David O. Russell’s American Hustle hauled in an impressive ten Oscar nominations this year, which tied Gravity with the most nominations for a motion picture. In order to commemorate the double digit Oscar nominated film, we are giving away 5 copies of the American Hustle Original Soundtrack.

“American Hustle – the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, is an Album of Music from the Oscar nominated Motion Picture, available now – featuring a previously unreleased song by Jeff Lynne with Classic Recordings by Duke Ellington, Elton John, the Bee Gees, Wings and More.”

How do you enter the giveaway?

Using the form directly below, you have the ability to earn 4 entries in the giveaway. You will get one entry for telling us who is your favorite band from the 70s. You can get bonus entries for following us on Twitter, tweeting at us, and/or liking us on Facebook.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Details

Five winners be selected at random. If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.

Soundtrack Listing
1. “Jeep’s Blues” by Duke Ellington
2. “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” by Elton John
3. “White Rabbit” by Mayssa Karaa
4. “10538 Overture” by Electric Light Orchestra
5. “Live and Let Die” by Wings
6. “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” by The Bee Gees
7. “I Feel Love” by Donna Summer
8. “Don’t Leave Me This Way” by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
9. “Delilah” by Tom Jones
10. “I’ve Got Your Number” by Jack Jones
11. “Long Black Road” by Electric Light Orchestra
12. “A Horse With No Name” by America
13. “Stream of Stars” by Jeff Lynne
14. “Live To Live” by Chris Stills
15. “Irving Montage” by Danny Elfman

Last week we predicted that Gravity’s Alfonso Cuarón would get the win for Best Director, so historically speaking that would mean Gravity should have a 73% chance of winning Best Picture because of how closely tied those categories are. However, we do not have to go back very far to see split category winners. Last year Ang Lee received Best Director for the visually impressive Life of Pi, while Ben Affleck’s historic thriller Argo was awarded Best Picture. This year has a very similar setup. Winning the award at the Director’s Guild of America puts Cuarón in good position for Best Director, however, his technical marvel Gravity may be edged out by Steve McQueen’s historical drama 12 Years a Slave. Last week’s BAFTA (British Oscar equivalent) win for 12 Years a Slave was a major victory for the film. But make no mistake, this is still a very close race between the two films.

Marketing departments for the rest of the field will not likely be upgrading their materials beyond “Best Picture Nominated”. While it is still a monumental honor just to be nominated, Spike Jonze and company should feel disheartened that Her is not in contention. Though they are probably just happy their futuristic love story did not fly over the heads of the Academy whose median age is 62.

Because 2013 was such solid year for film, there are plenty of titles that deserved to be nominated: Blue Is the Warmest Color, Blue Jasmine, The Place Beyond the Pines, Frances Ha, Before Midnight, and Fruitvale Station just to name a few. But my top pick for the film that did not receive a nomination that should have is Short Term 12. Destin Cretton’s film blasted on to everyone’s radar after rave reviews from critics at its SXSW premiere. It is unfortunate that the film’s marketing budget and small distribution are its biggest flaws, because the film will make you laugh, cry, and smile more than most films that actually did get nominated.

Category Predictions

Best Picture Nominees

American Hustle (review)

Captain Phillips

Dallas Buyers Club (review)

Gravity (review)

Her (review)

Nebraska (review)

Philomena (review)

12 Years a Slave (review)

The Wolf of Wall Street (review)

Previous Category Analysis

Best Shorts
Best Supporting Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Original Screenplay
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Foreign Film
Best Documentary
Best Actress
Best Actor
Best Director

The 67th British Academy Film Awards was this past Sunday, February 16th. Sometimes providing a potential glimpse at what Oscar night may bring, the winners were fairly safe bets and may prove as consolation prizes if Academy members vote rogue this year. Gravity took home the most statues with 6 wins, including Best Director and the ambiguously titled Best British Film.  12 Years a Slave took home the top honor of Best Picture, a feat that may prove more difficult in the States, where it’s up against 8 other films rather than the BAFTA’s 4 others.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Cate Blanchett took the top acting awards, but considering the BAFTA’s gave literally no love to The Dallas Buyers Club, they’ve left out a slew of serious contenders who will be putting up a fight at the Oscars this year. The Academy isn’t as likely to hand out an Oscar to a first timer, so Barkhad Abdi’s BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor may be his only win, but Jennifer Lawrence, who took home the Best Supporting Actress statue Sunday night, has as much a chance as anyone in this year’s highly competitive pool for the Oscars.

