Oscars 2014: If We Picked The Nominees (Best Picture)

8. Prisoners

Prisoners proved to be a surprise smash-hit in late September, earning over $60 million in the United States, scoring strong reviews among critics, and just cracking IMDb's Top 250 films list (currently it sits at #242). With all this in the film's favor, you may have suspected that Prisoners was a major contender in this year's awards season, but it was not. Immediately after its release, there was some talk among the punditry of the film being a possible contender in some of the high-profile categories, but this idea quickly dissipated after the release of more "legitimate" Oscar fare, and by the time the nominations were announced, the only nomination Prisoners ended up with was a Best Cinematography mention for Roger Deakins (an extremely well deserved nomination). Unfortunately, this isn't all that surprising given the Academy's history with the thriller genre. For whatever reason, the membership of the Academy have continually dismissed films with even a tinge of thrills to them, no matter how well-crafted the films may be. From Shutter Island, to Memento, to North by Northwest, it is the rare thriller movie that has managed to crack the Best Picture lineup. Even someone with as adept a hand at crafting a superb hardboiled thriller as David Fincher couldn't get any recognition from the Academy until he went into full Oscar bait mode with The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Whatever the reason for the Academy's aversion to thrillers, it's a shame, because they have missed out on honoring a slew of terrific movies, and another film was added to that list this year with Prisoners. The film tells the story of two girls who are kidnapped in broad daylight from their middle-class suburban Pennsylvania neighborhood as their two families celebrate Thanksgiving together. The film starts with wonderfully measured pacing, showing what feels like inconsequential interaction between neighbors, but all the while building an inevitable sense of doom and dread. Once the girls are actually kidnapped, the film ups the stakes when one of the girls' father (Hugh Jackman) kidnaps a mentally handicapped boy (Paul Dano) who he strongly suspects of being responsible for their disappearance and begins torturing him to no end. The film plays on its themes and subtext a bit heavy at times, and if you're really looking for it, you can probably find weaknesses in the film's plot as well, but the atmosphere crafted by director Denis Villeneuve, with a significant assist from the aforementioned director of photography Roger Deakins, is close to perfect. The film's dualism between two flawed men, one a desperate father doing the best he can to save his daughter, the other a weary detective determined to discover the truth (Jake Gyllenhaal), is another fascinating aspect of Prisoners that lets you enjoy the film from a completely different angle. With great acting, intriguing plot, and sleek aesthetics, Prisoners is an exemplary thriller, regardless of how little that may mean to the Academy.