Craig's Cinematic Critique

Although awards season is effectively over, the MTV crowd have decided to carry it on just a little longer with their nominations for this year’s MTV Movie Awards.

With awards season over, Oscar heavyweights and box-office juggernauts will vie for the top prizes at the 2014 MTV Movie Awards.

After coming up empty-handed at last week’s Oscar ceremony, the riotous Martin Scorsese flick The Wolf of Wall Street and the starry crime thriller American Hustle will be looking for some consolation prizes after leading the way with eight nominations apiece. They are closely followed by box-office smash The Hunger Games: Catching Fire with seven nominations and the raunchy comedy We’re the Millers with six.

The Best Film lineup sees Wolf, Hustle and Catching Fire compete alongside recent Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave and fantasy sequel The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Surprisingly, there no place for Gravity despite its huge success with critics and audiences.

Best female performance sees four Oscar nominees (Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Lawrence and winner Lupita Nyong’o) go up against Jennifer Aniston (We’re the Millers). The same goes for best male performance with four nominees (Leonardo Di-Caprio, Bradley Cooper, Chiwetel Ejiofor and winner Matthew McConaughey) competing against Catching Fire’s Josh Hutcherson.

The awards have also continued to incorporate their pop cultural categories which include Best Scared as Shit Performance (nominees include Rose Byrne, Jessica Chastain and Brad Pitt are nominated) and Best Kiss which pits Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams‘ American Hustle liplock against Joseph Gordon-Levitt/Scarlett Johansson (Don Jon), James Franco/Ashley Benson/Vanessa Hudgens (Spring Breakers), Shailene Woodley/Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now) and Aniston/Emma Roberts/Will Poulter (We’re the Millers).

Late-night host Conan O’Brien will lead the annual ceremony, which will be broadcast live from L.A. Live’s Nokia Theatre on April 13th at 9 p.m. PT/ET on MTV. You can vote for your favourites on the MTV website.

The full list of nominations are below (with my prediction in yellow):

MOVIE OF THE YEAR
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE
Amy Adams – American Hustle
Jennifer Aniston – We’re the Millers
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Josh Hutcherson – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Liam James – The Way Way Back
Michael B Jordan – Fruitvale Station
Will Poulter – We’re the Millers
Margot Robbie – The Wolf of Wall Street
Miles Teller – The Spectacular Now

BEST KISS
Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams – American Hustle
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson – Don Jon
James Franco, Ashley Benson and Vanessa Hudgens – Spring Breakers
Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller – The Spectacular Now
Emma Roberts, Jennifer Aniston and Will Poulter – We’re the Millers

BEST FIGHT
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Steve Carell vs. James Marsden vs. Sacha Baron Cohen vs. Kanye West vs. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler vs. Jim Carrey and Marion Cotillard vs. Will Smith vs. Liam Neeson and John C. Reilly vs. Greg Kinnear
Identity Thief – Jason Bateman vs. Melissa McCarthy
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly vs. Orcs
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Sam Claflin vs. Mutant Monkeys
This is the End – Jonah Hill vs. James Franco and Seth Rogen

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE
Kevin Hart – Ride Along
Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street
Johnny Knoxville – Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
Melissa McCarthy – The Heat
Jason Sudeikis – We’re the Millers

BEST SCARED-AS-SHIT PERFORMANCE
Rose Byrne – Insidious: Chapter 2
Jessica Chastain – Mama
Vera Farmiga – The Conjuring
Ethan Hawke – The Purge
Brad Pitt – World War Z

BEST ON-SCREEN DUO
Amy Adams and Christian Bale – American Hustle
Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
Vin Diesel and Paul Walker – Fast & Furious 6
Ice Cube and Kevin Hart – Ride Along
Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

BEST SHIRTLESS PERFORMANCE
Jennifer Aniston – We’re the Millers
Sam Claflin – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Zac Efron – That Awkward Moment
Chris Hemsworth – Thor: The Dark World

#WTF MOMENT
Steve Carell, Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd and David Koechner – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Johnny Knoxville and Jackson Nicoll – Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
Cameron Diaz – The Counsellor
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Danny McBride and Channing Tatum – This is the End

BEST VILLAIN
Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
Benedict Cumberbatch – Star Trek into Darkness
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Mila Kunis – Oz The Great and Powerful
Donald Sutherland – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

