SAG Winners

ENSEMBLE CAST: Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
ACTOR: Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything
ACTRESS: Julianne Moore, Still Alice
SUPPORTING ACTOR: J.K. Simmons, Whiplash
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Patricia Arquette, Boyhood
STUNT ENSEMBLE: Unbroken
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Debbie Reynolds

SAG Awards

MOTION PICTURE
BEST ENSEMBLE: American Hustle
BEST ACTOR: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
BEST ACTRESS: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
BEST STUNTS: Lone Survivor

I neglected to do predictions because it seems the SAG Awards just came out of nowhere in this accelerated awards season.  Geez the PGA Awards are tomorrow!  Yet after this late January madness, there will be an entire month of mudslinging en route the Oscars.  That being said, the SAG choices seems reflective of the way the big show may go around and all four acting winners reaped Critics Choice prizes and three out of four won Globes last weekend.

Screen Actors Guild Nominations

BEST ENSEMBLE
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
August: Osage County
Dallas Buyers Club
Lee Daniels' The Butler 

BEST ACTOR
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Forest Whitaker, Lee Daniels' The Butler 

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Daniel Bruhl, Rush
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
James Gandolfini, Enough Said
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska
Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels' The Butler 

BEST STUNT ENSEMBLE
All is Lost
Fast & Furious 6
Lone Survivor
Rush
The Wolverine

SAG Predictions

The Screen Actors Guild Award nominations are upon us.  Now things get serious.  Here's my stab at making a fool of myself.

MY PREDICTIONS:

BEST ENSEMBLE
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
August: Osage County
Lee Daniels' The Butler
Prisoners

WHY THEM: 12 Years is the important, can't miss nomination get of the season.  American Hustle, August: Osage County, The Butler all have august and large ensembles.  Prisoners because of its bounty of award-caliber stars in a film I didn't particularly care for (usually one or two of them gets SAG acknowledgement.)  I vetoed Wolf of Wall Street on the conceit that it just started screening (American Hustle had a full week ahead of them), Gravity because, well, duh...same for All is Lost.

WATCH OUT FOR: Blue Jasmine, Her, Dallas Buyers Club, Inside Llewyn Davis, Fruitvale Station, Saving Mr. Banks

BEST ACTOR
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford, All is Lost
Forest Whitaker, Lee Daniels' The Butler

WHY THEM:  Dern, Ejiofor, McConaughey and Redford seem unmovable.  That fifth slot is vulnerable, but SAG is a place where The Butler can make its mark.

WATCH OUT FOR: Joaquin Phoenix, Her; Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips; Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street; Michael B. Jordan, Fruitvale Station; Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis

BEST ACTRESS
Amy Adams, American Hustle
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

WHY THEM: Blanchett, Bullock and Thompson seem no brains.  SAG should go for the Streep, one assumes while Adams is a favorite trying something new in a newly buzzed about film.

WATCH OUT FOR: Judi Dench, Philomena; Brie Larson, Short Term 12; Greta Gerwig, Frances Ha (I wish); Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Enough Said; Adéle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
James Gandolfini, Enough Said
Tom Hanks, Saving Mr. Banks
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club  

WHY THEM:  Like all the acting categories, this one is hard to predict and a bunch of throws to the wall.  Abdi and Leto for breakthrough triumps; Hanks because he's an icon playing an icon; Fassbender because this category loves villains and Gandolfini because of industry respect.

WATCH OUT FOR: Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street; Jake Gyllenhaal, Prisoners; Will Forte, Nebraska; Daniel Bruhl, Rush; Andrew Dice Clay, Blue Jasmine; David Oyelowo, Lee Daniels' The Butler; Matthew McConaughey, Mud; Geoffrey Rush, The Book Thief; James Franco, Spring Breakers

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Margo Martindale, August: Osage County
Lupita Nyong'o, 12 Years a Slave
June Squibb, Nebraska
Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels' The Butler

WHY THEM: Just passing through.  Lawrence, Nyong'o and Winfrey are the only one I'm confident about.

WATCH OUT FOR: Julia Roberts, August: Osage County; Sally Hawkins, Blue Jasmine; Octavia Spencer, Fruitvale Station; Sarah Paulson, 12 Years a Slave   

  

SAG Awards- The Best Bad Idea

ENSEMBLE: Argo
ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
ACTRESS: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables


Argo is tops with the Screen Actors Guild winning the Best Ensemble prize last evening, topping off its PGA victory Saturday, which coupled with the Golden Globe and Critics Choice wins implies that despite the very odd omission from director Ben Affleck in the Best Director Oscar line-up...it is the undisputed leader.  Lincoln won two prizes, the most of any film, but it's lack of Best Picture prizes signals on also-ran quality to what, on paper at least, seems like the quintessential Best Picture of the year.  It's an interesting development to this year of mystery and that Affleck-Oscar omission, seeming to tell of weakness to a film that, has in truth, in the thick of the awards hunt since its celebrated debut last fall at Telluride and Toronto, onward to mass populist and critical appeal.  However, it's done just the opposite to damper its chances, igniting an underdog feeling-- a strange one to the undisputed frontrunner.

I've long believed since its debut that Argo was an Oscar powerhouse, with its jabs at relevance within a Middle Eastern historical period piece (set long enough ago not to ignite waves, like it's darker cousin-- the problem child Zero Dark Thirty, but not so long ago not to be considered purely a stately period show)--  more importantly the film showcases a love of the film industry; and that kind of showmanship appeared as genuine fodder for AMPAS.

Personally, my prediction record with the 2012 awards season is spotty-- I expected a Silver Linings-upset at SAG, netting three out of five correctly.  Best Supporting Actor appears to be my personal undoing this year....