Sunday, February 24, 2013

It's a Wonderful Day for Oscar...

Oscar... Oscar... Who will win?  I'm actually not sure, but here is a list of all of the nominees, with my choice in bold.

Best Picture - I feel like this was a harder choice this year, as opposed to prior years, as nothing really jumped out as gotta win, but I really enjoyed many of these flicks.

– “Amour,”- Loved this movie, but it wrecked me.  Seriously, wrecked me. It's one of those movies that I'm glad I saw, but will never sit through again.
– “Argo," - My favorite movie of the nine.  Had my interest from the opening to the closing credits.
– “Beasts of the Southern Wild"- The girl was great. The imagery was interesting, but maybe because I saw it as the first of 5 movies, starting at 10am., I was just in the wrong head-space because it was just good.  The girl, however, was fantastic.
– “Django Unchained" - Not a huge Tarantino fan, but I quite enjoyed this one. He does have a way with dialogue, certain words not withstanding. Plus, the cast was fabulous, some credit does go to the director. Special shout-out to Christoph Waltz who was just phenomenal.
– “Les Miserables,”- I was looking forward to this movie for nearly 20 years since I first heard about the Les Mis movie rumors. Seriously, there is an ad in the Playbill I got when I saw the show when I was 16 touting the upcoming movie. I saw this film twice. Loved it the first time, but it lost some luster the second.  However, Russell Crowe improved somewhat the second time around.
– “Life of Pi,”- Visually great, and enjoyable, but that's all.
– “Lincoln,”- Gotta say, I was somewhat disappointed. Daniel Day-Lewis was amazing, but I was left somewhat wanting by the film. Also, I'm still mad on Connecticut's behalf.
– “Silver Linings Playbook,” - Loved this movie. Would not be upset if this won. I put Argo a few ahead, because it took me a bit to fall into the movie, but once I did, I was gone. Jennifer Lawrence was ridiculous. So good.
– “Zero Dark Thirty” - Enjoyed this more than the rest of the folks in my group, because it was just an exciting ride.

Actor in a Leading Role
– Bradley Cooper, “Silver Linings Playbook”
– Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln” - He was Lincoln.
– Hugh Jackman, “Les Miserables”
– Joaquin Phoenix, “The Master”
– Denzel Washington, “Flight”

Actress in a Leading Role
– Jessica Chastain, “Zero Dark Thirty”
– Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings Playbook” - I thought I would be going with Jessica Chastain because she was great and I like her lots, but Jennifer Lawrence just blew me away. I always forget that she's such a great actress. Because she is. Maybe she's been not great in a movie, but if so, it's a movie I haven't seen yet.
– Emmanuelle Riva, “Amour”
– Quvenzhane Wallis, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
– Naomi Watts, “The Impossible”

Actor in a Supporting Role
– Alan Arkin, “Argo”
– Robert De Niro, “Silver Linings Playbook”
– Philip Seymour Hoffman, “The Master”
– Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln”
– Christoph Waltz, “Django Unchained” - I know Tommy Lee Jones is the front runner, but I hope Waltz walks away with this one.

Actress in a Supporting Role
– Amy Adams, “The Master”
– Sally Field, “Lincoln”
– Anne Hathaway, “Les Miserables”- Her performance held up on second viewing. However, I have not yet seen The Master or The Sessions. I heard Amy Adams is great, and I would have thought Helen Hunt was the lead, judging by the adverts.
– Helen Hunt, “The Sessions”
– Jacki Weaver, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Directing
– Michael Haneke, “Amour”
– Benh Zeitlin, “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Ang Lee, “Life of Pi” - Another hard category, but what Lee did visually shifts me in his direction. However, I would not be saddened if any of the others take home the statue. I know... I know... way to take a stand.
– Steven Spielberg, “Lincoln”
– David O. Russell, “Silver Linings Playbook”

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
– “Argo,” Screenplay by Chris Terrio - The story was just insane. I hope it wins.
– “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
– “Life of Pi,” Screenplay by David Magee
– “Lincoln,” Screenplay by Tony Kushner
– “Silver Linings Playbook,” Screenplay by David O. Russell

Writing (Original Screenplay)
– “Amour,” Written by Michael Haneke
“Django Unchained,” Written by Quentin Tarantino - Tarantino has a way with dialogue and the story was, while not unique, entertaining. Nothing really happened in Amour and I was disturbed by the liberties taken with Zero Dark Thirty.
– “Flight,” Written by John Gatins
– “Moonrise Kingdom,” Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
– “Zero Dark Thirty,” Written by Mark Boal

Animated Feature Film
– “Brave”
– “Frankenweenie”
– “ParaNorman” - Only saw this and Pirates, but I liked this one.

