PK is more than OK

By Anant Mathur (December 21, 2014)

There are maybe at most 2 filmmakers in Bollywood who know how to make entertaining films, lucky for us, Rajkumar Hirani is one of them. The thing I love about Rajkumar Hirani the most is that he takes his time making his films. So many filmmakers today rush and make 2-3 movies a year, but as I have often said, the key is not in the quantity but quality of film you make. 

There's no sense in making 10 films that flop when you can take the same amount of time to make one really good film which is a super hit blockbuster - it takes time to come up with a good story and dialogues. Rajkumar Hirani's first film Munna Bhai MBBS earned triple the amount of money it cost to make. His next venture Lage Raho Munna Bhai earned 10 times the cost of the movie and his third film 3 idiots earned more than 11 times what it cost to make it.

Mr. Hirani's latest venture is PK which has already shattered shattering box office records, it would come as no surprise if the film breaks all existing box office records. Yes, it's that good. The only thing I was worried about while watching this film was that the ending is good. Most times a hindi film will be good but then in the last 30 minutes the filmmaker completely fudge it up. But PK is everything you expect from a Rajkumar Hirani film and more and it has a great ending.

Come awards time I doubt there will be any competition for this film, I have seen nothing in the last year which comes even close to how good PK is. One can go hoarse praising Aamir Khan's performance in this film. But it's not just Aamir who does good work, in fact all the actor in the film have delivered wonderful performances from Anushka Sharma and Sushant Singh Rajput to Boman Irani, Saurabh Shukla, Sanjay Dutt and Parikshit Sahni all have done full justice to their characters.

Music can be the soul of a film and the best kind of music is when it flows with the story so well that you hardly notice it and it doesn't distract but entice you further into the story. PK does just that. There's not a single moment where you feel the music is overpowering or that it doesn't belong in the story.

There are many scenes which are brilliantly done. Even though you know what's coming it's the way that the scene unfolds which makes it memorable. In all, I highly recommend you see this film if you haven't already. It's a good story, certainly very entertaining and everyone associated with it is on top of their game.

© Anant Mathur. All Rights Reserved.

Happy New Year - Review

By Anant Mathur (October 31, 2014)

Over the Last decade I have been really disappointed with Shah Rukh Khan's choice of roles and the films that he's been doing. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed going to a SRK film saying wow what an amazing film, it was probably sometime in the last century. So, when Happy New Year was about to be released I had very low expectations. The good thing about having low expectations when watching a film is that if there's any part of it that's any good you start to enjoy the film. 

So, against my better judgement and on the recommendation of others, I decided to watch Happy New Year. Sadly, aside from a couple of funny moment I was really disappointed, the film was not entertaining at all, the only character that was fun to see was Abhishek Bachchan as Nandu Bhide.

There are several Hollywood films like the Ocean's Trilogy, Flashdance, Now You See Me, etc. which the film takes inspiration from and there's nothing wrong with that as long as the end product is entertaining. The real problem with Happy New Year is that it's not entertaining. The end product is a useless waste of time and makes you wonder why anyone would spend Rs. 125 crores ($20 million) on this desperate attempt at film-making when that money could've been put to better use elsewhere. 

I have never been a fan of the Ocean's Trilogy and Now You See Me was good but it was predictable, I'm not going to comment on how bad Flashdance is. Part of the problem is whenever Bollywood tries to copy a Hollywood film they take the worst films that are outthere and make the story less tolerable. Arguably one of the best heist films is Bob Le Flambeur by Jean-Pierre Melville, if you're going to take inspiration from something that's where you start.

I have watched a lot of good Hollywood heist films and sadly this one is far from being in that category, Jimmy Fallon's Taxi is a better film than Happy New Year and that usually falls under the category of bad heist films, so you can imagine how bad HNY must be if I'm rating it lower than that.

© Anant Mathur. All Rights Reserved.

Highest Grossing Stars

By Anant Mathur (August 15, 2014)

Here are some interesting statistics... Below is a list of Bollywood actors and how many times in their career as a lead actor they had the highest grossing film of the year. Since 2014 is not over yet I'm not including it in the list.

