The Empire Awards 2014 – 12 Years! Hobbit! Gravity! Alan Partridge! World’s End! Filth! Hunger Games and more!

The fantastic Empire unload their biggest awards yet with their 25th anniversary special. They, like us, let the worthy blockbusters to go head to head with the awards bait. It’s not as prestigious as the Oscars but does show us for of the fans’ view. So in that respect, this really is quite major.

Best Male Newcomer:

Aidan Turner – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

George MacKay – Sunshine on Leith

Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis

Tye Sheridan – Mud

Will Poulter – We’re the Millers

Best Female Newcomer:

Margot Robbie – The Wolf of Wall Street

Adele Exarchopoulos – Blue is the Warmest Colour

Antonia Thomas – Sunshine On Leith

Elizabeth Debecki – The Great Gatsby

Freya Mavor – Sunshine on Leith

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Best Horror:

The Conjuring

A Field in England

Evil Dead

World War Z

You’re Next

Best Comedy:

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

This is 40

This is the End

The World’s End

Best Thriller:

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Captain Phillips

Now You See Me

Prisoners

Trance

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy:

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Gravity

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Pacific Rim

Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Supporting Actor:

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave

Daniel Bruhl – Rush

Sam Clafin – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Richard Armitage – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Tom Hiddleston – Thor: The Dark World

Best Supporting Actress:

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine

Evangeline Lilly – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Mia Wasikowska – Stoker

Jameson Best Leading Actor:

James McAvoy – Filth

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

Leonardo Di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Freeman – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips

Best Leading Actress:

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr Banks

Amy Adams – American Hustle

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Best Director:

Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

Edgar Wright – The World’s End

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Peter Jackson – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave

Empire Icon:

Hugh Jackman

Empire Hero:

Simon Pegg

Empire Inspiration:

Paul Greengrass

25 Years Award – The Action Hero of Our Lifetime:

Arnold Schwarzenegger

25 Years Award – The Legend of Our Lifetime:

Tom Cruise

Best British Film:

The World’s End

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

Filth

Rush

Sunshine on Leith

Best Film:

Gravity

12 Years a Slave

Captain Phillips

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Seth Rogen enrols for Console Wars, Marvel unveils Doctor Strange directing shortlist and find the Empire Award nominees

The award ceremony season is in full swing with last week’s BAFTAs, this weekend’s Oscars and last night’s homegrown Tuorhoth Awards. Another alternate look on the last year’s films can be found with the Empire Awards for which the nominations have just been announced. The winners will be announced on March 30th but you can vote for your favourites here.

Best Film:

12 Years a Slave

Captain Phillips

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Best Director:

Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

Edgar Wright – The World’s End

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Peter Jackson – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave

Best Leading Actor:

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

James McAvoy – Filth

Leonardo Di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Martin Freeman – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips

Best Leading Actress:

Amy Adams – American Hustle

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr Banks

Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Best British Film:

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

Filth

Rush

Sunshine on Leith

The World’s End

Best Supporting Actress:

Evangeline Lilly – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Mia Wasikowska – Stoker

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine

Best Supporting Actor:

Daniel Bruhl – Rush

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave

Sam Clafin – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Richard Armitage – The Hobbit:The Desolation of Smaug

Tom Hiddleston – Thor: The Dark World

Best Sci-fi/Fantasy:

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Pacific Rim

Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Thriller:

Captain Phillips

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Now You See Me

Prisoners

Trance

Best Comedy:

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues

This is 40

This is the End

The World’s End

Best Horror:

A Field in England

The Conjuring

Evil Dead

World War Z

You’re Next

Best Female Newcomer:

Adele Exarchopoulous – Blue is the Warmest Colour

Antonia Thomas – Sunshine on Leith

Elizabeth Debecki – The Great Gatsby

Freya Mavor – Sunshine on Leith

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Margot Robbie – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Male Newcomer:

Aidan Turner – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

George McKay – Sunshine on Leith

Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis

Tye Sheridan – Mud

Will Poulter – We’re the Millers

Picking up a Best Comedy nomination at the Empires was This is the End and the writing/directing duo behind it are lining up a new project. Evan Goldberg (writer of Goon, Pineapple Express and Superbad) and Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, 50/50, Paul) have been hired by Sony for Console Wars. This is a comedy detailing the vicious rivalry between Sega and Nintendo in the ’90s which lead to the multi-billion industry we know today. The pair will write and direct, as they did in This is the End, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Rogen went on to star in the film yet nothing’s been confirmed about that just yet.

Finally, we can announce the directing shortlist for Marvel’s upcoming fantasy project Doctor Stranger. The film was greenlighted by producer Kevin Feige in October and since there’s been huge speculation as to both who would call the shots on the superhero adventure as well as who would portray the titular hero. The potential directors are Mark Andrews, Nicolaj Arcel, Dean Israelite and Jonathan Levine. We’ll give you a quick brief for these four candidates.

Oscar winning director Mark Andrews directed Pixar’s feature length Brave and short animation One Man Band as well as writing Pixar’s short Jack-Jack Attack and John Carter. Israelite, cousin of Jonathan Liebesman is the director of successful short films The Department of Nothing and Magician. The most famous of the quartet is probably Jonathan Levine (50/50, Warm Bodies, The Wackness) but the most promising is Danish born Nikolaj Arcel, director of King’s Game and the brilliant period drama A Royal Affair.

