With the 85th Academy Awards fast approaching this Sunday on February 24th, predictions for who will take home the golden statute is a hot topic for every movie critic and movie-blogger. One aspect that makes predicting this year’s winners difficult is the shocking snub of Ben Affleck for the Best Director category even though his historical thriller ‘Argo’ still garnered a Best Picture nomination. The film ‘Argo’ won both categories in the Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe Awards, so deciding whether it will beat out Spielberg’s biopic ‘Lincoln’ is a hard endeavor since movies that win Best Picture rarely do so without Best Director.
The better 2012 film about our 16th President may be leading the Oscar’s race with 12 nominations, but another film that has been picking up some significant buzz is the rom-com-drama ‘Silver Linings Playbook’. Could there possibly be a repeat of the 1999 were a Spielberg drama will lose to a rom-com just like ‘Saving Private Ryan’ did to ‘Shakespeare in Love’? While Ang Lee’s critically acclaimed ‘Life of Pi’ may boast 11 nominations, it is doubtful to overtake any of the categories aside from visual effects due to lack of Oscar buzz. The most certain winners at this year’s ceremony are Daniel Day-Lewis for Best Actor and Anne Hathaway for Best Supporting Actress.
As interesting it may be to debate the winners, it also cannot be ignored how the Academy’s yearly nominations continue to under-represent films outside of art-house and serious dramas. One example is the Batman epic ‘The Dark Knight Rises’, which did not receive any nominations and even failed to fill-in the 10th Best Picture nomination spot that was left weirdly vacant (Does the Academy have a superhero movie bias?). Another big snub was a lack of Best Original Screenplay nomination for the time-travel thriller ‘Looper’, one of the most original and thrilling sci-fi pictures in recent memory.
The Oscars is the biggest movie celebration of the year, whether one agree with their choices or not does not change that fact. Hopefully this years showing will be a good one considering ‘Family Guy’ creator and ‘Ted’ writer/director Seth MacFarlane is taking up hosting duties.
Best Picture:
Win: Lincoln
Possible Upset: Silver Linings Playbook, Argo
Snubs: The Dark Knight Rises, Skyfall, Looper
Best Actress:
Win: Jessica Chastain-‘Zero Dark Thirty’
Possible Upset: Emmanuella Riva-‘Amour’
Snubs: Marion Cotillard-‘Rust and Bone’
Best Actor:
Win: Daniel Day-Lewis-‘Lincoln’
Possible Upset: Bradley Cooper-‘Silver Linings Playbook’
Snubs: Daniel Craig-‘Skyfall’
Best Director:
Win: Steven Spielberg-‘Lincoln’
Possible Upset: Ang Lee-‘Life of Pi’
Snubs: Christopher Nolan-‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Best Supporting Actor:
Win: Robert DeNiro-‘Silver Linings Playbook’
Possible Upset: Philip Seymour Hoffman-‘The Master’
Snubs: Javier Bardem-‘Skyfall’, Tom Hardy-‘The Dark Knight Rises’
Best Supporting Actress:
Win: Anne Hathaway-‘Les Miserables’
Possible Upset: Sally Field-‘Lincoln’
Snubs: Maggie Smith-‘Downtown Abbey’
Best Animated Feature:
Win: Brave
Possible Upset: Wreck-it-Ralph
Snubs: Rise of the Guardians
Visual Effects:
Win: Life of Pi
Possible Upset: The Hobbit
Snubs: The Dark Knight Rises
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