No.	Actor	No. of Highest Grossing films of the year	Notes
12.	Abhishek Bachchan	2	He has been nominated 10 times for Filmfare, 3 times in the Best Actor category but never received a Filmfare Best Actor awards. His films rarely find success at the box office; the only films to reach the top are Dhoom 2 and Dhoom 3 which also starred Hrithik Roshan and Aamir Khan, respectively.
11.	Sunny Deol	2	Deol made his debut in the film Betaab for which he was nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor Award. He has been nominated 6 times for Filmfare, 5 times in the Best Actor category and has received 1 Filmfare Best Actor award. His last film to rule the box office was Gadar Ek Prem Katha (2001)
10.	Hrithik Roshan	3	He made his film debut with a leading role in his father, Rakesh's romantic thriller Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai (2000). His performance in the film earned him Filmfare Awards for Best Actor and Best Male Debut. He has been nominated 13 times for Filmfare, 11 times in the Best Actor category and has received 3 Filmfare Best Actor awards. His last film to rule the box office was Dhoom 2 (2006).
9.	Anil Kapoor	4	He has been nominated 15 times for Filmfare, 8 times in the Best Actor category and has received 2 Filmfare Best Actor awards. His last film to rule the box office was No Entry (2005).
8.	Manoj Kumar	4	He has been honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India. He was nominated 13 times for Filmfare awards in various categories. He has been nominated for the Filmfare Best Actor award 4 times, winning once for Beimaan (1972).
7.	Raj Kapoor	5	He was the winner of 2 National Film Awards and 11 Filmfare Awards in India, and a two-time nominee for the Palme d'Or grand prize at the Cannes Film Festival for his films Awaara (1951) and Boot Polish (1954). His performance in Awaara was ranked as one of the top ten greatest performances of all time by Time magazine. He has been nominated 18 times for Filmfare, 6 times in the Best Actor category and has received 2 Filmfare Best Actor awards. His last film to rule the box office was Sangam (1964).
6.	Shahrukh Khan	5	He has received 14 Filmfare Awards from 30 nominations, including 8 for Best Actor; tied for the most in the category with Dilip Kumar. His last film to rule the box office was Om Shanti Om (2007),
5.	Dharmendra	5	He has been nominated 8 times for Filmfare, 4 times in the Best Actor category but has never received a Filmfare Best Actor awards. In 1997, he received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to Hindi cinema. His last film to rule the box office was Hukumat (1987).
4.	Aamir Khan	5	He has been nominated 24 times for Filmfare, 17 times in the Best Actor category and has received 2 Filmfare Best Actor awards. From 1989 to 1997 he had 9 consecutive Filmfare Best actor nominations winning once for Raja Hindustani (1996). He won Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut (Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak). He was honoured by the Government of India with the Padma Shri in 2003 and the Padma Bhushan in 2010. His last film to rule the box office was Dhoom 3 (2013).
3.	Amitabh Bachchan	6	His last film to rule the box office as a lead actor was Coolie (1983). He is the most-nominated performer in any major acting category at Filmfare, with 39 nominations overall. He has received 5 Filmfare Best Actor awards.
2.	Dilip Kumar	7	With 7 highest grossing films of the box office as a lead actor, he also holds the Guinness World Record for winning the maximum number of awards by an Indian actor. He has received many awards throughout his career, including 8 Filmfare Best Actor awards and 19 Filmfare nominations.
1.	Salman Khan	9	He is the undisputed king of the Box Office having appeared in the highest grossing film nine separate years during his career, a record that remains unbroken. Salman had 3 consecutive highest grossing films of the year Dabangg (2010), Bodyguard (2011) and Ek Tha Tiger (2012). His last film to rule the box office was Ek Tha Tiger (2012). He has been nominated 15 times for Filmfare, 8 times in the Best Actor category but has never received a Filmfare Best Actor awards. He has won Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut (Maine Pyaar Kiya) and Best Supporting Actor (Kuch Kuch Hota Hai).

© Anant Mathur. All Rights Reserved.

