filmAEO: 86th Academy Awards Nominations Reactions and Analysis

Some interesting facts....

Meryl Streep is on her 18th nomination
David O. Russell uplifted its cast for earning a nomination in each of the 4 acting categories consecutively for 2 years, and David himself nominated consecutively for Best Director
It is the first time ever that Meryl Streep and Amy Adams compete in the same category for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Cinematographer Roger Deakins is on his 11th nomination, yet still no wins
The Missing Picture is the first Cambodian film ever to be nominated for Best Foreign Language Film
It is likely to be Hayao Miyazaki's last nomination for Best Animated Feature with his claimed last piece The Wind Rises
Best Director nominees Alexander Payne and David O. Russell each has 3 nominations. While David has never won an Oscar, Alexander won 2 Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay in Sideways (2004) and The Descendants (2011)
For the ceremony, this year is similar to the year of 2006 when Martin Scorsese won Best Picture and Best Director for The Departed meanwhile Ellen DeGeneres was hosting the show.

Rarely could we witness a year when there are 3 strong films that could potentially win Best Picture.
To convince yourselves on who is likely to win Best Picture, the next few weeks of other awards ceremonies such as BAFTA, Spirits and SAG would evidently hint the winner of the year.
12 Years A Slave has already won Best Drama at the Globes and the Critics' Choice Awards, whereas American Hustle has won Best Comedy in these awards.
Race between American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave lies in Best Supporting Actress and maybe Best Production Design and Best Costume Design as their nominees go head to head in these categories.
Unlike previous years when winning Best Film Editing would determine the Best Picture winner, the race this year is different when Gravity is most likely to take away Best Film Editing, but maybe not Best Picture. Therefore other categories become equally important.

Best Picture - Philomena

Best Actor - Christian Bale (American Hustle)

Best Cinematography - Philippe Le Sourd (The Grandmaster)

Best Costume Design - William Chang (The Grandmaster)

Best Original Screenplay - Dallas Buyers Club

Best Film Editing - Dallas Buyers Club

Philomena gained support from the British votes over the past few weeks with nominations in BAFTA and more importantly with the help of Harvey Weinstein.
Christian Bale's surprising sneak-in definitely helped the momentum of American Hustle in campaigning for Best Picture.
The Academy tends to have an appreciation towards Chinese films' Cinematography and Costume Design when The House of Flying Daggers and The Curse of the Golden Flower were previously nominated respectively for these categories.
Predictions on Best Cinematography could have been better if the ASC nominations were compared.
With nominations in Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing (both are essential categories to win Best Picture, and in particular Editing), Dallas Buyers Club definitely poses a threat to the race. Moreover, it picks up more votes for its actors, Matthew and Jared.

Best Actor - Robert Redford (All is Lost)

Best Actor - Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)

Best Director - Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips)

Best Animated Feature - Monsters University

Early release of Captain Phillips has lost its momentum in the awards race.
Going silent for most of the time in All is Lost does not get Robert Redford anywhere at the Oscars, even he was beloved within the film industry.
No love for Pixar prequels at all, and it paves a good chance for Disney to win Best Animated Feature.

filmAEO