Oscar Predictions

The Oscars, alas! It'll be around 2am UK time but I'll be up, and with Seth Macfarlane hosting, I'm very excited :) 

Here are my predictions on who will win for some of the categories, and my thoughts on who I personally think deserve the award:

Best Picture

Nominees:

Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty

Prediction: Argo or Lincoln

I wish it was: Life of Pi

Out of these picks, the film which blew me away the most in terms of its visuals and its themes and meanings was Life of Pi. Argo was great but it’s won way too many things now. I haven’t seen Lincoln so I cannot comment. By the way I am confused as to why The Master wasn’t nominated for Best Picture. What the hell did they increase the number of films that can be nominated for?? This was also 007’s best shot at a Best Picture nomination, so I’m disappointed Skyfall wasn’t nominated.

Best Actor

Nominees:

Bradley Cooper, Daniel Day-Lewis, Hugh Jackman, Joaquin Phoenix, Denzel Washington

Prediction: Daniel Day-Lewis

I wish it was: Joaquin Phoenix

Haven’t seen Lincoln so cannot comment on DDL’s performance. Joaquin Phoenix was absolutely phenomenal in The Master.

Best Actress

Nominees:

Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Lawrence, Emmanuelle Riva, Quvenzhane Wallis, Naomi Watts

Prediction: Emmanuelle Riva

And so it should be: Emmanuelle Riva

Besides Quvenzhane Wallis (because she's too young) I think everyone in this category was amazing so I wouldn’t mind if any of them won to be honest!

Best Supporting Actor

Nominees:

Alan Arkin, Robert De Niro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tommy Lee Jones, Christoph Waltz

Prediction: Robert De Niro or Tommy Lee Jones

I wish it was: Philip Seymour Hoffman

Again I haven’t seen Lincoln so I cannot comment on TLJ’s performance. I also see Christoph Waltz possibly winning this, and it’s true he did an awesome job supporting Jamie Foxx, but the best thing about that film was Leonardo DiCaprio. I wish wish wish he’d been nominated. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the only one that truly, truly deserves to win in my opinion. His performance was masterful as the Master in The Master.

Best Supporting Actress

Nominees:

Amy Adams, Sally Field, Anne Hathaway, Helen Hunt, Jacki Weaver

Prediction: Anne Hathaway

I wish it was: Amy Adams

Anne Hathaway was the best thing about Les Mis for me. But I don’t want to start a Les Mis rant, that could go on for pages. But just because I know she’s going to win, I want Amy Adams to win. Her role in The Master really was effectual in giving off this sinister sense of control lurking behind the Master.

Best Director

Nominees:

Michael Haneke - Amour, Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild, Ang Lee - Life of Pi, Steven Spielberg - Lincoln, David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook

Prediction: Steven Spielberg

I wish it was: Michael Haneke or Benh Zeitlin

I’m not sure why Beasts hasn’t been nominated for best cinematography! It looked gorgeous! He directed a 9 year old to put on an Oscar nomination worthy performance right? Haha. Also gutted for Beasts being thrashed by Silver Linings Playbook at the Indie Spirit Awards yesterday. SLP is really ‘indie’, yeah.

Best Cinematography

Nominees:

Anna Karenina, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall

Prediction: Life of Pi

I wish it was: Skyfall

See this is the thing. I’m confused about what ‘Cinematography’ actually means, because I used to think it meant cinematography WITHOUT visual effects, but apparently it doesn’t? Life of Pi should win Visual FX, definitely, but in terms of non-completely-reliant-on-CGI, I’m rooting for Skyfall. GO ENGLAND!!! (and Scotland) The whole stage-production-within-a-film thing in Anna Karenina was an interesting thing to do but it didn’t do anything for me. If only they’d had more vastness and openness in Levin’s scenes. I mean that was the point I thought, when I was reading the novel many years ago. That we were liberated from all the suffocation and tension through Levin’s outdoor scenes.

Music – Original Score

Nominees:

Dario Marianelli - Anna Karenina, Alexandre Desplat - Argo, Mychael Danna - Life of Pi, John Williams - Lincoln, Thomas Newman - Skyfall

Prediction: Life of Pi

I wish it was: Anna Karenina

The score was the best character of the film. It really supported the characters and the actions, and brought the production to life.