Best & Worst Of The 2013-2014 TV Season

By Anant Mathur (June 2, 2014) 

It was a year which took us on a season-long journey of Barney and Robin's wedding on How I Met Your Mother. A year when we said goodbye to Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey's Anatomy. A year filled with lots of new shows (most of which were canceled by the end of the season). A year with the controversial season finale of How I Met Your Mother. With the 2013-2014 season coming to an end, we can now separate the winners from the losers. Sadly, like last season, this year too there were more losers than winners. 

The new show Chicago PD turned out to be quite a gem. I was surprised that the show was actually well written - the cross-over episodes with Chicago Fire were brilliantly executed. The success of Arrow last year and Marvel's Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. this year has spawned many more comic book adaptation for the 2014-2015 season - these include the upcoming Flash spin-off from Arrow, Gotham (a Smallville-esque version of Batman), DC Comics' Constantine and Marvel's Agent Carter with Hayley Atwell reprising her role from the Captain America movie franchise. 

Once Upon A Time In Wonderland had the potential to be a great show but it lacked what Chicago PD did so well - cross-over episodes and guest appearances with Once Upon A Time - I have no clue why this wasn't done, at one point the lead characters end up in Storybrook (the fictitious town in Once Upon A Time) and still there was no interaction with the lead characters - it ended up hurting the show and probably caused it's demise. Mind Games was an interesting idea but just didn't have the audience to keep going, the same goes for Almost Human and Intelligence. No doubt, Matthew McConaughey, left the biggest impression on everyone this season with his hit show True Detective. His portrayal of Rustin Cohle is sure to earn him many awards. After his memorable performances in 12 Years A Slave, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and as Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek: Into Darkness, Benedict Cumberbatch returned brilliantly in Season 3 of Sherlock.

Out of all the shows which were on TV in the 2013-2014 season, below are some of the ones I watched 'till the end of the season (or 'till the show got cancelled) and feel are the best or worst of the year:

Best NEW Drama
1. Chicago PD
2. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
3. Almost Human
4. Intelligence
5. Mind Games

Best Actor in a NEW Drama
1. Matthew McConaughey (Rustin Cohle, True Detective)
2. Jason Beghe (Hank Voight, Chicago PD)
3. Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
4. Karl Urban (John Kennex, Almost Human)
5. Steve Zahn (Clark Edwards, Mind Games)

Best Actress in a NEW Drama
1. Sophia Bush (Lindsay, Chicago PD)
2. Minka Kelly (Valerie Stahl, Almost Human)
3. Jessica De Gouw (Mina Murray, Dracula)
4. Marg Helgenberger (Lillian Strand, Intelligence)
5. Megan Boone (Elizabeth Keen, The Blacklist)

Best Drama
1. Person of Interest
2. Chicago Fire
3. The Good Wife
4. The Following
5. Dallas

Best Actor in a Drama
1. Jim Caviezel (John Reese, Person of Interest)
2. Josh Charles (Will Gardner, The Good Wife)
3. Patrick Dempsey (Dr. Derek Shepherd, Grey's Anatomy)
4. Kevin Bacon (Ryan Hardy, The Following)
5. Mark Harmon (Leroy Jethro Gibbs, NCIS)

 
Best Actress in a Drama
1. Monica Raymund (Gabriella Dawson, Chicago Fire)
2. Stana Katic (Det. Kate Beckett, Castle)
3. Julianna Margulies (Alicia Florrick, The Good Wife)
4. Jennifer Morrison (Emma, Once Upon A Time)
5. Tracy Spiridakos (Charlotte "Charlie" Matheson, Revolution)

Best Supporting Actor in a Drama
1. Michael Emerson (Harold Finch, Person of Interest)
2. Taylor Kinney (Kelly Severide, Chicago Fire)
3. David Ramsey (John Diggle, Arrow)
4. Jon Seda (Antonio Dawson, Chicago PD)
5. David Lyons (Sebastian Monroe, Revolution)

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama
1. Amy Acker (Root/Samantha Groves, Person of Interest)
2. Marina Squerciati (Kim Burgess, Chicago PD)
3. Elizabeth Henstridge (Jemma Simmons, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)
4. Katie McGrath (Lucy Westenra, Dracula)
5. Lauren German (Leslie Elizabeth Shay, Chicago Fire)

