we knew it was dozens or possibly hundreds.
But as I tried to demonstrate in one of my longass boringass comments, it was possible for 500 or more members of the Academy to skip 12 Years a Slave — just as long as those voters who DID watch it placed it high on their ballots.
We just weren’t sure that there would be enough votes to push it over the 50% line. So the more voters who claimed they were not watching it, the more troubling the situation seemed.
===
I’d just like to say a HUGE FUCK YOU to the producer of one of the other BP nominees who started spreading the word that 12 Years was too brutal for sensitive eyes. And then I’d like to say THANKS, ASSHOLE to his smarmy dickhead assistant who’s been bragging about that scheme.
I hope the assistant gets canned and then I hope the producer continues to make incredibly amazing movies as he’s done for years. And next time I’d like to see him win an Oscar fairly instead of trying to undermine the movies he’s mad about.
There will be no gravity sequel. Its a stand alone film like the movie Moon or apollo 13.
Star wars 7 needs carrie fisher. Star trek needs leonard nimoy. Avatar needs sigourney weaver. Their the strongest actors in thecfranchise.
“I am still stunned that American Hustle got nothing after winning three Bafta Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and three Critics Choice Awards.”
AND tied for the most Oscar nominations, with 10. Very weird, very weird indeed… but good! 🙂 So overrated…
“Bring back Chris Rock!”
Seconded, but not because I didn’t like Ellen – I did. I’m just a big Chris Rock fan.
“Was hoping Gravity would pull it out in the end, but it looks like it just couldn’t overcome the lack of screenplay and more actor nominations.”
Remember back when all of the Gravity fanboys were trampling on each other to be the first to tell us how these two weren’t relevant in Gravity’s case?
I love Oscar season! Everybody thinks they can reinvent the wheel when it comes to Best Picture every year, and yet the stats, same as they’ve been for over 15 years, easily prove them wrong, time and time again…
P.S.: I can’t wait to see how many of those who are saying there were NO surprises AT ALL got 24/24 in AD’s contest! Should be tough for Sasha & co. to deal with having to award all of those co-winners… 🙂
The hobbit only needs supporting actor. Love richard armitage as thorin oakenshield slyvester mccoy as radagast the brown or ian mckellen or viggo.
Happy for cuaron winning two oscars. Cate blanchetts performances are better than meryl streeps. 20 feet from stardom was a good and interesting documentary. Like when chris evans did the pop culture hero segment and sally field doing the ordinary hero segment. Braveheart lawrence of arabia saving private ryan star wars lotr and to kill a mockingbird are my favorite movies. Add gravity dallas buyers club and 12 years a slave to that list. Ill rent in the heat of the night from the library. Frozen is still in the top ten its week #15 for it. It was a dark movie like the lion king was. Overall great show. Whoopi goldberg should come bsck next year or bette midler. Ellen is way too over friendly. Shes seems like a great person and nice person to have a consveration with. But her opinions are not deep or personal.
Well….predictable utterly utterly predictable…incidentally there are far less comments post oscar at this stage in this section then there were last year.
So, ladies and gents oscar have gone down the same foolish path of correcting a oversight to make amends for a mistake of the past a lie of ommission for their part…about a fil which let face it is above all else about AMERICA’S own historic cultural ideological and unfortunately veyr real struggle.
So 12 years a Slave wins best picture.
HOWEVER how many times previously have their been a runner up that has TOTALLY OUTSTRIPPED AND HUMILIATED IN OSCARS EYES THE BEST PICTURE WINNER by quantity AND quality of the film’s work in each category it has won…that GRAVITY THEY fantastic brilliant hugely ambitious groundbreaking game changer of a movie won more than twice the amount of oscars that ‘Slave’ won.
What does that tell you? it tells you oscar would like to think they ‘got it right’ and therein lies the problem.
In oscar’s eyes..they have relegated, snorted at and disposed of GRAVITY as anything but best picture material to the less than it deserves place of runner up.
