Last year I saw ALL of the nominated films for Best Picture, all NINE of them. This year I was not as fortunate. I did see seven of the nine Best Picture films and I’ve seen several other nominated pictures. For the first time in my recollection I have seen ALL of the films nominated for "Best Picture". Quite a feat since there are NINE this year. I have also seen several other films that I thought would get nominated so I have seen a majority of the entire Oscar nominated categories.
Since I have seen the majority of the nominated films (I will ONLY bold in red the correlating nominations that I have NOT seen.)
My pick will be under “Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:” These are NOT who I think WILL win; it’s who I think SHOULD win based on my opinion and those who know me, know I am quite discerning. While I do think some films were "omitted" I'll vote by the nominations as selected by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
And now...the awards.
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The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best script not based upon previously published material and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay is awarded each year to the writer of a screenplay adapted from another source (usually a novel, play, or short story but also sometimes another film). All sequels are automatically considered adaptations by this standard (since the sequel must be based on the original story).
Writing
(Adapted Screenplay)
12 Years a
Slave
John Ridley
Based on the
memoir 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup.
Before
Midnight
Julie Delpy,
Ethan Hawke & Richard Linklater
Based on characters
from the film Before Sunrise, written by Richard Linklater and Kim Krizan.
The Wolf of
Wall Street
Terence
Winter
Based on the
memoir The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort
Captain
Phillips
Billy Ray
Based on the
book A Captain's Duty by Richard Philips, Stephan Talty
Philomena
Steve Coogan
and Jeff Pope
Based on the
book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: John Ridley for 12 Years a Slave. Of the three nominated films I’ve seen, this screenplay seemed to be the most arduous. Not only did it have to adapt history, it had to adapt one man’s personal struggle through a horrific time. I’m sure the original book had more situations and stories, but Ridley did a fine job at honing in on the principle story and making it memorable.
Writing
(Original Screenplay)
David O.
Russell and Eric Singer (American Hustle)
Bob Nelson (Nebraska
Spike Jonze
(Her)
Craig Borten
& Melisa Wallack (Dallas
Woody Allen
(Blue Jasmine)
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FILM EDITING
American
Hustle
Captain
Phillips
Gravity
12 Years a
Slave
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: This is a hard one. I've seen all five of these nominated pictured and the editing in three of them greatly led to the success of the pictures. Those pictures being American Hustle, Captain Phillips and Gravity.
Each of those three films had great tension filled scenes that wouldn't have been possible if not for the editing. In the end though Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Gravity. Some of those scenes looked tremendous like it was all one shot, but I know some of it had to be edits. I also the know that the “visible edits” greatly led to the danger and peril in the film.
VISUAL EFFECTS
(The special, often computer generated, effects for a film)
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Gravity —Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould. The other two films I saw Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness had some great visual effects, but the visual effects for Gravity were outstanding!
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Philippe Le Sourd (The Grandmaster)
Emmanuel Lubezki (Gravity)
Bruno Delbonnel ( Inside Llewyn Davis)
Roger Deakins (Prisoners)
Phedon Papamichael (Nebraska)
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Bruno Delbonnel for Inside Llewyn Davis. Of the three pictures I saw Delbonnel did outstanding work. I really loved the cinematography of Emmanuel Lubezki for Gravity and you can never go wrong with the excellent Roger Deakins (Prisoners), but Delbonnel did some terrific cinematography for Inside Llewyn Davis that will blow you away.
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ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
Jonah Hill (Wolf of Wall Street)
Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club. I’ve seen all five of these performances and while all worthy Jared Leto was simply outstanding in Dallas Buyers Club.
ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
June Squibb (Nebraska)
Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave. One of my favorite actors Jennifer Lawrence was great as usual in American Hustle and this is the first time I’ve seen Sally Hawkins, but she was really great in Blue Jasmine, but Lupita Nyong'o…Lord was she devastating in 12 Years a Slave. Such a devastating performance.
ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Christian Bale (American Hustle)
Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Leonardo DiCaprio (Wolf of Wall Street)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave. Of the four performances I saw, all of them were of course worthy, but it really came down to three for me.
