Oscar 2014: The nominees

 

American Sniper
Birdman
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

The rest.

Well, so much for my prediction that Ava DuVernay would get a Best Director nod. The talk was that Team Selma only sent screeners of the film to the Academy and no one else, and that this may have been a contributing factor as to why it didn't register with the guilds, but I thought the Academy would save it somehow. I haven't seen Sniper, but was Bradley Cooper really that much better than David Oyelowo? Did Bennett Miller really do a better job of directing Foxcatcher than DuVernay did with Selma? Especially head-scratching since Foxcatcher somehow missed out on Picture but still managed to snag Director, Actor, Supporting Actor and Original Screenplay. (Note that there are only eight nominees this year, when we had been getting nine each year of the new system.) And Selma's only other nod was for Original Song (which, in fairness, it'll probably win)? I blame Paramount for dropping the ball with this one. Selma deserved much, much better.

Not as much love for Nightcrawler as I had hoped. It looked like it had a legitimate shot at breaking all the way through, especially Jake Gyllenhaal for Best Actor and maybe Rene Russo in Supporting Actress and maybe even Picture (only eight nominees). Again, I have to ask, was Cooper really believed to be that much better? I guess I'll have to go see this movie to find out. Still, I'll gladly take an Original Screenplay nod for Nightcrawler. It deserved that much, at least, but I really expected more.

Yay for Richard Linklater and Wes Anderson, two distinctive and innovative filmmakers who have had long and distinguished careers and are both enjoying tremendous success with two outstanding films.

Yay for Marion Cotillard making the Best Actress cut. I really gotta see that movie.

Yay for Whiplash doing well, even getting an Editing nomination, though I had hoped Damien Chazelle would make the Director cut.

Yay for Ida getting not only Best Foreign Language but a surprise Best Cinematography nomination.

That's all I have to say at the moment. There are robberies and surprises in the Oscar nominations every year, and this year is no different.

Thoughts?

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Related:
2013 nominees
2012 nominees
2011 nominees
2010 nominees