Tonight is one of my favourite nights of the year, OSCAR NIGHT!!! I’ve always been completely enthralled by the whole thing. I can remember being allowed to stay up semi-late to watch the Awards with my parents, and then having to record what I missed once I went to bed. I would brush my teeth and rehearse in my head what my acceptance speech would one day be.
Although they have kind of lost some credibility in my mind over the years (Sandra Bullock Best Actress for The Blind Side, really Academy? Really!?), my enchantment with the Oscars has never wavered.
I’ve grown to take them fairly seriously as well. As you can you can see in the image above, I construct a highly sophisticated system of tracking which films I have viewed. My goal is always to watch every film nominated in the Best Picture, Best Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Director before the big night so I can form some sort of an opinion of who I want the statues to go to. I must admit, my taste doesn’t always align with the Academy’s, but no matter my preferences, I come away from it having watching watched a handful of great films. This year I didn’t quite finish the list, I didn’t see Philomena, which was nominated for Best Picture and has Judi Dench nominated for Best Actress, or The Grandmaster, which was nominated for Cinematography, but other than that I did pretttty, pretty good.
This year I am super adamant about which film truly deserves the title BEST: 12 Years a Slave. Never have I seen a film that was more powerful or moving than this. As such, Steve McQueen definitely deserves the Oscar, a standing ovation, pat on the back etc etc. The film completely blew my mind. It was utterly heart-wrenching and horrifying, but it’s something that everyone should watch. The topic of equality and respect could not have been handled more eloquently. I sobbed from beginning to end, but could not tear my eyes away from the screen. I think this is the first film I’ve ever seen that I know will still have such a significance and weight years from now.
My picks for actors and actresses are a little more blurry. All the gentlemen up for Best Actor were unbelievable and I would be happy if any of them got it. I would love to see DiCaprio score his first golden statue, as it boggles my mind that he hasn’t yet for all his other films. His performance in Wolf of Wall Street was spectacular. But then there’s McConaughey (be still my beating heart) and Chiwetel Ejifor (my heart doesn’t stand a chance)! Both tackling such difficult roles, with such important characters to portray. I think it should be between the two of them.
For Best Supporting Actor I’m quite certain Jared Leto will take the prize for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club. He really transformed himself into a totally different person as his character Rayon. Ugh, but again, Bradley Cooper, Michael Fassbender, and Jonah Hill were all amazing as well. I’m a huge Fassbender fan, and thought his work in 12 Years was remarkable.
In terms of Best Actress, I have no idea who’s going to win. I didn’t see Philomena, so have no idea how to rate Judi Dench in that film. Meryl Streep was crazy good, emphasis on crazy, in August: Osage County. But I also loved Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine, so I think it’s a bit of a toss up between which unstable lady, Jasmine or Violet, will reign supreme.
For Best Supporting Actress I’m hoping Lupita Nyong’o will win for her role as Patsey in 12 Years a Slave. Such an intense role, and surely an immensely difficult mind space to enter into, but she was incredible.
There were very few flops for me this year. I didn’t really like Captain Phillips, though I didn’t have the highest of hopes. I was totally into it while they were being ‘boarded by armed pirates’ *said in Bostonion accent*, but after that it completely lost me. Although I found Gravity to be truly breathtaking, I didn’t love the casting of Sandra Bullock (it seems like I have a hate on for her, but just in these roles). I would have preferred to see someone a little lesser known. I got a little sick of the nasal panting. Alfonso Cuorón on the other hand could easily win Best Director.
The stars are about to start walking the Red Carpet and I can’t wait to see what they’re wearing. The fashion at the Oscars deserves a whole separate awards show as well, but I suppose People.com will have to do for now. I know DiCaprio, Ejiofor, McConaughey, Fassbender, and Leto are going to be insanely hot (Leto especially if his hair is bunned, Ejiofor if he’s rocking some stubble, and McConaughey if he is shirtless or speaking..), so I look forward to their dapper appearances. Cate Blanchett has my favourite style of all the nominees, but who knows, the sweet and hilarious June Squibb might pull out the stops in a saucy number. Lupita Nyong’o has also been killing it this awards season.
All right, must run, I hope the show is exciting, that Ellen is hilarioussss and that 12 Years a Slave is the star of the night. Happy Oscar Night!
the rêve head 