By doing this oscar show their flavour as it been for far too long of ignoring the TRUE best picture winner- the flm that wins clear majority of oscars in a range of categories and with it best director to boot.
But 7 vs. 3 wins if it were any less than 3 oscar wins seriously? i declare ‘Slave’ in the way oscar wants to present it as a failure in it ability to accumulate and appeal to even oscatrs own base instinct, null and void.
Yet it came sooo dangerously close to being part of a humiliating part of past best picture winners to win so mmuch fewer oscars than the runner up.
That would be a utter embarassment and humiliation for oscar.
In this obsession becoming very off putting to the movie going public and even critics alike, well at least the more intelligent educated ones such as individual columnists like from this site and from some isolated parts of the american press (this most certainly excludes the critics circles form the ‘intelligent’ equation)
But fortunately for oscar it simply something they had to do..or be berated by the blacks in the film industry and beyond…it was irrefutable and there was no doubt in my mind.
With respect Sasha, a lot of people here do not appreciate when you talk up a film which is clear favourite as a sort of disguised underdog. well hate to say as we all did ‘told you so’ but this was always gonna be the end result. In this context this is the ONLY thing that pple are not happy with who write on this site take that as a compliment for everything else your write is smarter and more insightful and with more wisdom than any other film blog site to date…but every site and columnist has their flaws right? this one is your one…but i let it fly after saying it just once cos of the abovbe reasons.
But fact is Sasha…it was always ALWAYS a given…and it proven again that it fair to say without shadow of a doubt the science themed film is waiting to be embraced with it crowining glory for best picture…this is a tentative step.
Now that the past has been ‘corrected’ in oscars mind but not done any justice really to the publics preference which clearly was ‘gravity’ but you know?
snarl at the public tell them they dont matter that what oscar have done too much for my liking in the alst 30 yrs of their history.
And everytime they snub totally or ‘tease’ us like this year with GRAVITY’S chances FOR BEST picture, they just do it in a last desperat bid for ratings..
it remains to be seen by us that shape a films success and keep the film industry going…that we get our recognition via the film that BOTH the critics choice and pples choice.
It not a disastrous result by any means “slave” to me seen on it own is a brilliant film and the best since hurt locker but amazingly NOT better but the politics of oscars machinations and self interest for their own self satisfaction is the story here.
And mark my words oscar you made the shit truly hit the fan the next time a film better in scienc theme relaity or fiction it a ghost that will long haunt you and you will out of pressure likely embrace a future science themed film less worthy than GRAVITY after all it was the TRUE best picture abnd the quanitry = QUALITY 7 oscars is a par with other highly regarded oscar winners most notably SCHINDLERS list both these films are huge quality and so are several others…different films but both reshape the way film is seen experienced and percieved and recieved by audineces the world over.
That where the compariosn end obviouslty..
But in terms of quanity of oscars and quality that number and achievement is there that the TRUE biggest story of the oscars..in context of oscatrs own decisions and flaws fully exposed the list speaks for itself…7 for runner up vs. 3 for the winner.
And so like that ends another outcome of mediocrity and disappointment this is why this is the only post and i last to write ghere this time…pfffft let see what disappointment oscar will serve next year
Nice! They’re already on YouTube, huh. I suppose. If a video is not up within like 5 minutes of the actual event, then that’s practically considered slow.
Bryce, we’re you a bit disappointed that Gravity didn’t win BP? I was for like 5 minutes. Then I came to my own conclusion that I would be very happy for 12 Years a Slave, and be as gracious as possible.
thanks guys… I’ll get right on it.
meanwhile:
https://twitter.com/filmystic/status/440395351824941056/photo/1
Al, it was. thanks!
I already found the Picture, Director, Actress, and Actor speeches on YouTube so it’s all good.
