Thursday, January 10, 2013

Thoughts on the oscar noms

Whatever other disappointments I have, I was so tickled pink to find that David O. Russell and Benh Zeitlin were in over Tom Hooper, I've just been happy all day.

A little sad that Quentin Tarantino wasn't in as well, but I do think Inglourious Basterds was probably his masterpiece and that not having his longtime editor on Django meant that the film wasn't quite as sharp as it otherwise could have been.

COMPLETELY thrilled with all the love for Silver Linings Playbook - including a huge surprise in Jacki Weaver for supporting actress! Yay Jacki Weaver!

And yay for Quvenzhané Wallis and Emmanuelle Riva as the youngest and oldest best actress nominees! (*cough*no roles for middle aged actresses*cough*)

As many other commentators have pointed out, the noms bode well for Silver Linings, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Amour, and not so for Django, Les Mis, Zero Dark, and Argo. Which is too bad - I loved Argo, and I loved a lot of Django. And I think those two should be up for more than Life of Pi. Then again, I always think editing TENDS to line up with those with a better shot at a best picture win (not last year, though!) So really good for Silver Linings and maybe not so bad for Argo and Zero Dark Thirty.

Other thoughts:
Disappointed that Looper was not in for original screenplay and Perks of Being a Wallflower was not in for adapted. *le Sigh*

Strange that Beasts didn't get a score nomination. 

It was a long shot, but sad that Freedom didn't make it in for best song. The song category I actually found quite weird. I don't think anyone predicted that right.

Pleasantly surprised that Pirates! made it in for animated over Rise of the Guardians. 

Sad for Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow. 

Sad that Cloud Atlas was entirely shutout.

I'm glad the noms didn't follow the DGA and SAGs, which I thought were not as good of choices.

All the supporting actor nominees are past oscar winners.

A little sad for John Hawkes, but not too surprised. I do think he was better in both Winter's Bone and Martha Marcy Mae Marlene. I'd say I like him better bad, but... Deadwood. 

No production nom for Moonrise Kingdom? You must be joking.

SHOCKED the Avengers isn't in for sound. 

Happy that Seamus McGarvey is in for cinematography. He does good work. Surprised that Django is in over The Master, which had been getting raves. (Thank god Les Mis didn't get in!!!)

Happy that Eiko Ishioka is in. I didn't think they'd do a posthumous nom for costumes, but it was well deserved.

So - how did I do? 89/122 (103/122 if you include first round alternates) [Ed update: Which finishes at 73 and 84% correct respectively. That beats my 2011 (71/82% correct) and 2010 (74/78%) picks, for which I added in any correct alternate. For such an unpredictable year, I did pretty damn well.]


Best Picture:
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Les Mis
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

If 8, Django Unchained
If 9, Moonrise Kingdom

Possible 10th: Amour, The Master, Skyfall, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel


Amour over Moonrise Kingdom. A little odd. But not wholly unexpected.

Best Director:
Ben Affleck
Kathryn Bigelow
Ang Lee
David O. Russell
Steven Spielberg


Alternate: Quentin Tarantino. I refuse to discuss Tom Hooper.



Michael Haneke and Benh Zeitlin. WHOA. Way to throw a curveball oscars!


Best Actress:
Jessica Chastain
Marion Cotillard
Jennifer Lawrence
Emmanuelle Riva
Naomi Watts


Aternate: Quevenzhane Wallis, Helen Mirren, Rachel Weisz


Whoo! Happy with that substitution!

Best Actor:
Bradley Cooper
Daniel Day-Lewis

John Hawkes
Hugh Jackman
Denzel Washington


Alternate: Joaquin Phoenix

Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams
Sally Field
Anne Hathaway
Helen Hunt

Nicole Kidman

Alternate: Maggie Smith




Jacki Weaver. WHOOOOO.


Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin
Robert DeNiro

Leonardo DiCaprio
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Tommy Lee Jones


Alternate: Christoph Waltz, Matthew McConaughey, Eddie Redmayne, Javier Bardem


A little surprised. Not that I don't love Christoph Waltz in Django, but.... Leo cut his hand! He nearly gave a blood disease to Kerry Washington!