Rounding out the evening the Academy Fellowship, the highest honor given out at the BAFTA’s was awarded to Dame Helen Mirren.

Complete list of BAFTA winners:

Best Picture: 12 Years A Slave
Best British Film: Gravity
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
Best Actor: Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Best Supporting Actor: Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Best Original Screenplay: American Hustle, Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell
Best Adapted Screenplay: Philomena, Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
Best Foreign: The Great Beauty, Paolo Sorrentino, NicolaGiuliano, Francesca Cima
Best Documentary: The Act of Killing – Joshua Oppenheimer
Best Animation: Frozen, Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Best Cinematography: Gravity, Emmanuel Lubezki
Best Editing: Rush, Dan Hanley, Mike Hill
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn
Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby, Catherine Martin
Best Make Up and Hair: American Hustle, Evelyne Noraz, Lori McCoy-Bell
Best Sound: Gravity, Glenn Freemantle, Skip Lievsay, Christopher Benstead, Niv Adiri, Chris Munro
Best Original Music: Gravity, Steven Price
Best Special Visual Effects: Gravity – Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, David Shirk, Neil Corbould,Nikki Penny
Best British Short Animation: Sleeping with the Fishes, James Walker, Sarah Woolner, Yousif Al-Khalifa
Best British Short Film: Room 8, James W. Griffiths & Sophie Venner
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: Keiran Evans (Director/Writer), Kelly + Victor
The EE Rising Star Award (voted for by public): Will Poulter

Tonight marked the 20th anniversary of the Screen Actors Guild Award show, an award ceremony that has become a great precursor to help predict how the acting categories could turn out for the Oscars. The biggest reason for this is that the actors who make up this guild also make up a large part of the voting group for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Tonight Lupita Nyong’o took home a Screen Actors Guild Award for her brilliant role of 12 Years a Slave, beating out Jennifer Lawrence who recently won at the Golden Globes. Arguably the most exciting category was for the Best Male Lead category, where Matthew McConaughey, Bruce Dern, and Chiwetel Ejiofor all had a fair shot of winning. Though it was Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club) who puts himself in the front of the race for the Oscar with the win here. McConaughey’s counterpart in the film, Jared Leto, also walked away a winner. Unsurprisingly, Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) won for Best Female Lead and American Hustle for ensemble cast.

On the television side of things, Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) and Michael Douglas (Behind the Candelabra) continued to add to their trophy collection from their Golden Globes wins from last week. Other big winners were Julia Louis-Dreyfus for Veep and Maggie Smith for Downton Abbey. Also, Rita Moreno received a Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in film, broadway, music, and television.

The full list of 2014 Screen Actors Guild Award Winners:

Film

Outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture
12 Years a Slave
American Hustle
August: Osage County
Dallas Buyers Club
Lee Daniels’ The Butler

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a leading role
Bruce Dern, Nebraska
Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave
Tom Hanks, Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Forest Whitaker, The Butler

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role
Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock, Gravity
Judi Dench, Philomena
Meryl Streep, August: Osage County
Emma Thompson, Saving Mr. Banks

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a supporting role
Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
Daniel Brühl, Rush
Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
James Gandolfini, Enough Said
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role
Jennifer Lawrence, American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts, August: Osage County
June Squibb, Nebraska
Oprah Winfrey, The Butler

Television

Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series
Boardwalk Empire
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
Game of Thrones
Homeland

Outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series
30 Rock
Arrested Development
The Big Bang Theory
Modern Family
Veep

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a drama series
Steve Buscemi, Boardwalk Empire
Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad
Jeff Daniels, The Newsroom
Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones
Kevin Spacey, House of Cards

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a drama series
Claire Danes, Homeland
Anna Gunn, Breaking Bad
Jessica Lange, American Horror Story: Coven
Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey
Kerry Washington, Scandal

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a comedy series
Alec Baldwin, 30 Rock
Jason Bateman, Arrested Development
Ty Burrell, Modern Family
Don Cheadle, House of Lies
Jim Parsons, The Big Bang Theory

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a comedy series
Mayim Bialik, The Big Bang Theory
Julie Bowen, Modern Family
Edie Falco, Nurse Jackie
Tina Fey, 30 Rock
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Outstanding performance by a male actor in a television movie or miniseries
Matt Damon, Behind the Candelabra
Michael Douglas, Behind the Candelabra
Jeremy Irons, The Hollow Crown
Rob Lowe, Killing Kennedy
Al Pacino, Phil Spector

