2) Biggest surprise exclusion was Emma Thompson for Saving Mr. Banks. However, critics and Hollywood insiders (notably including Meryl Streep) have ganged up on the movie as whitewashing the character of Walt Disney and the Disney culture of the era to create a, ahem, traditional Disney film. Oprah Winfrey also didn't make the cut, nor did the Coen Brothers Inside Llewyn Davis in any of the creative categories (although it did get a cinematography nod, which usually happens when someone makes a black & white film nowadays)
3) On the other hand, the backlash against The Wolf of Wall Street did not hurt that movie since it got nominations in every major category for which it was eligible.
4) American Hustle should win the best Costume Design Oscar simply for the seemingly infinite number of ways they managed to show off Amy Adams' cleavage in one outlandish outfit after another (plenty of leisure suits too).
5) Bad Grandpa should win Best Makeup because it will be so cool to see Johnny Knoxville holding an Oscar.
6) The female acting categories are a done deal this year. Cate Blanchett won the Oscar back in the summer (when I saw Blue Jasmine, I knew there wouldn't be a better performance this year). Jennifer Lawrence is also a lock. The male categories are wide open.
7) Best Director will again boil down to whether they want to honor technical expertise (Alfonso Cuaron) or artistic excellence (Steve McQueen) or, if there's a landslide for American Hustle, David O. Russell. Gravity will clean up in the technical awards.
Since we got to see Her and Osage County last weekend, I managed to see all the nominees in every major creative category before the nominations were announced. I'm usually about 50/50 whether I manage that or if there's one movie I somehow missed or hadn't made it to Atlanta yet.
