Fanboys Anonymous

Even though the Oscars are months away, we're around the time where things start buzzing and speculation ramps up. This year, the 86th Academy Awards will be hosted by Ellen DeGeneres and take place on March 2, 2014 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California as well as broadcast by ABC.


This post will be updated with the full list of nominees, predictions, and eventual results of the winners. In the meantime, please tell us your predictions and let us know which movies you're hoping will walk away with an Oscar.

BEST PICTURE

NOMINEES: 12 Years a Slave, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Gravity, Her, Nebraska, Philomena, Dallas Buyers Club, The Wolf of Wall Street

PREDICTION: 12 Years a Slave. It just seems like it's the main film everyone is talking about and that the subject matter is irresistible to voters.

RESULT: 12 Years a Slave

BEST ACTOR

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

PREDICTION: Chiwetel Ejiofor. Bale and DiCaprio were "safe bet" people to put on the list to round it out. McConaughey was the instance of someone being told they did much more than expected of them and have improved. Bruce Dern is the recognition of an old actor. Ejiofor ends up taking it home because they simply liked his performance the best.

RESULT: Matthew McConaughey

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

NOMINEES: Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave), Bradley Cooper (American Hustle), Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club), Jonah Hill (Wolf of Wall Street)

PREDICTION: Jared Leto. It assuredly won't go to Bradley Cooper. Jonah Hill has a chance, but I think he'll be overlooked.

RESULT: Jared Leto

BEST ACTRESS

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

PREDICTION: Cate Blanchett. The list is filled with expected names and seeing as how Blue Jasmine doesn't show up a lot in this list of films nominated for other categories just points out that they probably valued her performance quite a bit.

RESULT: Cate Blanchett

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

NOMINEES: Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave), Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle), Julia Roberts (August: Osage County), June Squibb (Nebraska), Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)

PREDICTION: Lupita Nyong'o. She's all anyone can talk about.

RESULT: Lupita Nyong'o

BEST DIRECTOR

NOMINEES: Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), David O. Russell (American Hustle), Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity), Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street), Alexander Payne (Nebraska)

PREDICTION: I'm torn between Steve McQueen and David O. Russell, but leaning toward McQueen. Originally, I thought Cuaron would win this, but I'm doubting that now.

RESULT: Alfonso Cuaron

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

NOMINEES: American Hustle, Blue Jasmine, Her, Nebraska, Dallas Buyers Club

PREDICTION: American Hustle

RESULT: Her

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

NOMINEES: 12 Years a Slave, Before Midnight, Captain Phillips, Philomena, The Wolf of Wall Street

PREDICTION: 12 Years a Slave

RESULT: 12 Years a Slave

BEST FILM EDITING

NOMINEES: American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity, 12 Years a Slave

PREDICTION: Gravity

RESULT: Gravity

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

NOMINEES: Gravity, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Iron Man 3, The Lone Ranger, Star Trek Into Darkness

PREDICTION: Gravity. I'm very surprised Pacific Rim didn't get on the list. I'm surprised that The Lone Ranger was put in here, but Man of Steel wasn't as well. I'm assuming Gravity will win because for all the effects that these other films incorporate, if you do something that stands out as different (instead of just "generic comic book style action movie effects"), that makes people value it more.

RESULT: Gravity

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

NOMINEES: The Grandmaster, Gravity, Inside Llewyn Davis, Nebraska, Prisoners

PREDICTION: Gravity

RESULT: Gravity

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

NOMINEES: American Hustle, Gravity, The Great Gatsby, Her, 12 Years a Slave

PREDICTION: American Hustle, though this is tough as I really think there's a good chance 12 Years a Slave gets this instead. It all depends on how much 12 Years is viewed as the story being the most significant thing or just the overall scope of the whole thing.

RESULT: The Great Gatsby

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

NOMINEES: American Hustle, The Grandmaster, The Great Gatsby, The Invisible Woman, 12 Years a Slave

PREDICTION: American Hustle

RESULT: The Great Gatsby

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

NOMINEES: Dallas Buyers Club, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, The Lone Ranger

PREDICTION: Dallas Buyers Club

RESULT: Dallas Buyers Club

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

NOMINEES: The Book Thief (John Williams), Gravity (Steven Price), Her (William Butler & Owen Pallett), Philomena (Alexandre Desplat), Saving Mr. Banks (Thomas Newman)

PREDICTION: Saving Mr. Banks stands out as a weird choice, so I'm going with that.

RESULT: Gravity (Steven Price)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

NOMINEES: "Alone Yet Not Alone" (from Alone Yet Not Alone), "Happy" (from Despicable Me 2), "Let It Go" (from Frozen), "The Moon Song" (from Her), "Ordinary Love" (from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)

PREDICTION: Happy from Despicable Me 2

RESULT: "Let It Go" from Frozen

BEST SOUND EDITING

NOMINEES: All is Lost, Captain Phillips, Gravity, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Lone Survivor

PREDICTION: Gravity

RESULT: Gravity

BEST SOUND MIXING

NOMINEES: Captain Phillips, Gravity, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Inside Llewyn Davis, Lone Survivor

PREDICTION: Gravity

RESULT: Gravity

BEST ANIMATED FILM

NOMINEES: The Croods, Despicable Me 2, Ernest & Celestine, Frozen, The Wind Rises

PREDICTION: Frozen

RESULT: Frozen

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

NOMINEES: Feral, Get a Horse!, Mr. Hublot, Possessions, Room on the Broom

PREDICTION: I never bother to guess these as I've never seen any of them and know nothing about them. What do you think?

RESULT: Mr. Hublot

BEST DOCUMENTARY

NOMINEES: 20 Feet from Stardom, The Act of Killing, The Square, Cutie and the Boxer, Dirty Wars

PREDICTION: I never bother to guess these as I've never seen any of them and know nothing about them. What do you think?

RESULT: 20 Feet from Stardom

BEST DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)

NOMINEES: CaveDigger, Facing Fear, Karama Has No Walls, The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life, Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

PREDICTION: I never bother to guess these as I've never seen any of them and know nothing about them. What do you think?

RESULT: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

NOMINEES: The Broken Circle Breakdown, The Great Beauty, The Hunt, The Missing Picture, Omar

PREDICTION: I never bother to guess these as I've never seen any of them and know nothing about them. What do you think?

RESULT: The Great Beauty

BEST SHORT FILM

NOMINEES: Aquel No Era Yo, Avant Que De Tout Perdre, Helium, Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa?, The Voorman Problem

PREDICTION: I never bother to guess these as I've never seen any of them and know nothing about them. What do you think?

RESULT: Helium


More than any other year, I knew absolutely nothing about 99% of these films when the nominations were announced. They all seemed like bland Oscar bait and nothing more, really. Now that I've watched a few, I can see why some of them were nominated, but I still think this was a rather weak year for films. This trend of making a big fuss about the same 6 movies that come out of the blue, only to be completely forgotten by next year has to end. Who is talking about The Artist now? How many people are putting The King's Speech on their list of the best films of all time? But as I said, this was a weak year for films and I can't even think of other options that should have taken the spots of the nominees.