Best Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show
1. Arrow
2. Grimm
3. Beauty & the Beast
4. Once Upon a Time
5. The Walking Dead

Best Actor Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show
1. Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen, Arrow)
2. David Giuntoli (Nick Burkhardt, Grimm)
3. Jay Ryan (Vincent Keller, Beauty & the Beast)
4. Jensen Ackles (Dean Winchester, Supernatural)
5. Ian Somerhalder (Damon Salvatore, The Vampire Diaries)

Best Actress Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show
1. Kristin Kreuk (Catherine Chandler, Beauty & the Beast)
2. Jennifer Morrison (Emma Swan, Once Upon a Time)
3. Tatiana Maslany (Sarah Manning/Cosima Niehaus/Alison Hendrix/..., Orphan Black)
4. Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen, Game of Thrones)
5. Ginnifer Goodwin (Mary Margaret Blanchard/Snow White, Once Upon a Time)

Best TV Detective
1. Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock)
2. Matthew McConaughey (Rustin Cohle, True Detective)
3. David Tennant (Alec Hardy, Broadchurch)
4. Woody Harrelson (Martin Hart, True Detective)
5. Poppy Montgomery (Carrie Wells, Unforgettable)

Best Villian
1. Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Alexander Grayson, Dracula)
2. Rebecca Mader (Wicked Witch, Once Upon a Time)
3. Juan Pablo Di Pace (Nicolás Treviño, Dallas)
4. Emma Rigby (The Red Queen, Once Upon a Time In Wonderland)
5. Robbie Kay (Peter Pan, Once Upon a Time)

Best NEW Comedy
1. The Millers
2. Trophy Wife
3. The Michael J. Fox Show
4. Friends with Better Lives
5. The Crazy Ones

Best Comedy
1. How I Met Your Mother
2. Big Bang Theory
3. Last Man Standing
4. Modern Family
5. 2 Broke Girls

Best Actor in a Comedy
1. Jim Parsons (Sheldon Cooper, The Big Bang Theory)
2. Tim Allen (Last Man Standing)
3. Johnny Galecki (Leonard Hofstadter, The Big Bang Theory)
4. Michael J. Fox (Mike, The Michael J. Fox Show)
5. Charlie Sheen (Charlie, Anger Management)

 
Best Actress in a Comedy
1. Kat Dennings (Max Black, 2 Broke Girls)
2. Kaley Cuoco (Penny, The Big Bang Theory)
3. Cobie Smulders (Robin Scherbatsky, How I Met Your Mother)
4. Zooey Deschanel (Jessica Day, New Girl)
5. Malin Åkerman (Kate Harrison, Trophy Wife)

Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy
1. Neil Patrick Harris (Barney Stinson, How I Met Your Mother)
2. Simon Helberg (Howard Joel Wolowitz, The Big Bang Theory)
3. Jason Segel (Marshall Eriksen, How I Met Your Mother)
4. Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)
5. Kunal Nayyar (Rajesh Koothrappali, The Big Bang Theory)

Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy
1. Cristin Milioti (Tracy McConnell, How I Met Your Mother)
2. Mayim Bialik (Amy Farrah Fowler, The Big Bang Theory)
3. Alyson Hannigan (Lily Aldrin, How I Met Your Mother)
4. Jennifer Coolidge (Sophie Kachinsky, 2 Broke Girls)
5. Kaitlyn Dever (Eve Baxter, Last Man Standing)

Best Series Finale
1. How I Met Your Mother
2. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
3. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
4. Revolution
5. Warehouse 13

Why is this still on (surprisingly these low rated shows earned a second season):
1. Elementary
2. The Neighbors
3. The Carrie Diaries
4. Seed
5. Hannibal

Worst New Shows of the year, so glad these got cancelled:
1. Sean Saves The World
2. Rake
3. Lucky 7
4. Bad Teacher
5. Super Fun Night

How did this get on television:
1. Killer Women
2. Welcome to the Family
3. Ironside
4. Hostages
5. We Are Men

Shows with Promise but didn't get picked up or renewed by the network:
1. Mind Games
2. The Michael J. Fox Show
3. Growing Up Fisher
4. Friends with Better Lives
5. The Crazy Ones

A good Concept gone horribly Wrong
1. Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
2. The Assets
3. Back in the Game
4. The Tomorrow People
5. Mixology

DISCLAIMER:
Please remember these are TV show that I watched based on my personal preferences and this post should not be misinterpreted as official results or facts regarding TV shows released in the 2013-2014 season.

