Post by StevePulaski on Jan 10, 2013 18:35:09 GMT -5
Here we are again, as I give my picks for the annual Academy Awards, the most prestigious award show involving cinema or all different kinds. My fascination for the award show has only grown more and more over the years, and while I do not look at it as more than a show that measures cinema in a very elaborate, elegant way, I see it as an important program that gives us some of the year's finest works and allows them more mainstream recognition. I must stress again that my pick is for who I believe will win, and not who I want to win. Here are the nominees with the predicted winner being in bold text.
*Predictions subject to change, but are locked on February 23, 2013, the night before the Academy Awards air.
Also, I'd like to reinstate my proposal for rewatching The Master, which I walked out of in theaters.
From my blog post on The Master, written in October 2012, I state, "I am making a pact, with you, the reader, as my witness; if Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master wins any of the five major awards at 2013's Academy Award, whether it be Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, or Best Original Screenplay, or even multiple awards, I will make an earnest attempt to sit through the entire film and publish a review (no review will be published this viewing, obviously). If it fails to win any of those five awards, I may rewatch it, but I will make no priority of it. That's my pact."
Best Picture:
* = Have seen it.
Amour
*Argo
*Beasts of the Southern Wild
*Django Unchained
*Les Misérables
*Life of Pi
*Lincoln
*Silver Linings Playbook
*Zero Dark Thirty
I thought long and hard about who would win this category this year. So many films came out in the latter half of the year that were extremely well done, moving, and artfully done that I wanted there to be multiple winners. Yet there can only be one. I originally had the mindset that Argo would win it. I heard it received acclaimed at the same festivals along the lines of past Best Picture winners, such as The Hurt Locker and The King's Speech. I thought if it had any competition that it would be Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty (which I'm currently scheduled to see on January 13, 2013), because of its heavy politics and extreme amount of controversial publicity surrounding it. The more I think, the more I believe that Steven Spielberg's Lincoln will take home the most respected gold statue given out that night, for its large, ambitious scope, beautiful performances, compelling narrative, richly detailed atmosphere, and impeccably deep nature. The more I reflect on it, the more I remember the beautiful film that it was.
EDITED PICK: As a last minute change, I've retracted my vote for Lincoln and will be going with Argo due to more persistently convincing speculation, along with other telling awards in recent weeks. If I could have my way, I'd still say Life of Pi.
Best Actor:
Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln
Denzel Washington - Flight
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Daniel Day-Lewis' win for Best Actor is pretty much locked in, or I'll be damned if it isn't. His competitors are all men of extreme talent, and worked well in their respective films, yet I can not see another man taking home the honorable prize for being the best actor of 2012 other than Day-Lewis for his unique, detailed, and beautifully captivating performance of America's sixteenth president. Now if only Ben Affleck could've scored an overdue Oscar nomination for his fine work as Tony Mendez in the drama-thriller Argo. Not to mention, no love for Suraj Sharma, whose work in Life of Pi had to have been emotionally testing and physically draining?
Best Actress:
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild
This one may change with time and thought, yet I believe, even without yet seeing it, that Chastain, who will guaranteed earn more Oscar nominations in her lifetime, will win the Best Actress award for her daring and audacious role choice for Zero Dark Thirty. Time will tell, however. I'm too thrilled that Quvenzhané Wallis of Beasts of a Southern Wild was nominated, making her the youngest person ever nominated for Best Actress (she's nine years old). Wallis was charming, brave, and completely human in Beasts, and accentuated the complex role of a naive little girl in a time of a great peril in her island home, far off the New Orleans' levee system, which may exist no longer because of rising sea levels. However, I am seeing that her nomination may be just that, as her competition is hefty, with names like Naomi Watts, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jessica Chastain catching people's attention before her's. Yet to get her name out there and publicity around the fact that she's a young and greatly ambitious actress is a remarkably admirable achievement.
Best Supporting Actor:
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook
Alan Arkin - Argo
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Tommy Lee Jones gave two great performances in 2012, one in Lincoln, the other in Hope Springs, but which one did you think was gonna get nominated, realistically? While this category is cluttered with potential winners, such as Waltz for Django Unchained and Hoffman for The Master, I believe Jones will come out on top with another point for Spielberg's Lincoln.
Best Supporting Actress:
Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables
Jacki Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Amy Adams - The Master
Her role may have been short, but it will be shocking if Hathaway is overlooked for her role as a joyless factory worker in Les Misérables, Tom Hooper's bombastic musical adaptation. If she's one-upped by anyone, it will most likely be Sally Field for her conservative role of Mary Todd Lincoln. It's also a little shocking that Jacki Weaver scored a nomination for her motherly role in Silver Linings Playbook. I would've loved to see Helen Mirren turn some heads for her brash role in Hitchcock.
Best Director:
David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
Michael Haneke - Amour
Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild
Ang Lee is one of the most ambitious men in Hollywood, tackling unique and difficult genres not with a subtle entry, but a loud, memorable pang, and Life of Pi is one of his strongest efforts. Emotionally alive, enthralling in many sequences, depressing in others, and most of all, a highly-enjoyable, unforgettable cinematic event, Life of Pi will take the cake for Best Director, because of its difficult shot formation and the incredibly challenging filming process that without a doubt took place.
