This is an odd year for me writing this post. In some ways I am more prepared then ever having seen almost every movie up for any award, yet I really feel like it has done me little good because this years crop is so solid there is no real standout. The only domestic movies up for Oscars that I failed to see before writing this are Anna Karenina, The Hobbit, and The Gatekeepers. Even with that being the case, I have struggled to pick my favorites or who I think the Academy is going to pick in most categories. I never have a problem forming a strong opinion for or against, but most of the movies feel so worthy it's been a small chore. Not so much that I was going to pass up my favorite post of the year though, so here's my thoughts on the 85th Academy Awards... (I've updated this post with the actual winners, I was way off this year!)
Best Cinematography
Nominations: Anna Karenina, Django Unchained, Life Of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall
Who I Want To Win: Skyfall
Who I Think Will Win: Skyfall
I don't usually write about the more technical categories because I don't always feel fit to judge them and also if I spent time writing up every award this post would be as long as the actual award show, thank you speeches and all, and I just don't have that kind of time. But I really felt I needed to write about this one because the cinematography in Skyfall blew me away. It was easily the most beautiful Bond movie ever shot and in my opinion the most beautifully shot movie of the year. If Deakins doesn't win this I'm going to riot in the streets, and yes, I realize that is a strong reaction for an award almost nobody but me and the five nominees care about. Deakins is beyond due for this award, having been nominated 10 times without winning once. I can still see the certain scenes from Skyfall in my head because they were so indelible. This has to be the year he gets his due!
ACTUAL WINNER: LIFE OF PI
Best Animated Short
Nominations: Adam and Dog, Fresh Guacamole, Head over Heels, Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare", Paperman
Who I Want To Win: Paperman
Who I Think Will Win: Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"
This is a tough category because I feel like it should be for up and coming artists and animated film makers, people are more DIY about film making, yet by far the two best shorts are a Disney short and a Simpsons short. I really liked Adam and Dog, the animation was simple yet beautiful, but it still felt like it was in a different class then the other big house shorts. I enjoyed both Paperman and The Longest Daycare, so I won't be upset if either wins, but I found Paperman slightly more entertaining and I really liked the animation style. I have a strong feeling, though, that the Academy is going to reward an Emmy favorite that is up for its first Oscar by giving the award to the Simpson crew.
ACTUAL WINNER: PAPERMAN
Best Animated Feature
Nominations: Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, Wreck-It Ralph
Who I Want To Win: Wreck-It Ralph
Who I Think Will Win: Frankenweenie
As is going to be the case in most categories this year, I don't really have a stand out favorite animated film and will be happy to see any of three on the nominations get the Oscar. Wreck-It Ralph was my favorite of this group, I loved all the old school video game references and it had a really cute, well told story to go along with it. I also really enjoyed The Pirates! Band of Misfits. It's from the makers of Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run, so you know they know how to make a smart, funny animated flick. But, I have a strong feeling that the Oscar is going to go to Frankenweenie. It's a little more artistic then the others, it comes from the mind of Tim Burton and its really well made. The style of humor is obviously different then the others and its a bit more dramatic, I think it is more up the voters alley then anything else. But again, I have no problem with that.
ACTUAL WINNER: BRAVE
Best Documentary Feature
Nominations: 5 Broken Cameras, The Gatekeepers, How To Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, Searching For Sugar Man
Who I Want To Win: The Invisible War
Who I Think Will Win: The Gatekeepers
The Invisible War was by far my favorite of these films. It was crazy to hear the unbelievable atrocities that women in the military have to deal with and that nobody is doing anything about it. The film did a great job of building the case, showing the lack of response, trying to give both sides (not that there is any other side to allowing women to be raped). None of the other films really stuck a cord with me. 5 Broken Cameras was a little dull, How To Survive a Plague was interesting but not mind blowing, Searching For Sugar Man was a cute story about an interesting person. I didn't get to see The Gatekeepers because it hasn't really gotten wide release yet, but something tells me, with the talk it's getting and the subject matter it deals with that it's going to get the win. I feel that subject matter goes a long way with who wins this award and both The Gatekeepers and How To Survive a Plague deal with stuff near and dear to Hollywood's heart, so I think one of those two will get the award.
ACTUAL WINNER: SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN
Best Foreign Language Film
Nominations: Amour, Kon-Tiki, No, A Royal Affair, War Witch
Who I Want To Win: Anything but Amour
Who I Think Will Win: Amour
It feels so silly when a movie up for Best Picture is up for another sub-category. How could a movie considered a contender for best picture not beat a group of films not considered contenders? I've only seen Amour out of these films and that movie bored me to tears. So, I would like to see something else win just on principle, but we all know who is going to win this Oscar.
