I guess I’ll be the first to get the ball rolling on oscar season discussions. Even if I’m not completely finished writing this article yet. I don’t know if my followers want immediacy or detail.

Every year something is left out, every year people complain; some movies needed more thought or attention. Well I will admit that a large portion of this year’s best has remained to be seen, at least by me. As a result I will justify my limited choices by picking a combo of personal favourites, academy precedence, and levels of hype surrounding the movies so far to be released (up to October 18th).

In a few weeks this article will seem entirely dated, unless of course its a breakthrough piece for my blog, receiving a countless number of views and all viewers find it hilarious, then it will be timeless. But hold that thought until the end because its about to get real. As real as the portrayal of fictitious events can be…

Best Actor

Tom Hanks as Captain Phillips in ‘Captain Phillips’. For deciding to act with a decent script for the first time since Charlie Wilson’s War in the same year he portrayed Walt Disney, which he might get nominated for anyways because hey, he’s an American icon.

Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda in ‘Rush’. A good role that combines a well realized character based off a real life figure, with a newcomer actor with such mystique you can’t tell if he’s acting or just playing himself. An impressive debut nonetheless.

Michael B. Jordan as Oscar Grant in ‘Fruitvale Station’. A character study based off real events, smothered by its creators in personal emotional sentiment, and filled with so many engaging moments that can in no way be verified as actually having happened is nonetheless a great piece of filmography for an up and coming actor of colour. The Academy loves that.

Robert Redford as the only person in the entirety of ‘All is Lost’. One must simply look at the Rotten Tomatoes consensus of the film and the acting filmography of a man who fits the relatable academy voter profile of being both old and white, and who has won an oscar, but never in the acting category to see that they academy will be all over this.

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup in ’12 Years A Slave’. “Remember how to pronounce that name” famous persons, chief among them presenters, will say to themselves as they announce the name of an actor who has put his time in for supporting character roles and regardless of actual content (of what I expect to be a good performance) deserves a nomination in this category.

Best Actress

Sandra Bullock as an actress pulling a Marisa Tomei, in hopefully spending much of the rest of her career making up for her questionable Academy win to the speculation of many viewers (including this authour) in what is largely one of the only lead female roles for a mainstream hollywood film this year for ‘Gravity’.

Cate Blanchette as Jasmine in Woody Allen’s ‘Blue Jasmine’. Woody Allen tackles his inability to write good female characters head on in his latest film which he was too nervous to promote, so he kept on making other films.

Julie Delpy as that character she was in those previous two films ‘Before’ in what is officially lowest grossing franchise trilogy of all-time. In being a good writer and being able to develop her own character over several decades surely must’ve helped.

Best Supporting Actor

George Clooney as George Clooney the astronaut in Alfonso Cuaron’s ‘Gravity’. Playing a confident and always cool/ calm under pressure bachelor, who is occasionally yet always joking, this time in space. The prankster/ real-life Bruce Wayne aims to secure his ninth nomination just for the sake of the academy.

Hugh Jackman as an angrier less-charismatic Wolverine in ‘Prisoners’. Placing a thin veil of personality in front of his unbridled acting rage and convincing American accent, and wrapping it around his overall charisma/ good guy personality, the Australian hunk is the second former sexiest man alive on this list aiming for his second consecutive acting nomination, acting a bit better than his performance in last years awful The Miserables adaptation.

James Franco as Alien in ‘Spring Breakers’. Being one of the few brightly coloured rays of sunshine in this washed out and polarizing film that I do not wish to see again, 2013 was a standout year for Franco. Who at 35, Hollywood keeps insisting as new hot young talent. The success of Oz: The Great and Powerful, the ambition of As I Lay Dying, mixed with the all-around combination of the Franco essence exemplified in ‘This Is The End’. This is an appropriate nomination, even for a film as trashy as this one.

James Gandolfini as posthumous acting nomination. Being able to pull off a romantic lead with sex appeal (so I’ve heard) so far removed from his previously best known role in a tender film from a director known for churning out mostly very good performances, this one I would say is a lock ‘Enough Said’.

Michael Fassbender as a consistently good actor playing a very evil person, that brings out the white guilt in Oscar voters, for the film that critics and academy members will guilt you out of not seeing by nominating it in every category. ’12 Years A Slave’, only a 2 hour 13 minute movie, with a campaign stretched out over 6 months and several million dollars. Don’t be a  slave to the academy.

Best Animated Feature

The new Disney/ Pixar effort

The new in-house Disney effort

Studio Ghibli – (Sadly not Ni-No Kuni: The Wrath of the White Witch)

But we forgot about Supporting Actress said someone late in the nomination process;

• Melissa Leo
• Octavia Spencer
• Melonie Diaz

Upcoming Movies that fuck up my predictions:

Spike Jonze’s first movie in 4 years, the Coen brothers film, The new Wes Anderson/ Bill Murray move, Walt Disney’s oscar bait/ holiday film, wannabe oscar bait: Osage County

We’ll figure out the rest later.

May or may not be updated. I am lazy and this is a blog, not a magazine. I understand this is the worst edited piece I’ve ever written, bear grylls with me.