Oscars 2014: Predicting 10 Best Picture Nominees

9. American Hustle

american hustle David O. Russell has been on fire with Academy as of late. His new found awards success first began with 2010's The Fighter, a film that pulled in two Oscars (Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, respectively) and seven nominations. He then followed that up last year with Silver Linings Playbook, a film that managed eight Oscar nods and earned Jennifer Lawrence a Best Actress victory. The film's cast, in sort of an amalgamation between his previous two efforts, includes Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Amy Adams, and Robert De Niro, along with Russell newcomers Jeremy Renner, Michael Pena, and Louis C.K. The film's plot, focusing on the Abscam scandal during the 1970's that involved con artists, mobsters, and politicians, sounds like the perfect match for Russell's trademark blend of comedy and drama. If the movie is any good at all, I think we can consider this one in the bag.
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.