So,
last Thursday, the Academy announced their lineup for the 85th
Academy Awards.
Everything else, in my opinion, was, pretty
expected – which sort of sucks. But what are you going to do?
In
any event, below are my picks for each category:
Performance by an actor in a
leading role
Bradley
Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day-Lewis in “LINCOLN”
Hugh
Jackman in “Les Misérables”
Joaquin
Phoenix in “The Master”
Denzel
Washington in “Flight”
Eimer
note: A couple years ago when it was announced that Day-Lewis was going to
portray Lincoln, I posted the article and a small blurb: ‘And the Oscar for
best actor in a leading role goes to…’ I’m still convinced.
Performance by an actor in a
supporting role
Alan
Arkin in “Argo”
Robert
De Niro in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “The
Master”
Tommy
Lee Jones in “Lincoln”
Christoph
Waltz in “Django Unchained”
Eimer
note: This one was a tough choice. All five actors have previously won Academy
Awards. Waltz just picked up a supporting actor Golden Globe for Django.
However, I’m going with Hoffman for The Master. It just feels like the right
decision.
Performance by an actress in a
leading role
Jessica
Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty”
Jennifer
Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle
Riva in “Amour”
Quvenzhané
Wallis in “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Naomi
Watts in “The Impossible”
Eimer
note: I’m going to take Riva over Lawrence, Chastain and Watts. Just a gut
feeling. I haven’t seen Amour yet, but everything seems to be pointing to her
performance as key. Probably regret this when one of the other actresses are
announced. But who cares?
Performance by an actress in a
supporting role
Amy
Adams in “The Master”
Sally
Field in “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway in “Les Misérables”
Helen
Hunt in “The Sessions”
Jacki
Weaver in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Eimer
note: It’s Hathaway’s to lose. Haven’t seen the movie yet. But I hear she’s the
cat’s meow! (Dark Knight Rises pun
intended)
Best animated feature film of
the year
“Brave”
Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
“Frankenweenie” Tim Burton
“ParaNorman”
Sam Fell and Chris Butler
“The
Pirates! Band of Misfits” Peter Lord
“Wreck-It
Ralph” Rich Moore
Eimer
Note: I’ve been hearing good things about Wreck-It-Ralph and ParaNorman. Didn’t
think too much about The Pirates. And, even though, BRAVE won a Golden Globe,
I’m going to stick with my write-up a couple weeks ago and go with Tim Burton
and his refreshingly dark Frankenweenie.
Achievement in cinematography
“Anna
Karenina” Seamus McGarvey
“Django
Unchained” Robert Richardson
“Life
of Pi” Claudio Miranda
“Lincoln” Janusz Kaminski
“Skyfall”
Roger Deakins
Eimer
Note: Although Deakins has been nominated 10 times (Fargo, Jesse James, O’
Brother) – and has not yet won (yet), I was going to go with Lincoln. It had to
be hell to create that ‘natural light’ look throughout the film - especially
the night scenes. Reminds me of Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon which won Barry Alcott
the big award back in 1976. Janusz has photographed most of Speilberg’s works
including Saving Private Ryan, Shindler’s List and War of the Worlds. However, after seeing Life of Pi, I'm convinced Claudio Miranda is going to win. Just fantastic work.
Achievement in costume design
“Anna
Karenina” Jacqueline Durran
“Les Misérables” Paco Delgado
“Lincoln”
Joanna Johnston
“Mirror
Mirror” Eiko Ishioka
“Snow
White and the Huntsman” Colleen Atwood
Eimer note: Seems
like Les Miserables will win here. Dunno. Any of the other four may sneak in,
but I think everyone love’s Les Mis and will want to reward it anyway possible.
Achievement in directing
“Amour”
Michael Haneke
“Beasts
of the Southern Wild” Benh Zeitlin
“Life
of Pi” Ang Lee
“Lincoln” Steven Spielberg
“Silver
Linings Playbook” David O. Russell
Eimer
note: very odd that Bigelow, Tarantino and Affleck aren’t in this category
especially since Affleck has since won a Golden Globe Directing and Best
Picture award including the Director's Guild Award, which, pretty much would have been a landslide. That said, I’ll have to go with Speilberg in this one. And,
let’s face it, he did a good job. Lincoln is an actor’s movie as is Beasts,
Amour and Silver Linings. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised if Haneke also won
this award as well. But, think about it: Speilberg made a three-hour movie about a bunch of people talking engrossing, interesting and utterly fantastic.
Best documentary feature
“5
Broken Cameras”
Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
“The
Gatekeepers”
Nominees to be determined
“How to Survive a
Plague”
Nominees to be determined
“The
Invisible War”
Nominees to be determined
“Searching
for Sugar Man”
Nominees to be determined
Eimer
note: I haven’t seen any of these movies (yet) although I’ve been hearing great
things about The Invisible War as well as 5 Broken Cameras. But, for whatever
reason, Plague is just resonating with me.
