The “Oscar Buzz” is upon us once more as the nominations for the movie-related awards were announced on January 16. Many popular movies were nominated for multiple categories, but not nearly for as many as the movies “American Hustle,” “Gravity” or “12 Years a Slave”.
“American Hustle” was nominated for 10 categories, including Best Picture and Best Director.
The movie is loosely based on the FBI “ABSCAM” operation of the late 1970s and early ’80s. It stars Christian Bale and Amy Adams as two con artists who are forced by an FBI agent (played by Bradley Cooper) to set up an elaborate sting operation on corrupt politicians, including the mayor of Camden, New Jersey. Jennifer Lawrence plays the unpredictable wife of Bale’s character.
“American Hustle” has already passed the $100 million mark in ticket sales, but those earnings are nothing compared to “Gravity” when it comes to box office sales. “Gravity” has already made $256 million domestically.
“Gravity stars Sandra Bullock (up for Best Actress) and George Clooney. The two are in space working on a satellite when a meteor shower gets locked in Earth’s gravitational pull and causes the two to head toward a safer ship when their space craft is damaged.
“12 Years a Slave” was nominated for nine categories. It is running against “American Hustle” in eight categories of its nine nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director.
The movie is an adaptation of the true 1853 memoir of Solomon Northup. Solomon was a free-born African American who was kidnapped in New York and sold into slavery and bounced around multiple plantations until he is finally freed 12 years later.
“American Hustle” and “12 Years a Slave” have received much praise, including praise from junior Nick Dehr. “I’ve seen ‘American Hustle’” Dehr said. “It was a phenomenal movie that deserves to be up there in the nominations.”
Dehr was also impressed by “12 Years a Slave.” “’12 Years a Slave’ was an intense movie and really made me cringe at some parts. It was still a good movie and deserves all of the nominations that it received,” Dehr said.
Between the two, Dehr believes that “American Hustle” will take the title of Best Picture.
Senior Bonnie Schuette disagrees with Dehr. She has seen all three movies and was stunned by the visual effects of “Gravity.”
“I really enjoyed ‘Gravity’” Schuette said. “The movie really impressed me and made me slide to the edge of my seat. At some points I think my heart was pounding loud enough for the person sitting next to me to get annoyed,” Shuette said. “I think [“Gravity”] will take Best Picture.”
