Back in November, we made our extremely premature Oscar predictions and with the real nominations released today, let’s have a look at how we did, and potentially mock/celebrate our soothsayer ways.

BEST PICTURE

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

PREDICTIONS:

  • 12 Years A Slave (Steve McQueen)
  • Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
  • The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
  • American Hustle (David O Russell)
  • Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass)
  • Nebraska (Alexander Payne)
  • Inside Llewyn Davis (The Coen Brothers)
  • Saving Mr Banks (John Lee Hancock)

REALITY

  • American Hustle (David O Russell)
  • Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass)
  • Dallas Buyers Club (Jean Marc-Vallee)
  • Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
  • Her (Spike Jonze)
  • Nebraska (Alexander Payne)
  • Philomena (Stephen Frears)
  • 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
  • The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese) 

Although the Best Picture category was one of the easiest to predict in terms of the concrete nominations (Gravity, 12 Years A Slave and American Hustle). the inclusion of Her, Philomena and Dallas Buyers Club can be classified as happy surprises. The omission of Saving Mr Banks is not a great shock but the complete snub of Inside Llewyn Davis is strange considering the level of praise and accolades thrown towards it, especially our 5-star review. So 66% success rate for our first category, we’ll take that.

SCORE: 6/9

 

BEST DIRECTOR

Courtesy of Getty Images

Courtesy of Getty Images

PREDICTIONS:

  • Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
  • Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave)
  • Paul Greengrass (Captain Phillips)
  • David O Russell (American Hustle)
  • Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street) OR Joel & Ethan Coen (Inside Llewyn Davis)

REALITY:

  • Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity)
  • Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave)
  • Alexander Payne (Nebraska)
  • David O Russell (American Hustle)
  • Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street) 

We actually got this one pretty dead on. One of the biggest trends to come from this year’s nominations is the overwhelmingly popular impact Nebraska had on the Academy, as it was the 3rd most nominated film this year with six in total. Poor old Coen brothers and Paul Greengrass. Better luck next time guys.

SCORE: 4/5

 

BEST ACTOR

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

PREDICTIONS:

  • Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave)
  • Robert Redford (All is Lost)
  • Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
  • Tom Hanks (Captain Phillips)
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)

REALITY:

  • Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave)
  • Christian Bale (American Hustle)
  • Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
  • Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)

The biggest downfall to our initial list back in November is that no-one had seen American Hustle, this has severely hindered our success rate in our predictions. Damn it David O Russell. Your ability to produce great performances from an A-list cast should not have been underestimated. So with Christian Bale in and our on-the-edge prediction of Bruce Dern sneaking in,  Tom Hanks is the biggest ‘loser’ this year missing out a nomination on arguably one of his best performances to date.

SCORE: 3.5/5 (we’ve giving ourselves a half point for Bruce Dern)  

 

BEST ACTRESS

Courtesy of Panorama Films

Courtesy of Panorama Films

PREDICTIONS:

  • Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
  • Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
  • Julie Delpy (Before Midnight)
  • Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)
  • Judi Dench (Philomena)

REALITY:

  • Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
  • Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
  • Amy Adams (American Hustle)
  • Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)
  • Judi Dench (Philomena)

With Best Actress, we did really well too (if we say so ourselves). Our support for Julie Delpy was a long shot rather than an actual die-hard prediction. Again, the curse of not actually seeing American Hustle strikes again with Amy Adams taking the final slot. We say ‘taking the final slot’ when Adams is actually leading the field for wins picking the Golden Globe last week for Best Actress.

SCORE: 4/5

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Courtesy of Focus Features

Courtesy of Focus Features

PREDICTIONS:

  • Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
  • Michael Fassbender (12 Years A Slave)
  • James Gandolfini (Enough Said)
  • Tom Hanks (Saving Mr Banks)
  • Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) 

REALITY:

  • Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
  • Michael Fassbender (12 Years A Slave)
  • Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
  • Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
  • Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) 

Poor ol’ Hanks. Literally anyone who knew minimal facts about this year’s Oscar race had backed 2014 to be the year of Tom. Sadly, he’s got nothing but his co-star Abdi get a nod on his screen debut is simply epic and it’s great to see him get deserved recognition. However, this year will definitely be a straight shoot out between Fassbender and Leto for the golden statue.

SCORE: 3/5

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

PREDICTIONS:

  • Oprah Winfrey (Lee Daniels’ The Butler)
  • Scarlett Johansson (Her)
  • Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
  • June Squibb (Nebraska)
  • Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave)

REALITY:

  • Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
  • Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
  • June Squibb (Nebraska)
  • Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave)
  • Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)

We’ll put our hands up and say the Best Supporting Actress category was a big old bag of guesswork; one with a 60% success rate is one we will gladly take. It’s surprising to see that the British BAFTA’s gave recognition to Oprah for The Butler yet across the pond, the Academy completely snubbed it. We’re really rooting for Nyongo’o to bag the award on her first attempt but we wouldn’t be too surprised to see Jennifer Lawrence pick up an Oscar for the second year in a row.

SCORE: 3/5

OVERALL: 23.5/34

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Don’t forget to check in with us on the big night for our live blog of the 86th Academy Awards!