Tonight’s 86th Academy Awards, or as they’re also called the Oscars, have made their grand arrival with nine solid nominees vying for Best Picture, and other heated battles set to go down for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director, amongst other categories. Watch the Oscars online live streaming or on TV via ABC tonight at a start time of 8:30pm EST to see who the big Academy Award winners that get to take home a golden Oscar statue are.
Shooting for a golden Oscar statue in the Best Actress in a Leading Role category are Amy Adams (American Hustle), Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine), Sandra Bullock (Gravity), Judi Dench (Philomena) and Meryl Streep (August: Osage County). The favorite to win is Amy Adams and my prediction is right in line with that, though Sandra Bullock could sneak in with an upset if the Academy latches onto Gravity as a whole.
The tightest race in the acting categories should be in the Best Actor in a Leading Role category. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street), Christian Bale American Hustle), Chiwetel Ejiofor 12 Years a Slave and Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) have all been mentioned as favorites depending upon whom you speak to. The odd man out appears to be Bruce Dern (Nebraska), though his performance is more than worthy of the nomination. My prediction is that Ejiofor wins and DiCaprio’s shutout continues.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role seems to be between Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle) and Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave). I would flip a coin between these two at this point, and the winner could very well depend on if either of their films win Best Picture. The other nominees are Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine), Julia Roberts (August: Osage County) and June Squibb (Nebraska).
The Best Actor in a Supporting Role race could be a bit tighter with Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) the current favorite. Other nominees include Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips), Bradley Cooper (American Hustle), Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave), and Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street). Hill is the dark horse, and my prediction is that Leto will walk away with the Oscar.
Best Picture is a nine-film race with the favorites being 12 Years a Slave, Gravity and American Hustle. I personally think 12 Years a Slave has it wrapped up, though if the Academy decided to throw a curveball, they could go outside the box and select Her.
I expect Gravity to clean up the technical awards, as it should, and for Frozen to easily win Best Original Song for ‘Let it Go’ and Best Animated Feature Film. Sorry, Pixar, who isn’t even nominated for Monsters University, but at least the Oscar will remain under the Disney umbrella.
The 2014 Academy Awards start time after the Red Carpet arrivals wrap up is 8:30pm EST/5:30pm PST. A free online live streaming version is available to watch here on your computer, mobile device or tablet / iPad through a web browser, but the catch is that your cable/satellite provider must have a contract with the Oscars and you must live in an area that supports the live stream. These providers include AT&T U-verse, Cablevision, Charter Communications, Comcast, Cox Communications, Google Fiber, Midcontinent Communications and Verizon FiOS. DirecTV, Time Warner and Dish Network are suspiciously not part of the contracted group.
If you would rather watch the Oscars online live streaming via an app, then there are several options depending on which device you plan on using. iPad and iPhone owners can use the ABC iOS app, but it requires the same authentication as the web access. Android operating system devices can use the same app via Google Play, but it also requites the same authentication. The same holds true for the Watch ABC app located in the Amazon App Store for Kindle Fire or Kindle Fire HD owners.