Bryce, that’s too bad. I hope you at least had a fun night though. 🙂
DAMN DVR!! 🙂
I went out and wasn’t expecting to so I left DVR set and the thing only recorded 3 hours. Cut right after Original Screenplay. Just terrible, I’m raving mad. The winners list looks terrific. Great set. Most happy about GRAVITY winning Best Editing for two reasons:
1) Really happy that Alfonso Cuaron won two Oscars.
2) Really happy that CAPTAIN PHILLIPS didn’t win.
I hope you guys had a great night 🙂
Onto the cinema of 2014!
manrico1967
Actually ‘The Turning Point also has the biggest loser record 11-0 along with ‘The Color Purple’.
Plus, for many, the case can be made for others as well, like these:
Citizen Kane, A Clockwork Orange, The Exorcist, Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, Raging Bull, The Shawshank Redemption, L.A. Confidential, Crouching Tiger-Hidden Dragon, TLOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Pianist, Mystic River, Letters from Iwo Jima, There Will Be Blood
POSTED BY: GAIL WITHERS
TIME: 6:00PM ET- SUNDAY, MARCH 2nd, 2014
Here are my final predictions- I am posting this right before the telecast! Hope this uploads in time- it’s been lagging in speed recently:
BEST PICTURE: 12 Years a Slave
BEST DIRECTOR: Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity
BEST ACTOR: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: 12 Years a Slave
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Her
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gravity
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: The Great Gatsby
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: The Great Gatsby
BEST SOUND: Gravity
BEST SOUND EDITING: Gravity
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Gravity
BEST SONG: “Let It Go”, Frozen
BEST FILM EDITING: Gravity
BEST MAKEUP: Dallas Buyers Club
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Gravity
BEST FOREIGN FILM: The Great Beauty
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT: Helium
BEST ANIMATED SHORT: Mr. Hublot
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Frozen
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: 20 Feet from Stardom
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT: The Lady in Number 6
Hope I did okay- wish me luck! Carol Chambers and me are watching together.
For me, Gravity and The Wolf of Wall Street now join the exclusive club of very good movies to NOT win Best Picture. I have on my list:
The Wizard of Oz, Jaws, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Saving Private Ryan, Sideways, Brokeback Mountain, Avatar, The Social Network or Inception, Life of Pi or Zero Dark Thirty, and now Gravity or The Wolf of Wall Street.
The “or” are obviously for being from the same year.
12 Years a Slave wins Best Picture!!! FUCK to the YES!!!!! 🙂
I finally feel calm. The inside buzzing has stopped. Now I am relaxed, after feeling restless (waiting for the Oscars) all week. Hell, all month.
“EDIT: oh oops, never mind. that’s obvious. I see you’ve already been talking about it”
Ryan, that’s okay. I still appreciate your response. Thank you. 🙂
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth (1998),
mmmm…. I don’t know. She was fierce in that portrayal, but I still think Gwyneth Paltrow was just a little better.
It was wonderful of Leto to mention the victims of AIDS in his acceptance speech, so I’m disappointed that McConaughey failed to do the same. He didn’t even make a reference to Ron Woodroof, the guy he played in ”Dallas Buyers.” I wish he’d done that instead of rambling about how he’s always chasing the guy he wants to be in 10 years. I imagine he thought it sounded humble, but it came off so self-congratulatory.
Just keep on L-I-V-I-N’. Alright Alright. 🙂
From Mug Shot to Oscar Winner. WAY to GO Matthew!!
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/celebrity/hollywood/matthew-mcconaughey
I suppose Matthew McConaughey will celebrate his win by going home and getting naked and playing the bongos all night. Then someone will call the cops on him again.
daveinprogress,
thanks for the suggestions. I will see about renting them. I wonder which ones are on Netflix?
I’ve actually never even heard of Paradise Road or Little Fish.
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth (1998)
EDIT: oh oops, never mind. that’s obvious. I see you’ve already been talking about it
There’s so many great performances by Cate for you to visit Al.