– “The Pirates! Band of Misfits”
– “Wreck-It Ralph”

Cinematography
– “Anna Karenina,” Seamus McGarvey
– “Django Unchained,” Robert Richardson
– “Life of Pi,” Claudio Miranda - Visually ridiculous.

– “Lincoln,” Janusz Kaminski
– “Skyfall,” Roger Deakins

Costume Design
“Anna Karenina,” Jacqueline Durran - Voters seem to like puffy dresses, so this will likely win.  Though, Lincoln's costuming put me right there.
– “Les Miserables,” Paco Delgado
– “Lincoln,” Joanna Johnston
– “Mirror Mirror,” Eiko Ishioka
– “Snow White and the Huntsman,” Colleen Atwood

Documentary Feature
“5 Broken Cameras” - Haven't seen any of these, but I hope this wins.  It likely won't due to the themes. But the fact that the director got stuck at customs leads me to believe that this should be a more widely-seen picture.
– “The Gatekeepers”
– “How to Survive a Plague”
– “The Invisible War”
– “Searching for the Sugar Man”

Documentary Short Subject
– “Inocente” - Haven't seen this one, but I feel like with this title, it has a shot of winning.
– “Kings Point”
– “Mondays at Racine”
– “Open Heart”
– “Redemption”

Film Editing
– “Argo,” William Goldenberg
– “Life of Pi,” Tim Squyres
– “Lincoln,” Michael Kahn
– “Silver Linings Playbook,” Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
“Zero Dark Thirty,” Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg - This should win something, why not editing?


Foreign Language Film
“Amour,” Austria - Since it likely won't win the big award, it should at least take this one.
– “Kon-Tiki,” Norway
– “No,” Chile
– “A Royal Affair,” Denmark
– “War Witch,” Canada

Makeup and Hairstyling
– “Hitchcock,” Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
– “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
– “Les Miserables,” Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell - Granted a lot of the make up was icky (the French poor were not well-kept), but I believed it.

Music (Original Score)
– “Anna Karenina,” Dario Marianelli
– “Argo,” Alexandre Desplat
– “Life of Pi,” Mychael Danna - I know nothing about music, so I am not at all qualified to give an opinion, but I have vague recollections of liking the music.
– “Lincoln,” John Williams

– “Skyfall,” Thomas Newman

Music (Original Song)
– “Before My Time” from “Chasing Ice,” Music and Lyric by J. Ralph
– “Everybody Needs A Best Friend” from “Ted,” Music by Walter Murphy; Lyric by Seth MacFarlane
– “Pi’s Lullaby” from “Life of Pi,” Music by Mychael Danna; Lyric by Bombay Jayashri
– “Skyfall” from “Skyfall,” Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth - Again, I know nothing about music, but I quite liked this song whenever I heard Adele sing it.

– “Suddenly” from “Les Miserables,” Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg; Lyric by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Production Design
– “Anna Karenina,” Production Design: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
– “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” Production Design: Dan Hennah; Set Decoration: Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
– “Les Miserables,” Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Anna Lynch-Robinson
– “Life of Pi,” Production Design: David Gropman; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
“Lincoln,” Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson - Yeah, this was a well-designed production.

Short Film (Animated)
– “Adam and Dog,” Minkyu Lee
– “Fresh Guacamole,” PES
– “Head over Heels,” Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly
– “Maggie Simpson in `The Longest Daycare’,” David Silverman
– “Paperman,” John Kahrs - Haven't seen this, but folks have raved about it.


Short Film (Live Action)
– “Asad,” Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
“Buzkashi Boys,” Sam French and Ariel Nasr - Haven't seen any of these, but what the hell.  I liked the name.
– “Curfew,” Shawn Christensen
– “Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw),” Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
– “Henry,” Yan England

Sound Editing
– “Argo,” Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
– “Django Unchained,” Wylie Stateman
– “Life of Pi,” Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton - Shot in a dark here.
– “Skyfall,” Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
– “Zero Dark Thirty,” Paul N.J. Ottosson

Sound Mixing
– “Argo,” John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
“Les Miserables,” Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes - They did live singing.  This deserves an Oscar.
– “Life of Pi,” Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
– “Lincoln,” Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
– “Skyfall,” Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
– “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
“Life of Pi,” Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott - He acted with a tiger.  I hope that was a visual.
– “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
– “Prometheus,” Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
– “Snow White and the Huntsman,” Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

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