Best Original Screenplay

Nominees:

Michael Haneke - Amour, Quentin Tarantino - Django Unchained, John Gatins - Flight, Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola - Moonrise Kingdom, Mark Boal - Zero Dark Thirty

Prediction: Django Unchained

I wish it was: Moonrise Kingdom

Act 3 of Django was disappointing for me. Throughout all 3 acts there were scenes that went on waaay too long, and elements such as Samuel LJ’s character I wish he’d explored a bit more. Not sure what ZDT is doing in this category, wasn’t that based on true accounts? Flight was terrible. After the plane crash it was just downhill in terms of plot and characters. I wouldn’t mind if Amour won, but I’m rooting for Moonrise Kingdom! It was fun, unique, with more depth than you think.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Nominees:

Chris Terrio - Argo, Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild, David Magee- Life of Pi, Tony Kushner - Lincoln, David O. Russell - Silver Linings Playbook

Prediction: Silver Linings Playbook

And so it should be: Silver Linings Playbook

I thought the writing was the foundation of SLP. Also wouldn’t mind if Chris Terrio won for Argo. In fact I’d be happy as DOR has already bagged a few awards for this one (either for director or screenplay).

Some films I'd recommend to Diana

My friend Diana told me that it would be a dream come true if I dedicated a blog post to her. Being an insanely busy person with a hectic schedule the prospect of this happening was nil, but I’m one of those people who finds it difficult to say no. And if this small good deed is going to make my friend’s dream come true and change her life then I will find the time to do this.

She sent me a list of films that she likes and asked me for recommendations. Instead of replying to her on Facebook message which is probably what I should do, I will reply here on my blog and make it a public matter: 

She said she likes Tarantino films, especially Inglorious Basterds, and as much as I'd like to be able to wholeheartedly recommend to her the latest Tarantino film Django Unchained, I was slightly disappointed by it. Go see it, by all means, because you probably will one day anyway. But what I will recommend are In Bruges and Seven Psychopaths, by Martin McDonagh. His style reminds me of Tarantino; and obvious similarity is the use of excess violence, but its use is also satirical – more clearly than Tarantino’s, and you can see that at the same time he clearly has something to say about what he is presenting on screen.

She said she likes The Tree of Life. I actually didn’t like it that much. I briefly wrote about it a long time ago on this blog so scroll all the way down to check it out! There was nothing wrong with the film but I just…. well... I’m not as intelligent as you. A film that I saw recently which was also a visual spectacle was Life of Pi. Also pretty impressive visually, not on such a grand scale as The Tree of Life, but what it has to say is easy to understand even for idiots like me.

She said she likes Donnie Darko. I can’t remember much about it cause I saw it when I was like 15, but its time travel vibe reminds me of films like The Butterfly Effect, or even The Source Code. Neither are ‘great’ films, but are pretty decent and highly entertaining. Last year there was Looper, also about time travel with a unique plot, which I recommend.

She said she likes the films of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, especially 21 Grams. I also love 21 Grams. The only other film by him that I’ve seen is actually Babel, also with interweaving plot lines. I remember it being so-so. Interweaving plot lines reminds me of one of my favourite films, The Edge of Heaven, a Turkish & German film, extremely compelling, deep and powerful.

She said she likes The Reader, and I actually just today saw the 2002 film The Hours, with the same director (Stephen Daldry) and screenwriter (David Hare). It wasn’t as great as it made out to be; it was delivered well, structured well, the performances were awesome (especially Nicole Kidman who plays Virginia Woolf, and Julianne Moore) and I guess I’d recommend it. It’s about suicide so yeah, really cheery.

She said she likes Revolutionary Road. I liked it too, I love Sam Mendes’ films – American Beauty (which you’ve probably already seen anyway) and Road to Perdition are some of my favourite films. Their themes are of loneliness, the past and the present, and of hope – something Mendes always explores so well.

You mentioned several other dark/confusing films – Requiem for a Dream, Mullholland Drive, actually that’s it, but I got the general vibe that you like somewhat depressing or sinister films, so I will list out a few more of my contemporary favourites:

 

The Talented Mr Ripley
The Devil’s Double

Blue Velvet (David Lynch, I’m sure you’ve seen it)
We Need to Talk About Kevin

Children of Men

Vanilla Sky (the original Spanish film Abre los ojos is better)

And my favourite film of last year which I’m recommending for the sake of it: Holy Motors

And one of my fav films, not really sinister, just purely depressing (beautiful though): Never Let Me Go

And I hear The Master is really good, I haven’t seen it yet but I think both you and I will like it! I’ll let you know when I eventually see it if I’d recommend it to you.