The Return of the Oscars

Something happened this morning, that excited me.  At approximately 8:30 this morning the nominees for the 86th Annual Academy Awards were announced.  I am huge fan of the Oscars and had been eagerly awaiting the announcement for some time.

Typical introductions of the Academy president and a celebrity co-presenter started the affair. 

Now over it comes time for the Supporting Actor nominees.  Of these five nominees there was one surprise for me and that was the nomination of Jonah Hill for The Wolf of Wall Street.  After great work in Moneyball I’m glad he’s on his second Oscar nomination but it surprises me when comedians get nominated, especially since his films in between were pretty much low brow humor.  This is outside of his cameo in last year’s Django Unchained.

Then comes supporting actress.  I’m glad to see Jennifer Lawrence back at the Oscars and love that June Squibb was nominated for Nebraska.  I thought her scenes were uniquely funny and well written.  That’s why I’m glad to see the movie also was nominated for best Original Screenplay.

The screenplay nominations were next to be announced.  Woody Allen returned to the mix with Blue Jasmine and that’s nothing out of the ordinary.  What I loved is seeing Before Midnight and Dallas Buyers Club both get screen writing nominations.  Both I thought were well written and had a distinct voice that came from the screenplay.

Then Chris Hemsworth announced the animated feature nominees.  No surprises.  I wanted Monsters University to get a nomination but that’s more my own love for the movie then the quality of it.  Frozen and The Croods are both well made movies that tell a good story and deserve to be nominees more.

Moving on to documentary feature as announced by Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs.  This category was bookended with two nominees that pleased me.  The Act of Killing and Twenty Feet From Stardom are both great nominees and I would love to see The Act of Killing take the award, now that Stories We Tell is snubbed.

Best Picture Nominees

Directors had their moment in the sun.  Alexander Payne (Nebraska) was an unexpected but pleasant inclusion among a strong group of nominees.  All five nominated films were greatly directed by five directors greatly established in film making.

Lead actor and actress were next.  Nothing surprised me in the lead actress category. I am excited that Matthew McConaughey joins Dallas Buyers Club co-star and supporting actor nominee Jared Leto among this years nominated performers.  Also Leonardo Dicaprio returns as a nominee for The Wolf of Wall Street.  It’s a worthy performance but it means Robert Redford gets the boot for his work in All is Lost, a performance I thought was certain to win.  I enjoy the category opening up a bit now.

Finally the best picture nominees.  For the third year in a row nine films were nominated.  No surprises in the nominations of Gravity, American Hustle,12 Years A Slave, or Dallas Buyers Club.  Captain Phillips, Nebraska and The Wolf of Wall Street’s nominations for picture were pleasant surprises.  The two nominated movies that caught me off guard are Her and Philomena.  I enjoyed both movies and was glad to see them get nominations for writing and Philomena earn Judi Dench a nomination for Best Actress.  The inclusion of both are a plus in my book.

So with all that I look forward to the Oscars, when Ellen Degeneres returns to host 86th annual academy awards.