UKC

Oscars today. Anyone care to make a prediction? Mine are as follows.

Best film: 12 years a slave (though I enjoyed wolf of Wall Street more)
Best actress: Meryl Streep (not seen blue Jasmin but heard Blancette was v.good)
Best actor: Matthew Mconaughey

Supporting actress: Lupita nyong'o
Supporting actor: Jared Leto

Best director: Steve McQueen

In reply to cap'nChino:

Best Picture - trickier to pick, with ten nominations many of which I've not seen. However I'll plump for 12 Years A Slave, with the outsider chance that the big four manage to cancel each others' votes out and "Her" or "Nebraska" sneak in.

Best Director - Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity.

Best Actor - Torn between DiCaprio (so many nominations, and he IS good in a difficult role) and Chiwetel Ejiofor. I'm saying DiCaprio though.

Best Actress - Amy Adams (again, on her fifth nomination) though in my heart I think Cate Blanchett should win it, but Adams WILL.

Best Supporting Actor - Jared Leto

Best Supporting Actress - God knows. Maybe Lupita Nyong'o if enough people feel bad for not voting more strongly for 12 Years A Slave in other categories. She's fine in the film but isn't really in it all that much and doesn't have a whole lot to DO. I'd prefer to see Sally Hawkins win this but this category is guesswork for me (I barely know anything about August: Osage County or Nebraska...)

Best Cinematography - Emmanuel Lubezcki but then I haven't seen any of the other four nominees except Prisoners, which was a good film but visually dull and dark, not striking. I haven't even HEARD of "The Grandmaster"

Best Costume Design - American Hustle will win. The Great Gatsby SHOULD win though.

Best Editing - er...why is The Wolf of Wall Street not even nominated?! I am lost now. Surely it'll have to be Gravity.

Best Production Design - American Hustle will win. The Great Gatsby SHOULD win though.

Best Original Screenplay - I'd be happy with either Spike Jonze or Woody Allen winning this. I can see it going to Jonze so I'll make that my prediction.

Best Adapted Screenplay - 12 Years A Slave or The Wolf of Wall Street. The former JUST more likely.

I give up on the rest of the nominations.

In reply to Blue Straggler:


25/1 - just took it; I'll be in touch when she doesn't get it.

In reply to Kipper:

I don't understand your reply (probably because I am a divvy when it comes to betting and I have not looked at the odds). Are you saying Blanchett is virtually a dead cert? Like when Ellen Page was a dead cert for "Juno"?

In reply to Blue Straggler:

All sound a fair bet.

What I don't understand is why gravity gets so much attention. It was an ok film with great SFX that's all for me. I'm a big fan of Sandra but all she did was breath loudly a lot and curse.

In reply to cap'nChino:
How odd, I'm no big fan of Sandra but I thought she did a wonderful job playing that role. Gravity has its screenplay flaws (not just the "space physics" niggles but also basic story structure and characterisation) but I think it all sticks together very well (no pun intended). The reason that I'm putting Cuaron up for Best Director is that he nurtured the project and had the whole vision of what it should look like, and pulled it off magnificently.
Bullock's nomination is well deserved if you look at it from the point of view of production rather than audience. Essentially she acted the entire thing while sitting in a cardboard box in a dark room. Industry people know this and that's why the performance is lauded. You can quite reasonably argue that it's what's on screen that counts, but the people voting are those same industry people, including actresses who turned down the role because they saw how difficult it would be.

I thought Gravity worked, I suspended disbelief and easily felt that they were actually in space (I was a bit disappointed, I thought that IMAX 3D would make me feel that _I_ was in space )

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Fair argument. Put like that I can see why she's a worthy nomination

In reply to Blue Straggler:


Yes -
Blanchett - 1/25
Bullock - 100/1 (much lower a few hours ago)
Adams - now 32/1

The moving odds are one of the problems betting on pre-decided outcomes (I think this is illegal in the US/LA)

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Watched Nebraska last night. Didn't even know it was a runner. TBH, I loved it. Almost perfect window on life in the American mid west. I can take people to towns like that even up here in Saskatchewan.

I also enjoyed the humour in such a bleak setting and in the underlying sadness of the story.

In reply to Blue Straggler:
I don't get your Gravity comment about the space niggles flaws. Apart from my own view, I thought the general consensus was it was 99% accurate - which for a film is pretty amazing to be honest. And, yes, I think it should win big, but I loved 12 years, hustle, prisoners etc.

In reply to cap'nChino:

Not bad, 8 out of the 12 that I had a go at, and three of those that I got wrong made me happy anyway (see my "xx will win but yy SHOULD win": Blanchett and the two for The Great Gatsby). McConaughey caught me out. He is excellent in Dallas Buyers' Club and quite deserving of the Oscar but I'd ruled him out due to the film being a bit dull and the character quite unsympathetic. Interesting that American Hustle was entirely shut out. Hopefully it'll force David Russell to up his game Poor Amy Adams must be wondering what the hell she has to do to actually win one day!

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Im pleased enough with my guess. I forgot best director category, I plumped for Steve McQueen so was wrong there.

McC was well deserving of the Oscar for me and I agree about the film being dull. The voters seem to love a bit of weight loss though.

Im not surprised American Hustle came away with nothing. Something about the film just didn't seem right and the way it ended was inexcusably abrupt. I loved all the actors in it and feel sorry for AA but it just smacked of all style and no substance for me.

In reply to cap'nChino:

Oscar Pistorius!

In reply to cap'nChino:

You did better than me with the actors.
I didn't think much of American Hustle and I have had similar problems with all of David O Russell's films, he just ties everything up in neat endings so pretty much everything is resolved. I've ranted about AH's lack of focus elsewhere though (did you know that he let the actors improvise not only dialogue, but also story direction? They apparently did question him a few times about this and he said "I'm interested in character, not story"). The Jennifer Lawrence character was added after he'd finished the script - he just wanted her in a film again so rang her up, said "if you will do my film I will write a role for you". In the story she (and the child) is little more than a plot device to stop Bale and Adams fleeing to Europe. I was quietly glad it got nothing But despite not liking the film, I was able to appreciate the performances.

In reply to Blue Straggler:


Thanks for the tip.....

In reply to Kipper:


Alright alright, I got it wrong ! Let it go!

In reply to Blue Straggler:

You haven't told me your thoughts on Nebraska. And you know how I value your opinion. Do we need a new thread?

In reply to Removed User:

From my second post
"I barely know anything about August: Osage County or Nebraska.."

This means I haven't seen Nebraska yet (to my chagrin)

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Ahhh, sorry, I missed that.

You should watch it........but you know that anyway

In reply to Removed User:

like this one

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=572255

In reply to lithos:

That doesn't contradict MS's suggestion of a new thread requirement given that "This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings"