The award season comes to an end on Sunday night when the Academy of Motion Picture & Science presents the 81st Academy Awards, where the famous faces of the film industry comes out and to find out who will become the new recipients of the little golden man known as Oscar. This year, “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane will be hosting the Oscar. Hopefully, MacFarlane’s edgy humor should inject some much-needed life into a telecast that can sometimes boring and lifeless. For the first time in some year, there are a couple of major categories that have yet to be predetermined winners due to the variety of award shows that lead up to the Oscars. In the next few days, I will be giving you what my thought and predictions on every category that there is.
Best Picture
“Amour”
“Argo”
“Beasts of the Southern Wild”
“Django Unchained”
“Les Miserables”
“Life of Pi”
“Lincoln”
“Silver Linings Playbook”
“Zero Dark Thirty”
I always had a feeling that “Argo” was destined to win Best Picture ever since I saw it. Not only that, but the movie also had the “Toronto International Film Festival factor” going for it since the last couple of Best Picture winners have also been screened at the TIFF. A few Oscar pundits thought when “Lincoln” and “Life of Pi” were finally screened that it would be instant frontrunners for Best Picture. Despite what has been said, I think that Ben Affleck getting snubbed of a Best Director nod was the best thing to happen for the film’s Oscar campaign. With the sympathetic factor in play and the fact that this movie shows how Hollywood was a factor in the rescue of six fugitive American diplomatic personnel, it is no-brainer why the Academy would vote for “Argo” as Best Picture.
Who Will Win: “Argo”
Who Could Win: “Lincoln”
Who Should Win: “Zero Dark Thirty”
Best Actor
Bradley Cooper – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Daniel Day Lewis – “Lincoln”
Hugh Jackman – “Les Miserables”
Joaquin Phoenix – “The Master”
Denzel Washington – “Flight”
While this category features fantastic performances from the nominees including a tour-de-force turn from Phoenix as a troubles WWII veteran in “The Master,” there is no doubt that Daniel Day Lewis will go on to win his third Oscar for his portrayal as the 16th President of the United States. No one gets under the skin of his characters like Daniel Day-Lewis whether it is the one-eyed, knife-wielding maniac known as Bill the Butcher in “Gangs of New York” or the greedy oil tycoon Daniel Plainview in “There Will Be Blood.” “Lincoln” is no exception as he delivers an amazing extraordinary performance by not only physically transforming into Lincoln, but also by portraying his larger-than life subject as more than just a historical.
Who Will/Should Win: Daniel Day Lewis
Who Could Win: No one else
Best Actress
Jessica Chastain – “Zero Dark Thirty”
Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Emmanuelle Riva – “Amour”
Quvenzhane Wallis – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
Naomi Watts – “The Impossible”
In the beginning, it looked like the Best Actress race would be between Lawrence and Chastain for their powerful performances. However, Riva has a chance to pull out an upset win because of the support that “Amour” has received from the Academy. Riva will turn 86 on Oscar night and what will be a better birthday gift than receiving an Academy Award for her role as an elderly woman whose health begins to deteriorate after suffering a stroke. Despite this possibility, do not count Lawrence out as she has Bob and Harvey Weinstein in her corner supporting her and “Silver Linings Playbook” with a very active and strong Oscar campaign.
Who Will Win: Emmanuelle Riva
Who Could Win: Jennifer Lawrence
Who Should Win: Jessica Chastain
Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin – “Argo”
Robert De Niro – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Phillip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master”
Tommy Lee Jones – “Lincoln”
Christoph Waltz – “Django Unchained”
The Best Supporting Actor category is one of the hardest categories to predict this year as it seems like anybody could win the Oscar. While Arkin and Hoffman delivered outstanding performances, it seems that this category will come down between De Niro, Jones and Waltz. De Niro’s performance as a hardcore Philadelphia Eagles with OCD is his best performance in years and Waltz, who won the Golden Globe and BAFTA for this category, was tremendous as a silver tongued dentist-turned-bounty hunter. However, I believe Jones, who won the Screen Actors Guild award, will end up victorious on Oscar night and walk away with his second Oscar for his role as cantankerous Republican abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens.
Who Will: Tommy Lee Jones
Who Could Win: Robert De Niro
Who Should Win: Christoph Waltz
Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams – “The Master”
Anne Hathaway – “Les Miserables”
Helen Hunt – “The Sessions”
Sally Field – “Lincoln”
Jacki Weaver – “Silver Linings Playbook”
The possibility that “Les Miserables” will only walk away with one Oscar is not a stretch as it will be for the Best Supporting Actress category. This category is a no-brainer as Hathaway will garner her first Oscar for her performance as a French prostitute. She has won every major award there is to win so far and there is practically no competition except for maybe Sally Fields’ turn as Lincoln’s troubled wife.
Who Will/Should Win: Anne Hathaway
Who Could Win: No one else
Best Director
Michael Haneke – “Amour”
Ang Lee – “Life of Pi”
David O. Russell – “Silver Linings Playbook”
Steven Spielberg – “Lincoln”
Benh Zeitlin – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
It was certainly shocking to find Ben Affleck’s and Kathryn Bigelow’s absent in the final nominations for the Best Director category. However, with Ben Affleck winning every directing award from the Golden Globe to the Director’s Guild Award, it is tough to predetermine which director will win the Oscar. The directing Oscar can go to anyone in this category. Even though it seems like this race is between Spielberg and Lee with Spielberg having a slight edge at this point, there might be an upset in the form of Michael Haneke garnering his first directing Oscar over two directors who have already won Oscars.
Who Will Win: Steve Spielberg
Who Could Win: Ang Lee or Michael Haneke
Who Should Win: Benh Zeitlin
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