Oscars 2013

[AndyDursin]

Commentary in the next post

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

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day-Lewisin “Lincoln”
Hugh Jackman in “Les Misérables”
Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master”
Denzel Washington in “Flight”

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”

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Jessica Chastainin “Zero Dark Thirty”
Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle Rivain “Amour”
Quvenzhané Wallisin “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Naomi Watts “The Impossible”

Performance by an actress in a supporting role

Amy Adams in “The Master”
Sally Field in “Lincoln”
Anne Hathaway in “Les Misérables”
Helen Huntin “The Sessions”
Jacki Weaver in “Silver Linings Playbook”

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

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

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

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

Achievement in cinematography

“Anna Karenina”Seamus McGarvey
“Django Unchained”Robert Richardson
“Life of Pi” Claudio Miranda
“Lincoln” Janusz Kaminski
“Skyfall” Roger Deakins

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

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 Kunin
“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


Best foreign language film of the year

“Amour” Austria
“Kon-Tiki” Norway
“No” Chile
“A Royal Affair” Denmark
“War Witch” Canada

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


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

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

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

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

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

[AndyDursin]

Some thoughts:

-Thomas Newman -- Best Score for SKYFALL. Wow. Tells you everything you need to know about film music in the 21st Century.

-Glad they expanded the field -- so they can only nominate 9 movies! lol.

-Ben Affleck left off for ARGO. One of the year's best movies, he doesn't get a nomination.

-Kathryn Bigelow not nominated for ZERO DARK THIRTY. Guess that says everything about the movie's chances.

-DeNiro a lock for Supporting Actor for SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK as I mentioned before

-Is LINCOLN really a favorite -- or is too "safe" a choice? Spielberg's movies have been shut out before (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN won Best Director but not Best Picture), but I guess Day-Lewis is still the overwhelming favorite for Best Actor.

-Jennifer Lawrence ought to win Best Actress.

-Of the group nominated, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is the best film of 2012 for me. It goes wide on the 18th and has done OK in the platform strategy they've employed. Should it pick up steam now that it has a host of nominations (Russell for Best Director, DeNiro, Cooper, Lawrence, plus Best Picture), don't count it out. Weinsteins know how to market their Oscar contenders (see KING'S SPEECH and THE ARTIST).

-Total nominations count: LINCOLN with 12, LIFE OF PI 11, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK 8, ARGO and LES MIZ 7, ZERO DARK THIRTY/ARMOUR/SKYFALL/DJANGO UNCHAINED with 5.

[Monterey Jack]

No DiCaprio?!

[mkaroly]

DDL should probably win best actor...he did a fantastic job and was very believeable. Amazing performance.

I really hope Sally Field loses because I felt her performance was way over-the-top...the movie is about Lincoln, not Mary Todd!

It would be funny if they gave an Oscar to TN for SKYFALL...especially since he should have won years ago for other efforts (SHAWSHANK anyone???).

I'll guess that Life of Pi wins best score.

[Jedbu]

I guess this knocks LES MIZ out for Best Picture without Hooper getting a nomination

Very surprised about Affleck and Bigelow getting skipped over-guess this slows down the momentum for ZDT quite a bit

AMOUR seems to be moving up with a lot of people-don't count it out

I guess big genre pictures still are not the Academy's cup of tea-no HOBBIT, AVENGERS or DARK KNIGHT RISES in Picture

Also surprised Bardem did not sneak into Supporting Actor

CLOUD ATLAS-no Make-Up or Visual Effects...

[AndyDursin]

MOONRISE KINGDOM and PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER were both superb and deserving of BP nominations also.

[AndyDursin]

From Gitesh Pandaya on Twitter:

With 8 #Oscar nods, SilverLiningsPlaybook expands a bit tomorrow then goes fully wide next FRI from 810 to 2500 theaters.