The film will likely be the second in Marvel’s third phase but, if you can’t wait till 2016, there’s plenty of superhero action to keep you company. Captain America: The Winter Soldier comes this March, Guardians of the Galaxy launches in August, The Avengers: Age of Ultron battles in May 2015 followed by Ant-Man in July of that year. After that, there could be Captain America 3, Thor 3, Guardians 2 or Black Panther before Avengers 3.

Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo and the Battle that Defined a Generation – 2016

Doctor Strange – 2016

2014 Empire Awards – March 30th

The 2014 Tuorhoth Awards Nominations

If you’ve been following some of our recent posts, you’ll have picked up that The 2014 Tuorhoth Awards are on their way and today we’re going to announce the nominees. The nominees have been selected by a group of four elite judges. Our aim is to provide a mix of mainstream and arthouse for a honest awards ceremony to celebrate the best in film. The winners will be announced next week.

Best Movie:

12 Years a Slave

Captain Phillips

Cloud Atlas

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Kings of Summer

Much Ado About Nothing

Rush

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Thor: The Dark World

Best Leading Actress:

Carey Mulligan – The Great Gatsby

Amy Acker – Much Ado About Nothing

Rinko Kikuchi – Pacific Rim

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Amy Adams – American Hustle

Best Leading Actor:

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

Idris Elba – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Martin Freeman – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips

Zachary Quinto – Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Director:

Justin Chadwick – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

Ron Howard – Rush

Peter Jackson – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Baz Luhrmann – The Great Gatsby

Best Supporting Actor:

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Moises Arias – The Kings of Summer

Daniel Bruhl – Rush

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave

Tom Hiddleston – Thor: The Dark World

Best Supporting Actress:

Doona Bae – Cloud Atlas

Naomi Harris – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Evangeline Lilly – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Best Comedy:

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa

The Kings of Summer

Much Ado About Nothing

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Wreck-It Ralph

Best Sci-Fi:

Cloud Atlas

Ender’s Game

Man of Steel

Pacific Rim

Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Fantasy:

47 Ronin

Cloud Atlas

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Thor: The Dark World

The Wolverine

Best Animated Film:

Despicable Me 2

Monsters University

Wreck-It Ralph

Best Drama:

12 Years a Slave

The Great Gatsby

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Rush

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Thriller:

Captain Phillips

Gravity

The Lone Ranger

Now You See Me

World War Z

Kermode Award for Best Newcomer:

Barkhad Abdi

Moises Arias

Doona Bae

Luke Evans

Lupita Nyong’o

Best Original Song:

Atlas – Coldplay – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Young and Beautiful – Lana Del Rey – The Great Gatsby

I See Fire – Ed Sheeran – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Ordinary Love – U2 – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Happy – Pharrel Williams – Despicable Me 2

Best Musical Score:

Oz: The Great and Powerful – Danny Elfman

Gravity – Steven Price

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Howard Shore

Cloud Atlas – Tom Tykwer

Man of Steel – Hans Zimmer

Best Special Effects:

Ender’s Game

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Pacific Rim

Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Original Screenplay:

Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa – Armando Ianucci, Steve Coogan

American Hustle – Eric Warren Singer, David O’Russell

Gravity – Jonas Cuaron, Alfonso Cuaron

The Kings of Summer – Chris Galletta

Wreck-It Ralph – Jennifer Lee

Best Adapted Screenplay:

12 Years a Slave – John Ridley

Captain Phillips – Billy Ray

Cloud Atlas – Lana Wachowksi, Andy Wachowski, Tom Tykwer

The Great Gatsby – Baz Luhrmann, Craig Pearce

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty – Steve Conrad

Are We Crazy? Did we miss out a classic? Tell us your favourite movies from the last year in the comments and get unsung heroic in the soptlight!

Snyder’s Batman vs Superman delayed to 2016, American Hustle wins big at SAGA plus news for Marvel, Star Wars and Bond

We know we’ve done a lot of award season coverage of late and that continues today with the Screen Actors Guild Awards but we’ll try and fit in some other stuff too.

Best Ensemble Performance:

American Hustle

12 Years a Slave

August: Osage County

Dallas Buyers Club

The Butler

Best Leading Actor:

Matthew MacConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Bruce Dern – Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips

Forest Whitaker – The Butler

Best Leading Actress:

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Judi Dench – Philomena

Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr Banks

Best Supporting Actor:

Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Daniel Bruhl – Rush

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave

James Gandolfini – Enough Said

Best Supporting Actress

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Julia Roberts – August: Osage County

June Squibb – Nebraska

Oprah Winfrey – The Butler

In TV, Breaking Bad won both Best Ensemble and Best Actor (Bryan Cranston) in a drama series. Maggie Smith (Downton Abbey) won Best Actress in drama but Julia Louis Dreyfus (Veep) picked up the corresponding award for comedy and Helen Mirren (Phil Spector) for mini-series/TV movie. Michael Douglas (Behind the Candelabra) and Ty Burrell (Modern Family, which also won Best Comedy Ensemble) respectively won Best Actor in a mini-series/TV movie and comedy series.