Screenplay - Original:
Django Unchained
Looper
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty


Alternate: Flight, Amour

Screenplay - Adapted:
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Lincoln

Perks of Being a Wallflower
Silver Linings Playbook

Alternate: Life of Pi, Les Mis



*SNIFF*

Foreign:
Amour
Intouchables
No
A Royal Affair

War Witch

Alternate: Beyond the Hills, Kon-Tiki




Kon-Tiki over Intouchables. Surprising, but not unwelcome.

Documentary:
Bully
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man


Alternate: Mea Maxima Culpa

5 Broken Cameras

Animated:
Brave
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman

Rise of the Guardians
Wreck-It-Ralph

Alternate: Hotel Transylvania (Or The Painting, if they decide to go all Chico & Rita, Cat in Paris on us)



Pirates! Band of Misfits


Editing:
Argo
Les Mis
Lincoln
The Master
Zero Dark Thirty

Alternate: Life of Pi, Skyfall, Cloud Atlas, Dark Knight



Silver Linings Playbook

Cinematography:
Life of Pi
Les Mis
Lincoln
The Master
Skyfall

Alternate: Anna Karenina, Zero Dark Thirty



Django Unchained


Score:
Anna Karenina
Argo

Cloud Atlas
Life of Pi
Lincoln


Alternate: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Skyfall, The Master, Moonrise Kingdom

Song:
Ancora Qui - Django Unchained
Learn Me Right - Brave
Suddenly - Les Mis
Skyfall - Skyfall

Abraham's Daughter - Hunger Games

Alternate: Everybody Needs a Best Friend - Ted, Freedom - Django Unchained (This should SOOOO be nominated), Fire in the Blood - Lawless (THIS SHOULD ALSO BE NOMINATED), Lawless Love - Madagascar 3, Still Alive - Paul Williams Sill Alive, Safe and Sound - Hunger Games, Breath of Life - Snow White and the Huntsman, From Here to the Moon and Back - Joyful Noise


Before My Time - Chasing Ice
Pi's Lullaby - Life of Pi





Wow. I don't think ANYONE had these two on their radar. Maybe the Hunger Games and Django multiple choices split the votes?


Production Design:
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
The Hobbit
Les Mis
Lincoln


Alternate: Argo, The Master, Life of Pi, Cloud Atlas

Costume:
Anna Karenina
Cloud Atlas
Django Unchained
Les Mis
Lincoln


Alternate: Mirror Mirror, The Hobbit, Snow White and the Huntsman. I feel like the Academy doesn't tend to go for costumes on foreign films, so probably not A Royal Affair.

Sound Editing:
The Avengers
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty


Alternate: Flight, Killing them Softly, Les Mis, Dark Knight



Argo. Huh.

Sound Mixing:
The Hobbit
Les Mis
Lincoln
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Alternate: Django Unchained, The Avengers, Life of Pi, Dark Knight

Unless the Academy decides to totally double the Edit/Mix categories again. [update: not totally!]



Argo. Huh again. I thought their soundworks piece was interesting, so cool.

Visual Effects:
Avengers
Cloud Atlas
Hobbit
Life of Pi
Prometheus

Alternate: Battleship, Dark Knight, Skyfall







Snow White and the Huntsman. *SNIFF* Total Cloud Atlas shutout.

Makeup:
Hobbit
Les Mis

Lincoln

Alternate: Hitchcock, MIB3, Looper

It is so wrong that Cloud Atlas won't be up for this.

Short Documentary:
Inocente 
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart

The Education of Mohammad Hussein

Alternate: Redemption


BOO-YAH.




Short Animated:
Adam and Dog
Head Over Heels
Maggie Simpson in The Longest Daycare
Paperman

The Eagleman Stag

Alternate: Dripped, Fall of the House of Usher, Combustible


Fresh Guacamole. Which I had on the list and took off! I haven't seen it, but I did enjoy the Eagleman Stag.

Short Live:
9meter
Asad
Curfew

Henry
when you find me

Alternate: Buzkashi Boys, A Fabrica, Salar

Death of a Shadow. Which I ALSO had and changed my mind on.

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