Leonardo DiCaprio was as outstanding as ever in Wolf of Wall Street. Just when you thought you saw him do it all—he does more.
Matthew McConaughey who has been racking up great performances back to back these last several years gives an angry yet vulnerable and touching performance in Dallas Buyers Club.
Chiwetel Ejiofor though was just heartbreaking as the kidnapped freeman Solomon Northrop. His performance exuded class and dignity then turmoil and desperation then hope and jubilation. A tour de force performance!
ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Amy Adams (American Hustle)
Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: This was another hard choice for me. The three performances I saw I loved.
I loved what Sandra Bullock did with here role where she was onscreen most of the time alone. I didn’t think she would be able to pull it off, but she did!
The choice though ultimately came to Amy Adams and Cate Blanchett for me. I thought both did outstanding jobs in their roles and it made it hard for me to pick, but I have. Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Amy Adams. I thought she did a fierce, manipulative job in her role in American Hustle. Fierce.
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DIRECTING
Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)
David O. Russell (American Hustle)
Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
Alexander Payne (Nebraska)
Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Of the four pictures I’ve seen of course all of these directors are worthy of their nominations.
You never ever go wrong with Martin Scorsese and The Wolf of Wall Street was another example of his brilliance.
David O. Russell went all out with the period piece American Hustle. I loved the visual style of the picture and thought it was his finest work.
The visual and compelling brilliance of Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity was one of the best cinematic experiences I had last year
My PICK though is Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave. McQueen’s tone for this film was exactly what it should have been, harsh, brutal and unforgiving. It is the director’s job to establish and cultivate the tone of the film and McQueen did just that with a film that was unrelenting in its depiction of the atrocity of slavery.
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BEST PICTURE
Producers: Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon
Captain Phillips
Producers: Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, Producers
Dallas Buyers Club
Producers: Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter
Gravity
Producers: Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman
Her
Producers: Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze and Vincent Landay
Nebraska
Producers: Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa
Philomena
Producers: Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan and Tracey Seaward
12 Years a Slave
Producers: Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen and Anthony Katagas
The Wolf of Wall Street
Producers: Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joey McFarland and Emma Tillinger Koskoff
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:
I can truly say that all seven of the Best Picture nominees that I saw deserved their nomination. I saw a lot of pictures last year and these WERE some of the Best I’d seen. I’m not mad at any of these nominations.
I thought Captain Phillips while slightly too long was still an excellent and taut picture. Tom Hanks was great as usual and Barkhad Abdi as one of the pirates was really good too. Director Paul Greengrass has crafted another excellent tensioned filled picture.
Dallas Buyers Club was a great tale of adversity featuring what I thought was Matthew McConaughey’s BEST onscreen performance to date and as I stated above he “has been racking up great performances back to back these last several years”. His performance and MY PICK for Actor in a Supporting Role Jared Leto made this a really great picture.
Gravity was simply what I call a "pure cinematic experience". I saw this film
twice in 3D and loved it both times. All around great film. More than great.
It's also what I call "Cinematic Excellence".
Her was an intriguing looking concept from the trailer, but I was more intrigued
in the execution of the said concept. Could they really pull it off? They did!
The concept which seemed more science fiction than romantic was I indeed all
heart. Such a wonderful film.
The Wolf of Wall Street was Martin Scorsese back with one his favorite muses
Leonardo DiCaprio. Their pairing was again fantastic in this tale of debauchery.
You usually can't miss with pair together and you sure didn't this time. A
really great film.
I picked 12 Years a Slave because IT was the film that I thought really went for it all. It took a harsh subject matter and through great acting, story and direction made an excellent film about it. The relatively unknown story of a free black man kidnapped and forced into slavery was an intriguing segue into telling the horrible plight of slavery. The film really took no prisoners (no pun intended) in its brutal depiction of slavery and gave every viewer something to witness and ultimately think about.
So that’s it, my picks this year. As always looking forward to the ceremony!
CLICK the graphic below for my
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