Best Original Screenplay:
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Moonrise Kingdom
Amour
Flight
ORIGINAL PICK: I'm going out on a limb, but I can't resist. Anderson and Coppola penned a near-masterpiece that should've earned a place on the Best Picture ballot and the Best Director ballot.
EDITED PICK: I'm now confident in saying Haneke's Amour will be recognized for its writing this year, despite it being the only film I haven't seen on the list. Its heavy recognition, its extreme popularity, and its unexpected nominations seem to make it a frontrunner in this category.
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Argo
Life of Pi
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Animated Feature:
Frankenweenie
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph
Paranorman
Brave
Best Foreign Language Film:
Amour (Austria)
A Royal Affair (Norway)
Kon-Tiki (Denmark)
No (Chile)
War Witch (Canada)
Let's be real for a second; I haven't seen Amour, but am now greatly looking forward to it, but when a foreign language film is nominated for four other categories aside from its own in an American film award show, there's more than a small chance it will win its own genre.
Best Visual Effects:
Life of Pi
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman
Someone will be a damned skeleton if this doesn't win Best Visual Effects.
Best Cinematography:
Skyfall
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Best Costume Design:
Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman
Best Documentary Feature:
Searching for Sugar Man
How to Survive a Plague
The Gatekeepers
5 Broken Cameras
The Invisible War
Best Documentary Short:
Open Heart
Inocente
Redemption
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Best Film Editing:
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi
Argo
Zero Dark Thirty
Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Depressing to see the only category Hitchcock is nominated for is a category it has virtually no chance at winning. Also, where the hell is Cloud Atlas here? And Lincoln for that matter?
Best Music (Original Score):
Anna Karenina
Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
Best Music (Original Song):
"Before My Time" from Chasing Ice
"Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from Ted
"Pi's Lullaby" from Life of Pi
"Skyfall" from Skyfall
"Suddenly" from Les Misérables
Best Production Design:
Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Best Animated Short Film:
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'
Paperman
While I'm happy to see "Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare,'" a charming, witty short, get recognition from the Academy, I simply can't see it win. I can, however, see "Paperman," one of the best shorts in years, score the win for the category.
Best Live Action Short Film:
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)
Henry
Best Sound Editing:
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty
Best Sound Mixing:
Argo
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
EDITED PICKS: After learning more about the nominees and reanalyzing my picks I realized I made a lot of idiotic gambles, and thus, modified almost my entire list of predictions. Hope it works out for the better.
Film with the most wins (predicted): Lincoln (5).
\Film with the most wins (official): Life of Pi (4).
*Predictions subject to change, but are locked on February 23, 2013, the night before the Academy Awards air.
Also, I'd like to reinstate my proposal for rewatching The Master, which I walked out of in theaters.
From my blog post on The Master, written in October 2012, I state, "I am making a pact, with you, the reader, as my witness; if Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master wins any of the five major awards at 2013's Academy Award, whether it be Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, or Best Original Screenplay, or even multiple awards, I will make an earnest attempt to sit through the entire film and publish a review (no review will be published this viewing, obviously). If it fails to win any of those five awards, I may rewatch it, but I will make no priority of it. That's my pact."
Best Picture:
* = Have seen it.
Amour
*Argo
*Beasts of the Southern Wild
*Django Unchained
*Les Misérables
*Life of Pi
*Lincoln
*Silver Linings Playbook
*Zero Dark Thirty
I thought long and hard about who would win this category this year. So many films came out in the latter half of the year that were extremely well done, moving, and artfully done that I wanted there to be multiple winners. Yet there can only be one. I originally had the mindset that Argo would win it. I heard it received acclaimed at the same festivals along the lines of past Best Picture winners, such as The Hurt Locker and The King's Speech. I thought if it had any competition that it would be Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty (which I'm currently scheduled to see on January 13, 2013), because of its heavy politics and extreme amount of controversial publicity surrounding it. The more I think, the more I believe that Steven Spielberg's Lincoln will take home the most respected gold statue given out that night, for its large, ambitious scope, beautiful performances, compelling narrative, richly detailed atmosphere, and impeccably deep nature. The more I reflect on it, the more I remember the beautiful film that it was.
EDITED PICK: As a last minute change, I've retracted my vote for Lincoln and will be going with Argo due to more persistently convincing speculation, along with other telling awards in recent weeks. If I could have my way, I'd still say Life of Pi.
Best Actor:
Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln
Denzel Washington - Flight
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Daniel Day-Lewis' win for Best Actor is pretty much locked in, or I'll be damned if it isn't. His competitors are all men of extreme talent, and worked well in their respective films, yet I can not see another man taking home the honorable prize for being the best actor of 2012 other than Day-Lewis for his unique, detailed, and beautifully captivating performance of America's sixteenth president. Now if only Ben Affleck could've scored an overdue Oscar nomination for his fine work as Tony Mendez in the drama-thriller Argo. Not to mention, no love for Suraj Sharma, whose work in Life of Pi had to have been emotionally testing and physically draining?
