Top 10 Tuesday: WAMG’s Favorite Oscar Nominees

By Movie Geeks | February 25, 2014

We’re getting closer to Hollywood’s night to shine – the Oscars. This year’s nominations are a bevy of brilliant films, performances and crafts, the motion picture industry at its best.

The Academy Awards is the gold standard by which every other awards show is measured, because when it comes to the biggest night in film, nobody does it better than Oscar!

In anticipation of the star-studded night at the Dolby Theatre, the gang at WAMG has chosen their favorite nominees – from the Best Picture and Best Acting categories to the technical categories, here’s a close-up look at our Top 10 Favorite nominees.

BEST Picture – AMERICAN HUSTLE

By Jim Batts

The Best Picture Oscar usually goes to the film that shines a light on a social injustice, a historical event, or individuals battling injury or disease. The most wildly entertaining (sorry Marty and Leo, but three hours of arrogant drug abusers wears very thin) of the nine nominees has, at least, one of those areas covered. As it states right before the action begins, “some of this really happened”. AMERICAN HUSTLE looks into the “Abscam” scandal of the late 1970’s, but it’s so much more. It’s about people trying to survive, discovering true love, and being given second chances.

Perhaps even more than of the characters, the biggest second chance story may be the director and co-screenwriter David O Russell. Bouncing back from some box office duds and some humiliating on set secret videos, Russell has delivered the best of his recent comeback trilogy that began with THE FIGHTER and continued with last year’s (last year?!) SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. HUSTLE owes much of its inspiration to Scorsese (particularly GOODFELLAS) as the camera careens through the hotel rooms and restaurants while a superb pop music soundtrack conveys every mood and atmosphere. But Russell’s not just aping a film-making master. The film explodes with energy and humor as it celebrates these cops and con men (and women).

As with PLAYBOOK, Russell has placed an actor in each of the Oscar categories this year. Many have worked with him before and now join forces in a very impressive repertory company. Christian Bale proves to be a new cinematic chameleon as he transforms into the schlubby (maybe the screen’s greatest comb-over!) Irving (this guy was Batman?). Amy Adams stuns as the slinky, sexy Sydney (and the “hoighty-toighty” Lady Edith), full of street smarts as she uses her wardrobe (those blouses opened doooown to there!) to distract. Particularly distracted (and smitten) is Bradley Cooper, freed from the paycheck drudgery of THE HANGOVER III, as the ambitious FBI man, Richie. The film’s biggest revelation may be Jennifer Lawrence as the manipulative Rosalyn who’s pathetic, seductive, and repellant, often at the same time. Also terrific is Jeremy Renner as the back-slapping politco who may just be the film’s center of morality along with comic Louis CK as Richie’s put-upon, frustrated superior. Oh, and there’s a fantastic cameo by an iconic actor in a highlight I won’t spoil. This is an unmatched movie dream team.

This year’s Oscars will more likely be a repeat of the 1990 awards when the more high-minded DANCES WITH WOLVES won out over GOODFELLAS. But as the years have gone by, which has been more celebrated, referenced, and studied? Sure, it’s nice that the Academy likes to send a nice moral message with the big prize, but I’m still hoping that Russell and his merry band of tricksters can pull off a truly big “golden” sting.

Best Documentary Feature – THE ACT OF KILLING

By Travis Keune

Rarely does a documentary film present itself with such an original approach as THE ACT OF KILLING. Director Joshua Oppenheimer takes an absolutely terrible part of Indonesian history and devises a method to explore the dark subject matter of the film with the actual people responsible for the atrocities that exposes the truth with full transparency, but with a touch of surreality.

Oppenheimer asked the individuals responsible for the executions of alleged communists in Indonesia to reenact what occurred on film in whatever way they felt most comfortable.The result of which is honest, but oddly just as entertaining as it is heartbreaking, especially as the emotional toll begins to build and erupt and the killers humanity shows through and the regret and guilt emerges. As an audience, we bare witness to this experiment in psychology unfolding in a way never before seen on film.

The film is sometimes awkward, or even difficult to watch, but the end result is a masterpiece in documentary filmmaking that won the support of Werner Herzog and will leave a lasting impression.

Best Cinematography – Roger Deakins PRISONERS

By Michelle McCue

The terrifying events that unfold in PRISONERS cause each character to react in a manner he or she likely never would have thought possible.

Screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski’s story and Director Denis Villeneuve’s film, along with a top-flight roster of actors, including Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano, are captured by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins.

Deakins utilized color, along with light and shadow, to amplify the atmosphere around the story while most of the time, giving this heavy drama a monochromatic feel. Creating a claustrophobic, dark element, the cinematographer shot the film digitally. The days in PRISONERS are gloomy and overcast, and the nights, largely because of Deakins’ work, are very poetic.

Roger Deakins is a ten-time Academy Award nominee for Best Cinematography, for his work on Joel and Ethan Coen’s FARGO, THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE, O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and TRUE GRIT; Frank Darabont’s THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION; Martin Scorsese’s KUNDUN; Andrew Dominik’s THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD; Stephen Daldry’s THE READER, which he shared with Chris Menges; and, most recently, Sam Mendes’ SKYFALL.

