The Academy Awards, hosted by Seth MacFarlane and airing on February 24th, is the crown jewel of the television year. Past years’ nominations ballots have not impressed, but the nominations this year celebrate traditional and interesting films alike.
For the past few years in order to bring in more popular and higher grossing movies to increase ratings, the nominations for best picture have grown from five movies to around ten. More films will be the evening’s losers, leaving without the award.
Equally frustrating is how the academy gives preferential treatment to movies from the latter half of the year. This makes it seem as though if your movie was made before September, you would have almost no chance of being in the Oscars. That’s why studios like their movies to show on Christmas Day (Django or Les Miserables).
Best Picture Nominations
Amour, Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life Of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Beasts of the Southern Wild was absolutely spectacular with an incredibly engrossing story and a lot of heart. Young actress Quvenzahne Wallis blew my mind.
Django Unchained – You can’t go wrong with Quentin Tarantino. Remarkable cast, great story, hilarious at some spots, all touched off with the Quentin style but could have been shorter.
Les Miserables – I hate musicals, so take my review with a grain of salt. I enjoyed the movie for the most part. Anne Hathaway stole the show.
Lincoln – Overall, I was disappointed. While the acting, visuals, and score was flawless, there was nothing else going for it. I felt like I was watching the History Channel. Lincoln’s death made me question the purpose of the film.
Silver Linings Playbook – very enjoyable to watch. The cast was amazing. One of the few romantic comedies that made me smile. A great date film.
Zero Dark Thirty – It was just all right. I kept asking myself, “wait, did this event actually historically happen?” The film felt rushed but had decent acting.
I would be happy if Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django, or Silver Linings Playbook won because I really enjoyed these films and think all three deserve the award. However, I believe Lincoln, Life of Pi, Zero Dark Thirty, or Beasts of the Southern Wild will win. These are movies that the Academy will probably be comfortable with choosing.
Also, keep in mind that it is very rare for a movie to win Best Picture and not win Best Director.
Best Director: Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and David O. Russel (Silver Linings Playbook) are tied for me for director. I really did not care for Spielberg in his film. Yet I predict Steven Spielberg or Benh Zeitlin have a good chance of winning Best Director.
Best Actor: My pick is Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln: he completely disappears into the role. No one could have done it better. Daniel Day-Lewis from Lincoln will easily win the award. There’s no other reason for the Academy to not let him win. But my runner-up is Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook.
Best Actress: I completely support Quvenzahne Wallis for the Oscar, the youngest to be nominated in this category. She is now one of my favorite child actors of all time. However, Quvenzahne will probably not win the award. I have a bad feeling Jessica Chastain from Zero Dark Thirty will win. I really did not care for her, but considering the hype about her, she probably will win.
Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz in Django was beyond incredible. He completely drives Django throughout the 2+ hours. Curiously though, Christoph was nominated for supporting actor. Seriously? He had more lines than Jamie Foxx in this movie. But this is the category I am not confident about. Christoph Waltz, Robert de Niro, and Tommy Lee Jones from Lincoln all have an equal chance of winning.
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway will dominate this category, and it is well deserved. Her twenty minutes in the movie entranced me.
There were nominations I wish had happened. For starters, why in the world was Leonardo DiCaprio left out from Django? He was unstoppable and seemed to be having a blast while playing his character. The Academy seems to have it out for DiCaprio. He also wasn’t nominated for best actor in Inception. I hope 2013’s Gatsby gives him another shot at the Oscars.
Also, Skyfall, which I believe was of the best movies of the year, was left out of almost all the categories. The same goes for Looper. I was captivated by the movie when I saw it in Chicago. I also wish The Hobbit received more praise.
The Oscars are not the only voice for awarding movies. There are plenty other shows who give awards to movies, such as the Golden Globes or even the Youtube Youreviewers awards.