We move onto the surprising news that one of 2015’s major releases will follow in the footsteps of Pirates 6, Star Trek 3, Warcraft and Finding Dory to escape from the avalanche of film releases that 2015 brings, such as The Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ant-Man, Cinderella, The Good Dinosaur, Fast and Furious 7, Fifty Shades of Grey, Star Wars: Episode VII, Terminator: Genesis, Jurassic World, Assassin’s Creed, Seventh Son, The Fantastic Four, Pitch Perfect 2, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, Bond 24, Mission: Impossible 5, Inside Out, Tomorrowland, The Minions, Frankenstein, Kung Fu Panda 3, Ted 2, Crimson Peak, Silence, Insurgent, Point Break, San Andreas, Poltergeist, In the Heart of the Sea, The Gambler, Queen of the Desert, Insidious 3, Chappie, Cyber, The Penguins of Madagascar, The Bourne Betrayal, The Secret Service, The Wedding Ringer and Killer Crow.

It’s Batman vs Superman which has pulled out into 2016. You’d think that this’d be one of the highest grossing films of the year so it’s backed out not because of competition but because of development difficulties. Fox cites that writer/director Zack Snyder (300, Man of Steel, Watchmen) and co need “time to realize fully their vision, given the complex visual nature of the story.” Pan, a prequel to Disney classic Peter Pan, is the Fox release that’ll replace it in 2015. That’ll be directed by Joe Wright (Hanna, Anna Karenina, Pride and Prejudice, The Soloist) and may star Hugh Jackman (X-Men, Real Steel, Australia, Les Miserables, The Prestige) The Man of Steel sequel will star Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishbourne and Gal Gadot and is rumoured to star Joaquin Phoenix and Jason Momoa.

There’s a few other quick snippets of news. Agents of SHIELD, which returns to Channel 4 in late February, recently confirmed that Bill Paxton will join the team. The show must be trying to up the anti by adding another major star. Asgardian warrior Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander), who featured in both Thor and Thor: The Dark World, will be the focus of an upcoming episode. Initial ratings for the series have been lower than expected but ABC boss Paul Lee is confident a second series will be on the way.

While we’re on Marvel’s Disney side of things, we’d like to share with you the first promotional art of James Gunn’s (Slither, Super) stellar new comic-book adaptation which stars Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Lee Pace, Glenn Close and John C Reilly: Guardians of the Galaxy.

We swiftly move onto the James Bond franchise which we reference earlier. The yet untitled Bond 24 will be directed by Sam Mendes (Revolutionary Road, Road to Perdition, American Beauty, Away We Go, Jarhead) will return to the franchise after the huge success he had with Skyfall, which grossed over a billion dollars, nearly over double what any previous instalment had gained. Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw are all set to revive their roles and John Logan is confirmed to be writing the script. As well as Skyfall, he penned Hugo, Rango, Coriolanus, The Aviator, The Last Samurai and Gladiator to much critical success so he should be able to astound us again with Bond 24.

“My goal is to write a great movie that’s appropriate, to build on what we did on Skyfall, but make it its own unique animal,” Logan said. “The themes, ideas and the characters from Skyfall can obviously continue on, because it is a franchise, and it is an ongoing story. So I think there’s resonance from Skyfall in the new movie.”

The fourth and final quick snippet of news is staying in the realm of scriptwriting. While Logan is starting his work on a new production, JJ Abrams has confirmed that the screenplay for his epic reboot Star Wars: Episode VII is finished. The Star Trek Into Darkness and Super 8 director/Felicity, Lost and Alias creator and his colleague Lawrence Kasdan (scribe of the original Star Wars’ The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and Raiders of the Lost Ark) have finished their work writing. Also, producer Kathleen Kennedy told the ToysrEvil blog this about the franchise’s future as a whole.

“The canon that he created was the Star Wars saga. Right now, Episode VII falls within that canon. The spin-off movies, or we may come up with some other way to call those films, they exist within that vast universe that he created. There is no attempt being made to carry characters from the standalone films in and out of the saga episodes. Consequently, from the creative standpoint, it’s a roadmap that George made pretty clear.”

Batman vs. Superman – May 6th 2016

Pan – July 17th 2015

Bond 24 – November 6th 2015

Agents of SHIELD – Channel 4 in late February

Guardians of the Galaxy – August 1st

Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

12 Years triumphs at People’s Choice Awards and new Amazing Spider-Man 2 posters

After director Steve McQueen and star Michael Fassbender were snubbed for both Hunger and Shame, they’re finally getting award recognition for 12 Years a Slave, which won Best Film at the Golden Globes and People’s Choice and shone out at the Academy Award nominations. Here’s the full list

Best Picture

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

Saving Mr Banks

Best Actor

Matthew MacConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Christian Bale – American Hustle

Bruce Dern – Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips

Robert Redford – All is Lost

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Judi Dench – Philomena

Brie Larson – Short Term 12

Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr Banks

Best Supporting Actor

Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Philllips

Daniel Bruhl – Rush

Bradley Cooper – American Hustle

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave

James Gandolfini – Enough Said

Best Supporting Actress

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Scarlett Johansson – Her

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Julia Roberts – August: Osage County

