{"id":8710,"date":"2013-02-24T00:53:29","date_gmt":"2013-02-24T06:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/?p=8710"},"modified":"2013-02-24T02:51:09","modified_gmt":"2013-02-24T08:51:09","slug":"2013-oscar-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/?p=8710","title":{"rendered":"2013 Oscar Picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tonight is Oscar night. I’ve been trying to see many of the nominees with moderate success. The Oscars are the only awards show I watch, and this year’s field is strong. For more info on the nominees or this year’s awards season, consult the IMBD Road to the Oscars page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here are the nominees followed by my picks for most of the awards I care about. Please post your picks and any other thoughts in the comments. Note that these are not predictions, merely my votes. I know I’ve missed some great films.<\/p>\n

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alan Arkin for Argo
\nRobert De Niro for Silver Linings Playbook
\nPhilip Seymour Hoffman for The Master
\nTommy Lee Jones for Lincoln
\nChristoph Waltz for Django Unchained<\/p>\n

My Pick: Ugh, I’ve seen all but The Master (it’s in my queue) and liked them all. I’ll go with Tommy Lee Jones<\/strong> as a curmudgeonly, passionate abolitionist US Representative. I think gravitas<\/em> might be the best word for his performance. <\/p>\n

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amy Adams for The Master
\nSally Field for Lincoln
\nAnne Hathaway for Les Mis\u00c3\u00a9rables
\nHelen Hunt for The Sessions
\nJacki Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook<\/p>\n

My Pick: Anne Hathaway<\/strong>, hands down. Her “I Dreamed a Dream” sequence is one of the most amazing and moving things I’ve ever seen in film. No other single performance has ripped my heart out like this one, in this or any other year. <\/p>\n

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amour: Michael Haneke
\nDjango Unchained: Quentin Tarantino
\nFlight: John Gatins
\nMoonrise Kingdom: Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
\nZero Dark Thirty: Mark Boal<\/p>\n

My Pick: I’ve only seen Django Unchained<\/strong>, so I’ll go with Tarantino<\/strong>. As always, his script mixed amazing dialog, bizarre situations and blending of genres, memorable characters, and very dark humor. However, I really wish he had cut the awkward attempt at humor during the white supremacists’ hood scene. It just didn’t fit.<\/p>\n

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published<\/strong><\/p>\n

Argo: Chris Terrio
\nBeasts of the Southern Wild: Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
\nLife of Pi: David Magee
\nLincoln: Tony Kushner
\nSilver Linings Playbook: David O. Russell<\/p>\n

My Pick: David Russell for Silver Linings Playbook<\/strong>. Great characters, sharp dialog, well-paced, nice blend of twists and humor and drama. It’s a rom-com about two people with varying degrees of mental illness, and it works!<\/p>\n

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brave
\nFrankenweenie
\nParaNorman
\nThe Pirates! Band of Misfits
\nWreck-It Ralph <\/p>\n

My Pick: Wreck-It Ralph<\/strong>, the only one I’ve seen. It was outstanding. Jenny says Brave was excellent as well, but she picks Wreck-It Ralph as well. And sorry, I can’t vote for anything called Frankenweenie. <\/p>\n

Best Achievement in Cinematography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anna Karenina
\nDjango Unchained
\nLife of Pi
\nLincoln
\nSkyfall <\/p>\n

My Pick: Tough call. Django Unchained<\/strong>, I suppose. Tarantino’s films have a distinct look, and this one used a very rich, almost oversaturated palette to…hmm…make the blood look redder? Really, though, the camera work is outstanding. <\/p>\n

Best Achievement in Editing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Argo
\nLife of Pi
\nLincoln
\nSilver Linings Playbook
\nZero Dark Thirty<\/p>\n

My Pick: Argo<\/strong>. Your adrenaline starts flowing in the first scene and doesn’t let up until the last few minutes, largely due to the smart editing. Every scene was there for a reason. <\/p>\n

Best Achievement in Production Design<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anna Karenina
\nThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
\nLes Mis\u00c3\u00a9rables
\nLife of Pi
\nLincoln <\/p>\n

My Pick: Les Miserables<\/strong>. The whole production made me really glad I don’t live in the foulness of 19th century France.<\/p>\n

Best Achievement in Visual Effects<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Avengers
\nThe Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
\nLife of Pi
\nPrometheus
\nSnow White and the Huntsman<\/p>\n

My Pick: The Avengers<\/strong>, again, the only one of the five nominees I’ve seen. But come on, they managed to destroy Manhattan and made it look real. And very expensive to repair. <\/p>\n

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook
\nDaniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln
\nHugh Jackman for Les Mis\u00c3\u00a9rables
\nJoaquin Phoenix for The Master
\nDenzel Washington for Flight<\/p>\n

My Pick: Daniel Day-Lewis<\/strong>. I really wanted to pick Bradley Cooper for his amazing performance in Silver Linings, especially since Day-Lewis already has two of the golden statues, but Day-Lewis somehow managed to top my already high expectations for him in this role. His Lincoln perfectly portrayed the humanity, intelligence, fire, turmoil, eloquence, and charisma of the great president like no one else could. <\/p>\n

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty
\nJennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook
\nEmmanuelle Riva for Amour
\nQuvenzhan\u00c3\u00a9 Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild
\nNaomi Watts for The Impossible <\/p>\n

My Pick: Jennifer Lawrence<\/strong>. To be fair, I haven’t seen the other films, but I am very much on the JLaw bandwagon. Her performance here takes a fascinating, troubled, and quirky character and makes you love her despite her weirdness and dirty mouth, or maybe even because of them. <\/p>\n

Best Achievement in Directing<\/strong><\/p>\n

Michael Haneke for Amour
\nAng Lee for Life of Pi
\nDavid O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook
\nSteven Spielberg for Lincoln
\nBenh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild<\/p>\n

My Pick: Ben Affleck<\/strong>. I don’t know why he wasn’t even nominated, and apparently lots of other people take issue with his being snubbed. Argo gave me new respect for his talents. However, of the actual nominees, I choose the also excellent David Russell<\/strong>, largely for eliciting such pitch-perfect performances from his entire cast.<\/p>\n

Best Motion Picture of the Year<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amour
\nArgo
\nBeasts of the Southern Wild
\nDjango Unchained
\nLes Mis\u00c3\u00a9rables
\nLife of Pi
\nLincoln
\nSilver Linings Playbook
\nZero Dark Thirty <\/p>\n

My Pick: Argo<\/strong>, which I just saw last night. Of the nine, I saw Django Unchained, Lincoln, Les Miserables, Silver Linings Playbook, and Argo and liked them all a great deal for what they were. But every single thing about Argo just seemed right. One of the most exciting, tension-filled movies I’ve seen in a long time, it’s fast-paced, educational (I was 1 year old when the Iran hostage crisis began and didn’t pay much attention to current events), timely, funny, moving, and simply well-made across the board. I can’t help but think, “THIS is why I go to the movies.”<\/p>\n

I put the delightful Silver Linings Playbook a close second. Depending on my mood, I might flip-flop them. Silver Linings Playbook boasts probably the best ensemble acting and some of the most interesting characters in this year’s field. Yes, technically it’s a romantic comedy, which is normally a genre I avoid. However, it’s a quirky and atypical rom-com with a sharp script and outstanding direction. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonight is Oscar night. I’ve been trying to see many of the nominees with moderate success. The Oscars are the only awards show I watch, and this year’s field is strong. For more info on the nominees or this year’s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8710"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8710"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8710\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8715,"href":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8710\/revisions\/8715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.andybox.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}