Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Director 2013

The Contenders:

Steve McQueen: 12 Years a Slave
David O. Russell: American Hustle
Alfonso Cuaron: Gravity (winner)
Alexander Payne: Nebraska
Martin Scorsese: The Wolf of Wall Street

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Picture 2013

The Contenders:

12 Years a Slave (winner)
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
The Wolf of Wall Street

Oscar Got It Wrong!: Best Actress 2013

The Contenders:

Amy Adams: American Hustle
Meryl Streep: August: Osage County
Cate Blanchett: Blue Jasmine (winner)
Sandra Bullock: Gravity
Judi Dench: Philomena

Okay with My (Orbital) Decay

Film: Gravity
Format: Kerasotes 16 IMAX.

It’s not often that you walk out of a film thinking that you’ve seen something that could legitimately win all five major Oscars. It’s even rarer when the film in question not only could but should win every technical award as well. Sadly, Gravity probably won’t win every major award because Oscar hates science fiction. Gravity isn’t really a science fiction film; it’s a drama that takes place in space. The technology shown in the film isn’t futuristic. It’s current, real-world stuff. But since the film takes place miles above Earth’s atmosphere, it’s suddenly science fiction. It probably will win most of the technical awards and it will be nominated all to hell and back, but it probably won’t win.

I say this as someone who is ambivalent to the acting charms of both stars, George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. Both are fine actors, but both also have made a number of really bad film choices in the past. Here, aside from the shocking cinematography, they are all we have to carry the full weight of the film and both are perfectly cast.