June Squibb – Blue Jasmine

Oprah Winfrey – The Butler

Best Young Actor/Actress

Adele Exarchopoulos – Blue is the Warmest Colour

Asa Butterfield – Ender’s Game

Liam James – The Way Way Back

Sophie Nelisse – The Book Thief

Tye Sheridan – Mud

Best Acting Ensemble

American Hustle

August: Osage County

The Butler

Nebraska

12 Years a Slave

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Spike Jonze – Her

Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave

David O’Russell – American Hustle

Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Original Screenplay

Spike Jonze – Her

Eric Warren Singer, David O’Russell – American Hustle

Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine

Joel and Ethan Coen – Inside Llewyn Davis

Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Best Adapted Screenplay

John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave

Tracy Letts – August: Osage County

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke – Before Midnight

Billy Ray – Captain Phillips

Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope – Philomena

Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Cinematography

Emmannuel Lubezki – Gravity

Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis

Phedon Papamichael – Nebraska

Roger Deakins – Prisoners

Sean Bobbit – 12 Years a Slave

Best Art Direction

The Great Gatsby

Gravity

Her

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

12 Years a Slave

Best Editing

Gravity

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Rush

12 Years a Slave

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Costume Design

The Great Gatsby

American Hustle

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Saving Mr Banks

12 Years a Slave

Best Hair and Make-up

American Hustle

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

The Butler

Rush

12 Years a Slave

Best Visual Effects

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Iron Man 3

Pacific Rim

Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Animated Feature

Frozen

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Monsters University

The Wind Rises

Best Action Movie

Lone Survivor

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Iron Man 3

Rush

Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Actor in an Action Movie

Mark Wahlberg – Lone Survivor

Henry Cavill – Man of Steel

Robert Downey Jr – Iron Man 3

Brad Pitt – World War Z

Best Comedy

American Hustle

Enough Said

The Heat

This is the End

The Way Way Back

The World’s End

Best Actor in a Comedy

Leonardo Di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Christian Bale – American Hustle

James Gandolfini – Enough Said

Simon Pegg – The World’s End

Sam Rockwell – The Way Way Back

Best Actress in a Comedy

Amy Adams – American Hustle

Sandra Bullock – The Heat

Greta Gerwig – Frances Ha

Julia Louis Dreyfus – Enough Said

Melissa McCarthy – The Heat

Best Sci-fi Horror Movie

Gravity

The Conjuring

Star Trek Into Darkness

Iron Man 3

Best Foreign Language Film

Blue is the Warmest Colour

The Great Beauty

The Hunt

The Past

Best Documentary Feature

20 Feet From Stardom

The Act of Killing

Blackfish

Stories We Tell

Tim’s Vermeer

Best Song

Let it Go – Frozen

Atlas – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Happy – Despicable Me 2

Ordinary Love – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Please Mr Kennedy – Inside Llewyn Davis

Young and Beautiful – The Great Gatsby

Best Score

Stephen Price – Gravity

William Butler, Owen Pallett – Her

Thomas Newman – Saving Mr Banks

Hans Zimmer – 12 Years a Slave

Gravity has won the most awards with an impressive six wins but it’s 12 Years a Slave’s day as it picked up Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. American Hustle gained four wins while Frozen, The Great Gatsby, Blue is the Warmest Colour and Lone Survivor got two. I’m not going to do in depth analysis but I’m stilled surprised Her is being praised as an “original” and “fresh” premise as it has exactly the same plot as a Big Bang Theory episode where a lonely Raj (Kunal Nayyar) falls in love with his I-Phone’s Siri. I’m probably not the first to say it but I haven’t heard anyone else pick up on it.

The only other major piece of news is the stunning new poster for Marvel and Sony’s superhero sequel The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Marc Webb directs and Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Paul Giamatti, Sally Field, Dane DeHaan and Chris Cooper star but today’s focus is the hopefully terrifying new villain Electro, played by Ray, Collateral and Django Unchained’s Jamie Foxx.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – April 18th

The 2014 Academy Awards nominations are in!

After the tense but unfocused Argo triumphed over the brilliant Les Miserables, Lincoln and Beasts of the Southern Wild at the last Oscars, I’m not sure that the Academy Award Best Picture is the best judge of what really is the best film of the year but it’s certainly the most prestigious honour any movie can receive. This year features plenty of strong contenders but some stars have seen some shocking snubs.

Best Picture

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Her

Nebraska

Philomena

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director

Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave

David O’Russell – American Hustle

Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

Alexander Payne – Nebraska

Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Original Screenplay

Eric Warren Singer, David O’Russell – American Hustle

Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine

Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack – Dallas Buyers Club

Spike Jonze – Her

Best Adapted Screenplay

John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave

Billy Ray – Captain Phillips

Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope – Philomena

Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, Richard Linklater – Before Midnight

Best Actor

Bruce Dern – Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

Christian Bale – American Hustle

Leonardo Di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Matthew MacConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress

Amy Adams – American Hustle

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Judi Dench – Philomena

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Best Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper – American Hustle

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave

Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street

Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Julia Roberts – August: Osage County

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine

June Squibb – Nebraska

Best Animated Film

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Ernest & Celestine

Frozen

The Wind Rises

Best Original Score

Philomena – Alexander Desplat

The Book Thief – John Williams

Gravity – Stephen Price

Saving Mr Banks – Thomas Newman

Her – William Butler, Owen Pallett

Best Original Song

Alone Yet Not Alone – Alone Yet Not Alone

Happy – Despicable Me 2

Let it Go – Frozen

The Moon Song – Her

Ordinary Love – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Best Cinematography