© Anant Mathur. All Rights Reserved.

Don't Die(t)

By Anant Mathur (May 6, 2014)

Of late I've noticed that a lot of different types of diets are being written about. The list includes: the 80:10:10 diet, Beverly Hills Diet, Cabbage soup diet, Grapefruit diet, South Beach diet, Gluten-free diet, Eat Like A Bird diet, The Cookie diet, Shangri-La diet, Baby Food diet and even one called the Purple Food diet (where you eat food that's purple coloured). These are just a handful of diets hundreds more exist with weirder and whackier names than these.

I'm not an expert on dieting but in my research for this post I did discover that unless you're training to be a bodybuilder, model, athlete, entertainer or are in a profession which requires you to have a six-pack, there's really no need to diet and exercise excessively. Recent studies have shown that overweight people who are physically active and physically fit actually live longer than people who are slim but are not physically active. Of course there are extreme situations; if a person purposely overeats on a regular basis, drinks excessively or enjoys being a couch potato - obviously, they're not going to have a long or healthy life.

I actually knew someone who was perfectly healthy had a healthy diet, exercised regularly and had a stress free life - still he had a heart-attack at the age of 36 and died. I also know many overweight people who've lived long healthy lives past their 80s and 90s.

The one thing to remember is that in moderation most foods and drinks are not bad for you. If you have junk food 5 times a day on a daily basis, that's going to cause problems. But, if you have junk food once a month it shouldn't be an issue for most people (there are always exceptions though, for example someone might be allergic to peanuts). The same goes for drinking - doctors say a drink a day is actually good for you, but if you drink 10 beers a day that's going to hurt you.

The best diet is one where you respect your body and keep healthy by eating in moderation. There are lots of delicious foods and drinks out there and I think it would be a crime not to be able to have them. The key again is moderation, don't overdo it and you'll be fine.

DISCLAIMER: The above post is meant for entertainment purposes only; readers shouldn't take it seriously or interpret it as advice.

© Anant Mathur. All Rights Reserved.

How I Met You Mother Series Finale Deserves A High Five!

By Anant Mathur (April 1, 2014)

SPOILER ALERT!
If you haven't seen the series finale (final episode) of How I Met You Mother stop reading here. This post contains lots of spoilers.

Yesterday the final episode of the hit comedy HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER aired on CBS. Soon after the episode finished many people took to the internet and started reviewing and commenting about what they saw. So far it seems there is a mixed feeling amongst the shows viewers - people either loved the episode or hated it.

Personally, I belong to the loved it club. I thought it was brilliant and possibly one of the best series finales ever. It tied up all the loose ends beautifully and took us into the future and showed us where the characters end up. 

As for the people who were saying they hated it, I don't know which show these reviewers watched for 9 seasons, I refuse to believe they've seen every episode. If they had they'd know that the reason Barney Stinson is a womanizer is because he had his heart broken by a woman he was very much in love with. Just like he was with Robin Scherbatsky when they get divorced; this explains why he returned to his previous state when the divorce was too much for him to handle.

Another issue the negative reviewers had was that the mother dies and Ted Mosby ends up with Robin. I don't see a problem with the writers killing the mother because you can kind of guess she's probably dead from the first episode; why else would Ted be telling his grown kids about their mother? I think Ted and Robin didn't end up together earlier because at times he was kind of a jerk and immature and couldn't decide whom he really wanted (Victoria or Robin or Stella or Victoria or Robin) but the years he spent with his wife taught him to be patient and loving and prepared him for Robin; and many years after his wife dies he is finally able to compose himself to go and woo the unwooable girl.

I also love the fact that the writers showed how the gang drifted apart because that's what happens in big cities. As you get older you have new experiences and there's no longer time for hanging out with the gang - priorities change. You can't really hang out till 4am at a bar with the gang when your baby is hungry or you have to wake up early to take your kids to school. Especially when you're in your 40s and the bar is filled with 20 year olds.

