The 2014 Oscars have few surprises (+ Full Winner List)

Tonight’s Oscars might not have had many surprises but it was enjoyable. Ellen Degeneres brought some humour in her opening monologue but nothing over the top. The best moment of her opening was when she hinted flat out brought up Academy racism by saying that if 12 Years a Slave didn’t win Best Picture, then they were all racists. Some may be none too pleased with that comment but I absolutely loved it. Good news? It won.

Ellen’s running gag of the night was when she talked about ordering pizza. The surprise was about half an hour later when a couple pizzas actually showed up. It was great to see Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey walking around helping to hand out pizzas and paper plates. Also interesting seeing them all eating off paper plates in those fancy outfits. Later on, Ellen went around with Pharrell’s hat getting cash from Harvey Weinstein, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey and others to cover the pizza costs. I wonder what she did with that money? Also wonder what she did with Lupita Nyong’o’s lip gloss…

In the end, I’d say it was a successful evening. Most of my picks won, with the only disappointment being for best actor. Will Ellen host again? We don’t know yet but I wouldn’t be upset about it. She seemed to infuse a youthfulness into the show which had been missing in the past few years. Then again, I also wouldn’t say no to a Jim Carry hosting gig.

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 original screenplay — “Her” — Spike Jonze
Best adapted screenplay — “12 Years a Slave” — John Ridley
Best animated feature — “Frozen”
Best foreign feature — “The Great Beauty” (Italy)
Best music (original song) — “Frozen”: “Let it Go” — Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez
Best music (original score) — “Gravity” — Steven Price
Best cinematography — “Gravity” — Emmanuel Lubezki
Best costume design — “The Great Gatsby” — Catherine Martin
Best documentary feature — “20 Feet From Stardom”
Best film editing — “Gravity” — Alfonso Cuaron, Mark Sanger
Best makeup and hairstyling — “Dallas Buyers Club” — Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
Best production design — “The Great Gatsby” — Catherine Martin and Beverley Dunn
Best visual effects — “Gravity”
Best sound mixing — “Gravity”
Best sound editing — “Gravity”
Best short film, live action — “Helium”
Best short film, animated — “Mr. Hublot”
Best documentary short — “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life”

Oscars 2014 – Best Documentary Feature

As always, some people’s favourite documentaries were snubbed such as Stories We Tell, but with the popular 20 Feet From Stardom and remarkable The Act of Killing we’ll still have a good race. All trailers are linked on the titles, and all but 20 Feet From Stardom can be found on Netflix.

1. The Act of Killing – A powerful look at the Indonesian genocide by getting the death squad leaders to recreate their mass killings. By using any genre they wanted to create these scenes, we witness an interesting insight into “how human beings commit atrocities and how we build normality around these atrocities” (Joshua Oppenheimer, director). The bold stylistic choices used in this film could easily give it the Oscar.
2. 20 Feet From Stardom – A musician’s underdog story about backup singers for some of the most popular bands that shows passion in art, something that the Academy voters may relate to.
3. Cutie and the Boxer – The “unusual love story” between a boxing painter, Ushio Shinohara, and his wife Noriko as she tries to find her own identity outside of being Ushio’s assistant (Zachary Heinerling, director).
4. The Square – Netflix’s first ever Oscar nomination comes by way of the Egyptian revolutionaries as governments are toppled.
5. Dirty Wars – America’s covert wars is the focus as journalist Jeremy Scahill chases down the truth.