Oscar winner guesses

Oscar Nominations

By: Nicolette Karter

        Seth MacFarlane and Emma Stone announced the Oscar Nominations, and I’ll admit that I hadn’t really seen any of the movies. I saw trailers, some of the actors in other pictures, but not those movies. As a movie lover and reviewer, this is a bit humiliating. But I have seen some now, and some I won’t see because I don’t have enough time to watch all movies ever made & some (like Lincoln) don’t interest me, so I sadly won’t have all the movies nominated reviewed on this site. Sorry for any inconvenience. But I will have my best guesses for some of the categories, based on the movies I have watched, other performances of the best actor/actress nominees that I’ve seen, and what I’ve heard. That last one doesn’t sound reliable, I know, but despite what you think, gossip is what makes the world go ‘round.

        Let’s start with Django Unchained. I’ve already posted a review for this film (& its trailer) & while it doesn’t seem like the typical Oscar winner based on the trailer, it deserves all the nominations it got. It got a total of 5 nominations (including Best Picture), but only 1 is for acting, that honor goes to Christoph Waltz for Best Supporting Actor. He deserves it, no doubt about that; he’s an amazing actor. But more of the actors should have gotten nominations, as I’ve said before. The other 3 nominations are for production: Cinematography, Original Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino, who directed it as well), & Sound Editing.

        I’ve also seen Silver Linings Playbook, though I haven’t reviewed it. It got a total of 8 nominations, & half of them are for acting. It’s been a while (exactly how long, I’m not sure) since all 4 acting categories had nominees from the same movie. Which makes sense because it is an indie, so the budget for effects & whatnot wouldn’t be very high, especially after paying for the all-star cast (which paid off, Oscar-wise). David O. Russell is a double nominee for Director & Adapted Screenplay. This too deserves every nomination, and overall I really enjoyed the movie.

        Les Miserables & I go way back in the form of a play, but I’ve only seen the trailer to the movie. It seems well made, which probably accounts for the 5/8 nominations in production categories. Only Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway got acting nominations, & based on the trailer alone, she deserves all the wins she’s already gotten for this role. The filmmakers added a song, so this famous musical oddly has a nomination for Original Song, yet not for Adapted Screenplay. This is the first movie musical version of the book by the same name, though there are obviously Broadway musical versions, & a film version that isn’t a musical. As a musical, it makes sense that it is also nominated for Sound Mixing, & fun fact: all the nominees for Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, & Film Editing are in the Best Picture category.

        I know very little about Amour, which is nominated for Best Picture, & Best Foreign Language Film (Austria). I’m not sure how often that happens, but I do know that the woman in this film, Emmanuelle Riva, is nominated for Best Actress, making her the oldest nominee in history. Based solely on the trailer, I can’t even guess how well I think she did, & the film honestly seems rather boring, to me at least. Could have been a bad trailer, but it also could have been obscenely boring.

        Also making Oscar history is Quvenzhane Wallis from Beasts of the Southern Wild. She is the youngest nominee ever, & she also seems like she did a good job from the trailer. Whether she wins or not, she is so adorable. And her name is pronounced Kwah-VEN-jey-nay, and I’ve found that saying it slow a few times before tackling it all at once helps with the pronunciation. Also nominated for this is the writer/director Benh Zeitlin for Adapted Screenplay & Directing. I like when the writer is also the director because it seems like there would be less friction on set, which is good for a movie that has a little kid as the main character and it’s your first film.

        I don’t know much about Life of Pi but I can guess they had a lot of money to make this movie well. And they seemed to do a good job, based on the trailer & the fact that it has 11 nominations, but none for acting. Directing, Cinematography, Production Design, Adapted Screenplay, Visual Effects, Film Editing, and Sound Mixing were probably all earned because the CGI is realistic (except the glowing whale. Not really sure how that works in the movie, but whatever).

        I love most of the people in Lincoln, & what I’ve seen of him & heard about Daniel Day-Lewis in this role is really good, same with the other 2 people who got acting nominations for their parts (Sally Field & Tommy Lee Jones). We can all guess what it’s about, unless your American history teacher needs to be fired. This has the most nominations with 12, & you can see in the trailer that the people in charge of costumes & set deserve their nominations.

        Honestly, I didn’t think the trailer did the best job of explaining what Zero Dark Thirty was about exactly. I heard that it’s about catching Bin Laden, & that there is a controversial torture scene, but the trailer just shows that Jessica Chastain can convince her troops into something about Bin Laden. I heard she is amazing in this, & director Katherine Bigelow was snubbed like Ben Affleck, but other than that, I don’t really know (or care to know) more about this film.

