February 24th will be the 85th annual Academy Awards. Out of all the award shows dedicated to film, the Oscars are the only one I pay any attention to, mainly due to its history and that it's the most prolific out of the lot. I mean, how many movie previews have you seen that go, “Starring Screen Actors’ Guild Award winner...” Anyway, with this post, I will give you my picks for the main categories on who I think should win and who I think will win. And the first category is...
Best Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin - Argo
Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master
Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln
Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained
Who should win: I’m a bit pissed off here. I said in my “Top 10 Best Films of 2012" post that Leonardo DiCaprio gave the best supporting actor performance of the year, and sadly, he is MIA from the list. This should’ve been his year. That being said, my pick is Robert De Niro for his uncharacteristically restrained performance as a dad trying to be there for his bi-polar son, yet never taking into account that his own compulsive behavior might have rubbed off on his kid. It's one of De Niro's best performances in years. He's won it twice before, and hopefully he wins his third.
Who will win: Robert De Niro
Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams - The Master
Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Jacki Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook
Who should win: Helen Hunt deserves it for her rather risky yet heartfelt performance in The Sessions as a sex therapist that tends to a man paralyzed neck down. Her character has always been the type to never let any emotional attachment cross over into her profession, that is until she meets this man, Mark O'Brien. It's by far the best performance of her career.
Who will win: Anne Hathaway... Hopefully her acceptance speech won't be as God awful atrocious as her Oscar hosting duties were with James Franco in 2011.
Best Actor:
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Hugh Jackman - Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Denzel Washington - Flight
Who should win: It's almost a crime that somehow John Hawkes got snubbed for his role in The Sessions. Rant aside, Denzel Washington has won the Oscar twice before, but in Flight, I argue he gives his best performance ever. The climatic scene alone where he's at his hearing on the plane crash and finally admits he's an alcoholic is enough to win him Best Actor.
Who will win: Are you kidding me? Daniel Day-Lewis could wrangle an Oscar nomination playing Eugene Levy’s character from American Pie. Just look at the poster for Lincoln. I'll be shocked if he doesn't win.
Best Actress:
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts - The Impossible
Who should win: This is a tough one. I'm torn between three out of the five - Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, and Naomi Watts. Jennifer Lawrence is both loveable and crazy in Silver Linings Playbook, and the amazing thing is she's only twenty-two and already has her second Oscar nomination. This girl hasn't even reached her peak yet. Jessica Chastain was my original pick for Best Actress for her quiet yet powerful performance in Zero Dark Thirty... and then I saw The Impossible, and my pick now goes to Naomi Watts for her physically demanding and emotional performance. A performance like this always runs the risk of going over the top and she strikes just the right note with each of her scenes. She's always been an underrated actress, and I've been a fan of hers for years, so hopefully she gets her due.
Who will win: Honestly, I'd be happy with any of the three I mentioned winning, and I believe it will be Jessica Chastain.
Best Director:
Michael Haneke - Amour
Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
David O. Russell - David O. Russell
Who should win: Ben Affleck... Oh, wait, never mind. He got snubbed. That's okay, I'll just go with my second choice, Kathryn Bigelow... Nope. Affleck was the most talked about snub in this category seeing that a lot of people had him pegged as a shoe-in for Best Director with Argo. My pick then is Ang Lee for his visually breathtaking Life of Pi. It's an extraordinary film and one I wasn't expecting to like as much as I did, but I'm glad I ended up seeing it.
Who will win: With Affleck and Bigelow out of the picture, they might as well just give Steven Spielberg the trophy now and get it over with.
Best Picture:
Amour - Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka & Michael Katz
Argo - Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck & George Clooney
Beasts of the Southern Wild - Dan Janvey, Josh Penn & Michael Gottwald
Django Unchained - Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin & Pilar Savone
Les Miserables - Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward & Cameron Mackintosh
Life of Pi - Gil Netter, Ang Lee & David Womark
Lincoln - Steven Spielberg & Kathleen Kennedy
Silver Linings Playbook - Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen & Jonathan Gordon
Zero Dark Thirty - Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow & Megan Ellison
What should win: If you've read my post on the top 10 films of 2012, you should know the answer to this - Zero Dark Thirty. It's a gripping film that's just as intense in the "behind the scenes" moments with the CIA as it is during the final showdown at the Bin Laden compound. Go see this movie!
What will win: If history has shown us anything, it's rare for a split to occur between Best Director and Best Picture. There's a difference between rare and impossible, though, and it has happened before (i.e. Oliver Stone/Driving Miss Daisy, Steven Spielberg/Shakespeare in Love, Steven Soderbergh/Gladiator, etc.). That being said, Oscars also love to make sure certain films don't go empty handed which is why Argo will win best picture.
To finish things off, I'm gonna do a quick prediction of the technical awards. I know most people tend to focus on the main categories, but to be honest, the guys behind the scenes doing the editing, cinematography, and visual effects are really kinda the unsung heroes of the movies. For the record, these are my predictions, and not necessarily who or what I'd prefer to win.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Lincoln
Best Original Screenplay: Amour
Best Animated Feature Film: Wreck-It Ralph
Best Cinematography: Life of Pi
Best Costume Design: Le Miserables
Best Film Editing: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Le Miserables
Best Original Score: Lincoln
Best Original Song: Skyfall
Best Production Design: Le Miserables
Best Sound Editing: Zero Dark Thirty
Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi
Well, there you have it. Those are my predictions. Let's go 18 of 18. We'll find out February 24th, and I'll have a recap afterward. Here's hoping not as many musical montages as they normally like to churn out.
REVIEWS COMING LATER NEXT WEEK...
A Good Day to Die Hard
Beautiful Creatures
Safe Haven
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