Cool Black's Oscar Picks 2015

 

 By Dankwa Brooks AKA Cool Black

Welcome to my FIFTH ANNUAL Oscar picks! I don’t know why I started doing these five years ago, but I thought it would be fun. To pick who I THINK should win.

I never get to see ALL the nominated films, but I try and in 2013 I actually saw ALL NINE Best Picture nominees before the ceremony.

In December 2014 I also wrote Cool Black's 2014 Oscars Short List before the nominations were officially announced on January 15, 2015. After the nominations were announced I updated that blog post to reflect each Post Nomination Result. You can see if my wishes were fulfilled…and most of them were.

Below though are my picks for what I want to win an Academy award. I couldn’t see every nominated picture so I will bold in red the correlating nominations that I have NOT seen.)

As usual 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.

I try to keep my Oscar picks as general as possible and try not to get to into the technical categories too much even though I have opinions on those as well. This year I include the Best Song category (ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG))
and I never do that. This year I am including again, the Oscar for Production Design and Visual Effects.

As a screenwriter two of my favorite categories are the two screenwriting ones. For the record:
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).

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

AMERICAN SNIPER
WRITTEN BY JASON HALL

THE IMITATION GAME
WRITTEN BY GRAHAM MOORE

INHERENT VICE
WRITTEN FOR THE SCREEN BY PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
SCREENPLAY BY ANTHONY MCCARTEN

WHIPLASH
WRITTEN BY DAMIEN CHAZELLE

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Graham Moore for The Imitation Game. I’ve only seen TWO of these nominees and I thought this one was superior. I really didn’t think the screenplay for American Sniper was that great.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
WRITTEN BY ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU, NICOLÁS GIACOBONE, ALEXANDER DINELARIS, JR. & ARMANDO BO

BOYHOOD
WRITTEN BY RICHARD LINKLATER

FOXCATCHER
WRITTEN BY E. MAX FRYE AND DAN FUTTERMAN

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
SCREENPLAY BY WES ANDERSON STORY BY WES ANDERSON & HUGO GUINNESS

NIGHTCRAWLER
WRITTEN BY DAN GILROY

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Of the three I saw, this was a tough one. I really liked the screenplay for The Grand Budapest Hotel, it was way subversive and funny than I thought it would be, but the real hard choice to me was between Birdman and Boyhood. Richard Linklater did what I thought was the impossible. He made “average life" interesting and engrossing. It was the screenplay for Birdman that was superior though. Yes it took four credited writers, but I still loved the wild and weird story and I thought that it showed great writing, humor and great drama. 

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
EMMANUEL LUBEZKI

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
ROBERT YEOMAN

IDA
LUKASZ ZAL AND RYSZARD LENCZEWSKI

MR. TURNER
DICK POPE

UNBROKEN
ROGER DEAKINS

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). This was also a tough category to pick and one film I didn’t even see, but I know is probably deserving. Roger Deakins is a MASTERFUL cinematographer, who has been nominated for an Oscar like 10 times (literally) and never won, but I haven’t seen his work here. The cinematography for The Grand Budapest Hotel by Robert Yeoman was great and the IDA Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski for Ida was outstanding! A beautiful looking film. But Emmanuel Lubezki really knocked it out of the park for Birdman with its continuous shooting style. People who have seen this film will know what I mean.

 ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING
AMERICAN SNIPER
JOEL COX AND GARY D. ROACH

BOYHOOD
SANDRA ADAIR

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
BARNEY PILLING

THE IMITATION GAME
WILLIAM GOLDENBERG

WHIPLASH
TOM CROSS

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:  Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach for American Sniper. Even though I’ve seen and enjoyed most of these films, it really was a two way race to me between American Sniper and Boyhood. I thought the transitions and editing in Boyhood were outstanding and seamless. Especially as it was filmed over 12 years. But the editing in American Sniper was a highlight of the film to me and really made the tense sniper scenes terrific.

ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN
(Build and or design sets for the film)

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
PRODUCTION DESIGN: ADAM STOCKHAUSEN
SET DECORATION: ANNA PINNOCK

THE IMITATION GAME
PRODUCTION DESIGN: MARIA DJURKOVIC
SET DECORATION: TATIANA MACDONALD

INTERSTELLAR
PRODUCTION DESIGN: NATHAN CROWLEY
SET DECORATION: GARY FETTIS

INTO THE WOODS
PRODUCTION DESIGN: DENNIS GASSNER
SET DECORATION: ANNA PINNOCK

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:  Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock for The Grand Budapest Hotel. Again, only a two way race for me with Interstellar being the only real contender. But as Interstellar did great things with the space related sets, on land and in—space, I thought The Grand Budapest Hotel really transported you to this wacky hotel and made everything look great.


ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS

CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
DAN DELEEUW, RUSSELL EARL, BRYAN GRILL AND DAN SUDICK

DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES
JOE LETTERI, DAN LEMMON, DANIEL BARRETT AND ERIK WINQUIST

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
STEPHANE CERETTI, NICOLAS AITHADI, JONATHAN FAWKNER AND PAUL CORBOULD

INTERSTELLAR
PAUL FRANKLIN, ANDREW LOCKLEY, IAN HUNTER AND SCOTT FISHER

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST
RICHARD STAMMERS, LOU PECORA, TIM CROSBIE AND CAMERON WALDBAUER

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:   Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist for Dawn of The Planet Of The Apes. This was another tough category and as I have seen ALL the nominated films I know EACH ONE did outstanding work! These are truly well worthy nominations. I had to go with Apes because I think they really brought that post apocalyptic world to life and made a race of sentient apes oh so real.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR
IDA
POLAND

LEVIATHAN
RUSSIA

TANGERINES
ESTONIA

TIMBUKTU
MAURITANIA

WILD TALES
ARGENTINA
Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:  Poland's Ida. Ida was the only nominated foreign I have seen thus far, but it was well worth it. I heard about this foreign film far in advance of seeing it and all the acclaim was spot on. Such a magnificent film! Acting, story, direction and cinematography. This film could have easily been nominated for Best Picture.

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG)

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME
THE LEGO MOVIE
MUSIC AND LYRIC BY SHAWN PATTERSON

GLORY
SELMA
MUSIC AND LYRIC BY JOHN STEPHENS AND LONNIE LYNN

GRATEFUL
BEYOND THE LIGHTS
MUSIC AND LYRIC BY DIANE WARREN

I’M NOT GONNA MISS YOU
GLEN CAMPBELL…I’LL BE ME
MUSIC AND LYRIC BY GLEN CAMPBELL AND JULIAN RAYMOND

LOST STARS
BEGIN AGAIN
MUSIC AND LYRIC BY GREGG ALEXANDER AND DANIELLE BRISEBOIS

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: TIE Diane Warren for “Grateful” and John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn for “Glory”. I never include Best Song. I’m just never invested in the song choices each year, but this year these two songs I loved since I heard them played over the closing credits for their respective films and I was so delighted that they were nominated. I also don’t like doing “ties”, but I love each song equally and didn’t want to chose, so I didn’t. I also really like “Everything Is Awesome: from The Lego Movie, but it was always just a race between “Glory” and “Grateful”.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

ROBERT DUVALL
THE JUDGE

ETHAN HAWKE
BOYHOOD

EDWARD NORTON
BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)

MARK RUFFALO
FOXCATCHER

J.K. SIMMONS
WHIPLASH

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Robert Duvall for The Judge. I thought Edward Norton and Ethan Hawke were terrific in their roles, but Duvall was just magnificent.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
PATRICIA ARQUETTE
BOYHOOD

LAURA DERN
WILD

KEIRA KNIGHTLEY
THE IMITATION GAME

EMMA STONE
BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)

MERYL STREEP
INTO THE WOODS

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Patricia Arquette for Boyhood. I thought Keira Knightley was really good in The Imitation Game and Emma Stone was the best I’d EVER seen her in Birdman, but Patricia Arquette just gave so much breadth and compassion to single mother trials and tribulations through her performance.
 
PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

MARION COTILLARD
TWO DAYS, ONE NIGHT

FELICITY JONES
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

JULIANNE MOORE
STILL ALICE

ROSAMUND PIKE
GONE GIRL

REESE WITHERSPOON
WILD

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl. Yes I’ve only seen ONE of these nominated performances, but it’s kind of all I need to see. Rosamund Pike was so multilayered in her performance where she could have easily come off as cartoonish. Excellent performance.

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

STEVE CARELL
FOXCATCHER

BRADLEY COOPER
AMERICAN SNIPER

BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH
THE IMITATION GAME

MICHAEL KEATON
BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)

EDDIE REDMAYNE
THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Michael Keaton for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Bradley Cooper was really good in several scenes in American Sniper, but the race to me was really only between Benedict Cumberbatch and Keaton. Cumberbatch was really terrific in the role and showed layers that I hadn’t seen him in before. Even with those two performances I didn’t get a chance to see, I can’t imagine that they are better than Keaton. Michael Keaton was just a tour de force in Birdman.

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU

BOYHOOD
RICHARD LINKLATER

FOXCATCHER
BENNETT MILLER

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
WES ANDERSON

THE IMITATION GAME
MORTEN TYLDUM

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). I thought The Grand Budapest Hotel and The Imitation Game had really good direction as did Boyhood, but was I wowed by the direction of Birdman from the first scene. The direction was a truly remarkable feat and I literally didn’t want to take my eyes off the screen.

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Before we get the final category of the night (or whatever time of day you are reading this. LOL) Something I haven't done since the First Annual picks in 2011. Here is a list of my Oscar picks for each category.

• ADAPTED SCREENPLAY Graham Moore for The Imitation Game

• ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

• ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY Emmanuel Lubezki for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

• ACHIEVEMENT IN FILM EDITING Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach for American Sniper

• ACHIEVEMENT IN PRODUCTION DESIGN Adam Stockhausen and Anna Pinnock for The Grand Budapest Hotel

• ACHIEVEMENT IN VISUAL EFFECTS Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

• BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR Ida

• ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC WRITTEN FOR MOTION PICTURES (ORIGINAL SONG) TIE Diane Warren for “Grateful” and John Stephens and Lonnie Lynn for “Glory”

• PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Robert Duvall for The Judge

• PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE Patricia Arquette for Boyhood

• PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE Rosamund Pike for Gone Girl

• PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE Michael Keaton for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

• ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING Alejandro G. Iñárritu for Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)

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BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR

(Note: The Academy Award for Best Picture goes to the Producers of the movie. That’s why last year Steve McQueen won an Oscar. It wasn’t for directing 12 Years a Slave, it was for producing it. Ben Affleck won his last Oscar the same way for Argo. He wasn’t even nominated as Best Director for Argo)

AMERICAN SNIPER
CLINT EASTWOOD, ROBERT LORENZ, ANDREW LAZAR, BRADLEY COOPER AND PETER MORGAN, PRODUCERS

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE)
ALEJANDRO G. IÑÁRRITU, JOHN LESHER AND JAMES W. SKOTCHDOPOLE, PRODUCERS

BOYHOOD
RICHARD LINKLATER AND CATHLEEN SUTHERLAND, PRODUCERS

THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL
WES ANDERSON, SCOTT RUDIN, STEVEN RALES AND JEREMY DAWSON, PRODUCERS

THE IMITATION GAME
NORA GROSSMAN, IDO OSTROWSKY AND TEDDY SCHWARZMAN, PRODUCERS

SELMA
CHRISTIAN COLSON, OPRAH WINFREY, DEDE GARDNER AND JEREMY KLEINER, PRODUCERS

THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING
TIM BEVAN, ERIC FELLNER, LISA BRUCE AND ANTHONY MCCARTEN, PRODUCERS

WHIPLASH
JASON BLUM, HELEN ESTABROOK AND DAVID LANCASTER, PRODUCERS

SELMA was terrific and powerful. I thought the direction, the cinematography, the period costume design, all terrific.