ACTUAL WINNER: AMOUR
Best Original Screenplay
Nominations: Amour, Django Unchained, Flight, Moonrise Kingdom, Zero Dark Thirty
Who I Want To Win: Moonrise Kingdom
Who I Think Will Win: Flight
This is a category that usually treated like a consolation prize to good movies that the Academy doesn't want to give the big awards to. Maybe, I just gravitate to good writing more then good film making, but I always seem to like the original screenplay winner more then the best picture. I feel that Flight should have been nominated for Best Picture. It was a much better movie then Life of Pi. It was strong in almost every element, yet for some reason got ignored. That being the case, I think the Academy is going to throw it a bone with this award. I would love to see Moonrise Kingdom win, though. I'm a Wes Anderson fan and feel that most of his movies have been award worthy, yet he has nothing to show for his efforts. It would be nice to see him win for what I thought was another quirky, fun story and script.
ACTUAL WINNER: DJANGO UNCHAINED
Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominations: Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook
Who I Want To Win: Silver Linings Playbook
Who I Think Will Win: Argo
There is a good possibility, even with so many good films in contention, that this is Argo's night. That being the case, it seems to me that they are the front runner to take home this award. As much as I have problems with the ending of Silver Linings Playbook, I really liked it for the most part and would like to see it walk away with something. This seems to me to be the most realistic award it can take home. But, as I've said about other categories, I really have no problem with any of these films, except for Life of Pi, winning the Oscar.
ACTUAL WINNER: ARGO
Best Supporting Actress
Nominations: Amy Adams, Sally Field, Anne Hathaway, Helen Hunt, Jacki Weaver
Who I Want To Win: Jacki Weaver
Who I Think Will Win: Anne Hathaway
I fell in love with Jacki Weaver as an actress a couple years ago when I saw the Australian film Animal Kingdom. The amount of story she is able to convey with just a look is awe inspiring. I don't think she gets enough credit in the acting world for just how amazing an actress she is. This isn't her best role, but those looks still come through and I really wasn't blown away by any of these other performances. From what I hear, it sounds like Anne Hathaway is the front runner, even though I think she's the least deserving of all the nominees. If she had been nominated for her role in The Dark Knight Rises I would have been all about her winning, but her brief appearance in Les Miserables was totally underwhelming in my book. I'm not sure why Helen Hunt got this nomination. Getting naked on camera isn't grounds for an award. She couldn't even pull off a New England accent; she would pronounce Mark Mack but said everything else normal. Sally Field has a strong chance to win as well, but I have my fingers crossed for Jacki.
ACTUAL WINNER: ANNE HATHAWAY
Best Supporting Actor
Nominations: Alan Arkin, Robert De Niro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tommy Lee Jones, Christoph Waltz
Who I Want To Win: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Who I Think Will Win: Philip Seymour Hoffman
This is a tough category for me to pick. I think Christoph Waltz is a great performer and Django Unchained was probably my favorite nominated movie, a movie in which I thought he was amazing in, but I can't deny that Philip Seymour Hoffman put in the best performance of this bunch. I am surprised that The Master didn't get more nominations. It probably deserved to be up for almost every major award, but only got a few acting nods. Hoffman was great in this role and seems a shoe in, although you can never count out someone like Robert De Niro even though the role really wasn't anything note worthy. It would be a small travesty if Hoffman doesn't walk away with this prize.
ACTUAL WINNER: CHRISTOPH WALTZ
Best Actress
Nominations: Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Emmanuelle Riva, Quvenzhane Wallis, Naomi Watts
Who I Want To Win: Jessica Chastain
Who I Think Will Win: Emmanuelle Riva
This is by far the worst category in this year's awards. I don't know why 90% of these performances are considered Oscar worthy. Are women's roles really that bad off? Quvenzhane Wallis was 5 when Beasts of the Southern Wild was shot. You can't tell me that a five year-old knows what she is doing when it comes to acting. A five year-old doesn't makes choices on how to play a character; she has no perspective to know what the choices might be. Emmanuelle Riva and Naomi Watts have gotten nominated for sitting in a bed more most of their movies. I'm not sure what's so award worth about sitting in a bed, but obviously the Academy feels there's something. Both Riva and Watts were out performed by the male actors in their respective films which makes it even harder for me to see them as award worthy. That leaves us with Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence, both of who were excellent. I think this should be Chastain's year though since she carried all of Zero Dark Thirty and made it the impressive movie that it was. Unfortunately, I think the Academy is going to give the award to either Riva, for being the oldest person nominated, or Wallis, for being the youngest.
