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| Love the look in her eyes in this poster. |
Best
Motion Picture of the Year
Amour
Argo
Beasts
of the Southern Wild
Django
Unchained
Les
Miserables
Life
of Pi
Lincoln
Silver
Linings Playbook
Zero
Dark Thirty
I’ve actually managed to see all but one of
these (sorry, Amour, you may well be
incredible, but I haven’t had the time). I was on the edge of my seat for Argo, refrained from singing all the way
through Les Miserables, and enjoyed
the heck out of the Silver Linings
Playbook. I was a bit underwhelmed with Zero
Dark Thirty, possibly just because I wasn’t interested, and though I loved
most of Django Unchained I thought
the last thirty minutes or so should have been cut, did not add to the story
and, quite frankly, after Leo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz were gone I was no
longer interested in the main characters. Lincoln
had one of the best performances I’ve ever seen, and Beasts of the Southern Wild was a sweet little indie movie. My
pick, though, and the one I enjoyed the most, for its story, character and
storytelling, is Argo.
Who
WILL Win: Argo
Who
SHOULD Win: Argo
Best
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln
Hugh Jackman for Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix for The Master
Denzel Washington for Flight
Some great performances out of the men this
year. Hugh Jackman really carried the role of Jean Valjean marvellously, and I
loved his choices with the character. Denzel Washington gave a better
performance from him than I’ve seen in a long time. Bradley Cooper is
fantastic, and really elevates his film. I haven’t seen Phoenix in The Master but I hear it’s a powerhouse
of a performance. But then there’s Daniel Day-Lewis, and man, that guy is in a class all his own. The voice, the stature the
little smile and the steely eyes—it all culminates in a character who is more
Lincoln than Lincoln. You never once see him show his hand to the audience.
Like the Grand Canyon (I’m told), this guy is worth the hype.
Who
WILL Win: Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln
Who
SHOULD Win: Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln
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| Really into the minimalism of this one. |
Best
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva for Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts for The Impossible
Here’s the thing. Quvenzhane Wallis is
adorable. She does fine in her film. But it’s not challenging. It’s a
performance that the director got from her, as opposed to one she gave. Take
her performance against Tom Holland’s in The
Impossible, and you’ll see the difference in child actors. Moving on, I
think it’s quite possible Emmanuelle Riva will take this one. Jennifer and
Jessica are the favourites, with Silver
Linings Playbook edging out to take the lead, but if there’s an upset it’ll
be from Amour. Which is sad, because
the best of the performances I’ve seen is given by Naomi Watts in The Impossible. Having said that, I’d be
very happy to see a worthy Jennifer Lawrence take the award—she really lights
up the screen in her film.
Who
WILL Win: Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook
Who
SHOULD Win: Naomi Watts for The Impossible
Best
Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin for Argo
Robert De Niro for Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Master
Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln
Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained
I’ve got very little idea about this
category—it’ll be a race between Hoffman, Jones and Waltz, I think. Arkin is
good, but it’s nothing new, and not any better than Bryan Cranston in the same
film. De Niro is great, actually, but he hasn’t garnered the buzz that the
others have. Jones may have lost some ground in the lead-up to the awards, and
Waltz has won the SAG and the BAFTA. Which is great, because I love him, and
because he’s a phenomenal actor. Hoffman, from all reports, gives a wonderful
performance, despite the fact that I find him so icky. So I think he might
deserve it. But Waltz has a lot of momentum…
Who
WILL Win: Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained
Who
SHOULD Win: Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained
 |
| Whee! |
Best
Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams for The Master
Sally Field for Lincoln
Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables
Helen Hunt for The Sessions
Jacki Weaver for The Silver Linings Playbook
As close to a lock that we have
tonight—this award is Hathaway’s to lose, and with good reason. She’s not long
on screen, but boy does she make an impact. Her presence, in fact, carries
through the rest of the film as a reminder of what poverty and an unjust and
corrupt system can do to the fringes of society. Lovely.
Who
WILL Win: Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables
Who
SHOULD Win: Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables
Best
Achievement in Directing
Michael Haneke for Amour
Ang Lee for Life of Pi
David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg for Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Wow. Just…wow. Wither Ben? Wither Bigelow?
What the heck, in other words, is the Academy doing in this category?
Embarrassment upon embarrassment is piled upon the Oscars with every directing
award young Affleck gets, but let’s look at what we’ve got. Ang Lee does
something magical with Life of Pi,
and Spielberg has SO not lost his touch. Haneke might actually be an upset
here, but the safest money is between the two heavyweights.
