Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave) and Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street) are no match for Matthew McConaughey this year. His interpretation in Dallas Buyers Club was magnificent, I think.
With a long-standing chick flick career behind him, Matthew McConaughey has come into his element of late, delivering a sterling performance in Dallas Buyers Club. And though he does stand a good chance at the Oscars, he is in excellent company, with Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave, and this-is-my-fourth-nomination-without-a-win, Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio himself (when will he win an Oscar, my lord?)
The director of the movie which wins the Best Picture stands a fair chance of winning, as it isw the director the one who takes care of the picture. (But there are exceptions too. Don't we all know how Ben Affleck got Argo'd last year?) So this time, Steve McQueen may just be the first black director to win the coveted trophy. But if Oscar predictability is to be believed, Alfonso Cuarón may just slip in by a whisker with Gravity.
Okay, so year after year, we see a big and upbeat movie pitted against a smaller one mostly based on history. The Oscars like history! This time around, it's American Hustle and 12 Years a Slave playing these parts. Interestingly, anything upbeat and entertaining has never been able to beat history and staidness in the Academy's mind. Which is precisely the reason why 12 Years a Slave has a greater chance of gaining any Oscar.
I am not trying to make sense out of the nominations here; wouldn't that take endless hours? All I am doing is putting up a list of my favorites, and I've even added a slight Academy-styled eccentricity to it. Of course, voting for the awards will take place somewhere around mid-February, and the ceremony itself is scheduled to take place on March 2nd. Each year, once the nominations are out, movie fans from the general public as well as the media outlets begin frenzied speculations regarding the winners of popular categories (excluding the technical awards). So, for now, here's a list of who I think will win the Oscars in 2014.