ACTUAL WINNER: JENNIFER LAWRENCE
Best Actor
Nominations: Bradley Cooper, Daniel Day-Lewis, Hugh Jackman, Joaquin Phoenix, Denzel Washington
Who I Want To Win: Daniel Day-Lewis
Who I Think Will Win: Daniel Day-Lewis
This was such a loaded year for male acting performances, yet at the end of the day there is no question who should and will win this Oscar. I really felt that Jean-Louis Trintignant from Amour and Tom Holland from The Impossible should have been nominated, but who should be taken out? Probably Hugh Jackman, who really wasn't anything special but the Academy likes to reward people who sing. Other then that everyone nominated was highly deserving. And yet I feel there should be a rule that any year Daniel Day-Lewis makes a movie he should just be given the Oscar. He has not put in a performance that was less than amazing. Add to it that he is doing the Academy's favorite thing to award, mimicking a famous person, and there really is no doubt that he will walk away with yet another award.
ACTUAL WINNER: DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
Best Director
Nominations: Michael Haneke, Benh Zeitlin, Ang Lee, Steven Spielberg, David O. Russell
Who I Want To Win: David O. Russell
Who I Think Will Win: Steven Spielberg
Who I really want to win for this category is Kathryn Bigelow, but for some reason that nobody ever will be able to explain she wasn't nominated, so I'm going with David O. Russell. I've loved pretty much all his films, expect The Fighter which I thought was a little over rated, and think he deserves a nod. Silver Linings Playbook was a really good movie with a big cast that all came together so perfectly you can't help but think it's because of the director. As much as I would love Russell to get it, I think this is Spielberg's year. Lincoln might not get Best Picture, so this would be a consolation prize for one of the Academy's favorite directors who they tend to reward when he makes a movie with historical and thematic weight.
ACTUAL WINNER: ANG LEE
Best Picture
Nominations: Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty
Who I Want To Win: Django Unchained
Who I Think Will Win: Argo
This is a tough year to pick Best Picture because I think that both Argo and Lincoln could easily walk away with the prize. And unlike most years, I wouldn't be offended if almost any of these nominees won. The exceptions are Life of Pi, Amour and Les Miserables. I truly have no idea why Life of Pi is up for so many awards. It is a painfully boring story with a horrible pay off. There was nothing special about any of it and there are a dozen movies that should have been nominated over it (The Master, The Dark Knight Rises, The Impossible, Moonrise Kingdom, Flight, Skyfall, The Sessions, etc.). Amour just bored me to tears. I liked Trintignant performance and the end is a little shocking and unsettling, but it took to long to get there and I just didn't find it interesting enough. I get why Le Miserables is nominated, it fits the Oscar movie criteria, but it just did nothing for me and really didn't work that well as a movie. Yes, there were big production numbers. Yes, there were big name actors. Yes, there were powerful songs. But the story didn't do much for me and I wasn't impressed with the acting at all.
My favorite movie from this list is Django Unchained. I've always been a huge Tarantino big and this is one of his best efforts. There is everything you could want from a Tarantino movie, over the top violence, smart rapid dialogue, provoking story lines, plus some great performances from great actors. Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio could easily been nominated along with Waltz and the best performance of all in the movie was arguably Sam Jackson, who was amazing as an evil Uncle Tom trying to bring down Django. I have very little hope that it is going to pull of an upset, but nothing would make me happier then seeing this movie get the big prize.
Of the movies left on the list, I wouldn't not be upset to see any of them win. Beasts of the Southern Wild did not blow me away, but it was an interesting film that took a lot of artistic chances, something I've always said the Academy needs to reward more. Silver Linings Playbook was close to being my favorite. I loved the way the movie tried to explore mental illness and the characters that inhabited Russell's world were deeply interesting, but the ending just lost me. It went from an interesting character movie to a ridiculous rom-com. If the whole betting stroyline was absent from this movie I'd probably be pushing for it to win the Oscar. Zero Dark Thirty was an amazing tale of obsession and the last 45 minutes are breath taking, but I just think some of the plotlines are to controversial for the Academy to give it the big prize.
Argo and Lincoln are the two with the best chances to win. Both are flawed movies, but they still are able to tell compelling tales in a way that Hollywood loves. Lincoln has fantastic moments and the fact Spielberg is behind it makes it an automatic contender, but I think when all is said and done Argo will come out on top. Hollywood loves movies that make fun of Hollywood and Argo is able to do that while still telling a highly dramatic and uplifting tale.
ACTUAL WINNER: ARGO
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