Outstanding performance by a female actor in a television movie or miniseries
Angela Bassett, Betty & Coretta
Helena Bonham Carter, Burton and Taylor
Holly Hunter, Top of the Lake
Helen Mirren, Phil Spector
Elisabeth Moss, Top of the Lake

This morning the official announcement of nominations for the 2014 Oscars came in with Gravity and American Hustle on top with an impressive total of 10 nominations each. Not far behind was 12 Years A Slave which hauled in 9 nominations. The Best Picture race will almost certainly be between American Hustle and 12 Years A Slave with Gravity almost a lock to pick up several technical achievement awards. A pleasant surprise for me was to see the Academy’s love for Spike Jonze’s Her, which nabbed 5 nominations including Best Picture, while the Coen Brothers film Inside Llewyn Davis received nominations only for Best Cinematography and Best Sound Mixing.

Other surprises were Jonah Hill getting a Best Supporting nod for The Wolf of Wall Street, Saving Mr. Banks only receiving a single nomination for Best Original Score, despite many believing it had Best Actor and even Best Picture potential (though I agree with the Academy’s decision on this one). Another surprise were Blackfish and Stories We Tell getting nudged out of the Best Documentary category, as 20 Feet From Stardom slips in. The biggest disappointment for me was seeing Blue Is the Warmest Color getting snubbed in the Best Foreign Film category.

The 86th Academy Awards will air March 2, 2014 at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.

Full List of 2014 Oscar Nominations:

Best Picture:

American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Director:

David O. Russell – American Hustle
Alfonso Cuarón – Gravity
Alexander Payne – Nebraska
Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor:

Christian Bale – American Hustle
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Actress:

Amy Adams – American Hustle
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Judi Dench – Philomena
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Best Supporting Actor:

Barkhad Abdi – Captain Phillips
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill – The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Supporting Actress:

Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
June Squibb – Nebraska

Best Original Screenplay:

Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell – American Hustle
Woody Allen – Blue Jasmine
Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack – Dallas Buyers Club
Spike Jonze – Her
Bob Nelson – Nebraska

Best Adapted Screenplay:

Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke – Before Midnight
Billy Ray – Captain Phillips
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope – Philomena
John Ridley – 12 Years a Slave
Terence Winter – The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Foreign Film:

The Broken Circle Breakdown
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Missing Picture
Omar

Best Cinematography:

Philippe Le Sourd – The Grandmaster
Emmanuel Lubezki – Gravity
Bruno Delbonnel – Inside Llewyn Davis
Phedon Papamichael – Nebraska
Roger A. Deakins – Prisoners

Best Animated Film:

The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Ernest & Celestine
Frozen
The Wind Rises

Best Documentary:

The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square
20 Feet from Stardom

Best Film Editing:

Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers and Alan Baumgarten – American Hustle
Christopher Rouse – Captain Phillips
John Mac McMurphy and Martin Pensa – Dallas Buyers Club
Alfonso Cuarón and Mark Sanger – Gravity
Joe Walker – 12 Years a Slave

Best Original Score:

John Williams – The Book Thief
Steven Price – Gravity
William Butler and Owen Pallett – Her
Alexandre Desplat – Philomena
Thomas Newman – Saving Mr. Banks

Best Original Song:

“Alone Yet Not Alone” – Alone Yet Not Alone
“Happy” – Despicable Me 2
“Let It Go” – Frozen
“The Moon Song” – Her
“Ordinary Love” – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom

Best Production Design:

American Hustle
Gravity
The Great Gatsby
Her
12 Years a Slave

Best Costume Design:

American Hustle
The Grandmaster
The Great Gatsby
The Invisible Woman
12 Years a Slave

Best Makeup & Hairstyling:

Dallas Buyers Club
Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
The Lone Ranger

Best Sound Editing:

All Is Lost
Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor

Best Sound Mixing:

Captain Phillips
Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor

Best Visual Effects:

Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness

Best Short Film (Live Action):

Aquel No Era Yo
Avant Que De Tout Perdre
Helium
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa?
The Voorman Problem

Best Visual Short Film (Animated):

Feral
Get a Horse!
Mr. Hublot
Possessions
Room on the Broom

Best Documentary (Short Subject):