Best Actress:
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild
This one may change with time and thought, yet I believe, even without yet seeing it, that Chastain, who will guaranteed earn more Oscar nominations in her lifetime, will win the Best Actress award for her daring and audacious role choice for Zero Dark Thirty. Time will tell, however. I'm too thrilled that Quvenzhané Wallis of Beasts of a Southern Wild was nominated, making her the youngest person ever nominated for Best Actress (she's nine years old). Wallis was charming, brave, and completely human in Beasts, and accentuated the complex role of a naive little girl in a time of a great peril in her island home, far off the New Orleans' levee system, which may exist no longer because of rising sea levels. However, I am seeing that her nomination may be just that, as her competition is hefty, with names like Naomi Watts, Jennifer Lawrence, and Jessica Chastain catching people's attention before her's. Yet to get her name out there and publicity around the fact that she's a young and greatly ambitious actress is a remarkably admirable achievement.
Best Supporting Actor:
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook
Alan Arkin - Argo
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Tommy Lee Jones gave two great performances in 2012, one in Lincoln, the other in Hope Springs, but which one did you think was gonna get nominated, realistically? While this category is cluttered with potential winners, such as Waltz for Django Unchained and Hoffman for The Master, I believe Jones will come out on top with another point for Spielberg's Lincoln.
Best Supporting Actress:
Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables
Jacki Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Amy Adams - The Master
Her role may have been short, but it will be shocking if Hathaway is overlooked for her role as a joyless factory worker in Les Misérables, Tom Hooper's bombastic musical adaptation. If she's one-upped by anyone, it will most likely be Sally Field for her conservative role of Mary Todd Lincoln. It's also a little shocking that Jacki Weaver scored a nomination for her motherly role in Silver Linings Playbook. I would've loved to see Helen Mirren turn some heads for her brash role in Hitchcock.
Best Director:
David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
Michael Haneke - Amour
Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild
Ang Lee is one of the most ambitious men in Hollywood, tackling unique and difficult genres not with a subtle entry, but a loud, memorable pang, and Life of Pi is one of his strongest efforts. Emotionally alive, enthralling in many sequences, depressing in others, and most of all, a highly-enjoyable, unforgettable cinematic event, Life of Pi will take the cake for Best Director, because of its difficult shot formation and the incredibly challenging filming process that without a doubt took place.
Best Original Screenplay:
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Moonrise Kingdom
Amour
Flight
ORIGINAL PICK: I'm going out on a limb, but I can't resist. Anderson and Coppola penned a near-masterpiece that should've earned a place on the Best Picture ballot and the Best Director ballot.
EDITED PICK: I'm now confident in saying Haneke's Amour will be recognized for its writing this year, despite it being the only film I haven't seen on the list. Its heavy recognition, its extreme popularity, and its unexpected nominations seem to make it a frontrunner in this category.
Best Adapted Screenplay:
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Argo
Life of Pi
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Best Animated Feature:
Frankenweenie
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph
Paranorman
Brave
Best Foreign Language Film:
Amour (Austria)
A Royal Affair (Norway)
Kon-Tiki (Denmark)
No (Chile)
War Witch (Canada)
Let's be real for a second; I haven't seen Amour, but am now greatly looking forward to it, but when a foreign language film is nominated for four other categories aside from its own in an American film award show, there's more than a small chance it will win its own genre.
Best Visual Effects:
Life of Pi
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman
Someone will be a damned skeleton if this doesn't win Best Visual Effects.
Best Cinematography:
Skyfall
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Best Costume Design:
Anna Karenina
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman
Best Documentary Feature:
Searching for Sugar Man
How to Survive a Plague
The Gatekeepers
5 Broken Cameras
The Invisible War
Best Documentary Short:
Open Heart
Inocente
Redemption
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Best Film Editing:
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi
Argo
Zero Dark Thirty
Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Depressing to see the only category Hitchcock is nominated for is a category it has virtually no chance at winning. Also, where the hell is Cloud Atlas here? And Lincoln for that matter?
Best Music (Original Score):
Anna Karenina
Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
Best Music (Original Song):
"Before My Time" from Chasing Ice
"Everybody Needs A Best Friend" from Ted
"Pi's Lullaby" from Life of Pi
"Skyfall" from Skyfall
"Suddenly" from Les Misérables
Best Production Design:
Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Best Animated Short Film:
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'
Paperman
While I'm happy to see "Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare,'" a charming, witty short, get recognition from the Academy, I simply can't see it win. I can, however, see "Paperman," one of the best shorts in years, score the win for the category.
Best Live Action Short Film:
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)
Henry
Best Sound Editing:
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty
Best Sound Mixing:
Argo
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
EDITED PICKS: After learning more about the nominees and reanalyzing my picks I realized I made a lot of idiotic gambles, and thus, modified almost my entire list of predictions. Hope it works out for the better.
FINAL CONSENSUS:
Film with the most wins (predicted): Lincoln (5).
\Film with the most wins (official): Life of Pi (4).