I didn’t what to think or expect going into THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, but I thought it was excellent. Subversive and wickedly funny.

THE IMITATION GAME was terrific as well. A really great period piece that was built like a great mystery and managed to interweave personal stories in without taking away from the main story.

AMERICAN SNIPER was good, but I thought only when it had to be.

BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) was just excellent. From the writing, to the acting to the direction and cinematography. Everything!

My PICK for BEST PICTURE goes to BOYHOOD. Richard Linklater and Cathleen Sutherland, Producers.

When I read about it, I thought Boyhood’s story of following a boy growing into a man in real time was clever and a good gimmick. Who does that? Twelve years filming the same actors for a narrative film? It has been done for documentaries of course, but not narrative film that I can recall. To my surprise the film pulled it off!

I was totally engrossed by this story that didn’t involve the boy getting bit by a radioactive spider or anything. It was just a story of a kid growing up with his single mom. Of course there were story arcs and dramatic twists, coupled with terrific acting by the cast and brilliant directing, but it was just that a boy’s story. Everything, every single thing, worked for this picture and I thought it was phenomenal.


So that’s it, my picks this year. As always looking forward to the ceremony!

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Click the graphics below to see my Oscar picks from the last four years

Cool Black's 2014 Oscars Short List

Blog Post #19

 For the first time ever

I never make Oscar “lists” this early, but this year I wanted to try. I never make predictions anyway. In my annual Oscar picks, they “are NOT who I think WILL win; it’s who I think SHOULD win”, so these are who I think SHOULD be given consideration based on the films I’ve seen thus far January to November 2014.

UPDATE: FEBRUARY, 7, 2015
The nominees were announced for the 87th Annual Academy Awards on January 15, 2015. The ceremony will take place on February 22, 2015. Below I will post every "Post Nomination Result" below.


Gugu Mbatha-Raw (pictured left) for the film Belle

What they are calling a breakthrough performance and I agree. Her performance was the heart and soul of the film and I think should be recognized by The Academy. You can read my review for Belle at the ‘Nother Brother Entertainment blog here
.
Post Nomination Result: Was not nominated



Robert Duvall (pictured left) for The Judge  “Bobby D” has been one of the great American actors of his generation and he gives a raw honest performance here. He should get a nomination for this role and his body of work.

Post Nomination Result: Was nominated for Best Supporting Actor


Richard Linklater for writing and directing Boyhood  I just thought Boyhood was a phenomenal film. Linklater took what seemed like a gimmick and made it work—phenomenally.

He shot the film intermittently over an eleven-year period from May 2002 to October 2013, showing the growth of the young boy and his sister to adulthood. That means we see the SAME ACTORS age over this period. You can read more about the film at Wikipedia by clicking the link above.

Post Nomination Result: Boyhood received six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing.

Force Majeure for Best Foreign Language Film
It has already been selected as the Swedish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but I think it should get a nomination as it is a terrific film and one of the best I've seen this year.



Post Nomination Result: Was not nominated

Rosamund Pike (pictured left) for Gone Girl  A fearless performance that drives the whole film. I’d be surprised if she doesn’t get a nomination.

Post Nomination Result: Was nominated for Best Actress

Gillian Flynn (pictured left) for writing the screenplay for Gone Girl.  She also wrote the original source material, the novel Gone Girl. Only a tiny list of authors have successfully brought their books to life on the screen and she has done just that by writing an excellent screenplay. A more than worthy nomination.

Post Nomination Result: Was not nominated





So that is my short list. Looking forward to seeing more nomination worthy films in these coming months.