CaveDigger
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler continued hosting duties for the second consecutive year for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Golden Globe awards. Over the course of the award ceremony there were many big winners which include: American Hustle which won three awards (Best Motion Picture Comedy, and two acting awards), 12 Years a Slave which surprisingly only won Best Motion Picture for Drama, and Alfonso Cuaron getting Best Director for Gravity. Some surprising but pleasing winners were: Jared Leto getting Best Support Actor for his wonderful role in Dallas Buyers Club, the deserving Spike Jonze winning for Best Screenplay for Her, and Amy Adams beating out Meryl Streep for Best Actress (Comedy/Musical). Some disappointments were Bono winning Best Song, All Is Lost winning Best Original Score, and the biggest disappointment of all, Blue Is The Warmest Color losing to The Great Beauty (even though it was good) for Best Foreign Film.

List of 2014 Golden Globes award winners:

(Winners are highlighted in bold red font)

FILM

Best Motion Picture – Drama
12 Years a Slave
Captain Phillips
Gravity
Philomena
Rush

Best Picture – Comedy/Musical
American Hustle
Her
Inside Llewyn Davis
Nebraska
The Wolf Of Wall Street

Best Director
Alfonso Cuaron – Gravity
Paul Greengrass – Captain Phillips
Steve McQueen – 12 Years a Slave
Alexander Payne – Nebraska
David O. Russell – American Hustle

Best Actress – Drama
Cate Blanchett – Blue Jasmine
Sandra Bullock – Gravity
Judi Dench – Philomena
Emma Thompson – Saving Mr. Banks
Kate Winslet – Labor Day

Best Actor – Drama
Chiwetel Ejiofor – 12 Years a Slave
Idris Elba – Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Tom Hanks – Captain Phillips
Matthew McConaughey – Dallas Buyers Club
Robert Redford – All Is Lost

Best Actress – Comedy/Musical
Amy Adams – American Hustle
Julie Delpy- Before Midnight
Greta Gerwig – Frances Ha
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Enough Said
Meryl Streep – August: Osage County

Best Actor – Comedy/Musical
Christian Bale – American Hustle
Bruce Dern – Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Wolf of Wall Street
Oscar Isaac – Inside Llewyn Davis
Joaquin Phoenix – Her

Best Supporting Actress In A Motion Picture
Sally Hawkins – Blue Jasmine
Jennifer Lawrence – American Hustle
Lupita Nyong’o – 12 Years a Slave
Julia Roberts – August: Osage County
June Squibb – Nebraska

Best Supporting Actor In A Motion Picture
Barkhad Abd – Captain Phillips
Daniel Brühl – Rush
Bradley Cooper – American Hustle
Michael Fassbender – 12 Years a Slave
Jared Leto – Dallas Buyers Club

Best Screenplay
Spike Jonze – Her
Bob Nelson – Nebraska
Jeff Pope, Steve Coogan – Philomena
John Ridley – 12 Years A Slave
Eric Warren Singer, David O. Russell – American Hustle

Best Original Score
Alex Ebert – All Is Lost
Alex Heffes – Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom
Steven Price – Gravity
John Williams – The Book Thief
Hans Zimmer – 12 Years A Slave

Best Original Song
Chris Martin, Guy Berryman, Jonny Buckland, Will Champion – Atlas (Hunger Games: Catching Fire)
Kristen Anderson Lopez, Robert Lopez – Let It Go (Frozen)
Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen, Jr., Brian Burton – Ordinary Love (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom)
Ed Rush, George Cromarty, T Bone Burnett, Justin Timberlake, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen – Please Mr Kennedy (Inside Llewyn Davis)
Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff – Sweeter Than Fiction – (One Chance)

Best Animated Feature Film
The Croods
Despicable Me 2
Frozen

Best Foreign Film
Blue is the Warmest Color
The Great Beauty
The Hunt
The Past
The Wind Rises

TELEVISION

Best Television Series – Drama
Breaking Bad
Downton Abbey
The Good Wife
House Of Cards
Masters Of Sex

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Drama
Julianna Margulies – The Good Wife
Tatiana Maslany – Orphan Black
Taylor Schilling – Orange Is The New Black
Kerry Washington – Scandal
Robin Wright – House Of Cards

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama
Bryan Cranston – Breaking Bad
Liev Schreiber – Ray Donovan
Michael Sheen – Masters of Sex
Kevin Spacey – House of Cards
James Spader – The Blacklist