The Grandmaster – Phillipe Le Sourd

Gravity – Emmanuel Lubezki

Inside Llewyn Davis – Bruno Delbonnel

Nebraska – Phedon Papamichael

Prisoners – Roger Deakins

Best Editing

American Hustle

12 Years a Slave

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club

Gravity

Best Production Design

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Her

Gravity

The Great Gatsby

Best Costume Design

American Hustle – Michael Wilkinson

The Great Gatsby – Catherine Martin

The Invisible Woman – Michael O’Connor

The Grandmaster – William Chang Suk Ping

12 Years a Slave – Patricia Norris

Best Make-Up

Dallas Buyers Club

Jackass: Bad Grandpa

The Lone Ranger

Best Sound Editing

All is Lost

Captain Phillips

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Lone Survivor

Best Sound Mixing

Captain Phillips

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Inside Llewyn Davis

Lone Survivor

Best Visual Effects

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Iron Man 3

Star Trek Into Darkness

The Lone Ranger

Best Foreign Language Film

Broken Circle Breakdown – Belgium

The Great Beauty – Italy

The Hunt – Denmark

The Missing Picture – Cambodia

Omar – Palestine

Best Animated Short

Feral

Get a Horse

Mr Hublot

Possessions

Room on the Broom

Best Documentary

The Act of Killing

Cutie and the Boxer

Dirty Wars

The Square

20 Feet From Stardom

Best Documentary Short

Cavedigger

Facing Fear

Karama Has No Walls

The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life

Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

Best Live-Action Short

Aquel No Era Yo

Just Before Losing Everything

Helium

Do I Have to Take Care of Everything

The Voorman

The unsurprising leaders are 12 Years a Slave, eight nominations, Gravity, ten honours, and American Hustle, also ten nominations. Both Dallas Buyers Club and The Wolf of Wall Street gained five, Captain Phillips and Nebraska scored an impressive six while Her and Philomena followed up with four. Blue Jasmine got three while, with its two star actresses, August: Osage County scraped into the shortlists with two, as did animations Frozen and Despicable Me 2 and documentary The Act of Killing and martial-arts based The Grandmaster. In the more technical areas, Captain Phillips and Gravity made a big impact while The Great Gatsby, The Lone Ranger, Lone Survivor and Inside Llewyn Davis got two, The Hobbit:The Desolation of Smaug got three and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, Jackass: Bad Grandpa, The Book Thief, All is Lost and The Invisible Woman pushed their way in with just one nomination each.

There are some shocking snubs. Blue is the Warmest Colour is the most obvious one. I thought that this Palme D’Or was bound to not only win Best Foreign Language Film but also pick up nominations for Best Leading Actress, Best Director and Best Picture but didn’t even get one honour. Captain Phillips’ Tom Hanks and Paul Greengrass were respectively left out of Best Actor and Best Director. Saving Mr Banks, All is Lost, Prisoners and Inside Llewyn Davis were left of some of the awards they were favoured for while the hugely popular The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Rush were completely bereft of recognition. Saving Mr Banks was one of the most loved efforts of the year and yet only finds itself with one nomination; Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrel and director John Lee Hancock were all snubbed. I also think that Lone Survivor and The Book Thief will be disappointed with their small hoards.

In terms of potential winners, Gravity will no doubt win the most awards but 12 Years a Slave may just beat off the main competition from Gravity and American Hustle to win Best Picture. I think the winners of the “big five” will be Alfonso Cuaron (director of Gravity), Leonardo Di Caprio (actor of The Wolf of Wall Street), Cate Blanchett (actress of Blue Jasmine), Michael Fassbender (supporting actor of 12 Years a Slave) and Jennifer Lawrence (supporting actress of American Hustle).

The show itself will be on ABC in America or Sky Movies in the UK on March 2nd and will be hosted by Ellen Degeneres.

The 86th Academy Awards – March 2nd on ABC and Sky Movies

Golden Globes winners plus Fassbender, Weaving and more for Star Wars 7

It’s over a month it’ll we reach what I consider to be the main events of the award season, the Oscars, Academy Awards, and BAFTA, British Academy of Film and Television Awards, but the Golden Globes possibly give the most accurate early insight into who’s leading the way to bringing home Best Picture. The show, hosted by Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, was held on Sunday and heralded these results.

Best Motion Picture – Drama:

12 Years a Slave

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Rush

Best Actress – Drama

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Judi Dench – Philomena

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr Banks

Kate Winslet – Labor Day

Best Actor – Drama

Matthew MacConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

Idris Elba – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips

Robert Redford – All is Lost

Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical

American Hustle

Her

Inside Llewyn Davis

Nebraska

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor – Comedy or Musical

Leonardo Di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Christian Bale – American Hustle

Bruce Dern – Nebraska

Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis

Joaquin Phoenix – Her

Best Actress – Comedy or Musical

Amy Adams – American Hustle

Julie Delpy – Before Midnight

Greta Gerwig – Frances Ha

Julia Louis Dreyfus – Enough Said

Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor

Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Daniel Bruhl – Rush

Bradley Cooper – American Hustle

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Julia Roberts – August: Osage County

June Squibb – Nebraska

Best Screenplay

Spike Jonze – Her

Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Jeff Pope, Steve Coogan – Philomena

John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave

Eric Warren Singer, David O’Russell – American Hustle

Best Director

Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave

Alexander Payne – Nebraska

David O’Russell – American Hustle

Best Animated Feature

Frozen

The Croods

Despicable Me 2

Best Foreign Language Film

The Great Beauty

Blue is the Warmest Colour

The Hunt

The Wind Rises

Best Original Score

All is Lost

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Gravity

The Book Thief

12 Years a Slave

Best Original Song

“Ordinary Love” – Mandela Long Walk to Freedom

“Atlas” – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

“Let it Go” – Frozen

“Please Mr Kennedy” – Inside Llewyn Davis

“Sweeter Than Fiction” – One Chance

American Hustle leads the way with three wins but it’s Dallas Buyers Club, Gravity and 12 Years a Slave that’ll be remembered for last night’s success. The victories Alfonso Cuaron, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett, Leonardo Di Caprio and Matthew MacConaughey were expected but there’s some real surprises with Spike Jonze, Amy Adams and Jared Leto picking up Globes.