I think it only proves how good the writers and actress Cristin Milioti were that the audience was able to get so attached to the mother in one season and felt sad to find out she died. Death is part of life and so is moving on and I think that's the real message from the writers of HIMYM. 

I'm sure when the shock wears off and people have a chance to think about it they'll realize how legen (wait for it) dary... Legendary! the final episode truly is...


SOME MEMORABLE MOMENTS FROM THE SERIES FINALE:

– "Haaaaave you met Ted?"

– "Just be cool, lady. Damn!"

- The T.M.'s

- “You are the love of my life. Everything I have and everything I am, is yours. Forever.”

- Marshall: A certain delicate flower cried all night in the shower. 
  Lily: …and I was pretty bummed, too

- Barney: That last girl — No. 31...
  Mother: That’s a pretty name. Is it French?

© Anant Mathur. All Rights Reserved.

86th Academy Awards: Winners

By Anant Mathur (March 3, 2014)

Like every year I was looking forward to the 86th Annual Academy Awards this year and I must say it was a great show last night. Host Ellen DeGeneres was witty and funny. I had watched most of the nominated films so it was very exciting to find out which picture would be awarded the best of the lot at the end of the night. I was disappointed that The Book Thief wasn't nominated for best picture I thought it deserved to be there. In case you missed the show last night, I won't keep you in suspense any longer, below is a list of all the nominees and winners:

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
“Gravity” Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk and Neil Corbould
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and Eric Reynolds
“Iron Man 3” Christopher Townsend, Guy Williams, Erik Nash and Dan Sudick
“The Lone Ranger” Tim Alexander, Gary Brozenich, Edson Williams and John Frazier
“Star Trek Into Darkness” Roger Guyett, Patrick Tubach, Ben Grossmann and Burt Dalton


BEST SOUND MIXING
“Captain Phillips” Chris Burdon, Mark Taylor, Mike Prestwood Smith and Chris Munro
“Gravity” Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead and Chris Munro
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick and Tony Johnson
“Inside Llewyn Davis” Skip Lievsay, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
“Lone Survivor” Andy Koyama, Beau Borders and David Brownlow




BEST SOUND EDITING
“All Is Lost” Steve Boeddeker and Richard Hymns
“Captain Phillips” Oliver Tarney
“Gravity” Glenn Freemantle
“The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” Brent Burge
“Lone Survivor” Wylie Stateman

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
“Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn’t Me)” Esteban Crespo
“Avant Que De Tout Perdre (Just before Losing Everything)” Xavier Legrand and Alexandre Gavras
“Helium” Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson
“Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)” Selma Vilhunen and Kirsikka Saari
“The Voorman Problem” Mark Gill and Baldwin Li

 BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
“Feral” Daniel Sousa and Dan Golden
“Get a Horse!” Lauren MacMullan and Dorothy McKim
“Mr. Hublot” Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares
“Possessions” Shuhei Morita
“Room on the Broom” Max Lang and Jan Lachauer

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
“American Hustle” Production Design: Judy Becker; Set Decoration: Heather Loeffler
“Gravity” Production Design: Andy Nicholson; Set Decoration: Rosie Goodwin and Joanne Woollard
“The Great Gatsby” Production Design: Catherine Martin; Set Decoration: Beverley Dunn
“Her” Production Design: K.K. Barrett; Set Decoration: Gene Serdena
“12 Years a Slave” Production Design: Adam Stockhausen; Set Decoration: Alice Baker

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Alone Yet Not Alone” from “Alone Yet Not Alone”
Music by Bruce Broughton; Lyric by Dennis Spiegel
“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
Music and Lyric by Pharrell Williams
“Let It Go” from “Frozen”
Music and Lyric by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez
“The Moon Song” from “Her”
Music by Karen O; Lyric by Karen O and Spike Jonze
“Ordinary Love” from “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom”
Music by Paul Hewson, Dave Evans, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen; Lyric by Paul Hewson

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
“The Book Thief” John Williams
“Gravity” Steven Price“Her” William Butler and Owen Pallett
“Philomena” Alexandre Desplat
“Saving Mr. Banks” Thomas Newman

