American Hustle

American Hustle is the hilarious, somewhat true story of two con artists paired up with a green FBI agent to catch fish bigger than them in order to avoid jail time. Amy Adams, Christian Bale, Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper are all nominated for their work in the film. A definite ensemble piece, in addition to the four nominated actors, Jeremy Renner, Louis CK, Michael Peña and Elisabeth Rohm give stellar performances. The hair, make-up, costuming, sets and music all capture the 1970s. Bale, known for his transformations into his roles, has a unique and humorous look.

Each of the nominated actors have won or been nominated for their roles in previous David O Russell pictures. Lawrence won for Silver Linings Playbook and Bale for the Fighter. Cooper was nominated last year for Silver Linings Playbook and Adams for the Fighter. American Hustle is nominated for ten Oscars, four for acting, production design, costume design, editing, directing, original screenplay and best picture. Only Gravity received as many nominations. No current sure things but with that many nominations they are bound to walk away with at least a couple of technical awards. The acting categories seem to be headed for Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club and Lupita Nyong'o has a strong lead in the Best Supporting Actress category for 12 Years A Slave. Best Actress is an open race, with Cate Blanchett picking up early honors at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards. Sandra Bullock seems the critical favorite to win for her work in Gravity. Adams is the only one not to have won before in the category so a win for her would be great.

The imbd page for American Hustle is unique in that it has a full format and layout, complete with cast photos and video clips. This is the first time an imdb entry was customized for the project, not just ads behind the homepage. It will be interesting to see if this is a new feature to the website.