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The British Academy of Film has announced their nominations for the 2014 BAFTA awards. As with the other big award shows, I’m going to take a stab at predicting the winners. I am going to avoid some of the categories that are specific to the British audience since I’m not familiar with all the work.
Best Film
a. 12 Years a Slave – WINNER
d. Gravity
e. Philomena
Such a tough category to start with. I think this could go a couple of ways. I’m going with 12 Years a Slave, one of the best movies I’ve seen in a long time. If anything is going to upset my pick, I would expect it to be Gravity. These are all great films though, so it will be fun to see how it goes.
This was a win I expected, for a film that I think is as good as anything that came out last year.
Best Documentary
a. The Act of Killing – WINNER
b. The Armstrong Lie
c. Blackfish
d. Tim’s Vermeer
e. We Steal Secrets: The Story of Wikileaks
I’ve done a lot of reading on these documentaries. Unfortunately it’s hard to make a pick without having seen more than one of them. Based on my reading, I would expect this one to go to The Act of Killing.
Once again, I got one right. Having seen bits and pieces of each of these films, this was a clear favorite in my mind.
Best Animated Feature
b. Frozen – WINNER
I’m going with my favorite film from the three for this one. Monsters University was an awesome movie, perhaps even better than the first Monsters film.
I don’t like it, but I truly expected Frozen to win, but I stuck with my favorite animated film of the year.
Best Director
a. Steve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
b. David O. Russell, American Hustle
c. Paul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
d. Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity – WINNER
e. Martin Scorsese, The Wolf of Wall Street
This is another tough choice. Like the Best Picture category, this is filled with a number of films that I really loved. Based on the movies I’ve seen, I think this one should go to Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave.
I guess this was a two film race between Cuaron and McQueen. While I think Gravity is incredible. I still think McQueen had a much harder job and succeeded just as well.
Best Original Screenplay
a. Warren Singer & David O. Russell, American Hustle – WINNER
b. Woody Allen, Blue Jasmine
c. Alfonso Cuaron & Jonas Cuaron, Gravity
d. Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, Inside Llewyn Davis
e. Bob Nelson, Nebraska
Nebraska is a movie that I think could take home this award. Despite the bigger films on the list, I think I’ll take this as the underdog pick.
I was wrong, but American Hustle winning this one is no surprise.
Best Adapted Screenplay
a. John Ridley, 12 Years a Slave
b. Richard LaGravenese, Behind the Candelabra
c. Billy Ray, Captain Phillips
d. Steve Coogan & Jeff Pope, Philomena – WINNER
e. Terence Winter, The Wolf of Wall Street
Once again, I think 12 Years a Slave is taking home a lot of hardware this season. I’m betting on this award to go that way also.
I’m actually really happy to see Philomena recognized. This was a tough call and the win is well-deserved.
Best Leading Actor
a. Bruce Dern, Nebraska
b. Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave – WINNER
c. Christian Bale, American Hustle
d. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
e. Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
If you heard a slight echo in this post it’s only my love for 12 Years a Slave. I think that it is going to be hard to beat Chiwetel Ejiofor this year.
A win that I expected for a great actor in a challenging and powerful role.
Best Leading Actress
a. Amy Adams, American Hustle
b. Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine – WINNER
c. Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks
d. Judi Dench, Philomena
e. Sandra Bullock, Gravity
All of the women in this category did a great job with their roles. However, Sandra Bullock was incredible in Gravity and I think it’s going to pay off for her with a number of big awards. Her biggest competition will likely come from Emma Thompson, but I’ll stick with Bullock as my pick.
Interesting win for Blue Jasmine, the only one of the films I didn’t see this year. I’ll be interested to see if this success continues at the Oscars.
Best Supporting Actor
a. Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips – WINNER
b. Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
c. Daniel Bruhl, Rush
d. Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
e. Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
This is a really tough choice to make this season. Fassbender was incredible, Cooper was at his best, and the newcomer Abdi is getting a lot of positive press. This time I think I am going to step outside my comfort zone and take Barkhad Abdi for his work on Captain Phillips.
Yes! This is a category I really hoped to be right about. What a great performance from the new actor.
Best Supporting Actress
a. Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle – WINNER
b. Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
c. Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
d. Oprah Winfrey, The Butler
e. Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
This is a category I can only see going one way. Lupita Nyong’o did such an incredible job with her role in 12 Years a Slave that I can’t imagine her not winning this one.
I don’t agree with this choice. Lawrence did a good job with her part, but Nyong’o is brilliant in one of the more gritty roles this year.
Best Original Music
a. Hans Zimmer, 12 Years a Slave
b. John Williams, The Book Thief
c. Henry Jackman, Captain Phillips
d. Steven Price, Gravity – WINNER
e. Thomas Newman, Saving Mr. Banks
This category is another tough choice. Every one of the films has an incredible score. Gravity is my choice for this award. The score was intensely important to the feel and emotion of the film.
This is a great win for a wonderful score.
Best Cinematography
a. Sean Bobbitt, 12 Years a Slave
b. Barry Ackroyd, Captain Phillips
c. Emmanuel Lubezki, Gravity – WINNER
d. Bruno Delbonnel, Inside Llewyn Davis
e. Phedon Papamichael, Nebraska
I’m still working on seeing a couple of these films. Until then, my pick is based on the films I have seen, and the reviews I’ve read from some trusted sources. I think that 12 Years a Slave stands a good chance at winning this award.
Gravity picked up a number of awards. This wasn’t my choice, but it is definitely deserving of the recognition.
Best Editing
a. Joe Walker, 12 Years a Slave
b. Christopher Rouse, Captain Phillips
c. Alfonso Cuaron & Mark Sanger, Gravity
d. Dan Hanley & Mike Hill, Rush – WINNER
e. Thelma Schoonmaker, The Wolf of Wall Street
This is yet another tough choice this season. I think this one is likely to go to Rush.
Looks like the voters agreed with my choice this time.
Best Production Design
c. Behind the Candelabra
d. Gravity
e. The Great Gatsby – WINNER
This was an easy pick for me, but I’m not sure how my pick will match up with the voters this season. I think that The Great Gatsby was a great example of good production design.
Once again, it looks like the voters saw the same things I saw in this great film.
Best Costume Design
b. Behind the Candelabra
c. The Great Gatsby – WINNER
d. The Invisible Woman
There are several great choices in this category. American Hustle is my choice for this award.
It looks like I missed this one, but The Great Gatsby is a great choice as well.
Best Make-up & Hair
a. American Hustle – WINNER
b. Behind the Candelabra
c. The Butler
e. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug might not win a lot of awards, but I think it is deserving of this one.
I was wrong. I think The Hobbit failed to connect with people in the way that American Hustle did.
Best Sound
a. All Is Lost
c. Gravity – WINNER
e. Rush
I could see this one going to a couple of these films. I think that Captain Phillips might take this one home.
I definitely underestimated Gravity this time around.
Best Special Effects
a. Gravity – WINNER
b. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
c. Iron Man 3
d. Pacific Rim
e. Star Trek: Into Darkness
Like many of the awards, there are so many good options with this one. This award should go to Gravity for the amazing portrayal of space.
Another one right! This seemed like an easy one to me.
Well, here’s another of my attempts to pick out the winners from the many great nominees this season. I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of the picks I’ve made. This award show is going to air on BBC and BBC America on February 16th.
So I managed to do better than I thought this season. The BAFTA voters and I agreed 8 out of 18 times. So, now it’s on to the Oscars. Hope I did a little better with those picks.
Did You See That One? 