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
“Dallas Buyers Club” Adruitha Lee and Robin Mathews
“Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa” Stephen Prouty
“The Lone Ranger” Joel Harlow and Gloria Pasqua-Casny

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“The Broken Circle Breakdown” Belgium
“The Great Beauty” Italy
“The Hunt” Denmark
“The Missing Picture” Cambodia
“Omar” Palestine





 
BEST FILM EDITING
“American Hustle” Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten
“Captain Phillips” Christopher Rouse
“Dallas Buyers Club” John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa
“Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger
“12 Years a Slave” Joe Walker

  

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
“CaveDigger” Jeffrey Karoff
“Facing Fear” Jason Cohen
“Karama Has No Walls” Sara Ishaq
“The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” Malcolm Clarke and Nicholas Reed
“Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall” Edgar Barens

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“The Act of Killing”Joshua Oppenheimer and Signe Byrge Sørensen
“Cutie and the Boxer” Zachary Heinzerling and Lydia Dean Pilcher
“Dirty Wars” Richard Rowley and Jeremy Scahill
“The Square” Jehane Noujaim and Karim Amer
“20 Feet from Stardom” Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen and Caitrin Rogers






BEST COSTUME DESIGN
“American Hustle” Michael Wilkinson
“The Grandmaster” William Chang Suk Ping
“The Great Gatsby” Catherine Martin
“The Invisible Woman” Michael O’Connor
“12 Years a Slave” Patricia Norris






BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Grandmaster” Philippe Le Sourd
“Gravity” Emmanuel Lubezki
“Inside Llewyn Davis” Bruno Delbonnel
“Nebraska” Phedon Papamichael
“Prisoners” Roger A. Deakins





 
BEST ANIMATED FILM
“The Croods” Chris Sanders, Kirk DeMicco and Kristine Belson
“Despicable Me 2” Chris Renaud, Pierre Coffin and Chris Meledandri
“Ernest & Celestine” Benjamin Renner and Didier Brunner
“Frozen” Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee and Peter Del Vecho
“The Wind Rises” Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki







BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi in “Captain Phillips”
Bradley Cooper in “American Hustle”
Michael Fassbender in “12 Years a Slave”
Jonah Hill in “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Sally Hawkins in “Blue Jasmine”
Jennifer Lawrence in “American Hustle”
Lupita Nyong’o in “12 Years a Slave”
Julia Roberts in “August: Osage County”
June Squibb in “Nebraska”







BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“Before Midnight” – Written by Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke
“Captain Phillips” – Screenplay by Billy Ray
“Philomena” – Screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope
“12 Years a Slave” – Screenplay by John Ridley
“The Wolf of Wall Street” – Screenplay by Terence Winter

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“American Hustle” – Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
“Blue Jasmine” – Written by Woody Allen
“Her” – Written by Spike Jonze
“Nebraska” – Written by Bob Nelson
“Dallas Buyers Club” – Written by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack

BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams in “American Hustle”
Cate Blanchett in “Blue Jasmine”
Sandra Bullock in “Gravity”
Judi Dench in “Philomena”
Meryl Streep in “August: Osage County” 






BEST ACTOR
Christian Bale in “American Hustle”
Bruce Dern in “Nebraska”
Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Wolf of Wall Street”
Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”
Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club”






BEST DIRECTOR
“American Hustle” David O. Russell
“Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón
“Nebraska” Alexander Payne
“12 Years a Slave” Steve McQueen
“The Wolf of Wall Street” Martin Scorsese



  


BEST PICTURE
“American Hustle” Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
“Captain Phillips” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, Producers
“Dallas Buyers Club” Robbie Brenner and Rachel Winter, Producers
“Gravity” Alfonso Cuarón and David Heyman, Producers
“Her” Megan Ellison, Spike Jonze and Vincent Landay, Producers
“Nebraska” Albert Berger and Ron Yerxa, Producers
“Philomena” Gabrielle Tana, Steve Coogan and Tracey Seaward, Producers
“12 Years a Slave” Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Steve McQueen and Anthony Katagas, Producers
 

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