I’ll give a quick review on the TV results. As expected, the final season of Breaking Bad won Best Drama and Best Actor, for Bryan Cranston, while Robin Wright won the Globe for Best Actress with Netflix’s House of Cards. In comedy, brand new cop show Brooklyn Nine-Nine caused an upset for the bookies as it starred taking Best Comedy and Best Actor (Adam Sandberg) in a Comedy from favourites such as The Big Bang Theory, Arrested Development, Girls and Modern Family. Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra won both Best Mini-Series or TV Movie and Best Actor in a Mini-Series for Michael Douglas while Elizabeth Moss (Top of the Lake) won the corresponding Best Actress award. Jacqueline Bisset (Dancing on the Edge) and Jon Voight (Ray Donovan) respectively won Best Supporting Actress and Actor.

Star Wars: Episode VII, as you know, is an upcoming sci-fi reboot of George Lucas’ classic ’77 – ’83 trilogy that gained an poor name thanks to Lucas’ failed prequel ’99 – ’05 trilogy. JJ Abrams (Star Trek Into Darkness, Super 8, Lost, Felicity) will direct the new instalment that’s seen a number of intriguing cast rumours.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Day Lewis, and Chiwetel Ejiofor have gone round the rumour mill while Soarise Ronan, Jack O’Connell, Michael B Jordan and Sullivan Stapleton are confirmed to have had auditions. The Episode VII producers took a tour of Britain with open auditions across about five or six cities to find fresh face and old Star Wars favourites Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, Peter Mayhew, Kenny Baker, Warwick Davis, Samuel L Jackson and Anthony Daniels are rumoured to reprise their roles.

Now, four fresh entrants to the series are in contention but, before you accuse this as a wild guess, consider that the closer we get to the film’s release, the more accurate the rumours’ll be. The latest batch of potential Star Warriors are Michael Fassbender, Hugo Weaving, Jesse Plemons and Adam Driver.

The Irish/Germanic Fassbender is probably the most known of the four. He’s equally spread between mainstream and award worthy performances after leading box-office success with Prometheus, Inglorious, X-Men: First Class and 300 and winning the critics in the more art-house Shame, Hunger and 12 Years a Slave, for which he’s tipped for Oscar success. I’m not sure if Fassbender will sign on as he’s already doing X-Men: Days of Future Past, Frank, Untitled Terrence Malick project, Assassin’s Creed, MacBeth and Prometheus 2 already lined up.

The other three are much more likely candidates. Hugo Weaving (The Matrix’s Mr Smith, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit’s Elrond, Captain America’s Red Skull, V for Vendetta, Cloud Atlas’ Mrs Noakes), Adam Driver (Frances Ha, Lincoln, Inside Llewyn Davis and Girls’ Adam Sackler) and Jesse Plemons (Breaking Bad’s Todd, Friday Night Lights, Battleship, Paul) are the other three stars rumoured for Star Wars. Casting venerable stars such as Weaving is fine as long as they don’t waste them on pointless politician roles, see Terence Stamp as Chancellor Valorum. There was a rumour that a casting call went out for the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s daughter or granddaughter but that may just be fiction.

Star Wars: Episode VII – December 18th 2015

BAFTA Nominations for 2014 are in: American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Gravity, Philomena and 12 Years a Slave lead the way

A couple of days ago, we brought you the scoop on the nominees for BAFTA’s Rising Star Award. Now the rest of the nominations have come in and there’s a couple of the usual surprises and snubs.

Best Film

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Philomena

Outstanding British Film

Gravity

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Philomena

Rush

Saving Mr Banks

The Selfish Giant

Outstanding Debut For a British Writer, Director or Producer

Colin Carberry (Writer), Glenn Patterson (Writer) Good Vibrations

Kelly Marcel (Writer) Saving Mr. Banks

Kieran Evans (Director/Writer) Kelly + Victor

Paul Wright (Director/Writer), Polly Stokes (Producer) For Those in Peril

Scott Graham (Director/Writer) Shell

Best Director

Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave

David O’Russell – American Hustle

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity

Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Original Screenplay

Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell – American Hustle

Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine

Alfonso Cuaron, Jonas Cuaron – Gravity

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen – Inside Llewyn Davis

Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Best Adapted Screenplay

John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave

Richard LaGravense – Behind the Candelabra

Billy Ray – Captain Phillips

Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope – Philomena

Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Leading Actor

Bruce Dern – Nebraska

Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave

Christian Bale – American Hustle

Leonardo Di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips

Best Leading Actress

Amy Adams – American Hustle

Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr Banks

Judi Dench – Philomena

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Best Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Bradley Cooper – American Hustle