[AndyDursin]

I've seen some analysts already say SILVER LININGS has a good shot. Noms in all the major categories, plus the fact not everyone has seen it yet is a plus -- now it's going wide, has a chance to gain momentum, while others like LINCOLN have been out for months already.

Again, never underestimate Harvey & Bob's campaigning skills too.

[jkholm]

Seems like a decent list. I'm surprised The Dark Knight Rises was shut out. I thought Michael Caine might get a nom for Supporting Actor.

Best Actress could be close between Lawrence and Chastain.

The category I really enjoy is Best Animated Short. Seriously. I try to attend a screening of these nominees every year and it's usually quite a treat. They always show the five nominated shorts as well as a selection of the runners-up. There's always a wide range of animation styles from hand-drawn to CGI and everything in-between. Many of the films are foreign. Some are funny, others serious. If you can attend a screening I highly recommend it.

[AndyDursin]

ARGO a big winner at the Golden Globes -- Best Picture (Drama) and Best Director for Affleck...who I'm sure had to feel good after being snubbed by the Academy. LES MIZ won Best Picture (Comedy/Musical) over SILVER LININGS.

LINCOLN a loser across the board in every category except for Day-Lewis, who obviously will win Best Actor, but I think this is going to drop it from being a "favorite" for the Oscars now.

Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain winners as well as Christoph Waltz in the acting categories.

Weirdest moment: Jodie Foster's lifetime achievement speech, wherein she either gave a retirement speech or came out of the closet. Or both. Not sure exactly what was happening there.

Best moment: Tommy Lee Jones sitting stone-faced and pissed off while Kristin Wiig and Will Ferrell did shtick. The cutaway was PRICELESS.

[AndyDursin]

ARGO continues to be on a roll, winning at the Golden Globes and the SAG awards. If it wins at the DGA Awards this weekend, it's hard to envision something else winning Best Picture at the Oscars based on the past.

[DavidBanner]

It's possible that Argo may actually get the DGA award, but I would say that it's equally possible that the nod will go to Kathryn Bigelow or Ang Lee. For myself, I voted for Ang Lee, as his was the best piece of directing work of the five nominees.

When it comes to what the Oscars will do, some of it seems pretty clear.

Best Actor - Looks like Daniel Day Lewis, doesn't it? If I was looking in another direction, I'd say Denzel Washington, who gave a terrific perforomance. But Lewis looks like he's on a roll. And it was a great performance. I just wish it didn't have a halo over it.

Best Actress - Looks like Jennifer Lawrence, and I think she earned it. The scene where she shuts down a raging Robert de Niro was worth the price of admission. The only other competitor is Jessica Chastain and I don't think this role required as much.

Best Supporting Actor - Looks like Robert de Niro, after years of thankless paychecks for the Fockers movies and any number of really really bad flicks. I'm sure he hoped that Being Flynn would have been such a moment but that movie didn't have David O. Russell directing. Of the other performances, Philip Seymour Hoffman was also terrific, but it doesn't look like The Master appealed to many people.

Best Supporting Actress - Up to three weeks ago, I would have said Helen Hunt, given that this is her return after years out of the spotlight. But moment really seems to be favoring Anne Hathaway, for that unforgettable song. Kind of hard to top that.

