So the nominations for the 85th annual Academy Awards were just announced and I have to say: there were a ton of surprises this year. Overall, there were things I had expected to see nominated and a lot of things that came out of nowhere for me. Below is a list of the nominees that were announced and my thoughts on the nominees.
(NOTE: This is only a list of the nominees of the big categories. On a side note, I have not gotten a chance to see all of the films that were nominated this year so I'm sorry if I don't mention all the nominees listed in my thoughts.)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Alan Arkin, Argo
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Now this list I was completely happy with. If any one of these actors won for their performance, I would have no complaints. The only two I have not seen yet are Hoffman or de Niro for their respective movies but I have heard both are fantastic. It's nice to see Waltz, Jones and Arkin get some love. However, I am genuinely surprised that Leo DiCaprio was snubbed for his role in Django Unchained. If he was nominated, he would have been my pick to win no doubt. He played a truly great villianous role and should have easily gotten a nomination.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Sally Field, Lincoln
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Amy Adams, The Master
For me, Hathaway has this one in the bag. She gives one of, if not the best performances of her career. She brilliantly showcased the pain and sadness that Fantine was going through. She absolutely deserves to win the Oscar. The only person I can really see pulling a surprise win is Sally Field. She gave so much depth and emotion to her performance as Mary Todd Lincoln.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
Wreck-It Ralph
Frankenweenie
Brave
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
It's nice to see The Pirates! get some love in this category because it was just such an enjoyable film and it's good that stop motion animation is finally getting some love again. I was shocked that Rise of the Guardians didn't get a nomination because I thought that was a solid effort from Dreamworks, one of their best actually. However, out of all these nominations, I can see Wreck-It Ralph or ParaNorman winning it this year. Although I can see Brave pulling an upset because when it comes to this category, don't ever mess with Pixar they've won almost every single year they've been nominated.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Michael Haneke – Amour
Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
John Gatins – Flight
It's a shame that Rian Johnson wasn't nominated for Looper this year that was one of the best original scripts in recent memory. I would have put that in instead of Flight. Out of these nominees, it would be nice to see Tarantino win for Django or even Anderson for Moonrise Kingdom, but I can see Boal or perhaps even Haneke winning for this one.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
Chris Terrio – Argo
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
David Magee – Life of Pi
Lucy Alibar, Behn Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild
For me, I feel as if Silver Linings Playbook or even Lincoln will take this one although I would like to see Argo win it. Yet at the same time, I can see Beasts of the Southern Wild pulling an upset and win it. Also, while I unfortunately did not get a chance to see it, I was surprised that The Perks of Being a Wallflower was not nominated because I know that was the one some had expected to win.
BEST ACTOR
Denzel Washington – Flight
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Joauquin Phoenix - The Master
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day Lewis will probably win here. Why? Because it seems that every time Day-Lewis gets nominated, he wins. Although the only two who I could see winning it from under Day-Lewis are Phoenix or, optimistically, Cooper. Denzel is the absolute longshot here Jackman has a better chance than Denzel. But overall, I'm happy with the choices in this category
BEST ACTRESS:
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
To me, the clear winners are either Chastain or Lawrence. However, I always believe in hoping for the underdog so if the little girl (who is now the youngest Best Actress nominee at 9 years old) from Beasts Of the Southern Wild , which I'm watching this weekend, wins, I'd be OK with that just because of what she accomplished at 9 years old.
BEST DIRECTOR:
Ang Lee – Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook
Michael Haneke – Amour
Behn Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild
OK this was the category that made me go, "What the hell?" I mean no recognition for Quentin Tarantino, Ben Affleck (who cemented himself as one of the best directors in Hollywood this year) or Kathryn Bigelow? Really Academy? I guess in this case, my pick for Best Director would have to be Spielberg or Russell though Lee or Zeitlin could easily swoop in and win the award. Now usually, Best Director usually goes in hand with Best Picture (or that's what I've noticed) which means.....
BEST PICTURE:
Argo
Amour
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
...if any one of the four director I mentioned above wins for Best Director, that could mean their film could win for Best Picture. As I type this, Lincoln leads the most nominations with 12 nominations while Life of Pi comes in second with 11. However, while I can see Lincoln or Life of Pi possibly winning, at the same time, Silver Linings has a pretty strong chance of winning as well. Beasts of the Southern Wild could also surprise me and become the Little Movie that Could in the coming month (can't make full judgements on how I feel about the film, which I will do this weekend). Optimistically, I would LIKE to see Django or Les Miserables or possibly Argo win it, but I have a feeling that's a long shot.
But overall, The Oscar nominations, for the most part this year, were pretty solid with a few notable snubs. I can't wait to see how it all unfolds February 24th.
For a full list of the nominees this year, click this link: http://oscar.go.com/nominees
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