My Oscar picks

I know the world is waiting with bated breath for my Oscar picks, so here goes (based on what I liked, not what I think will necessarily win):

Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave. Steve McQueen brilliantly captures white privilege up-and-down the income scale, on both sides of the color line.

Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club. We should stop rewarding extreme weight loss/gain, but I say Matthew gets it because of his casual homophobia that never quite goes away despite developing new comrades.

Best Actress: Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine. Despite the entire universe feeling qualified to weigh in on one side or the other of the Woody Allen pedophilia accusations, Cate is just brilliant in being an extremely status anxious widow in the middle of a nervous breakdown. Lots of funny cameos too.

Best Supporting Actor: Michael Fassbender in 12 years a slave. Absolutely wretched performance. Totally passes the SNL try-out parody from last night.

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle. Hilarious breakdowns and bravado from my homestate girl.

Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki for Gravity. Great use of small and wide spaces.

Best Directing and Editing: David O. Russell and the editors for American Hustle. Very fun pacing of excellent ensemble cast.

Best Documentary: As I tipped in a previous post, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing was one of the most innovative techniques for interviewing I have seen.

Best Foreign Language: Sadly, the only one I saw was the Hunt, from Denmark – which was great and disturbing. Apropos of the Woody Allen accusations.

Best Production Design: Her. From the high waisted pants to the cityscapes, a treat to watch.

Best Animated Short: Feral. A disturbing graphic novel style depiction of a wild boy.

Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave. Making a relic from archives come alive.

Best Original Screenplay: All were excellent. I cannot decide.