By: Emily
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| Graphic by Emily |
But to be quite honest, February is also a pretty good month and it's because of one thing and one thing only: The Academy Awards. Every February, the year's best and most creative minds come together to celebrate their film making achievements. Having seen all of the Best Picture nominees and many other nominated films this year, I present to you, my review of who I think will win the main awards at this year's Oscars.
Best Picture
Nominated Films: Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty.
While the obvious choice, considering it also won Best Picture at both the Golden Globes and Critics' Choice Awards would be Argo, I doubt the Academy would award this well-deserved film. My doubts come from the film's director, Ben Affleck's, lack of nomination in the Best Director category. At the two aforementioned award shows, Affleck and Argo both won in their respective categories. Because of this, I have a feeling the Academy will play it safe and give it to old people favorite, Lincoln. To find out who should really win this award, check out my article on the Best Films of 2012!
Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated Actors: Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook, Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln, Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables, Joaquin Phoenix in The Master, Denzel Washington in Flight.
Though I would like to see Bradley Cooper for win for his solid performance as bipolar Pat in Silver Linings Playbook, everyone knows this category belongs to the greatest actor alive, Daniel Day-Lewis. While I do wish Abraham Lincoln was actually in Lincoln more, when he was, he was pretty darn powerful.
Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated Actresses: Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty, Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook, Emmanuelle Riva in Amour, Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild, Naomi Watts in The Impossible.
We all know my feelings about Jessica Chastain, and I think she will definitely win her deserved Oscar this year playing HBIC (that's Head Bitch in Charge) Maya, a CIA officer in charge of finding and killing Osama Bin Laden. Being snubbed last year for her equally wonderful performance in The Help, it's her turn to win, and I don't think there's much doubt that she won't get it.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Nominated Actors: 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.
A category filled with talented veteran Oscar recipients, there really is no clear winner in my eyes. I'd like for it to go to Philip Seymour Hoffman for his riveting performance as Lancaster Dodd, a real Master, but I doubt that will happen. Past award shows seem to want to give it to Christoph Waltz who pretty much just played Hans Landa, a character he originated in Quentin Tarantino's previous film Inglorious Basterds, but instead of hating Jews he likes slaves. If anyone from Django Unchained should have at the very least been nominated, it should have been Indie Newspapers favorite, Leonardo DiCaprio, but the Academy once again failed to see DiCaprio's dedication and prowess as completely deranged yet somehow charming plantation owner Calvin Candie.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Nominated Actresses: Amy Adams in The Master, Sally Field in Lincoln, Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables, Helen Hunt in The Sessions, Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook.
If Anne Hathaway doesn't win, then the Academy has destroyed everything I believe in. Hathaway's performance as Fantine, a woman devoid of absolutely everything by the time "I Dreamed a Dream" comes around, had me and pretty much everyone else in the theater bawling. For the duration of that song, the camera simply stays on her face, in one take, while she sings her heart out and rips yours open at the same time. Definitely one of the most powerful performances I've seen in a very long time.
Best Director
Nominated Directors: Michael Haneke for Amour, Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild, Ang Lee for Life of Pi, Steven Spielberg for Lincoln, David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook.
Keeping up with Oscar tradition that the film that wins Best Picture also wins Best Director, Steven Spielberg seems to be the front runner for this category. Out of these nominees, I'd like to see it go to Ang Lee--he managed to make a captivating movie about a boy and a tiger on a boat for two hours. Skill. But the real winner should be Tom Hooper for getting such emotional performances out of actors that were singing live in Les Miserables or Ben Affleck for Argo, but, oh wait, neither of them are nominated so it won't even matter.
Best Adapted Screenplay
Nominated Screenplays: Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook
I definitely think Silver Linings Playbook should take this one. The story was unique, interesting, and the dialogue was fantastic. It was funny and touching without being sappy or cliche, which is an incredible feat.
Best Original Screenplay
Nominated Screenplays: Amour, Django Unchained, Flight, Moonrise Kingdom, Zero Dark Thirty
Considering the screenplays for Flight and Moonrise Kingdom were two of the worst screenplays (and therefore movies) this year, Amour or Zero Dark Thirty definitely have a chance at winning this category. It will probably go to Oscar front runner Zero Dark Thirty, but I'd like to see Amour win this one, even though the film featured very little dialogue.
Just to explain to you why I am so into choosing winners for these shows and casting my votes before the big day, I'm fascinated by the film industry. I love the Oscars, and award shows in general, because they are inspiring. They are proof that you don't need to come from money or go to a fancy film school in order to succeed. If you can create something amazing, people will take note. It's only a matter of time until you or I could be up on that stage accepting an award, having our dreams come true.
*Tune into the Oscars on Sunday, February 24th 8/7c to see what all your friends will be talking about!*
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