She and Dench were electric in Notes on a scandal. Her breakthrough film ‘Oscar and Lucinda’ with Ralph Fiennes, ‘Paradise Road’ with Glenn Close; ‘Little Fish’. ‘The Shipping News’.
Sorry, I wanted to say “Gravity won 2 more than I actually had on my predictions” instead of “Gravity one 2 more than I actually had on my predictions”
Ryan,
Yeah, that did sound a bit sexual. Not my intention. Although, she’s quite attractive.
LOL. 🙂
I wasn’t a fan of 12 Years a Slave at all, but I’m so fucking glad that a gifted man like Steve McQueen is an Academy Award winner.
It was a great evening. Not only it was enjoyable but we saw 3 of the most talented filmmakers on earth go home with an Oscar. McQueen, Cuarón and Jonze are now Oscar winners.
Gravity one 2 more than I actually had on my predictions. As a fan, I’m on the moon that a film like this was close to win Best Picture. One day genre bias will be over.
Overall, it was fun, internet-driven to make it more enjoyable and they stepped up the game on many aspects of the presentation. Still some things to polish. Be more creative to present some of the categories, but to finish my statement, this were the more enjoyable Oscars since Hugh Jackman’s.
Rob Y,
probably just a few more minutes. Ha ha. 🙂
Jeezus,
Okay, thanks for letting me know. I don’t remember Elizabeth too well. I’ll have to see it again.
I wonder how long before “Non-Stop” will start advertising “Starring Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, and Academy Award Winner Lupita Nyong’o”
daveinprogress,
Ah, okay. I need to bone up on Cate Blanchett. I really liked her in The Aviator and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I have never seen Notes on a Scandal. In terms of I’m not There, I thought it was an atrociously horrible movie.
“Ah, okay. I need to bone up on Cate Blanchett. “
whoa. down, boy.
I was referring to her performance in Elizabeth.
Blanchett’s performance in Elizabeth was robbed by Paltrow back in the day. I actually thought Blanchett’s performance in the Aviator which she won for was less than stellar.
Al – “ELizabeth” or for me “Notes on a scandal”
Not all winners were my personal choices, but I wasn’t upset with them either. Maybe it was predictable, but for the first time in a long time, all the winners (minus documentary) felt right.
Wait, Cate wasn’t nominated for Babel.
Wait, are you talking about
Babel and I’m not There?
“This should have been Cate’s 3rd Oscar.”
Jeezus, please elaborate. I’m Cate Blanchett stupid.
This should have been Cate’s 3rd Oscar.
No one ever said life, or the Oscars, is fair. It seems unjust that some people can win on their very first Oscar bid (Nyong’o, Leto and McConaughey), while others are still waiting to get a statuette after 5 tries (Adams, DiCaprio). At least Adams’ 5 Oscar nominations have been packed within an 8-year span; DiCaprio’s 5 nominations cover 20 years.
To answer Al’s query, it’s interesting: Both Adams and DiCaprio are 39. Based on past history, I think the older white Academy voters are far likelier to reward the pretty Adams before they crown Leo.
to Z: what are the other 4 Best Actor/Best Supp Actor movie winners in history? i can only think of GOING MY WAY and BEN-HUR.
oh…and thrilled that AMERICAN HUSTLE won nada.
I’m really happy with how things turned out tonight! I remember months back when Sasha proclaimed “American Hustle” as the Best Picture Winner. Then, of course it was Gravity because “you can’t predict a split.” I always believed 12YAS could do it and I’m so happy it won! Congratulations to Matthew, Lupita, Jared and Cate!
Congratulations to Alfonso Cuaron for Best Director!
Spike Jonze and John Ridley deserved their screenplay wins and I’m glad Gatsby was recognized for Costumes and Production Design! I’m still pulling for Leo to win one day at long last but I can’t begrudge Mr. McConaissance! Amen to that and All right, All right, All right!
