Oscars Countdown t-4 days: American Sniper

The blockbuster takes control of the Oscars. The late arrival, American Sniper could be the secret surprise that has potential to take home some serious hardware, or could be a major letdown. Bradley Cooper, who has now been nominated for an Oscar three years in a row, might have given the performance that will put him over the edge. Cooper plays Chris Kyle, the most lethal US sniper in history, and tells his story wonderfully. It explores the difficult stress that war puts on a person and the life that one lives on and off the battlefield. Like most war movies, it has received criticism for the gore that it portrays (in my opinion it is very comparable to Saving Private Ryan, at points it has a considerable amount of horrifying sequences that you might have to turn away from). Nonetheless, the Oscar nomination is well deserved. Clint Eastwood does well directing as always and Cooper dazzles the screen. The supporting cast is a little lackluster. Arguably, this story is mainly about Kyle, but no significant performance by the rest of the cast is the main reason that this movie is on the outside looking in at the more deserving films.

Reasons it could win:

• It came out the latest, could be fresh in the minds of the voters.
• Its box office is more than all the seven other movies combined.
• Bradley Cooper is in the three man race to win the best actor Oscar (Michael Keaton and Eddie Redmayne being the other two)

Reasons it could lose:

• It hasn’t had a lot of time to campaign for the Oscar after it came out so late.
• Clint Eastwood was not nominated for best director
• It was nominated for zero golden globes
• Bradley Cooper has seen very little award attention (it was a surprise that he did get nominated, at least right away)

Possible Outcome:

Either the late release could be beneficial to the film or could be the cause for its defeat.

Best case scenario:

It comes home with Sound Mixing and Editing with maybe (and this is a big maybe) the Best Adapted Screenplay or the Best Actor. Worst case scenario: comes home with only one for either Sound Mixing or Editing.