2014 Oscar Nominations List | Full List Of 2014 Academy Awards Nominees

 

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Below are the nominations for the 2014 Oscars, which rewards the films of 2013.

Interesting batch this year. Some personal thoughts on the list:

  • So glad Roger Deakins’ cinematography on Prisoners was nominated. Contemporary dramas and thrillers often get overlooked in this category, but his incredible lighting definitely stood out, even on the small screen I watched this great film on.
  • No Visual Effects nom for Pacific Rim?!! Robbery, I say. This is probably a snub against a film that wasn’t considered a big hit at the box-office. When it comes to big ‘popcorn’ studio movies, a film often has to be a big hit to be acknowledged by the Academy.
  • Nice to see four young newcomers get nominated for their song from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom. I wish them the best. Who knows, maybe they’ll be the next U2 some day?
  • Jonah Hill again? He doesn’t need any more help after the Moneyball nom.
  • Meryl Streep again? Seriously, these “Academy darlings” take up spots that could be filled to recognize lesser-known actors that took on much more challenging roles this year.
  • Why is Before Midnight considered an Adapted Screenplay? It must fall under some odd classification, but that still doesn’t mean it makes sense. I loved the film and think it deserves acknowledgment as a wholly original work. Read more

Chozen speaks and Bobby Moynihan makes me Head Writer of SNL!

CHOZEN - Pictured: Chozen group image. CR. FX

I first met Bobby Moynihan at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City in our “Improv 101” course. He was a bit younger than me, but it was clear that he had more experience with this improv stuff. He was definitely a standout. The class was a lot of fun and I would recommend UCB to anyone looking to learn the key principles of comedy from talented comedy pros, especially their sketch writing courses, which I’ve also taken and enjoyed.

I’ll always remember that first class because we had to perform our ‘graduation’ show on the UCB stage two days after September 11, 2001 when the city was still peppered in Missing Persons flyers and the smoke from the World Trade Center remains was still in the air. I showed up to the theater that day having come from volunteering on the docks helping to stock the boats that were supplying the recovery crews down at Ground Zero. I remember our teacher Jamie Denbo telling us how Amy Poehler had said 9/11 was like “the day the aliens landed.”

It was not a great time for comedy. Read more

Story Maps: 12 Great Screenplays breaks down 12 GREAT movies (Raiders, Up, Social Network, Rocky, The Matrix, Black Swan, X-Men, Meet the Parents, etc.) + NEW BONUS MAP: Seven!

Story Maps: 12 Great Screenplays (a.k.a. “Booster Pack #1”) is now available in its revised version AND it now includes a BONUS 13TH MAP OF THE BRILLIANT THRILLER “SEVEN!”

The e-book breaks down 13 GREAT MOVIES, primarily from the past decade, into a detailed but easy-to-follow structural analysis known as the Story Map.

Read more