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Click the graphics below to see my Oscars picks from over the years

Cool Black's Oscar Picks 2014

By Dankwa Brooks AKA Cool Black

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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As a screenwriter two of my favorite categories are the two screenwriting ones. For the record:
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 Buyers Club)

Woody Allen (Blue Jasmine)

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Absolutely it’s Spike Jonze for Her. After I saw the trailer for this film I didn’t know if it would make a compelling full length picture, but boy was I wrong. The screenplay for this film was wonderfully splendid and made you really believe in what seemed like a far fetched concept. Excellent writing job. 

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FILM EDITING

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

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

American Hustle
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.  

My PICK for BEST PICTURE goes to 12 Years a Slave. 

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

Cool Black's Oscar Picks 2013

By Dankwa Brooks AKA Cool Black

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.

Every year I try to keep my Oscar picks as general as possible and try not to get to into the technical categories, but this year there are some I must mention and give my vote to. For the first time I’ll tell you who should get the Oscar for Production Design, Costume and Visual Effects.  

And now...the awards.

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As a screenwriter two of my favorite categories are the two screenwriting ones. For the record:
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).

This year what are usually the clear cut choices for me, the screenwriting awards, are the hardest.

Writing

(Adapted Screenplay)

Argo
Chris Terrio, adapted from the books The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez and The Great Escape by Joshuah Bearman

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, adapted from the play Juicy and Delicious by Lucy Alibar

Life of Pi
David Magee adapted from the book of the same name.

Lincoln
Tony Kushner adapted from the book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Silver Linings Playbook
David O. Russell adapted from the book of the same name.

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild. The little I know about the play is it’s as abstract and fantastical as the film ‘Beasts’ and I thought they did a wonderful job at transforming that for the screen.

Writing

(Original Screenplay)

Michael Haneke for Amour 

Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained 

John Gatins for Flight 

Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola for Moonrise Kingdom 

Mark Boal for Zero Dark Thirty

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Michael Haneke for Amour. While I liked the screenplays for Flight and Zero Dark Thirty, I thought the screenplay for Amour was wholly original and dealt with a subject not explored on the screen and depicted it with honesty and strength. 

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FILM EDITING

Argo—William Goldenberg
Life of Pi—Tim Squyres
Lincoln—Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook—Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty—Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: TIE William Goldenberg for Argo and … William Goldenberg again this time with Dylan Tichenor for Zero Dark Thirty. Both films had excellent climaxes and much of that was due to the editing in those climatic scenes. 


PRODUCTION DESIGN
(Build and or design sets for the film)

Sarah Greenwood & Katie Spencer for Anna Karenina
Dan Hennah, Ra Vincent & Simon Bright for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Eve Stewart & Anna Lynch-Robinson for Les Misérables
David Gropman & Anna Pinnock for Life of Pi
Rick Carter & Jim Erickson for Lincoln

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Eve Stewart & Anna Lynch-Robinson for Les Misérables. Even though I didn't see Anna Karenina and The Hobbit, the sets in Les Misérables were just outstanding especially the very last scene in the film.


COSTUME

Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables – Paco Delgado
Lincoln – Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror – Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman – Colleen Atwood

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:  Colleen Atwood for Snow White and the Huntsman. While the costumes in Les Misérables were really great Chalize Theron’s costumes in SWATH were outstanding. 

VISUAL EFFECTS
(The special, often computer generated, effects for a film) 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, and R. Christopher White

Life of Pi – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer, and Donald R. Elliott

Marvel's The Avengers – Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, and Dan Sudick

Prometheus – Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley, and Martin Hill

Snow White and the Huntsman – Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould, and Michael Dawson

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Life of Pi – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer, and Donald R. Elliott. This was a hard category because the visual effects in The Avengers, Prometheus and Snow White and the Huntsman were all really great, but I had to pick the film with the most outstanding computer generated tiger I have ever seen. Without the great work on the tiger (a main character) the movie would have failed. 


CINEMATOGRAPHY

Seamus McGarvey for Anna Karenina
Robert Richardson for Django Unchained
Claudio Miranda for Life of Pi
Janusz Kamiński for Lincoln
Roger Deakins for Skyfall

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick:  Roger Deakins for Skyfall. Some of the most stunning visuals and shots that I’ve seen in any picture 2012. Life of Pi had stunning visuals as well, but most of them were CGI, computer-generated imagery. The visuals in Skyfall were practical…or so they seemed. In any case great work by Mr. Deakins.