Best Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
The Big Bang Theory
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Girls
Modern Family
Parks and Recreation

Best Performance by an Actress In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Zooey Deschanel – New Girl
Lena Dunham – Girls
Edie Falco – Nurse Jackie
Julia Louis-Dreyfus – Veep
Amy Poehler – Parks and Recreation

Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Comedy Or Musical
Jason Bateman – Arrested Development
Don Cheadle – House of Lies
Michael J. Fox – The Michael J. Fox Show
Jim Parsons – The Big Bang Theory
Andy Samberg – Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Best Mini-Series Or Motion Picture Made for Television
American Horror Story: Coven
Behind The Candelabra
Dancing on the Edge
Top of the Lake
White Queen

Best Performance by an Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Helena Bonham Carter – Burton and Taylor
Rebecca Ferguson – White Queen
Jessica Lange – American Horror Story: Coven
Helen Mirren – Phil Spector
Elisabeth Moss – Top of the Lake

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Matt Damon – Behind the Candelabra
Michael Douglas – Behind the Candelabra
Chiwetel Ejiofor – Dancing on the Edge
Idris Elba – Luther
Al Pacino – Phil Spector

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Jacqueline Bisset – Dancing on the Edge
Janet McTeer – White Queen
Hayden Panettiere – Nashville
Monica Potter – Parenthood
Sofia Vergara – Modern Family

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
Josh Charles – The Good Wife
Rob Lowe – Behind the Candelabra
Aaron Paul – Breaking Bad
Corey Stoll – House of Cards
Jon Voight – Ray Donovan

For American Hustle, David O. Russell assembles a cast largely comprised from his previous two crowd pleasing films, Christian Bale and Amy Adams from 2010’s The Fighter, and Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence from 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook. His cast selection proves to be a winning formula as the most pleasing aspect of the film is the superb acting. Because the film features con artists at work it is easy to anticipate the lies on top of lies procedure, therefore, the love triangle that forms between the three leads becomes the real emphasis of the story. Regardless of being able to predict what will happen before it does, American Hustle is still a ride despite its many shortcomings.

The film begins circa 1978 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City as an overweight man named Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) is seen gluing hair on his head in an attempt disguise himself as the con-artist he truly is. Irving recalls being surrounded by shady schemes all of his life—first one involved breaking store windows as a youngster because his dad owned a glass business. Since then he has dabbled into a wide range of schemes from stealing art pieces to running a dry-cleaning store that does more than just launder clothes. His partner in crime as well as love is the dashing Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams), who exudes just as much confidence and wit as Irving, only without the comically bad hairdo.

Just as the duo begins to hit their stride in scams the undercover FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper) busts them red-handed. In exchange for prison time Richie offers them a deal if they can setup a sting to catch four high profile targets. Their biggest target is the beloved yet corrupt mayor Carmine Polito (Jeremy Renner), who sometimes does shady things for good reasons. Everything goes to plan until Irving’s wife Rosalyn Rosenfeld (Jennifer Lawrence) threatens to ruin the plot by running her loud mouth.

American Hustle’s breezy pacing makes the runtime feel half as long, but also makes the out of focus structure even more noticeable. The hard part is telling whether or not it was Russell’s intention to make such an inconsistent film. For seemingly no reason the camera will zoom in on a body part or apply a tracking shot when movement is not necessary. Often the music works brilliantly as a companion to what is happening on the screen, but then there is the out of place “Live and Let Die” sing-along that falls completely flat. The film asks whether it is the original painter or the counterfeiter who is the true master, and it is that fine line that the film itself walks on.

Although most people are likely to remember Lawrence’s flashy and loud performance, it is Adams more understated role that is most impressive. Adams convinces the audience to continuously change their minds on what side she is really on—sometimes faithful to Bale’s character and other times overly flirtatious with Cooper. The one thing all characters share in common is neither one of them have many redeeming qualities.

The individual parts that make up American Hustle work well on their own right, but do not fit seamlessly when assembled together. There are times where the comedy works, the characters are engaging, the cinematography is purposeful, and the soundtrack fits; though it is rare that any of them occur at the same time. The final reveal is remarkably simple considering the layering of lies involved within the film. But despite the overall messiness of the arrangement, American Hustle remains watchable thanks to the wonderful acting performances.

American Hustle trailer