Awards Race: What Oscars 2014 Should Have Looked Like?

An Oscar 2014 Re-Do

First of all, I've been feeling lazy a lot so this was the easiest Idea to get a post done for this month. 

After the conclusion of the 86th Academy Awards and my own first Official Underdog Awards, I forgot to make this post. A post highlighting what I felt should have been the lineup for the Academy Awards. 

It's a good thing too, cause I've made some changes to my idea of winners (even for the Underdog Awards 2014) since the last time.

As I said this is a lazy post, so all I'm going to do is put a table for you highlighting my winners and nominees. Winners are in bold italics. 

Also there will be some notes for certain winners and changes from the Underdog Awards of 2014. 

Enjoy!

Best Picture
Prisoners	Stoker
The Wolf of Wall Street	12 Years A Slave
Her	Before Midnight
Inside Llewyn Davis	Short Term 12
Gravity	Nebraska
Best Director	Best Cinematography
Spike Jonze-Her	Stoker
Alfonso Cuaron-Gravity	Prisoners
Dennis Villeneuve-Prisoners	Spring Breakers
Steve McQueen-12 Years A Slave	Nebraska
Park Chan Wook-Stoker	Gravity
Best Lead Actor (Male)	Best Lead Actor (Female)
Chiwetel Ejiofor-12 Years A Slave	Cate Blanchett-Blue Jasmine
Matthew McConaughey-Dallas Buyers Club	Julie Delpy-Before Midnight
Hugh Jackman-Prisoners	Brie Larson-Short Term 12
Oscar Issac-Inside Llewyn Davis	Rooney Mara-Side Effects
Joquain Phoenix-Her	Greta Gerwig-Frances Ha
Best Supporting Actor (Male)	Best Supporting Actor (Female)
Michael Fassbender-12 Years A Slave	Lupita Nyongo-12 Years A Slave
Jared Leto-Dallas Buyers Club	Sally Hawkins-Blue Jasmine
Jake Gylenhall-Prisoners	Scarlett Johansson-Her
James Franco-Spring Breakers	June Squibb-Nebraska
Matthew McConaughey-Mud	Gabby Hoffman-Crystal Fairy
Best Original Screenplay	Best Adapted Screenplay
Jeff Nichols-Mud	Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke-Before Midnight
Spike Jonze-Her	John Ridley-12 Years A Slave
Aaron Guzikowki-Prisoners	Terrence Winter-The Wolf of Wall Street
Destin Daniel Cretton-Short Term 12	Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope-Philomena
Joel and Ethan Coen-Inside Llewyn Davis	Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber-The Spectacular Now

-Let's start from the top;

-12 Years A Slave, I still consider the best film of last year. 

-I think Cuaron gets a bit too much credit for Gravity, I still feel Steve's uncompromising look at slavery was an amazing feat to accomplish. Spike Jonze's world building is something else that deserved to be nominated. Wook (Underdog 2014 Winner) and Villeneuve's visions also enthralled me more than the works of Scorsese (Wolf) and Russell (Hustle). 

-Gravity still deserves a big technical win

-Unlike Scarlett, Phoenix was not on my Underdog nomination list due to his Globe nom. He wholly deserves to be last years best actor despite Chiwetel giving my favorite lead performance. For the McConaissance there's two deserving performances, but no wins. His best on celluloid in this phase has been in Killer Joe, overall best being True Detective. 

-I think I might have been blinded by my love for Delpy's Celine, but on rewatch I was so touched by Larson's performance in Short Term 12; it was hard not to award her. 

-Rooney Mara is a late entry with Side Effects. Her performance came early last year and I missed watching the movie while nominate the Underdog Awards, she is definitely amazing in the film and deserving of an Oscar nomination. 

-Lupita was the master of last year, period. 

-Oscars hit it right in the head with the screenplay awards. 

'Nuff Said,

Aneesh Raikundalia