Best documentary short subject
“Inocente”
Sean
Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
“Kings
Point”
Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
“Mondays
at Racine”
Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
“Open Heart”
Kief Davidson and
Cori Shepherd Stern
“Redemption”
Jon
Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
Eimer note: I’m
going with Open Heart because it has to do with a young kid growing who needs
open heart surgery in Rwanda and Sudan but is facing obstacles along the way.
Viewed all of the trailers and this one looks the most profound.
Achievement in 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
Eimer note: Going
with Zero Dark Thirty on this one. Could also make an argument for Life of Pi
considering all of the green screen and water scenes. Movies with great battle
scenes usually win this award (e.g. The Hurt Locker, LOTR: Return of the King,
Black Hawk Down, Schindler’s List, Born on the Fourth of July, Platoon, Raider
of the Lost Ark, you get the drift).
Best foreign language film of
the year
“Amour” Austria
“Kon-Tiki”
Norway
“No”
Chile
“A
Royal Affair” Denmark
“War
Witch” Canada
Eimer
note: Going with Amour on this. Don’t really care about the other films in this
category.
Achievement in 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
Misérables”
Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell
Eimer
note: I’m going with The Hobbit on this one. It just seems like a no brainer to
me. Middle Earth compared to real life? C’mon!
Achievement in music written
for motion pictures (Original score)
“Anna
Karenina” Dario Marianelli
“Argo”
Alexandre Desplat
“Life of Pi” Mychael Danna
“Lincoln”
John Williams
“Skyfall”
Thomas Newman
Achievement in music written
for motion pictures (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
“Suddenly”
from “Les Misérables”
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg; Lyric by Herbert
Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
Eimer note: Adele, congratulations. Although would be nice to see Seth McFarlane pick
up an award for his comedy TED.
Achievement in 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 Misérables”
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
Eimer note: It’s
a two-way tie between The Hobbit and Les Mis. I’m going with Les Mis because it
seems all of the musicals win this category (i.e. Moulin Rouge, Chicago) but
let’s not forget the fantasy either (LOTR, Pan’s Labyrinth, Benjamin Button,
Avatar). Les Mis seems more flashy and fanciful. Whereas LOTR already won.
That’s the best I can come up with.
Best animated short film
“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
Eimer note: I
watched these shorts in succession (i.e. Adam and Dog first) and each one was
very interesting and creative. However, I’m going with Paperman. The flawless combination of 2d and 3d animation is spectacular. Also you can
visit some additional insight here.
Best live action short film
“Asad”
Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
“Buzkashi
Boys” Sam French and Ariel Nasr
“Curfew”
Shawn Christensen
“Death
of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)” Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
“Henry”
Yan England
Eimer note: After
viewing all of the trailers (sorry the movies are unavailable online), I’m
going to go with Death of a Shadow. It’s got great editing, a sci-fi slant with
a head nod to Terry Gilliam’s classics. This movie looks so polished, that
Avermaet should be getting a full-length movie contract very quickly after the
Oscars.
Achievement in sound editing
“Argo”
Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
“Django
Unchained” Wylie Stateman
“Life
of Pi” Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
“Skyfall”
Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
“Zero Dark Thirty” Paul N.J.
Ottosson
Achievement in sound mixing
“Argo”
John
Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
“Les
Misérables”
Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
“Life of Pi”
Ron Bartlett,
D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kuni
“Lincoln”
Andy
Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
“Skyfall”
Scott
Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson
Achievement in 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
“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
Eimer note: Go
ahead, I dare you to make a CG Lion, put it on a CG boat in a CG ocean background and
try not to make it look fake.
Adapted screenplay
“Argo”
Screenplay by Chris Terrio
“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
Eimer note: All
should be commended (especially Life of Pi considering it was an unfilmable book), but I’ll give this one to David O. Russell who has been
writing great movies for years dating all the way back to ‘Spanking the Monkey’.
Original screenplay
“Amour”
Written by Michael Haneke
“Django Unchained” Written by
Quentin Tarantino
“Flight”
Written by John Gatins
“Moonrise
Kingdom” Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
“Zero
Dark Thirty” Written by Mark Boal
Best motion picture of the
year
“Amour”
Nominees to be determined
“Argo”
Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
“Beasts
of the Southern Wild” Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
“Django
Unchained” Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
“Les
Misérables” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh,
Producers
“Life
of Pi” Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
“Lincoln”
Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
“Silver
Linings Playbook” Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
“Zero
Dark Thirty” Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers
Eimer note: I was going to go with Lincoln here, but with all of the hubbub over Argo, I'm going to have to switch my vote to ARGO. My next pick would be Lincoln followed by
Zero Dark Thirty. Would love to see Django Unchained, but it won’t happen.
Well,
there you have it. Agree? Disagree? Feel free to post your thoughts below or on
Facebook.
Later,
See how I fared in years past:
