The 2014 MTV Movie Awards were announced today and once again it’s a grab bag of nominees, but this year is even more curious than most as the one film thought to be the most populist film of the lot, Gravity, comes away with only one nomination and that being for Sandra Bullock for Best Actress. Then you have the Movie of the Year category, which pits The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire against American Hustle, The Wolf of Wall Street and 12 Years a Slave.
I don’t know how the nominees are decided at the MTV Movie Awards, but I know the winners are supposedly determined by MTV viewers, which means, looking at this list, the Hunger Games crowd is likely to make a huge mark…. or, it could be the Leonardo DiCaprio crowd that became ever-so-vocal after he, predictably, lost Best Actor at the Oscars. You know, because the most important consolation prize after the Oscar is a big golden popcorn statuette.
The marketing event known as the MTV Movie Awards will take place on April 13 at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT, hosted by Conan O’Brien. As I mentioned yesterday, I expect the first trailer for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 to be the night’s biggest attraction.
There’s obviously little respect for the MTV Movie Awards among hardcore film fans, but this list of nominees is curious to look at as it exhibits just how far the nomination committee (a descriptor that sounds almost too important in this case) had to go to wedge in “quality” blockbusters alongside quality adult features. I mean, they went with The Hobbit over the likes of Iron Man 3 and Man of Steel. Yikes.
Here’s the full list of nominees.
MOVIE OF THE YEAR
- 12 Years a Slave
- American Hustle
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- The Wolf of Wall Street
BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE
- Amy Adams – American Hustle
- Jennifer Aniston – We’re the Millers
- Sandra Bullock – Gravity
- Jennifer Lawrence – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
BEST MALE PERFORMANCE
- Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
- Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
- Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
- Josh Hutcherson – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
- Liam James – The Way Way Back
- Michael B. Jordan – Fruitvale Station
- Will Poulter- We’re the Millers
- Margot Robbie – The Wolf of Wall Street
- Miles Teller – The Spectacular Now
BEST KISS
- Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams – American Hustle
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Scarlett Johansson – Don Jon
- James Franco, Ashley Benson and Vanessa Hudgens – Spring Breakers
- Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller – The Spectacular Now
- Emma Roberts, Jennifer Aniston and Will Poulter – We’re the Millers
BEST FIGHT
- Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues – Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Steve Carell vs. James Marsden vs. Sacha Baron Cohen vs. Kanye West vs. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler vs. Jim Carrey and Marion Cotillard vs. Will Smith vs. Liam Neeson and John C. Reilly vs. Greg Kinnear
- Identity Thief – Jason Bateman vs. Melissa McCarthy
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug – Orlando Bloom and Evangeline Lilly vs. Orcs
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire – Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Sam Claflin vs. Mutant Monkeys
- This is the End – Jonah Hill vs. James Franco and Seth Rogen
BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE
- Kevin Hart – Ride Along
- Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street
- Johnny Knoxville – Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
- Melissa McCarthy – The Heat
- Jason Sudeikis – We’re the Millers
BEST SCARED-AS-S**T PERFORMANCE
- Rose Byrne – Insidious: Chapter 2
- Jessica Chastain – Mama
- Vera Farmiga – The Conjuring
- Ethan Hawke – The Purge
- Brad Pitt – World War Z
BEST ON-SCREEN DUO
- Amy Adams and Christian Bale – American Hustle
- Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
- Vin Diesel and Paul Walker – Fast & Furious 6
- Ice Cube and Kevin Hart – Ride Along
- Jonah Hill and Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
BEST SHIRTLESS PERFORMANCE
- Jennifer Aniston – We’re the Millers
- Sam Claflin – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
- Zac Efron – That Awkward Moment
- Chris Hemsworth – Thor: The Dark World
#WTF MOMENT
- The RV Crash – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
- The Beauty Pageant – Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
- Car Sex – The Counselor
- The Lude Scene – The Wolf of Wall Street
- Danny’s New Pet – This is the End
BEST VILLAIN
- Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
- Benedict Cumberbatch – Star Trek into Darkness
- Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
- Mila Kunis – Oz The Great and Powerful
- Donald Sutherland – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
BEST ON-SCREEN TRANSFORMATION
- Christian Bale – American Hustle
- Elizabeth Banks – The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
- Orlando Bloom – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club
- Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
BEST MUSICAL MOMENT
- Backstreet Boys, Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen and Craig Robinson Peform in Heaven – This is the End
- Jennifer Lawrence Sings Live & Let Die’ – American Hustle
- Leonardo DiCaprio Pops and Locks – The Wolf of Wall Street
- Melissa McCarthy Sings Barracuda – Identity Thief
- Will Poulter Sing Waterfalls – We’re the Millers
BEST CAMEO PERFORMANCE
- Robert De Niro – American Hustle
- Amy Poehler and Tina Fey – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
- Kanye West – Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
- Joan Rivers – Iron Man 3
- Rihanna – This is the End
BEST HERO
- Henry Cavill as Clark Kent – Man of Steel
- Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man – Iron Man 3
- Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins – The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
- Chris Hemsworth as Thor – Thor: The Dark World
- Channing Tatum as John Cale – White House Down
