There is no surprise that
American Hustle and
12 Years a Slave dominated this morning's Oscar nominations with ten and nine nods respectively. What is a surprise is that
Saving Mr. Banks did so poorly, earning a lone nomination for Original Score. Emma Thompson was snubbed for her performance as P.L. Travers and was likely bumped in the Best Actress race by Meryl Streep, who received her 18th overall nomination for
August: Osage County. Tom Hanks was also shut out of the Best Supporting Actor race for playing Walt Disney and, even more surprisingly, was not nominated for Best Actor in
Captain Phillips.
Frozen, as expected, was nominated for Best Animated Feature Film and for Best Song ("Let it Go"). I was disappointed that
Monsters University wasn't nominated for Animated Feature. I would've chosen it over nominees
The Croods and
Despicable Me 2. I don't think
Frozen is a slam dunk to win in this category like it was at the Golden Globes. At the Oscars, it's up against
The Wind Rises, Hayao Miyazaki's well regarded swan song which opens in U.S. theaters on February 21st.
Hooray for Mickey Mouse! He's back at the Oscars this year for
Get a Horse!, Lauren MacMullan's and Dorothy McKim's inspired send-up of old and new animation. I love this short film and hope it wins.
Who knew
The Lone Ranger would get more nominations than
Saving Mr. Banks? Gore Verbinski's overblown western received nods for Makeup and Hairstyling and Visual Effects. In other news, it also got
five Razzie nominations.
On the Marvel side,
Iron Man 3 also picked up a nomination for Visual Effects.
The Oscars will be televised on ABC March 2nd and hosted by Ellen DeGeneres.
The major nominees for the 86th Academy Awards:
Best motion picture of the year:
“American Hustle” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
A Columbia Pictures and Annapurna Pictures Production
Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
“Captain Phillips” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
A Columbia Pictures Production
Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, Producers
“Dallas Buyers Club” (Focus Features)
A Voltage Pictures, R2 Films, Evolution Independent Production
Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter, Producers
“Gravity” (Warner Bros.)
A Warner Bros. UK Services Limited Production
Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman, Producers
“Her” (Warner Bros.)
An Annapurna Production
Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze and Vincent Landay, Producers
“Nebraska” (Paramount)
A Paramount Vantage Production
Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, Producers
“Philomena” (The Weinstein Company)
A Pathé, BBC Films, BFI, Canal+, Cine+ and Baby Cow/Magnolia Mae Production
Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan and Tracey Seaward, Producers
“12 Years a Slave” (Fox Searchlight)
A River Road, Plan B, New Regency Production
Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen and Anthony Katagas, Producers
“The Wolf of Wall Street” (Paramount)
A Red Granite Production
Nominees to be determined
Best animated feature film of the year:
“The Croods” (20th Century Fox), Chris Sanders, Kirk DeMicco and Kristine Belson
“Despicable Me 2” (Universal), Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin and Chris Meledandri
“Ernest & Celestine” (GKIDS), Benjamin Renner and Didier Brunner
“Frozen” (Walt Disney), Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and Peter Del Vecho
“The Wind Rises” (Walt Disney), Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki
Performance by an actor in a leading role:
Christian Bale in “American Hustle” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Bruce Dern in “Nebraska” (Paramount)
Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street” (Paramount)
Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave” (Fox Searchlight)
Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club” (Focus Features)
Performance by an actor in a supporting role:
Barkhad Abdi in “Captain Phillips” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Bradley Cooper in “American Hustle” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Michael Fassbender in “12 Years a Slave” (Fox Searchlight)
Jonah Hill in “The Wolf of Wall Street” (Paramount)
Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club” (Focus Features)
Performance by an actress in a leading role:
Amy Adams in “American Hustle” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Sandra Bullock in “Gravity” (Warner Bros.)
Judi Dench in “Philomena” (The Weinstein Company)
Meryl Streep in “August: Osage County” (The Weinstein Company)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role:
Sally Hawkins in “Blue Jasmine” (Sony Pictures Classics)
Jennifer Lawrence in “American Hustle” (Sony Pictures Releasing)
Lupita Nyong'o in “12 Years a Slave” (Fox Searchlight)
Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County” (The Weinstein Company)
June Squibb in “Nebraska” (Paramount)
Achievement in directing:
“American Hustle” (Sony Pictures Releasing), David O. Russell
“Gravity” (Warner Bros.), Alfonso Cuarón
“Nebraska” (Paramount), Alexander Payne
“12 Years a Slave” (Fox Searchlight), Steve McQueen
“The Wolf of Wall Street” (Paramount), Martin Scorsese
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song):
“Alone Yet Not Alone” from "Alone Yet Not Alone” (Enthuse Entertainment), Bruce Broughton and Dennis Spiegel
“Happy” from "Despicable Me 2" (Universal), Pharrell Williams
“Let It Go" from "Frozen” (Walt Disney), Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
“The Moon Song” from "Her" (Warner Bros.), Karen O and Spike Jonze
“Ordinary Love” from "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” (The Weinstein Company), Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry
Mullen
Adapted screenplay:
“Before Midnight” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
“Captain Phillips” (Sony Pictures Releasing), Screenplay by Billy Ray
“Philomena” (The Weinstein Company), Screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
“12 Years a Slave” (Fox Searchlight), Screenplay by John Ridley
“The Wolf of Wall Street” (Paramount), Screenplay by Terence Winter
Original screenplay:
“American Hustle” (Sony Pictures Releasing), Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
“Blue Jasmine” (Sony Pictures Classics), Written by Woody Allen
“Dallas Buyers Club” (Focus Features), Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack
“Her” (Warner Bros.), Written by Spike Jonze
“Nebraska” (Paramount), Written by Bob Nelson
For a complete list of nominees, visit
http://oscar.go.com/nominees.
www.themousecastle.com
There's nothing like a ticket price increase to get the Disney fan base stirred up. Make it "seasonal pricing" (or "tiered pricing" or "surge pricing"), however, and you'd better getting ready for major outrage. The price of single-day and multi-day tickets went up (for the most part) at all the Disney parks over the weekend, with single-day tickets now priced based on expected attendance. In a nutshell, you'll pay more to visit your favorite park on a busy day (say, summer or Christmastime) than you will during a quieter day (like an October weekday). What does it all mean and should you really be upset about it? Anthony and I sort it all out for you in this week's Inside The Mouse Castle.