Yet, the Oscar has always eluded him.

However, nominated seven times for the BAFTA Award, Deakins has won three for THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN and TRUE GRIT.

His work has also garnered him eight nominations for the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) Best Cinematography Award, with five wins, and two Independent Spirit Awards, with an additional nomination. In 2008, he received the National Board of Review’s Career Achievement Award, and in 2013, Deakins was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the UK, the only cinematographer to have been given this high honor.

Deakins has been nominated eleven times for the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Award and won three, for SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE and SKYFALL. Cited was his work on the ten features listed above, as well as on Sam Mendes’ REVOLUTIONARY ROAD. He received the ASC’s Lifetime Achievement award in 2011.

He has also served as visual consultant for several animated features, including WALL•E, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, RANGO, RISE OF THE GUARDIANS and THE CROODS. He is currently consulting on HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 and the cinematographer on Angelina Jolie’s UNBROKEN.

Academy Voters! Don’t you think now would be a good time to finally acknowledge Deakins with an Oscar?

BEST Actress – Cate Blanchett as Jasmine, BLUE JASMINE

By Tom Stockman

Were it a weaker year for the Best Actress category, Judi Dench would be a shoo-on for her swan song PHILOMENA or Sandra Bullock might take home the big prize for her desperate and resourceful turn in GRAVITY. But it’s not a weak year. It’s an extraordinarily strong one, but neither of these gals (nor Ms Streep or Ms Adams) stands a chance against Cate Blanchett and her ferocious performance in BLUE JASMINE.

The range of emotions Woody Allen’s script demanded of Blanchett was immense and she responded with a performance people will be talking about for a long time. Blanchett was a riveting image in BLUE JASMINE, not just for the things Jasmine said but for the ravaged beauty and sadness she allowed the camera to find in her face and clothes-horse figure. Blanchett fully embodied the agony of Jasmine as the character went from vodka-soaked delusional to haughty dismissal of those she considered inferior and from gloomy introspection to babbling madness.

Constantly throwing back Xanax and martinis to cope, Blanchett performed emotional highs and lows, often within the same scene and her performance was really something to see. The Oscar will join the many other awards she’s deservedly received for this role.

Best Picture – CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

By Melissa Thompson

Going in to see CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, I was pretty much prepared to see another “docudrama” that was going to depict a real-life event. I didn’t know too much about the story of Captain Richard Phillips and the Maersk Alabama, other than the nightly blurbs we would see on the news during the time the events occurred. Somali Pirates, merchant marines, hostages, Navy Seals – all the buzz words were there, so like many others I was enticed into seeing the movie. Turns out it was a REALLY good movie. It had everything. Good guys, bad guys, a hero, numerous gunfights, a ton of suspense, and best of all, a happy ending of sorts. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but couldn’t help but think it was almost “too good”.

So many “true stories” these days take so much dramatic license, you don’t really know how much is true and how much is embellished just to create a more powerful narrative. But I wasn’t 100% convinced. So I did some research, and what I found was pretty amazing. Turns out, the way the events are portrayed in the film is EXACTLY how it happened. Details and timelines are precise, as well as much of the dialogue that took place between the crew, the pirates, and Phillips himself.  I was most fascinated by this clip –  CNN news footage that could be easily confused with the movie if you didn’t know what you were watching:

With so many films these days relying on CGI and special effects, it was refreshing to see a true story be, well, true! There was no cliffhanger, or plot twists, or ridiculous global destruction. Just the harrowing sequence of events told from the perspective of those who were actually there. If that is not a Best Picture nominee, I don’t know what is.

BEST Original Screenplay – HER

By Gary Salem

The original screenplay nomination for HER is my favorite because Spike Jonze had so many ideas that work together on different levels. He created a compelling sci-fi romance in a world that looks strange and familiar at the same time.

The operating system gets inside Theodore’s head both literally and figuratively. Her gets inside the viewer’s head and stays there to give them something to think about, like being in love…with technology.

Best Animated Short Film – GET A HORSE!

By Melissa Howland

Directed by Lauren MacMullan and produced by Dorothy McKim, GET A HORSE! is the perfect blend of black and white hand drawn animation and 3D computer imaging.

The short is a contemporary homage to the first animated shorts featuring Mickey Mouse, with all-new, black-and-white, hand-drawn animation that’s paired with full-color, 3D, CG filmmaking—in the same frame. Mickey (voice of Walt Disney), his favorite gal pal Minnie Mouse and their friends Horace Horsecollar and Clarabelle Cow delight in a musical haywagon ride—until Peg-Leg Pete shows up and tries to run them off the road. This groundbreaking short takes a sharp turn when Mickey finds himself separated from Minnie and must use every trick up his sleeve to find his way back to her.

