Monday, January 20, 2014

2014 Oscars: Best Supporting Actor

Hello, Bloggers, Happy Martin Luther King Day, and today, I will continue my Oscar coverage. Today's category that I will review is Best Supporting Actor. Here are the nominees:

Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips: Who knew that a guy with no previous acting experience and worked as a limo driver would land a role opposite Tom Hanks and be nominated for an Oscar? I say, good for him. He is definitely a long shot at winning, but just to be nominated for your debut role is probably a win itself. Here's to hoping we see more of his tremendous talents in the future.

Bradley Cooper, American Hustle: David O. Russell seems to be an actor's good luck charm since he knows how to land his actors Oscar nominations and Cooper just landed his 2nd consecutive nod for starring in another David O. Russell film. Since American Hustle has 4 acting nods, one in each category, one of those actors seems bound to pull off a win. Even though Cooper isn't the frontrunner, who I will get to later, I do feel he has a shot at an upset if his co-stars don't win trophies for the film. Although if he really doesn't win, I'll be crossing my fingers he will eventually.

Michael Fassbender, 12 Years A Slave: Since Fassbender's name was missing on nomination day when he was in contention for Shame, I'm sure some of us were nervous history would repeat itself and he would get snubbed again. Fortunately not as Michael Fassbender now has the words Oscar-nominee synonymous with his name. He may not have a huge chance at winning, but since frontrunner Jared Leto got snubbed by the BAFTAs, that could leave room for him to win, and possibly pull off an upset. Even if Fassbender doesn't win, he still has so much work lined up, that we could see him at the ceremony again.

Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street: I'm sure no nomination had people going "Huh?!" than this one. Since Hill was shut out by every precursor award (Critics' Choice, Globes, SAG, BAFTAs), it seemed that even though the film wasn't losing steam, he was. That is until his name was announced on nomination day. Since his 1st nomination for Moneyball, it seems he took that as a sign to try his hand at drama as well as comedy, which is his specialty, and showcase his impressive range as an actor.

Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club: Since he just won each precursor award, it seems Jared Leto may have this race sewn up. With good reason, though, as he really transforms himself in the role of Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club. Transforming himself is something Leto has done before in films like Chapter 27 and Requiem for a Dream, but it is wonderful that he is getting recognized for his style of acting a la Christian Bale, who won the same category three years ago for The Fighter. But since he doesn't seem to have any work lined up in the future, who knows if that'll affect his chances at potentially winning and cause Fassbender or another actor to pull off an upset, or enhance it because they might think this could be his first chance in a while to win.


So, those are the five nominees for Best Supporting Actor. Feel free to write down who you think deserves the Oscar, and feel free to write down who you thought got snubbed. Happy MLK Day and thanks for reading!

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