Yup, it’s another My Ballot post. It’s not even that I intended to do another one of these so soon, but I saw this pop up yesterday and felt compelled to fill it out, even with my viewership of all these candidates not being very high. I am sure I won’t be nearly this inclined to fill out ballots once award season comes to a close this year, but we shall see.

Best Male Newcomer

Will Poulter We’re the Millers

My reasoning behind this choice is the same as it was here.

Best Female Newcomer

Elizabeth Debicki The Great Gatsby

This was an unusual category for me because I hadn’t seen many of the candidates and needed a refresher on who Debicki was. However, that has everything to do with the middling nature of the film rather than her.

Best Horror

The Conjuring

This choice was obvious for me. Even though it didn’t top my 2013 horror list, it was a strong number two from James Wan.

Best Comedy

This is the End

If I had a genre-specific comedy list this is the film that would’ve found itself in the #1 spot. It did make my best of the year.

Best Thriller

Captain Phillips

I’m resistant to the notion of thriller as a genre. It seems to just be a catch-all. Despite some of the issues I had with the film, it is suspenseful and doesn’t resist reality in the end with regards to trauma, and eschews a typical Hollywood ending.

Best Sc-Fi/Fantasy

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Unsurprisingly my favorite Sci-Fi or Fantasy film from last year, and also my overall number one, was absent. Thus, this begins a portion of these selections where I lean heavily towards The Hobbit, in a move that kind of does surprise me too. However, when I think back I did enjoy this quite a bit too.

Best Supporting Actor

Tom Hiddleston Thor: The Dark World

In my awards I went with a Marvel villain played by a British actor, just not this one. That’s not to slight Hiddleston. One of the keys to successfully interpreting villains, is not only being the hero of your own story but relishing it as an actor. Hiddleston definitely accomplishes that and in the capper to a Loki trilogy does his finest work in the Marvel Universe to date.

Best Supporting Actress

Sally Hawkins Blue Jasmine

Sally Hawkins was apparently taken aback by her Oscar nomination. I was too, not due to her performance but because the Oscars recognized the film for something other than Cate Blanchet. Hawkins name has rightfully appeared on many awards ballots this season and it pleases me each and every time.

Best British Film

The World’s End

Here’s another one where I had to make an oddball choice for myself. I have seen none of the other candidates. The #3 movie on my list last year, Broken, is British but absent here. I was lukewarm about this film the first time I saw it, but it does have its fans and I’d be happy to see it win.

Best Actress

Cate Blanchett Blue Jasmine

I’ve filled her name out everywhere I could this year. I will be stunned if she does not win the Oscar. I don’t know her odds here but it didn’t stop me.

Best Actor

Tom Hanks Captain Phillips

This is an Oscar snub I talked of some. I don’t get it. I know why I passed, but he is still great here.

Best Director

Peter Jackson The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Applying the logic of the director of the film I enjoyed the most this comes away the winner. And the reason I say it’s surprising is that technical foible (High Frame Rate) I am enjoying this series more than The Lord of the Rings. I know I’m weird, but I get weirder, because I’m not a huge fan of that one.

Best Film

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Out of the films listed on the ballot, I gave this one the highest score and I wouldn’t change it. It boils down to I wanted more even after all that time and the ending didn’t disappoint me.