Daniel Bruhl – Rush

Matt Damon – Behind the Candelabra

Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave

Best Supporting Actress

Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle

Julia Roberts – August: Osage County

Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave

Oprah Winfrey – The Butler

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine

Best Foreign Language Film

The Act of Killing

Blue is the Warmest Colour

The Great Beauty

Metro Manila

Wadjda

Best Documentry

The Act of Killing

The Armstrong Lie

Blackfish

Tim’s Vermeer

We Steal Secret: The Story of WikiLeaks

Best Animated Film

Despicable Me 2

Frozen

Monsters University

Best Original Music

12 Years a Slave – Hans Zimmer

The Book Thief – John Williams

Captain Phillips – Henry Jackman

Gravity – Stephen Price

Saving Mr Banks – Thomas Newman

Best Cinematography

12 Years a Slave

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Inside Llewyn Davis

Saving Mr Banks

Best Editing

12 Years a Slave

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Rush

The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Production Design

12 Years a Slave

American Hustle

Behind the Candelabra

Gravity

The Great Gatsby

Best Costume Design

American Hustle

Behind the Candelabra

The Great Gatsby

The Invisible Woman

Saving Mr Banks

Best Make-up and Hair

American Hustle

Behind the Candelabra

The Butler

The Great Gatsby

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Best Sound

All is Lost

Captain Phillips

Gravity

Inside Llewyn Davis

Rush

Best Special Visual Effects

Gravity

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Iron Man 3

Pacific Rim

Star Trek Into Darkness

Best British Short Animation

Everything I Can See From Here

I am Tom Moody

Sleeping with the Fishes

Best British Short Film

Island Queen

Keeping Up with the Joneses

Orbit Ever After

Room 8

Sea View

The EE Rising Star Award

Dane DeHaan

George MacKay

Lupita Nyong’o

Will Poulter

Lea Seydoux

12 Years a Slave has an impressive haul with 9 nominations, as did American Hustle, but Gravity leads the way with 11. Captain Phillips scored 6 and Philomena, Saving Mr Banks, Behind the Candelabra, The Wolf of Wall Street, Blue Jasmine, Nebraska and Inside Llewyn Davis all made a great impression. Rush, The Great Gatsby, Gravity and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug all dominated the technical awards. Something I’m not convinced by is the nominees of the Best British Film award. Mandela, Philomena and The Selfish Giant are fair enough but is having a Brit on the producing credits really justifying Gravity (directed by a Mexican), Rush (directed by a Oklahoman) and Saving Mr Banks (directed by a Texan).

As for who will win, Best Film I’d narrow it down to 12 Years, American Hustle and Captain Phillips. Sandra Bullock (Gravity) may just pip Emma Thompson (Saving Mr Banks) to Best Leading Actress while I reckon Tom Hanks has Best Actor in the bag. Oprah Winfrey and Daniel Bruhl seem  like the most likely to respectively win Best Supporting Actress and Actor.

Alfonso Cuaron is my favourite for Best Director and I also predict American Hustle to win Best Original Screenplay and either The Wolf of Wall Street or Philomena for Best Adapted. I’d bet on Frozen for Best Animated Film but Gravity would probably win the most awards on the night but it’ll miss out on the main award of Best Film.

The event itself is on February 16th and here, on Tuorhoth Movies, we hope to be bringing live as-it-happens news updates so stay tuned. By for now!

Captain Phillips review

Director: Paul Greengrass

Starring: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Faysal Ahmed, Mahat M. Ali, Barkhad Abdirahman, Catherine Keener, Michael Chernus, Corey Johnson

Terror runs throughout the true story of Captain Richard Phillips. Despite boasting The Bourne Ultimatum’s director, a brilliant first time performance from Somalian Abdi and two time Oscar winner Tom Hanks, the true star is Phillips and his remarkable real life heroics.

While captaining container ship Maersk Alabama 2009, Richard Phillips (Hanks) must keep his crew from harm at all costs when the ship is boarded by four armed Somalian pirates. Their leader, Muse (Abdi), is after much more than mere cargo however.

The plot synopsis I just gave you makes it sound very simplistic, two dimensional and dull but there’s so much more to Captain Phillips that I couldn’t reveal without spoiling what is easily the best film so far this year.

There really hasn’t been a more tense 12A since 2011’s Contagion, particularly the Somalian’s storming of Maersk Alabama. You could argue that there’s a couple of moments where everything slows down, especially the first five minutes of the film where the scripts a little clunky, but they’re necessary because you’re struggling for breath from the 20 minute mark to the 60.  There’s an extreme sense of danger throughout and that alone is enough to keep you hooked. Greengrass does brilliantly not to smother it in explosions, over the top CGI stunts and blaring music.

Another thing to a applauded is truth to the real events. That’s not to say that Captain Phillips isn’t dramatic but it’s so unique compared to any other thriller movie you could pick off the shelf. It’s rumoured that Tom Hanks made sure that every single detail was historically accurate before he signed on for his 1994 classic Forrest Gump and I think there’s a similar story here.

Two of the film’s greatest assets are it’s two lead actors. Tom Hanks is possibly at the best we’ve seen him for a decade. Phillips isn’t an action hero; he’s an ordinary man who has to pull off the extraordinary while keeping himself together. Hanks brilliantly gets this across, despite him being one of Hollywood’s most beloved actors for the past thirty years. Barkhad Abdi is remarkably excellent too. He and Hanks didn’t meet until the first time they filmed the scenes out on the water and as they first meet eachother through their binoculars there’s an epic sense of two forces going head to head with an unforeseen outcome. If either of them don’t win the Best Leading Actor Oscar next year, I’ll be shocked.

