OSCARS 2013

Party! Party ! Party!

The word for 2013 was Party. Oh so many parties, so little time. We started the year off down in Florida with a dreadlocked grilled James Franco in Spring Breakers and the pumped up likes of Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne Johnson in Pain and Gain. April gave us a new Baz Luhrman extravaganza in the perfectly adapted The Great Gatsby. The summer introduced to two parties so debauched they could only be broken up by an apocalypse. First the Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg rapture This is the End and then team Wright/Pegg/Frost went on an epic beer crawl inconveniently invaded by beings that were not necessarily robots. Finally, the year ended with two dazzling and outrageous displays of the dark side of American ambition, David O. Russell’s sophisticated con-artist film American Hustle and Martin Scorsese’s sleaze orgy The Wolf of Wall Street. There ought to be a category for best party scene right? Well, here it is!

Best Party Scene

I just had to make up a category for my favorite scene of the year from all the way back last February. I nearly fell out of my seat laughing.

Christian Bale and Jeremy Renner sing Tom Jones' "Delilah" in American Hustle

Leonardo Dicaprio’s introduction as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby

Dwayne Johnson blows through his stolen fortune in Pain and Gain

James Franco sings Britney Spears' “Everytime” in Spring Breakers

Leonardo Dicaprio’s Bachelor Party in The Wolf of Wall Street

Okay, first of all, the guilty admissions. I did not watch any short films or foreign language films this year. Also, when I was trying to fill out the category for Best Original Score for some reason I could not for the life of me remember any of them. And finally, I only saw two Animated Films and either I give the Oscar to "Despicable Me 2" or I don't have that category. Soooo....moving on.

Best Supporting Actress

Normally I would put in a snarky remark about this category is so predicatably shallow every year. I may even go so far as to self-righteously point out the lack of decent parts for women in mainstream American movies. But this year I a little self-evaluation of myself. Truth is I don't see that many movies that are about women or have a lot of thoroughly written female parts. I saw only 50 of the hundreds of movies that came out last year. If I have trouble putting together a decent list of five supporting actresses perhaps that says more about the movies I choose to see rather than the actual state of Hollywood. It's not like I bothered to see 'August: Osage County' or 'Saving Mr. Banks' or 'Frozen' you know. 

Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)

Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)

Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)

Octavia Spencer (Fruitvale Station)

Margot Robbie (Wolf of Wall Street)

Best Supporting Actor

There are some special performances here, but Bradley Cooper's turn in American Hustle really is something special. It is a deeply comic/deeply tragic performance and it speaks plenty about the type of actor who is willing to infuse passion into a character that is fated as role as ultimate chump. Bradley Cooper's Richie DiMaso really really really wanted to succeed and he really really really failed big time.

Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)

Benedict Cumberbatch (Star Trek: Into Darkness)

Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)

James Franco (Spring Breakers)

Jonah Hill (Wolf of Wall Street)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

I actually saw 'The Lone Ranger' and yes the makeup was good. But 'Dallas Buyer's Club' was probably better (I don't know, how would I know). I didn't see 'Bad Grampa' but I'm sure they deserve to be here as well.

Dallas Buyer’s Club

The Lone Ranger

Jackass Presents: Bad Grampa

Best Costume Design

Here is hoping that Baz Luhrman does not take five years to make his next movie.

American Hustle

The Great Gatsby

Her

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Production Design

Almost never do movies that take place in the near future actually resemble something that will come to pass, but if I had to put my money on one film that most probably will get it right, I would have to choose "Her," and immense achievement in Production Design. And guess what, it isn't a dystopia. 

American Hustle

The Great Gatsby

Her

Pacific Rim

The Wolverine

Best Use of a Song in a Movie

Followers of this blog will know by now that I think the category 'Best Original Song' is totally useless mainly because the vast majority of movies that have songs do not employ real ones. This is especially apparent when a movie with wall-to-wall great music like the Coen Brother's "Inside Llewyn Davis" has next to no songs eligible for the category. (The one exception was the hokey "Please Mr. Kennedy.") So this category is Best Use of a Song.

“Dink’s Song” by Dink from Inside Llewyn Davis

“The Moon Song” by Karen O from Her

“Everytime” by Britney Spears from Spring Breakers

“Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin from The Great Gatsby

“Born Free” from The Act of Killing

Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing

All is Lost

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Inside Llewyn Davis

Lone Survivor

Best Visual Effects

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Iron Man 3

Gravity

Pacific Rim

The Lone Ranger

Best Film Editing

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Fruitvale Station

Gravity

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Cinematography

Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)

Inside Llweyn Davis (Bruno Delbonnel)

Prisoners (Roger A. Deakins)

To the Wonder (Emmanuel Lubezki)

12 Years a Slave (Sean Bobbitt)

I guess there is no getting around it. The movie "Gravity" was the best visual and auditory experience of the year. Nothing else came close in these categories. Great, Great, Great. Go see it and see it on the biggest screen possible. 

Best Documentary Feature

It was a special year in documentaries as the next installment of the 'Up' series came out but as the documentary is not yet done yet (probably in thirty years) lets pass that one up. The biggest snub at the Oscars was "The Act of Killing" not getting Best Documentary. I can only assume that most people didn't see it and saw the documentary about backup singers instead. For shame, for shame, for shame. 

56 Up

The Act of Killing

The Armstrong Lie

We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks

Best Actress

There really is nothing quite like Cate Blanchett having a nervous breakdown.

Amy Adams (American Hustle)

Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Sandra Bullock (Gravity)

Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha)

Scarlett Johannson (Her)

Best Actor

What a competition it was this year. Sure Matthew McConaughey lost the most weight, but there was just something about Tom Hanks, particularly the last two minutes of the movie. I had never seen that before.

Christian Bale (American Hustle)

Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)

Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Joaquin Phoenix (Her)

Best Adapted Screenplay

In many years from now if not now, 'The Wolf of Wall Street' will hold a special dear place in the hearts of many douchebags the way that other great masterpieces of writing 'Scarface,' 'Wall Street,' and 'Glengarry Glen Ross.'

12 Years a Slave

Captain Phillips

The Great Gatsby

Star Trek: Into Darkness

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Original Screenplay

It speaks something about the writing of a movie when four actors are nominated for Oscars. And that is only four of the characters. There is at least three other great characters in here, specifically those played by Jeremy Renner, Louis C.K., and Robert De Niro. This movie was fantastic and so much fun to be around.

American Hustle

Fruitvale Station

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Prisoners

Best Director

Take a look at the following clip. It is a one shot sequence. I have not the slightest idea how it was made. Alfonso Cuaron might as well be the world's greatest magician. Never was there a greatest lock in this category.

Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)

Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips)

Baz Luhrman (The Great Gatsby)

David O. Russell (American Hustle)

Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)

Best Picture

I said it once in my review and I will say it again. The only thing missing from 'Gravity' was a scene at the end where Dr. Ryan Stone walks into mission control and is greeted with massive applause.

12 Years a Slave

The Act of Killing

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Fruitvale Station

Gravity

The Great Gatsby

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

The Wolf of Wall Street