Oscar chatter -- good start for Dallas Buyers Club

Jared Leto wins Best Supporting Actor, and DBC also picks up the Oscar for hair styles/makeup.

Could this be a big night for DBC? Well, it already is better than expected, and the early wins could be a good sign for Matthew McConaughey in the Best Actor category.

But I can't see DBC winning Best Picture. It's a good movie on a serious topic, but it's not the kind of movie that wins Best Picture. 12 Days a Slave is that type of movie, and I think it would be a BIG upset if it didn't win.

If you can find Leto's acceptance speech online, check it out. It was an early highlight.

As for Leto's performance: He was very good, but I have mixed feelings about it. Depicting gay men as drag queens is ... well ... so Eighties. There's nothing new or fresh about it anymore.

By BearinFW | 03/02/2014 09:13 PM | 6 comments

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Yes, frozen was really bad in comparison, and Joaquin Phoenix deserved more - a thoughtful movie with spectacular sincere images.

art4you 03/03/2014 02:04 PM

I'm still wondering why Sandra was even considered for Best Actress for Gravity. All she does in the movie is hyperventilate, bump into stuff and talk and float a lot =/
And I'm not sure Gravity was good enough to warrant a Best Director Award for Cuaron. I think Steve McQueen got robbed in that category. That guy is yet to make a bad movie, in my books.
I agree Gravity deserved all the awards in the technical categories though.
And what's with Frozen winning the best Animated movie over Miyazaki? It wasn't even one of Disney-Pixar's better movies, IMO. Apart from the power ballad (2013's gay anthem?), there was nothing in the movie that was exciting, IMO.

I'm yet to watch DBC, but I've heard a lot of good stuff about Leto's performance. I was keeping my fingers crossed for Joaquin Phoenix though. Ah well. Maybe next time.

aliencubby 03/03/2014 07:53 AM

I was actually glad Gravity didn't win Best Picture. We've discussed it before, and though I think there is a certain "wow" factor with Gravity, on the whole it just doesn't hold up as an all-around great movie. It's just an effects movie.

Whatever little drama there was in the awards came in the Best Actress category, which was considered a tossup between Cate Blanchett and Sandra Bullock. Blanchett's win pretty much signaled that Gravity was not going to win Best Picture.

BearinFW 03/03/2014 03:57 AM

Matthew McConaughey did win Best Actor, thus showing the strength of that movie was in the acting. I was surprised that Gravity won so many awards, albeit most were for technical accomplishments; but Best Director going to Gravity surprised me. I am always impressed by how many artists working in film are first generation Americans or foreign nationals working here. More and more, filmmaking is an international business which I guess echos many trends in culture and industry, etc. 12 Years a Slave richly deserved the Best Picture Oscar. And, yes, Bono and U2 were amazing. Standing ovation was deserved.

rjzip 03/03/2014 12:55 AM

I thought it was pretty dull. Ellen didn't do it for me as host. I thought she was very predictable (esp. the pizza bit!). There were no real surprises in the awards, which always makes for a less-than-exciting show. McConaughey's speech was strange but fun. And U2's performance was certainly one of the highlights. But on the whole, pretty ho-hum. I agree with you on Cuaron. Very nice :) I'm pretty sure he's the first Mexican to win a major award -- well, the first one I can recall anyway.

BearinFW 03/03/2014 12:25 AM

Sort of interesting tonight. The pizza delivery was an odd interlude. I'm not sure what was going on with Matthew McConaughey's acceptance speech, but he was pumped!
My favorite part of the night was seeing Alfonso Cuaron, director of Gravity, he sure is a handsome man. OK, and seeing Sydney Poitier was pretty darn cool too.

furball 03/03/2014 12:14 AM