        Speaking of Ben Affleck, Argo is the last Best Picture nominee, and the most heard about thing for this is probably that Ben Affleck is a good director. The trailer tells me it’s a true story, & that Bryan Cranston grew out his hair for this. What’s sad & funny is that Ben Affleck didn’t get any nominations, but people only care about directing. Alan Arkin got nominated for Best Supporting Actor, so at least someone got recognized for playing an actual person well. While I don’t have much of an interest in this movie (& I’m not in love with Ben Affleck like the rest of the world apparently is), I must give credit to the guts it must take to play an actual person. As an actor, you give a character a personality & can usually get creative with it, yet when it’s a true story, & you meet the person you are going to play (& essentially give a new personality to for the people who only see the movie & know nothing of the people it portrays), I imagine that would be one of the hardest & most nerve-wracking parts to play. So kudos to anyone (like all the actors in this) who braves that, in any film.

        Tangent aside, I think that everyone who was nominated probably deserves it, whether or not I like them or have seen the film. And I obviously don’t know who will win (so a lot of these are shots in the dark), but here are my guesses for some of the categories:

        Best Film Editing: I’ve only seen Silver Linings Playbook, but I don’t think that would win. I think that Life of Pi would take this one home, because as I said before, they put a lot of money into making this a well-made movie; & what with all the CGI & water scenes, for it to have that many nominations & such critical acclaim, it must have been well done, & have a clear plot-both qualities I credit to the editor, so it stands to reason that Life of Pi would have (& have to have) the best editing.

        Best Costume Design: I’ve seen Mirror Mirror & Snow White and the Huntsman, & both had quite elaborate costumes. But anyone with eyes & a basic knowledge for history can see that all 5 nominees did a great job, so this is close one. While they are all amazing, I think Snow White and the Huntsman will win. Colleen Atwood did the outfits & she’s won before, so she might have a better understanding of what the Academy looks for in the winner of this category. Plus, I read an article about her process for making costumes that people have to move around in while staying true to what people would wear at that time (see Chicago: a movie she dressed & won awards for).

        Best Visual Effects: Another close race & I’ve seen only 2 of the nominees, both of which had good effects. Like I said before Life of Pi was really well made, & that the tiger was sometimes CGI (plus I mentioned a glowing whale in the trailer that probably doesn’t exist in real life), yet quite life-like so they are probably the front runners. Although the Hulk transformations in The Avengers were really well done. But I still say Life of Pi should win.

        Best Production Design: While Lincoln & Les Miserables both had to create old buildings that had to be destroyed later during a war, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ought to win this, because it is creating a fictitious land where the laws of physics don’t apply as much in buildings, & I saw design pictures that seemed rather excellent.

        Best Director: I haven’t seen all of these movies, all of which are also nominated for best picture, but I think Lincoln will win, with a slight possibility of Life of Pi.

        Best Supporting Actress: While the Academy has a tendency to rally for crazy people in movies, I don’t think Jackie Weaver will win; I’m surprised she was nominated honestly. I think it will either be Sally Field (another crazy lady, though more noticeable. She’s also a real person, who the Academy also loves) or, more likely, Anne Hathaway will continue her winning streak.

        Best Supporting Actor: While Robert De Niro & Tommy Lee Jones are great actors, & Robert De Niro’s performance was amazing, Christoph Waltz will probably take home his 2^nd Oscar.

        Best Actor: This is a bit of a tough one. Most are great actors, in what I’ve seen them in. While I think that Bradley Cooper deserves it because he’s a good actor & was phenomenal in his movie, Daniel Day-Lewis will more than likely win. He is also talented & playing a real person (as I said, the Oscar voters love that) who died (something else the voters love), plus he’s on a winning streak, & that helps.

        Best Actress: I have heard that everyone of the nominees are exceedingly talented, so I wouldn’t be shocked if any won. But I think that Jennifer Lawrence will win this time.

        Best Picture: I think that Argo will take the prize. There is such buzz about it, & some statistics from somewhere say that the odds are really high it will win. Plus, like I said, the Academy loves true stories, & it’s been picking up awards everywhere, so it seems pretty popular with the type of people who vote for the winners.

        Well, it took longer than I expected, but there are my reviews & guesses for Oscar winners. What/who do you think will win?