The Academy Awards

The Academy Award nominations have been known for several weeks now, and the ceremony will take place at the end of February.

Nine movies have been nominated for Best Picture of the year.  I have seen five of them - American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Gravity, Her, and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Of the remaining four, I very much want to see Nebraska and Philomena, bit of which played on Pittsburgh area movie screens for about ten minutes earlier in the month, so unless they actually win Oscars, it looks like I'll have to wait until they are released on DVD.  I will probably not see see 12 Years a Slave.  Don't think I can watch two plus hours of man's inhumanity to man, no matter how well it is presented.  I will also probably pass on Dallas Buyer's Club, simply because Matthew McConaughey rubs me the wrong way.  Yeah, it's an irrational reason on my part, but there it is.  I may end up relenting on that one, though, because McConaughey appears to be a front runner for Best Actor and Jared Leto looks like he will be a lead pipe cinch for Best Supporting Actor.

And speaking of the Best Actor category, this year's biggest injustice is the exclusion of Tom Hanks as a nominee.  If his performance in Captain Phillips was not worth a nomination, then it somewhat taints the nominations of the others in the field.  I admit that I have only seen two of the other five nominated performances, but I still can't believe Hanks got left out.  This makes Tom Hanks the Ben Affleck of 2014.  You will recall how Affleck  was passed over for a Best Director nomination last year.  How Hanks got snubbed this year is a mystery to me.

In the Best Actress category, Cate Blanchett appears to be an early favorite for her role in Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine".  I won't argue that one.  It is well deserved, but I wouldn't be upset if Amy Adams snuck in and won the Oscar, simply because I love Amy Adams.

Getting back to the Best Picture, here is how I would rank the five nominated movies that I have seen:

1. Captain Phillips
2. American Hustle
3. The Wolf of Wall Street
4. Gravity
5. Her

Each of these movies' directors, with one exception, have been nominated for the Best Director Oscar.  The exception is Paul Greengrass of "Captain Phillips", which probably means that "Captain Phillips" will not win.  Too bad.

I will probably have more to say on the Oscars in the weeks ahead, including my much anticipated Oscar Predictions as the ceremony date approaches.