It’s that time again, fellow Nerds!
The oscar nominations have come, which means it’s crunch time!
Last year, we had an Oscar Challenge that proved impossible to complete. This year, after careful consideration, we have revamped the Oscar Challenge to ensure that it is able to be finished by Oscar Night, and also nerdier than ever! So here we go:
Level 1: The Starting Point
See ALL the Best Picture Nominations. For those who don’t know that they are yet (where have you been?), here they are, courtesy of the Academy Website:
- “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
- “The Wolf of Wall Street” Nominees to be determined
This will cover a lot of ground with prepping you for the awards ceremony. It also covers you seeing all of the Best Directing nominations.
Level 2: Choose Your Own Adventure
You must complete ALL of ONE of the following categories. Mixing and Matching is not allowed.
Best Makeup & 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 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” Nominees to be determined
Best Cinematography:
- “The Grandmaster” Philippe Le Sourd
- “Gravity” Emmanuel Lubezki
- “Inside Llewyn Davis” Bruno Delbonnel
- “Nebraska” Phedon Papamichael
- “Prisoners” Roger A. Deakins
Best Animated Shorts & Best Live-Action Shorts:
This is actually pretty easy. They get shown at movie theaters across the country before the awards ceremony. FAIR WARNING: The presentation is normally about three hours long.Animated:
- “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
Live-Action:
- “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
You’re almost done, I promise!
Level 3: The Final Stretch
By this point, you’ll have seen 12-18 films, counting the shorts as one film. That’s a lot of watching! But you’re not done yet. You must now see the final two films:
- “August, Osage County”
- “Blue Jasmine”
You might be thinking, “really, that’s it? THOSE movies? ”
Yes, those movies. Seeing those movies will not only top the film count at 20 (if you went the harder route), but also will sure you’ve you seen all the films from the follow categories:
- Best Picture
- Best Directing
- Best Adapted Screenplay
- Best Original Screenplay
- Best Actor
- Best Actress
- Best Supporting Actor
- Best Supporting Actress
- PLUS: The Category you chose from Level 2.
You will be the most prepared and arguably the most annoying person at your friend’s oscar party. How delightfully Nerdy!
How to Compete:
- Sign up for email updates using the top bar of our website. Be sure to add #Oscars to the front of your name.
- We will send you instructions and affiliated links to your e-mail. The links are for how you can watch the movies that are only available online.
- Track your progress. We’ll show you how to do that in the email.
Prizes:
If you complete the challenge by 5 PM PST, on March 2nd, you will receive a FREE Alen T-shirt, a Skype interview on Nerds on Film, and a custom outgoing voicemail greeting to show your nerdiness!
Alright Nerds, LET’S GET WATCHING!