Best Director - Given who's on the list, we can instantly narrow this down to either Spielberg or Lee. It won't be Hanecke, whose movie is a lock for Best Foreign Film. It won't be Zeitlin, who may be the oddest choice on the list. It most likely won't be Russell, as he was a strange choice here - Silver Linings Playbook is a beautiful movie of performances, and it will be recognized as such by the wins for Lawrence and de Niro, but I can't see it winning Best Director. So you have Lincoln and Life of Pi. Lincoln is a beautifully made film, but one that runs at least 45 minutes too long. It gets caught up in sidebars that don't help its story much, and it's a very different film than people were expecting when they went to see the movie. A friend of mine said wisely that they should have titled it "The Thirteenth Amendment" and it would have been a more accurate title. So we wind up with Life of Pi, which was my favorite of the movies and my favorite of the directing examples of the year, as noted above. A good case can be made that Ben Affleck should have been nominated, and that Kathryn Bigelow should have been nominated. Both did well. Affleck made a very good movie, capturing the atmosphere and tension of the 1970s and making a story whose end we know much more suspenseful than you'd expect. Of course, he also rewrote the history a bit in trying to build that tension, which is part of the reason that the Academy directors faulted him. As for Kathryn Bigelow, she made a great movie about the hunt for bin Laden, doing some editing and rewriting of her own along with Marc Boal, and to my mind it was the second best movie of the year. Zero Dark Thirty is an uncompromisingly bleak film about what happens when you swim in a river of evil. (To quote Denzel Washington's character in Training Day: "To protect the sheep, you gotta catch the wolf. And it takes a wolf to catch a wolf.") But if I had to guess, I'd say the Academy voters felt she'd done this kind of thing three years ago with The Hurt Locker. Given the five nominees the Academy has selected, it's easy to go with Ang Lee for the win.

Best Picture - I agree that it could be Argo, which would be a repeat of the Driving Miss Daisy win 20+ years ago, where people on the dias made comments about "the movie that directed itself" as a sarcastic aside. I'd rather it be Life of Pi, given that it's just a stronger movie made by a stronger director. Ang Lee has had ups and downs and he's certainly directed a wide variety of movies. But he's a solid storyteller and he told a beautiful story here. Ben Affleck's movie is also good, but I don't know that they're playing on the same field. You can eliminate most of the other candidates on general principle and wind up with a choice of either Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln or Silver Linings Playbook. I don't think the Academy will give Zero Dark Thirty Best Picture, nor will they give it to Django or Les Miserables. Those are up there to be on the honor roll for the year. Of the ones I see as finalists, I can eliminate Lincoln first, as I think that will just get the award for Daniel Day Lewis and some technical nods. The other three are tougher. Argo is clearly popular, but Silver Linings Playbook has growing support. Life of Pi would be an outside choice, if the other movies cancel each other out.

The other category that gets interesting is the adapted screenplay. After seeing Silver Linings Playbook, I was ready to say that one would get it. Until I saw Life of Pi, and I'm now convinced that one picks it up.

This has been a fun year for the Awards for me, helped in a big way by the DGA allowing its members to be sent screeners for the first time. Because of this, I was able to screen most of the movies on this list in a short period of time. For that, I'm truly grateful. And I'm willing to bet that the number of DGA members participating in the voting went up this year...

[AndyDursin]

I don't think Bigelow has much of a shot. Her film has cooled off in terms of the general discussion and hasn't generated much enthusiasm at these post-season award events. Not that it's indicative of the film's quality or anything else, but I think she has almost no chance based on that, plus the fact she won a few years ago (for a film I found overrated personally; this film I found superior in several respects).

[Jedbu]

If Affleck gets the DGA, ARGO will win Best Picture.

If Lee or Spielberg win the DGA, I think ARGO still has a good shot but not a lock, with LINCOLN having the edge over LIFE OF PI (you know those Hollywood libs...).

If Hanecke or Zeitlin win, all bets are off.

Jones might have an edge over DeNiro due to winning the SAG award, but with Lawrence winning for SLP, that might tip that race to DeNiro.

As William Goldman once said, "No one knows anything."

[AndyDursin]

I agree Jeff, though I don't see LINCOLN having much momentum -- it's been shut out of most of these awards except Day-Lewis. It's like, "we'll give him Best Actor, that's enough for that film" lol.

The other factor is how hard the Weinsteins lobby for their films and their proven track record to win over votes with massive campaigns and the like, which gives SLP a decided edge.

Life of Pi will probably win Best Score and maybe some technical awards but I don't see it having a huge chance in other categories, simply based on how things have gone recently.

I personally think it's Argo and SLP in a race for Best Picture and I'll be surprised if it's anything else.