Oscars 2014: Predicting 10 Best Picture Nominees

10. The Monuments Men

the monuments men george clooney

The Monuments Men (aka Argo 2) is easily the safest bet when it comes to predicting next year's Best Picture nominees. The fact the film is directed by and stars George Clooney, Hollywood's Chosen One, is enough alone to put the film fairly high up on any potential Oscar nominees list, but this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of catnip for the typical Academy member.

The film's plot centers around the true-life story (add one to the plus column) of a group of art historians and museum curators (plus column) during WWII (huge mark in the plus column) who must recover priceless paintings before the Nazi's get the chance to destroy them (just give it the damn Oscar already). When you add in the fact that large ensemble cast includes the likes of Matt Damon, Cate Blanchett, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, and Bob Balaban, you can see why this tops my list of potential Best Picture nominees.

The only thing that makes me hesitant about the film's Oscar chances is it seems a little too perfect. The Academy can react negatively when it feels it is being told what to like (something that may have worked against Clooney's last directorial effort, The Ides of March), and considering the film's apparent similarities to last year's Oscar champ, Argo, they may feel they're being boxed in by throwing their weight behind this film. Even so, this is one Oscar behemoth to keep your eye on.

Contributor
Contributor

A film fanatic at a very young age, starting with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movies and gradually moving up to more sophisticated fare, at around the age of ten he became inexplicably obsessed with all things Oscar. With the incredibly trivial power of being able to chronologically name every Best Picture winner from memory, his lifelong goal is to see every Oscar nominated film, in every major category, in the history of the Academy Awards.