Who
WILL Win: Steven Spielberg for Lincoln
Who
SHOULD Win: Ang Lee for Life of Pi
Best
Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Amour
Django
Unchained
Flight
Moonrise
Kingdom
Zero
Dark Thirty
Tarantino has been winning a lot of awards
for Django lately, but his script
really loses it in the last act. Amour
has a lot of weight here, but I think the award will go to Zero Dark Thirty, inasmuch as a consolation for Bigelow’s absence
from the Director category as for the accolades this script has received.
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| Ah, red. The colour of blood and Tarantino movies. |
Who
WILL Win: Zero
Dark Thirty
Who
SHOULD Win: Amour
Best
Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Argo
Beasts
of the Southern Wild
Life
of Pi
Lincoln
Silver
Linings Playbook
Tricky. Very tricky. I’m going to say Argo because no-one’s talked much about Pi, even though it’s a faithful
adaptation of a great book that people thought was unfilmable. Beasts is a nice concept, but I’m not
sure how much of a challenge the script was—although it certainly was
evocative. Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook are strong
contenders, but I’m sticking with Argo.
Who
WILL Win: Argo
Who
SHOULD Win: Argo
Best
Animated Feature Film of the Year
Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The
Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It
Ralph
Only seen two of these, I’m sorry to say.
Brave is Pixar, it’s set in Scotland,
it has a female heroine with AWESOME hair…but it’s not the best thing to come
out of that studio. Having said that, it’s winning pretty much everything.
Reports give more favourable reviews of Wreck-It
Ralph, and I LOVE the Pirates! books and Aardman studios, so I’d love to
see them win. Frankenweenie was great—dark,
Burtonesque, but great. I’m going with Pixar, I think.
Who
WILL Win: Brave
Who
SHOULD Win: Frankenweenie
Best
Foreign Language Film of the Year
Amour (Austria)
War
Witch (Canada)
No (Chile)
A
Royal Affair (Denmark)
Kon-Tiki (Norway)
Now hold on, let’s not forget the great Amelie debacle of 2002. All of these
films sound fantastic, really, and it’s most likely that Amour is going to take it out. My biggest pick for an upset would
be A Royal Affair.
Who
WILL Win: Amour
Who
SHOULD Win: Amour
 |
| Perfect. Just perfect. For lovers of the musical in particular. |
Best
Achievement in Cinematography
Anna
Karenina
Django
Unchained
Life
of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
Goodness. When will Roger Deakins catch a
break? The man is one of the great cinematographers of our time, but
unfortunately his work in Skyfall is
up against Claudio Miranda for Life of Pi.
And just look at it.
Who
WILL Win: Life
of Pi
Who
SHOULD Win: Life
of Pi
Best
Achievement in Editing
Argo
Life
of Pi
Lincoln
Silver
Linings Playbook
Zero
Dark Thirty
This one is between Argo and Zero Dark Thirty.
These really use their editing to its best advantage, showcasing the tension
and terror of their respective situations. Plus they’re both done by the same
guy. William Goldenberg for the win!
Who
WILL Win: Argo
Who
SHOULD Win: Argo
Best
Achievement in Production Design
Anna
Karenina
The
Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les
Miserables
Life
of Pi
Lincoln
Anna
Karenina’s stunning stage-themed production design
is a winner here, I think. Les Miserables
is the only one with the goods to beat it. Just shows that a bad movie isn’t
necessarily made up of bad people.
Who
WILL Win: Anna
Karenina
Who
SHOULD Win: Les
Miserables
Best
Achievement in Costume Design
Anna
Karenina
Les
Miserables
Lincoln
Mirror
Mirror
Snow
White and the Huntsman
Hee. Oh go on, admit it. You laughed at a
Kristen Stewart film getting nominated for something too. Harsh, I know, but
it’s so fun to be harsh. The same two will fight it out here as did for
production design. Anna for the win.
Who
WILL Win: Anna
Karenina
Who
SHOULD Win: Les
Miserables
Best
Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling
Hitchcock
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| Had to look hard for this, but I love the mysticism |
The
Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les
Miserables
Sad that Hitchcock wasn’t better received, because it was a fun movie to
watch. “Good evening,” indeed. I’m
thinking Les Miserables for this one,
despite Hobbit being as beautifully
crafted as the other Middle Earth films. I fear it didn’t make a big enough
impact this year.
Who
WILL Win: Les
Miserables
Who
SHOULD Win: The
Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Best
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Anna
Karenina
Argo
Life
of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
You know what Alexandre Desplat does really
well in Argo? Underscore. You don’t
even know it’s there but believe me, it’s working. John Williams gives us a
really good score this time around for Lincoln,
though, and he’s pretty much the king of the Oscars. I would love, as always,
for my beloved Thomas Newman to win for Skyfall,
but at the same time I don’t want it to be for music I haven’t heard yet.
