PHOENIX, Arizona, January 15. THE Oscar nominations will be announced in about 10 hours in Los Angeles. Though many in the movie business say they don\u2019t care about it, claim they don\u2019t wake up for the 5:30 a.m. Pacific time announcement or simply don\u2019t expect to be named, I know they all regard tomorrow\u2019s event as one of the most exciting and terrifying five minutes of the year.<\/p>\n
Though I have absolutely no connection to any of the films in the Oscar race this year, I am nervous with anticipation. Since 1992, I have been so excited for Nominations Morning that I lose sleep the night before. It\u2019s like Christmas! I have made my predictions for the films that should receive Best Picture nominations, as well as the performers who should receive nominations in one of the four acting categories. I am never 100 percent correct, but that\u2019s what makes it fun.<\/p>\n
There is a swimming connection to one of the films likely to gain at least one nomination tomorrow. The film All Is Lost<\/i> was written and directed by former swimmer J.C. Chandor, and it is one of the best films of the year. It tells the story of an older man (played by likely nominee Robert Redford) whose sailboat is severely damaged in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, many miles from any rescue. It\u2019s mesmerizing and haunting. Redford\u2019s character speaks in only three scenes, and in one of them, delivers the most gratifying F-bomb in movie history.<\/p>\n
Twenty minutes into the film, I knew Redford was destined to get an Oscar nomination for what I think is his best performance in a great career. Yep, it\u2019s better than Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid<\/i> or The Way We Were<\/i> or even Jeremiah Johnson<\/i>.<\/p>\n
But enough about Redford. Chandor does a brilliant job with keeping our suspense with minimal dialect. It\u2019s a 360-degree turn from his last film, the verbose Margin Call<\/i>. Chandor received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for that film, and I think he deserves it for All Is Lost<\/i>, if only to prove that great screenplays don\u2019t have to have dialogue.<\/p>\n
Chandor grew up in New Jersey and attended Ridge High School. I\u2019ve been told that Chandor was a swimmer in his younger years before making his way to Hollywood. I\u2019ve reached out to his publicist to verify this, and to get an interview with Chandor, but I\u2019ve received no reply. No matter. I have it on good authority that Chandor\u2019s swimming background is true, which makes me root for All Is Lost<\/i> even more.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m sure there are many more nominees whose names we will hear tomorrow that have extensive swimming backgrounds. Maybe they got a swimming scholarship to a university, qualified for the NCAA championships and scored a point or two for their team. I wouldn\u2019t be surprised if more than half of the nominees grew up swimming on a local team when they were very young. Swimming is a sport that teaches dedication and the importance of hard work to reach a goal. JC Chandor would agree with that statement. So would Timothy Olyphant, the star of the TV show Justified<\/i>, who was a USA Swimming national qualifier before studying to be an actor at the University of Southern California. And breaststroke legend Jeff Kostoff has worked as a TV producer on some great shows, including The Amazing Race<\/i>. (I won\u2019t count Steve Lundquist\u2019s very, very brief foray into Hollywood.)<\/p>\n
If you haven\u2019t seen All Is Lost<\/i>, you must see it before the Oscars are handed out in March. And while you\u2019re at it, see 12 Years A Slave<\/i>, Gravity<\/i> and Dallas Buyers Club<\/i>. You can thank me later.<\/p>\n
Before I go, here are my Oscar predictions in top categories:<\/p>\n
Best Picture<\/b>
\n12 Years A Slave
\nAmerican Hustle
\nBlue Jasmine
\nDallas Buyers Club
\nGravity
\nNebraska
\nThe Wolf of Wall Street<\/p>\n
Actor<\/b>
\nBruce Dern, Nebraska
\nChiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years A Slave
\nTom Hanks, Captain Phillips
\nMatthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
\nRobert Redford, All Is Lost<\/p>\n
Actress<\/b>
\nAmy Adams, American Hustle
\nCate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
\nSandra Bullock, Gravity
\nJudi Dench, Philomena
\nMeryl Streep, August: Osage County<\/p>\n
Supporting Actor<\/b>
\nBakhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
\nBradley Cooper, American Hustle
\nMichael Fassbender, 12 Years A Slave
\nTom Hanks, Saving Mr. Banks
\nJared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club<\/p>\n
Supporting Actress<\/b>
\nSally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine
\nJennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
\nLupita Nyong\u2019o, 12 Years A Slave
\nJulia Roberts, August: Osage County
\nJune Squibb, Nebraska<\/p>\n
Director<\/b>
\nAlfonso Cuaron, Gravity
\nPaul Greengrass, Captain Phillips
\nSteve McQueen, 12 Years a Slave
\nAlexander Payne, Nebraska
\nDavid O. Russell, American Hustle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PHOENIX, Arizona, January 15. THE Oscar nominations will be announced in about 10 hours in Los Angeles. Though many in the movie business say they don\u2019t care about it, claim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":46943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,17,7],"tags":[12802,25244,25253,25231,25240,25222,36,25236,25263,25246,25249,160,25238,25226,25229,1597,25223,25242,25241,25254,277,25227,25224,24840,25225,4351,25230,25252,395,25233,25250,25239,9275,538,518,25262,4682,6817,25256,25248,25235,25245,33,25234,25251,25232,25260,157,638,25261,87,25259,1352,25243,13234,25247,25228,25255,25257,25258,159,25237],"class_list":["post-46942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-commentary","category-usa","tag-actor","tag-alexander-payne","tag-alfonso-cuaron","tag-all-is-lost","tag-all-is-lost-actress","tag-american-film-directors","tag-arizona","tag-bakhad-abdi","tag-banks-jared-leto","tag-bruce-dern","tag-butch-cassidy-and-the-sundance-kid","tag-captain","tag-cate-blanchett","tag-chandor","tag-chiwetel-ejiofor","tag-christmas","tag-cinema-of-the-united-states","tag-county-supporting-actor","tag-dallas-buyers-club","tag-david-o-russell","tag-director","tag-entertainmentculture","tag-film","tag-human-interest","tag-j-c-chandor","tag-jeff-kostoff","tag-julia-roberts","tag-justified","tag-los-angeles","tag-lupita-nyong","tag-margin-call","tag-michael-fassbender","tag-national-qualifier","tag-nebraska","tag-new-jersey","tag-osage-county-supporting-actor","tag-oscar","tag-pacific-ocean","tag-phillips-bradley-cooper","tag-phillips-matthew-mcconaughey","tag-phillips-steve-mcqueen","tag-philomena-meryl-streep","tag-phoenix","tag-ridge-high-school","tag-robert-redford","tag-sally-hawkins","tag-slave-gravity-and-dallas-buyers-club","tag-southern-california","tag-steve-lundquist","tag-supporting-actress","tag-swimmer","tag-the-amazing-race","tag-the-ncaa-championships","tag-the-oscar","tag-the-oscars","tag-the-sundance","tag-the-way-we-were","tag-timothy-olyphant","tag-tom-hanks","tag-tv-producer","tag-university-of-southern-california","tag-wall-street-actor"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n