AND, quite possibly, maybe:
Annie – 19 December 2014
I have to say that this year’s Oscar ceremony is the most agreeable one I’ve seen in the past several years, with the technically groundbreaking, emotionally compelling “Gravity” and the socially and historically important “12 Years a Slave” both garnering significant recognition.
I also found the telecast to be thoroughly entertaining, due to both Ellen Degeneres’ humor and the consistently absorbing musical numbers (I thought Idina Menzel sounded to Glee-ish in this rendition of Let it Go; i.e. phenomenal vocals, no emotional connection). I also wish they had axed the second hero bit/Captain America advertisement, and that they had cut commercial breaks during the last six awards to make up for time, but alas the Oscars are never perfect .
I am a bit sad to see “American Hustle” go 0-10, but the Oscars could never take away how much I love the film; like Paul Verhoeven’s best films, it’s shinily polished trashed, but trash that nevertheless manages to touch upon qualities intrinsic to American culture, particularly the delusional justification of greed and deception as means to acquire wealth and and power.
Jennifer Lawrence as Nomi Malone. Just imagine that, oh my, oh my.
Thank you for the reminder JPNS Viewer. 🙂
Okay, Here’s a secondary short list of movie that could, but don’t have an American release date yet.
Serena
Foxcatcher
Knight of Cups
Was hoping Gravity would pull it out in the end, but it looks like it just couldn’t overcome the lack of screenplay and more actor nominations.
Still, I’m thrilled it won many of the categorical awards – notably Best Director. Gravity was truly one of the finest directorial achievements I have seen in recent years. A well-deserved win for Alfonso Cuaron.
@Al
What about Selena (JLaw & B. Cooper)? : )
I still love bill murray no matter how old he is. Istill love the hobbit even though its losing, lotr will age well. I’m beginning to hate dicaprio as a actor. Bring it on bette midler and pink. Cate blanchett is the next meryl streep. Look for more nominees in the future from her. Jared leto is just good and lets hope he stays that way. Peter otoole will be forever loved and so will roger ebert.
Al – Amy i reckon.
Javiera, thank you for the reminder. YES. I sure as hell hope so!!
The Hobbit: There and Back Again – 17 December 2014
These were the most boring and predictable Oscars ever!!
Happy for Brad Pitt and Her.
Gutted for Leo – sick and tired of this utter bullshit Academy! I guess they’ll never get a clue – would they?!
Whatever!
To Sasha: go to bed happy tonite!…it’s been a long time since you had a winner.
Al, you are forgetting the last Hobbit film. That’s a lock for next year.
So, who’s gonna win an Oscar first, Amy Adams or Leonardo DiCaprio???
Was I the only one who was totally shocked by Poitier’s frailty. And yet, if I had only seen a photo, I would have never guessed it. The man is his late 80′s and still looks great.
^^ No, not I. He’s been making public appearances and he’s about 86. Harry Belafonte is the same age and he seems to have aged better.
The Academy is becoming more open but not that fast. There was no way the British-made historical nonfiction Oscar-bait epic was going to lose to a sci fi film. Maybe in 5 to 10 years, but not today. This is the same body that awarded the King’s Speech over everything for god’s sake, it’s crazy Gravity was even able to mount a late charge.
Ah, what a night!! Woo hoo for all of the winners. Okay, so Gravity didn’t win Best Picture, but thank goodness the alternative was 12 Years a Slave!! That was an excellent pick. Feel bad for Leonardo DiCaprio. He looked like he was having a bad night all night. 🙁
Oh well, time to start looking forward to next year??
Here’s some I think might be in the running, and their (currently scheduled) American release dates.