Who
WILL Win: Alexandre Desplat for Argo
Who
SHOULD Win: Alexandre Desplat for Argo
Best
Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Before My Time in Chasing Ice
Suddenly in Les Miserables
Pi’s Lullaby in Life of Pi
Skyfall in Skyfall
Everybody Needs a Best Friend in Ted
I LOVE the song from Chasing Ice, even though, yes, it’s sung by Scarlett Johansson—it’s
gorgeous. Soulful and bittersweet. So that’s my favourite. Then there’s
“Suddenly”, which sounds like it fits perfectly into a score written 25 years
ago, and in itself this is a beautiful piece. I suspect Adele has the best odds
for Skyfall, but I’m saving
“Suddenly” as a possible upset.
Who
WILL Win: “Skyfall” in Skyfall
Who
SHOULD Win: “Before My Time” in Chasing Ice
Best
Achievement in Sound Mixing
Argo
Les
Miserables
Life
of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall
Lots of familiar names in this category. Les Miserables did something a bit
revolutionary, and it’s a bit of a showpiece of their film, so that’s a big
contender. Skyfall is a big film with
big action pieces and therefore a necessity for great sound mixing. And then
there’s Argo. Sheesh, it gets harder
every year.
Who
WILL Win: Les
Miserables
Who
SHOULD Win: Les
Miserables
Best
Achievement in Sound Editing
Argo
Django
Unchained
Life
of Pi
Skyfall
Zero
Dark Thirty
These kinds of categories love war films,
which makes me think Zero Dark Thirty
is in with a big chance. Surely gunshots can only be edited so many times for a
particular movie, which is why I think Django
Unchained is not. Skyfall, again,
has a great team on it. And then there’s Argo.
Who
WILL Win: Zero
Dark Thirty
Who
SHOULD Win: Argo
Best
Achievement in Visual Effects
The
Avengers
The
Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life
of Pi
Prometheus
Snow
White and the Huntsman
It’s unfortunate. This category always
wants something bigger and better. And while the effects for the Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey are just
as brilliant as they were in 2002, when they were REALLY brilliant, I just
think it might not be enough to wow people. Gollum is spectacular, and so are
the rock giants, so you never know. But then, in Life of Pi, this team gave us a riot of fantasy and spectacle, with
the most realistic CGI tiger anyone’s ever seen. Plus they were working with
water, and you should know that’s not an easy thing to simulate.
Who
WILL Win: Life
of Pi
Who
SHOULD Win: Life
of Pi
Best
Documentary, Feature
5
Broken Cameras
The
Gatekeepers
How
to Survive a Plague
The
Invisible War
Searching
for Sugar Man
Ahh, the time has come for me to pick
things based on their titles. I love the sound of 5 Broken Cameras, and it’s premise might be my favourite. How to Survive a Plague is a similarly
great name, and has gotten some good press. But Searching for Sugar Man just won the BAFTA and the WGA awards, and
it’s giving a musician a chance at the success many feel he deserved the first
time around. Plus I like the name.
 |
| I love the centre strip and that the eye colour pops out from the black and white. |
Who
WILL Win: Searching
for Sugar Man
Who
SHOULD Win: 5
Broken Cameras
Best
Documentary, Short Subject
Innocente
Kings
Point
Mondays
at Racine
Open
Heart
Redemption
Eenie, meanie, mynee…mo.
Who
WILL Win: Innocente
Who
SHOULD Win: Open
Heart
Best
Short Film, Animated
Adam
and Dog
Fresh
Guacamole
Head
Over Heels
Paperman
The
Simpsons: The Longest Daycare
I’ve actually seen one of these! No, TWO!
The Simpsons short is great fun, silent and featuring Maggie Simpson as
herself, with a nice little payoff against the baby with one eyebrow. Fresh Guacamole I saw on YouTube, and it’s
SO. CLEVER. Difficult to describe, but it’s stop motion and has such attention
to detail. So I’m voting for it.
Who
WILL Win: Paperman
Who
SHOULD Win: Fresh
Guacamole
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| Much more excited about this poster than about the movie. It's awesome! |
Best
Short Film, Live Action
Asad
Buzkashi
Boys
Curfew
Death
of a Shadow
Henry
Here we go again. Um…
Who
WILL Win: Curfew
Who
SHOULD Win: Buzkashi
Boys
Happy Oscars everyone!!!
