Ah, the Oscars. Movie’s biggest night. Everyone comes out dressed in their finest, and the favoritest of the favorites are awarded, um, awards. It’s all a lot of fun, but it’s a whole lot more fun if you’ve seen the movies being awarded all night long, right?
You might have seen all the films that won. I didn’t manage to do that, and I saw 67 theatrically released films last year, but you might have. After all, only 12 films won awards last night. However, the average American only sees 6 movies per year in a theater, so you would have had to have seen twice as many movies as the average movie-goer to have seen every movie that took home a golden statue last night.
My point is two-fold. First, very few films win Oscars. It’s great that some do, and every once in a while, one wins that really deserves to be highlighted on the biggest stage possible (like last night). Most often though, truly great films go unnoticed by Oscar. Someone always gets left out. Cinema has never been richer, but most of the wealth lies outside Hollywood. Explore beyond the Oscars. You won’t be sorry.
Second, while only 12 films won awards last night, 57 films were nominated, so you saw lots of clips from lots of movies. Some of them might have piqued your interest. We covered many of the films nominated in one category or another over the course of last year. If you want more info on any of those films, check out the links below (bold text indicates the film won that award_.
As always, we want to encourage you to approach films humbly and generously, reflect deeply on the films you get to see, and appreicate beauty in all its forms (and especially those forms that don’t win awards).
12 Years A Slave – nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Costume Design, Directing, Film Editing, Production Design, and Adapted Screenplay
20 Feet From Stardom – nominated for Best Documentary Feature
The Act of Killing – nominated for Best Documentary Feature
All Is Lost – nominated for Sound Editing
American Hustle – nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Costume Design, Directing, Film Editing, Production Design, Original Screenplay
Before Midnight – nominated for Adapted Screenplay
Captain Phillips – nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Film Editing, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Adapted Screenplay
The Croods – nominated for Best Animated Feature
Cutie and the Boxer – nominated for Best Documentary Feature
Dallas Buyers Club – nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Screenplay
Dirty Wars – nominated for Best Documentary Feature
Feral – nominated for Best Animated Short
Frozen – nominated for Best Animated Feature, Original Song
Get A Horse! – nominated for Best Animated Short
Gravity – nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Cinematography, Directing, Film Editing, Original Score, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Visual Effects
The Great Gatsby – nominated for Costume Design, Production Design
Her – nominated for Best Picture, Original Score, Original Song, Production Design, Original Screenplay
Iron Man 3 – nominated for Visual Effects
Inside Llewyn Davis – nominated for Cinematography, Sound Mixing
The Lone Ranger – nominated for Makeup and Hairstyling, Visual Effects,
Mr. Hublot – nominated for Best Animated Short
Nebraska – nominated for Best Picture, Bes Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Cinematography, Directing, Original Screenplay
Possessions – nominated for Best Animated Short
Prisoners – nominated for Cinematography
Philomena – nominated for Best Picture, Best Actress, Original Score, Adapted Screenplay
Room on the Broom – nominated for Best Animated Short
Star Trek Into Darkness – nominated for Visual Effects
The Square – nominated for Best Documentary Feature
The Wolf of Wall Street – nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Directing, Adapted Screenplay