The Grand Budapest Hotel – 7 March 2014
Noah – 28 March 2014
Jersey Boys – 20 June 2014
Jupiter Ascending – 18 July 2014
Get on Up – 1 August 2014
The Giver – 15 August 2014
Gone Girl – 3 October 2014
Interstellar – 7 November 2014
Fury – 14 November 2014
Inherent Vice – 12 December 2014
Exodus – 12 December 2014
Paddington – 12 December 2014
Unbroken – 25 December 2014
Into the Woods – 25 December 2014
The surprises were dallas buyers club winning 3. The wild card categories like short films, documentaries, and foreign films. The moments were sidney potier and angelina jolie slowly walking out onto oscars stage, jennifer lawrence is a bitch in real life, in memoriam tribute from glenn close, ellen in the audience not on the stage, booing for the umpteeth remake of the great gatsby, crying that visual effects was a five way horse race in the end. Love of all those nominees for visual effects. There were exciting movies, alfonso cuaron winning director, john ridley’s speech for 12 years a slave. Now i know what the true story was about and those typewriters in the background were pretty cool. Steve mcqueen jumping like he just won a touchdown in the supwr bowl. Thank the lord for mcgoughaney believing in god and himself everyday. Thats keeping it real. Lupita got a bigger applause than halle berry. Pharell williams, an african american just happy to be there. Is jim carrey back. Cant wait for dumb and dumber to. Seeing benedict cumberbatch becsuse i love his voice as smaug, the slave plantation owner, khan, and the fifth estate. Thank god meryl did not win because that august osage county movie looks terrible
Setting aside the quality of both “GRAVITY” and “12 YEARS A SLAVE” for a moment, I suppose tonight demonstrated two examples of blind voting. An Academy member, in the end, will most likely vote for the heavier film (even if they don’t vote it enough for other categories) rather than the one sweeping the statuettes across the board.
In the end, both McQueen and Cuarón have the Oscars they deserved so much.
Happiest for THE GREAT BEAUTY win. Best Film of the Year. Has Sasha seen it YET?
Sad for THE WIND RISES and THE SQUARE (or Act Of Killing) losing to commercial lite-weights (Frozen & 20 FT From Stardom).
Breathing easier now that 12 YEARS A SLAVE held off the good but way overrated GRAVITY for Best Picture (it did deserve many of the tech awards).
Nice to see the WOLF OF WALL STREET shutout.
Happiest for THE GREAT BEAUTY win. Best Film of the Year. Has Sasha seen it YET?
I don’t know if Sasha has. I watched it for the 3rd time last night. Enthralling. It’s my 2nd favorite movie of last year. Inside Llewyn David is #1. 12 Years a Slave, #3. Fruitvale Station and Wolf of Wall Street, #4 and #5.
Cate Blanchett becomes only the third woman to win a Lead Actress Oscar after first winning Supporting Actress
That was fun. Thank you guys for the company. See you next year!
(or maybe before when something interesting happens). 🙂
This takes me back to the days of the Hurt Locker win on this website. Man, those were good times. Ryan and Stone can finally feel a little bit of vindication in their predictions this year. It’s been awhile.
Before I sign out (temporarily):
About the host (Ellen D.), I don’t think her efforts were #that terrible.
That said, I find it lukewarm mostly on her part; and possibly because — no offense — I hadn’t expected much from her even prior to the broadcast or the announcement of their choice as to who was going to host this year’s Oscar, I’m now OK with the overall show “tonight”. Anyway, to be fair, I’d like to watch it again, properly, without lagging — it might put her into a new light to me (or not).
“Can someone pull that corncob out of Daveinprogress’s ass, and replace it with a smidgen of humor. Not cool douche bag, not cool.”
If anyone’s gonna pull a corncob outta my ass, it’ll be me. And it’s Sir douche bag to you, ‘not enough time’.
What an extraordinary night. 12 years rightfully deserved best picture. AH going 0-10 is glorious.
Z – keep ’em coming. Love Oscar titbits.
Cate Blanchett becomes the 7th Oscar won for a Woody Allen movie and only the 2nd Lead; 36 years after Diane Keaton.
Yes, I’ve always wanted to visit Osaka properly, but never have the chance, and there’s still so much I want to see in Kyoto!!! haha
take care!