Another great feature of Captain Phillips that it doesn’t try to patronize you with an generic money obsessed villain. While Muse and his crew are after the money, they’d rather have it any other way than piracy, their last resort. Some of them don’t want to be there any more that Phillips does yet they’re still the most terrifying pirates there’s ever been on screen. It’s truly thought provoking substance.

There’s little more I could say to get you to see this film other than a perfect score out of ten. Greengrass, Hanks and Abdi have brought us a thriller masterpiece but there’s none deserve more thanks than Captain Richard Phillips himself.

10/10

Tuorhoth’s first predictions for the 2014 Academy Awards

October and November are seeing the releases of some of the huge contenders for the Oscars next year well before award season has begun. We’ve no idea how well any of these films are going to do critically seeing as none of them have actually been released to mainstream audiences. This isn’t an award by award breakdown but we’re giving you a brief guide as to what could be nominated in “the big six” awards at world’s biggest annual movie event. I’m also ranking the potential nominees by their likelihood of winning by colour: red means most likely to win, blue means second most likely and green means I’ve ranked them third.

Best Supporting Actress

Cate Blanchett – The Monuments Men

Cameron Diaz – The Counsellor

Julianne Moore – Carrie

Michelle Pfeiffer – The Family

Kristen Wiig – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Supporting Actor

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips

Benedict Cumberbatch – 12 Years A Slave

Jean Dujardin – The Monuments Men

Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street

Tommy Lee Jones – The Family

Best Leading Actress

Sandra Bullock – Gravity

Nicole Kidman – Grace of Monaco

Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Chloe Grace Moretz – Carrie

Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks

Best Leading Actor

George Clooney – Gravity

Steve Coogan – Philomena

Leonardo di Caprio – The Wolf of Wall Street

Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips or Saving Mr. Banks (undecided)

Ben Stiller – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Director

Alfonso Cauron – Gravity

George Clooney – The Monuments Men

Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips

Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Ben Stiller – The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Best Picture

12 Years A Slave

American Hustle

Captain Phillips

The Counsellor

Gravity

The Monuments Men

Out of the Furnace

Saving Mr. Banks

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

The Wolf of Wall Street

So, these are my beginning of season suggestions for who will be nominated at this prestigious event. We’re now going to talk through those films and actors that I haven’t included but could be major contenders. There’s a huge cast for The Monuments Men which I haven’t fully gone over. I’ve put George Clooney, who I’ve already selected for Best Director for this film, in for Best Leading Actor for Gravity not The MM but he could easily win for both. Stars of The Monuments Men like Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, Hugh Bonneville and Bob Balaban could squeeze into the supporting actor position that I placed Dujardin in. Dujardin is already popular with the academy after his Lead Actor win in 2012 for The Artist and as likely could get a nomination for The Wolf of Wall Street instead of The Monuments Men.

Wolf of Wall Street could do very well. Jonah Hill may seem like a surprise nominee but remember that he got similar recognition at the 2012 Oscars for Moneyball. I’ve only put Nicole Kidman forward for this film but Grace of Monaco is a noteworthy contender for a Best Pic nomination. American Hustle is only in one award on my list but the stellar cast of Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence (whose already in for Hunger Games 2), Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale. I think it will win Best Original Screenplay however.

Other potential nominees are the aforementioned Bale for Out of the Furnace, for which Casey Affleck and Zoe Saldana could also be in contention. Dame Judi Dench could get into the actress categories for Philomena. Robert De Niro stars in both American Hustle and The Family and could crack into the shortlists. Colin Farrel and Paul Giamatti came close to my lists for Saving Mr. Banks. 12 Years A Slave could through in Brad Pitt, Michael Fassbender, Paul Dano and Quvenzhane Wallis back into the award scene while The Counsellor could do the same for Fassbender, Pitt, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem as well as it’s director Sir Ridley Scott. We can’t rule out other entries like All is Lost with Robert Redford, The Book Thief with Geoffrey Rush and Emily Watson or Inside Llewyn Davis (the Coen brothers’ folk tale with Oscar Isaac, Justin Timberlake and Carey Mulligan). Spike Lee’s mysterious action remake Oldboy could creep in with it’s stars Josh Brolin, Samuel L Jackson, Elizabeth Olsen, Hannah Simone and Sharlto Copley.

It’s not too late to remove this year’s earlier hits like The Great Gatsby (Baz Luhrmann directing Leonardo di Caprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan and Joel Edgerton), Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen directing Cate Blanchett and Alec Baldwin), Prisoners (Hugh Jackman, Paul Dano, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo, Terrence Howard and Jake Gyllenhaal in the directing of Denis Villeneuve) and Rush (Ron Howard’s biopic with Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Bruhl). Blockbuster action films like the upcoming The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Ender’s Game or 47 Ronin have been known to do well as the Oscars (see The Dark Knight, Inception and a few others) and there’s usually a surprise foreign language film in the mix (like Amour). There’s a whole variety of films that could be next year’s nominees but I think the leaders are: Gravity, Captain Phillips, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Monuments Men and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

Find out more about these films at our Future Films pages for 2013 and 2014.

The 86th Academy Awards will be hosted by Ellen De Generes and will be on ABC on March 2nd 2014

Tell us in the comments who YOU think will win big at the 2014 Oscars.