GET A HORSE! is packed with laughs, and features archived recordings of Walt Disney for the voice of Mickey Mouse. As a short, it stands apart from anything we’ve seen in animation, and is sure to put a smile on your face!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – Jonah Hill as Donnie Azoff, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

By Tom Stockman

I wasn’t sure of Jonah Hill’s performance as Jordan Belcourt’s bucktoothed loose-cannon first lieutenant Donnie Azoff in WOLF OF WALL STREET would be received as brilliantly comic or an undisciplined train wreck.

It was a strange role, one that straddled drama and dark comedy but it was perfect for the actor. Whether masturbating in public or swallowing goldfish, Hill was so much fun to watch in WOLF OF WALL STREET and clearly made an impression on the Academy.

He won’t win, in part because of the political incorrectness of the character, and because it’s a strong field, but he deserved the nom and I’m glad he got it.

Best Actress – Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone, GRAVITY

By Sam Moffitt

I have not seen very many of the movies up for awards this year. But I cannot imagine that any actor or actress could possibly do better work than Sandra Bullock does in GRAVITY.

Set in outer space this remarkable film is really about inner space. Stranded through a series of calamities in Earth orbit Sandra Bullock’s character Ryan Stone goes through serious changes trying to get back to solid ground. I’m not sure if everything she does is possible with the current technology of space travel but the tension and suspense are unbearable.

GRAVITY is an epic look at the human will to survive, that incredible drive that can bring people through to safety in the most grueling of ordeals. Gravity is a love song to every person who ever struggled to overcome cancer, who was ever ship wrecked, buried under rubble, lost in the desert, wounded in a war, maimed in an accident and struggled against over whelming odds to not only survive but to prevail and get on with their lives.

Think of all the people in just the last ten years affected by hurricanes, civil wars, drought, famine, volcanoes, tornados, tsunamis and their struggles to survive.

The sorrows of the whole human race are laid on Sandra Bullock’s frail shoulders and she comes through, my Lord how she comes through!

How heartbreaking to see tears in zero gravity, and in 3-D! How awesome to see the performance of a lifetime that relies so much on body language, facial expressions and gestures. And her performance is almost entirely alone. The only recent film comparable would have to be 127 Hours and James Franco’s brilliant performance in another story of survival against all the odds.

The sight of Ms Bullock curled in a fetal position and turning slowly, slowly in zero gravity is awesome, heartbreaking, primal, (on a gut level) and so poetic and beautiful, all at once. This is genius film making by Alfonso Cuaron and Sandra Bullock is the only passenger on a roller coaster ride back to the pull of Earth’s Gravity.

Sandra Bullock has already won an Oscar, for The Blind Side, but if ever an actor deserves another win it is her incredible work in GRAVITY. She is one of the best actors of her generation; GRAVITY is one for the ages.

BEST ACTOR – Leonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

By Michael Haffner

I hope Mr. DiCaprio doesn’t take offense when I say that I truly believe he was born to play Jordan Belfort. Or is Jordan Belfort now really only a “person” thanks to DiCaprio? Either way, the character that emerges on the screen is Scorsese’s dizzying, frantic, and hilarious THE WOLF OF WALL STREET is equal parts unbelievable and frighteningly real thanks in no small part due to Leonardo Dicaprio’s fearless performance. In their fifth on-screen collaboration, Scorsese seems to unleash the shackles on his cinematic muse. Drugs are consumed in excess. Sex is as regular as brushing your teeth multiple-times-a-day.

Most importantly, money can buy you happiness. Well. . . at least a form of happiness. And just as the high from drugs begins to fade away, and the sex eventually reaches its climax, and the money eventually runs out, so too does one’s happiness if you invest your entire life in material belongings. This is all the more ironic considering the film is centered around a power driven financial investor whose job requires him to invest other’s money. The idea of a film chronicling the lavish lifestyle of greedy corporate investors is far from original. However, in the hands of veteran director Scorsese, the escapades conducted by this wild WOLF is consistently entertaining and leaves the audience hungry for more – which says a lot considering the film is almost 3 hours long. Some audience members might not be able to look past the hedonistic activities portrayed on screen by Leonardo DiCaprio.

I know for a fact there have been several screenings where moviegoers walked out of the film. I’m not here to convince those people that I’m right and they’re wrong for walking out, but I will say that they’re choosing to ignore the best performance to date from Mr. DiCaprio. Several times throughout the film we see him take the stage and deliver rousing speeches to his merry band of heathens. He takes to the mic like a Southern Baptist preacher, delivering rags to riches stories and exciting his “congregation” into a fury of shouting, reveling, and fanatical responses that wouldn’t seem out of place among some places of worship. It is in moments like these where I also found myself converted.

I truly adore THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and I know that my love for Scorsese’s film wouldn’t be the same if it not for DiCaprio’s portrayal of Jordan Belfort. You hear stories of DiCaprio jet-setting across Europe with a harem of Victoria Secrets’ models and you can’t help but compare his real life a bit to the film’s main character – which was inspired by real events. Although I know I should separate an actor’s personal life from his career, I can’t help but feel that in this case of “life imitating art” or “art imitating life,” that the result is worthy of Oscar gold.

So that’s our favorites. Let us know yours in our comments section below.

Watch the Oscars this Sunday, March 2, on ABC.