All the way!

   The voting has started, which means that the campaigning is going all the way now. Every trick they have, the distributors use to gain some momentum for their pictures. From what I heard and read Matthew McConaughey with Jared Leto are campaigning pretty heavily. Also DiCaprio with Scorsese are doing what they can.
   Now let's move to the BAFTAs. The were handed out yesterday, with a couple surprises. The mentioned McConaughey and Leto weren't nominated, I believe due to late release date in the UK. So that opened the field up. Also 12 Years a Slave was a big loser towards the end of the evening having lost the screenplay and supporting actress race. Yet they went out with two big awards, Best Film and Best Actor. That certainly helps the film in the battle against Gravity, as the latter only managed to pull off a Best British film award, as far as the Picture awards go. Well deserved I must say, but Lawrence for supporting actress? Only she didn't win last year, losing out to Emmanuelle RIva, so it's not a consecutive win, meaning that it doesn't prompt her chances much. The supporting actor however, hasn't seen Michael Fassbender winning the award. The presenter, Emma Thompson, was very pleasantly surprised to announce that the winner was Barkhad Abdi. 
     Remember the Oscar voting is underway, so the momentum really matters right NOW. So the BAFTAs are sort of a late christmas present, they very often are good predictors of the Osars. The Best Oscar race, they predicted correctly 7 out of the last 9 times. Which means it's in Ejiofor's favor. However McConaughey won the SAG, which I believe have an amazing record 9 out of the last 9 times. 
    Based on that let's move to the predictions.


BEST PICTURE
1. 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen)
2. Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron)
3. American Hustle (David O. Russel)
4. Philomena (Stephen Frears)
5. Dallas Buyers Club (Jean-Marc Vallee)
6. Her (Spike Jonze)
7. The Wolf of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese)
8. Captain Phillips (Paul Greengrass)
9. Nebraska (Alexander Payne)


BEST DIRECTOR
1. Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity)
2. Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave)
3. David O. Russel (American Hustle)
4. Martin Scorsese (The Wolf of Wall Street)
5. Alexander Payne (Nebraska)


BEST ACTOR
1. Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
2. Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
3. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
4. Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
5. Christian Bale (American Hustle)


BEST ACTRESS
1. Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
2. Amy Adams (American Hustle)
3. Judi Dench (Philomena)
4. Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
5. Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
1. Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
2. Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
3. Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
4. Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
5. Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)


BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
1. Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
2. Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
3. June Squibb (Nebraska)
4. Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
5. Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)


BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
1. Her (Spike Jonze)
2. American Hustle (Eric Warren Singer & David O. Russel)
3. Nebraska (Bob Nelson)
4. Dallas Buyers Club (Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack)
5. Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)


BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
1. 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
2. Philomena (Jeff Pope & Steve Coogan)
3. Captain Phillips (Billy Ray)
4. Before Midnight (Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke)
5. The Wolf of Wall Street (Terrence Winter)


Thanks that's it for now, look up the OSCAR RACE leaderboard page!

Burt Mizaki