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ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Alan Arkin in Argo 
Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook 
Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master
Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln  
Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln. I've seen all of these nominated performances and while all worthy, Tommy Lee Jones was outstanding in Lincoln and one of the best things about the film!  

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Amy Adams in The Master
Sally Field in Lincoln
Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables
Helen Hunt in The Sessions
Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Helen Hunt in The Sessions. I've seen all of these nominated performances as well and again while all worthy, Helen Hunt gave a brave and nurturing performance in the film.


ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln 
Hugh Jackman, in Les Miserables 
Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
Denzel Washington in Flight

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Joaquin Phoenix in The Master. Daniel Day-Lewis was great as ever in Lincoln, Hugh Jackman, gave the performance of his life in Les Miserables and Denzel Washington gave one of his best performances in years in Flight, but it was Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in The Master that was just phenomenal. 


ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva in Amour 
Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts in The Impossible

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: Emmanuelle Riva in Amour. Jessica Chastain was really great in Zero Dark Thirty and carried the whole picture; Jennifer Lawrence was great as ever in Silver Linings Playbook and one of the best things about the film, and Quvenzhané Wallis…she was truly remarkable at such a young age. I really loved her performance in Beasts of the Southern Wild, but if there was a better performance by an “Actress in a Leading Role” than Emmanuelle Riva in Amour in cinema 2012—I haven’t seen it. 

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DIRECTING

Michael Haneke for Amour
Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Ang Lee for Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg for Lincoln
David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: As I've seen all of these films I can say that all of these directors are worthy of their nominations. 

Michael Haneke did a really great job at conveying the love and angst of the couple in the middle of an adverse situation that many face as they get older. 

Ang Lee did a really great job at converting what many though was an in-adaptable book into a spiritual, visual delight. 

Steven Spielberg brought all of his cinematic mastery to capture the historical period piece and political dealings of Lincoln. 

David O. Russell did a great job of capturing mental illness and making it funny without turning it into satire or buffoonery in Silver Linings Playbook.

My PICK though has to be Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild. Zeitlin composed a cinematic feat that was touching, emotional and magical. 

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BEST PICTURE

Amour
Producers: Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka and Michael Katz

Argo
Producers: Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, and George Clooney

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Producers: Dan Janvey, Josh Penn, and Michael Gottwald

Django Unchained
Producers: Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin, and Pilar Savone

Les Misérables
Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh

Life of Pi
Producers: Gil Netter, Ang Lee, and David Womark

Lincoln
Producers: Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy

Silver Linings Playbook
Producers: Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen, and Jonathan Gordon

Zero Dark Thirty
Producers: Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, and Megan Ellison

Cool Black’s Oscar Pick: While all these pictures, save for one, deserved to nominated for Best Picture, I have to mention: 

Amour, a searing yet veritable film about love. A wonderfully composed story about adversity among a couple that does not sugarcoat it. 

Argo was a fantastic tale of suspense based on real life events that will have you on the edge of your seat until pretty much the end.

Les Misérables was an ornately orchestrated musical with some really great performances and songs.

Life of Pi while a visual delight was also in the end a very spiritual story of survival.

Silver Linings Playbook was a funny love story that dealt with mental illness in a way that did not make light of it or make it overwhelming. 

Zero Dark Thirty breaks down a lot of the politics it took to track down Osama bin Laden and by the end, the action packed way they got him.


My PICK for BEST PICTURE goes to Beasts of the Southern Wild. 

I’ve also picked Beasts of the Southern Wild as my favorite film of 2012 and this is what I said 

My favorite film of 2012 had to have been the one that moved me the most. Watching this film was a reminder of the power of cinema to me. A phenomenal film.

That pretty much summed it up why I think its Best Picture.

So that’s it, my picks this year. As always looking forward to the ceremony!