BEST ON-SCREEN TRANSFORMATION
Christian Bale – American Hustle
Elizabeth Banks – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Orlando Bloom – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

BEST MUSICAL MOMENT
Backstreet Boys, Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen and Craig Robinson – This is the End
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Melissa McCarthy – Identity Thief
Will Poulter – We’re the Millers

BEST CAMEO PERFORMANCE
Robert De Niro – American Hustle
Amy Poehler and Tina Fey – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Kanye West – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Joan Rivers – Iron Man 3
Rihanna – This is the End

BEST HERO
Henry Cavill as Clark Kent – Man of Steel
Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man – Iron Man 3
Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Chris Hemsworth as Thor – Thor: The Dark World
Channing Tatum as John Cale – White House Down

Awards season has finally come to a close after the talent of Hollywood came together for last night’s entertaining Oscar ceremony.

But while the results were a tad predictable (as they usually are!), there were still enough laughs and emotional speeches to keep us film fans satisfied.

In what came as no big surprise to many of us, Steve McQueen’s brutal but brilliant drama 12 Years a Slave overcame strong competition from American Hustle and Gravity to clinch the all-important Best Picture accolade.

British director McQueen dedicated the win to the many people who had endured slavery for centuries while actor/producer Brad Pitt was amongst those to receive a golden statue for his involvement in producing.

The film also won Best Adapted Screenplay for John Ridley while Kenyan newcomer Lupita Nyong’o overcame stern pressure from Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle) to win Best Supporting Actress for her role as tragic cotton picker Patsey.

But a large majority of the awards were won by Alfonso Cuaron’s spectacular sci-fi blockbuster Gravity as it cruised to seven gongs including a Best Director win for Cuaron.

It also managed to win in the categories for Cinematography, Editing, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects and Original Score (Steven Price).

Real-life drama Dallas Buyers Club also fared well with three wins including Best Makeup as well as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor for stars Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto in their respective roles as AIDS-suffering electrician Ron Wooduff and transvestite Rayon.

Given his sublime form with screen-work right now, McConaughey’s win was pretty much inevitable as he triumphed over the likes of Leonardo Di-Caprio and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Having swept nearly every award in this race, Cate Blanchett eased her way to a second Oscar win for her role as erratic socialite Jasmine in Woody Allen’s light-hearted drama Blue Jasmine. She managed to hold off talented competition from Amy Adams, Sandra Bullock, Judi Dench and Meryl Streep.

There were also two Oscar wins each for period drama The Great Gatsby (Production Design, Costume Design) and Frozen (Animated Film, Original Song – “Let It Go”) while Spike Jonze secured Best Original Screenplay for his writing of Her.

But it was a bad night for other Best Picture contenders with leading nominee American Hustle having the rare misfortune of being shutout completely.

It failed to win from any of its ten nominations which included four acting nods and now has the unfortunate status of being one of the biggest nominated films to not win an Oscar.

Sea-faring thriller Captain Phillips (with seven nominations), real-life caper The Wolf of Wall Street and British dramedy Philomena also missed out on recognition.

US chat show host Ellen DeGeneres provided many laughs throughout the evening with one of the main highlights being an epic celebrity selfie that broke Twitter records as the most re-tweeted photo ever.

The night also saw Pink perform a musical tribute to The Wizard of Oz (to commemorate the film’s 75th anniversary) while Bette Midler sang a rendition of her classic song “Wind Beneath my Wings” in tribute to those who had passed away in the last year.

With all that said and done, the full list of winners are below:

BEST PICTURE
12 Years a Slave

BEST DIRECTOR
Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

BEST ACTOR
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Spike Jonze – Her

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Great Gatsby

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Gravity

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
The Great Gatsby

BEST MAKEUP
Dallas Buyers Club

BEST EDITING
Gravity

BEST SOUND MIXING
Gravity

BEST SOUND EDITING
Gravity

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Gravity

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Steven Price – Gravity

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Let It Go” – Frozen

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Frozen

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Great Beauty

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
20 Feet from Stardom

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

ANIMATED SHORT
Mr Hublot

LIVE ACTION SHORT
Helium

Thanks once again to those of you who followed this year’s race with me. Awards season remains an important factor in my film passion and I look forward to 2015′s one with great anticipation.

It will come around quick!