Can someone pull that corncob out of Daveinprogress’s ass, and replace it with a smidgen of humor. Not cool douche bag, not cool.
Also, all the main stars of OCEAN’S ELEVEN have won Oscars.
I think we can all agree that the four acting winners gave eloquent, memorable speeches tonight. That’s something you can’t say every year. And for that I’m happy.
Good for you, Lars. : )
If you’d like, you might want to include Osaka (a prefecture near the ancient capital of Kyoto) as well. Have a good time in Japan.
Thanks Sasha, keep it coming!
There were no surprises this evening but the season was great and fun to follow. Thanks Awards daily!
Just saw/heard Matthew McCon — damn he’s good.
10 for Warner. says something about 12 Years that they held on against Warner to take BP.
I enjoyed the show. It felt more of one piece than previous ceremonies. Liked the clustering of the BP nominees….. cudda cut Pink. Ellen was bland, but we laughed so, WTF.
great way for Pitt to get an Oscar
Glad McConaughey won, but his speech was self-absorbed.
Why do any of you care? It’s all fun and entertaining – but why do you care? It’s a prize for people in an industry that almost NONE OF YOU are involved. It’s stupifying.
Why do any of you care? It’s all fun and entertaining but why do you care? It’s a prize for people in an industry that almost NONE OF YOU are involved. It’s stupifying.
ever watch any sports? ever care who wins?
@JPNS Viewer: too bad, I’m visiting Tokyo, Kyoto, Fukuoka this May…darn haha
Those are just off the top of my head. I’m sure I’ll find more once I start digging threw my archives and charts.
“@JPNS Viewer: thanks for respecting other nominees even AH went home empty-handed…btw, are you based in Tokyo?”
Hi, Lars.
No, I’m not. I’m living in a SE Asian country now. : )
(If I was in Japan, I’d probably be doing some Japanese cosplay in Akihabara, Tokyo now lol . . . . )
Some interesting trivia:
— AMERICAN HUSTLE joins GANGS OF NEW YORK and TRUE GRIT with an 0 for 10 night — the record for Oscar losses is 0/11 by THE TURNING POINT and THE COLOR PURPLE.
— GRAVITY wins the second most Oscars (7) without winning Best Picture. In 1972, CABARET won 8 Oscars, but lost to THE GODFATHER for Best Picture.
— Cate Blanchett is the 19th multi-Oscar winning actress (40th overall) and the 12th performer to win a lead and supporting Oscar.
— DALLAS BUYERS CLUB is the 5th film to win Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
— 12 YEARS A SLAVE is the 22nd Best Picture to not win Best Director. It’s also the first time since 1951-1952 that consecutive Best Pictures didn’t also win Best Director.
— Alfonso Cuaron is the first Mexican to win Best Director.
I’m listening to Lupita’s speech, pretty moving.
Someone mentioned that John Ridley seemed to ignore Steve McQueen….and from all the acceptance speeches I’ve seen, Steve has not mentioned Ridley or given him credit and that could be the coolness. You notice that Ridley is never included in the “group” interviews….I dunno….maybe that’s why?
Lars you are more generous than I.
J-Law has been up 3 times, she is no kid anymore. It’s the Oscars; not the MTV Music Awards.
@Dave,
Totally correct.
I was way off.
Good work. Till next year.
Thanks Toro, I think I only have time for part 1…I’ve also heard part 1 is darkly humorous as well…I’m salivating already…
@enrique and @manrico – The Turning Point (1977) was nominated for 11 Oscars and didn’t win anything
I don’t think that’s fair Simone. Leto and MM killed it in their roles, they’re for sure deserving. (I would’ve given it to Leo as well though). 12YAS was clearly Oscar bait too but no one is taking their achievement away from them.
@JPNS Viewer: thanks for respecting other nominees even AH went home empty-handed…btw, are you based in Tokyo?