It is that time of the year again, in just a few hours the Academy Awards ceremony is starting and the grandest film event of the year begins. Now, there's a lot of films to go through, but before we get to it I want to explain my categories to you.
There are often major differences in what film I think will win, what film I think should win, and what film I just want to win. I seldom share my opinion with the Academy's voters, but that doesn't mean I can't understand what films they are going to vote for. That's why I differentiate between will win and should win. For added subjectivity I also add what film I want to win, it's often enough different from the two previous categories that I use it to share which I'd vote for.
And now, in the order of the listing at http://oscar.go.com/nominees, here are my predictions:
Best Picture
Amour, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Silver Linings Playbook, Django Unchained, Zero Dark Thirty, Les Misérables
Best Picture is the biggest award of the night, and the one there's often the most controversy over. I have seen all of the nominated films in this category apart from 'Lincoln', and oddly enough that's the film I think will win. It holds all the traits of an Academy Award winning film, and all the buzz around it makes me think it actually will win. However, there's another film I both think should win and I want to win, Silver Linings Playbook. When I watched it I was spellbound from beginning to end, the acting is magnificent, the story is wonderful and the directing is fantastic. A small part of me think it actually will win, but it's not big enough to throw off the part of me which believes Lincoln will win.
Winner: I was not expecting this one, Argo took home Best Picture without being nominated for Director. It's apparently the fourth time that has ever happened. I'd prefer Silver Linings Playbook winning, but Argo was not a bad winner.
Lead Actor
Bradley Cooper, Denzel Washington, Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix, Hugh Jackman
I think Bradley Cooper should win, his performance in Silver Linings Playbook was absolutely amazing, I never saw him as a quality actor, but apparently there is something really big inside of him that David O. Russell managed to get out, I don't doubt we'll see him nominated again.
Here I want Hugh Jackman to win, even though I found Cooper to be fantastic, there was something about Jackman's role in Les Misérables that just stuck in me. I also just really want him to finally get an Academy Award, as I think he's long overdue for one.
Winner: Yeah, of course Day-Lewis won, let's move on.
Lead Actress
Jessica Chastain, Quvenzhané Wallis, Jennifer Lawrence, Naomi Watts, Emmanuelle Riva
I've been able to watch all of the performances in this category, and they're all really good, though I don't really think they all deserved to be nominated. I think, and want, Jennifer Lawrence to win, she was glorious in Silver Linings Playbook, really bringing her character to life to the most minute details. Sure, you can recognise the way she plays the character from other roles she's had, but I think overall she made Tiffany a real-life character.
Now, I've put Emmanuelle Riva as who I think should win. And this is a bit more for "political" reasons than actual quality and talent. Do not get me wrong, her acting in Amour was as good as flawless, but the main reason I put her as 'should' is that having an elderly, French woman winning the award would be really great for the Academy. She's just different enough from the norm of Oscar winners that it could help the Academy evolve from the rut it's getting itself into.
Winner: Jennifer Lawrence won! Probably the best part of her winning was seeing how excited and surprised she were. Then again, she did just win the price for Lead Actress... Nah, I'm sure she was genuinely excited and surprised.
Supporter Actor
Robert De Niro, Alan Arkin, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tommy Lee Jones, Christoph Waltz
Christoph Waltz. I don't even think I have to say anything more here, if you've seen Django Unchained you will understand, if you haven't, get the frak to it.
Winner: Christoph Waltz won! Much deserved.
Supporter Actress
Amy Adams, Sally Field, Anne Hathaway, Helen Hunt, Jacki Weaver
Same goes for Anne Hathaway as did for Waltz.
Winner: Of course Anne Hathaway won as well!
Animated Feature Film:
Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, Brave, Wreck-It Ralph, The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph will win, I'm ninety-nine percent sure of it, and so is Disney. In fact, when I attended Animex this week (blog post soon to follow) a speaker from Wreck-It Ralph went as far as to say: "I hope you will all follow the Oscars on Sunday and watch us win." I don't think it should win, however, no matter how much I loved Wreck-It Ralph another film was just far superior. 'The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists' (as it's properly called) was just charm from frame one right up until it ended. It's the best animated film I've seen in years, and I really hope it actually will win.
Side note: I think it's really great that the majority of the nominees are stop-motion films, even though I'm mostly a CG animator myself I think it's taken a bit too much over lately.
Winner: What the frak!? Brave won!? I've got to be honest with you, I did not see that one coming, at all. In my personal opinion it was the weakest of all the nominees, and I sincerely believed Wreck-It Ralph would take it home. I've never been so surprised over an Academy award.
Cinematography
Anna Karenia, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall
I've not seen Anna Karenia or Lincoln, but I don't think I have to. Life of Pi's visuals are stunning, and I think it will win this award even though the main reason it is stunning is its VFX. A Rhythm and Hues speaker at Animex went as far as saying "[Life of Pi] is nominated for cinematography, and even though it probably is great and all, I think we [, Rhythm and Hues,] should get that award as well should the film win it".
Django Unchained is the worthy winner of this price, in my opinion, it may be a bit of filmmaker porn, but isn't the entire Academy Awards that to begin with?
Winner: This one was far from surprising, Life of Pi took the award home. No mention of Rhythm and Hues, though.
Costume Design
Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman, Anna Karenia, Les Misérables, Lincoln
I don't really care much for this category or have strong opinions, but I've placed all my bets on Les Misérables.
Winner: Anna Karenina was the winner here, I have yet to see that film, and to be honest I probably won't see it for a long time.
Directing
Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook
Directing! The second biggest award of tonight, I'm actually really unsure which film will win this award, though I'm really sure which film should win. I landed on Lincoln for directing, just because I thought it'd win Best Film, really. Silver Linings Playbook should win, though. That film is just marvelous, and I won't talk so much about it here as I have earlier. I just want to say, I really loved Silver Linings Playbook.
Winner: Ang Lee won for Life of Pi. He was my third pick for winner after Spielberg (Lincoln) and Russell (Silver Linings Playbook). Many VFX type people around the world were hoping for him to mention what Rhythm and Hues has gone through while making his film, filing bankruptcy and all, but no. He didn't even mention the VFX which featured in... Well, of the shots people actually remember from the film it was probably all of them.
Documentary Feature:
5 Broken Cameras, The Gatekeepers, How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, Searching for Sugar Man
Haven't watched a single one of these films, I chose The Gatekeepers because Wheezywaiter thought it'd win.
Winner: Searching for Sugar Man won this one, and I sort of thought it would do that, but another wrong, another day.
Documentary Short:
Inocente, Kings Point, Mondays at Racine, Open Hear, Redemption
Not watched any of these either, but Redemption sounds like a film that could win.
Winner: Incocente won this one, not much to say.
Film Editig:
Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty
I thought Argo was brilliantly edited, and I think the Academy will think so as well. I don't really have much more else to say, I'm pretty sure about this one.
Winner: Argo won! YAY!
Foreign Language Film
Amour, Kon-Tiki, No, A Royal Affair, War Witch
FIRST OF ALL! I hate that Amour is nominated for both Foreign Language Film and Best Film, that means that it will win Foreign Language, if it was in the top nine of all films, why would it lose out to these four films which weren't? I do want Kon-Tiki to win, though, I haven't watched it (yet), but it's Norwegian (as I am) so it'd be real neat if it won.
Winner: Of course Amour won, moving on.
Makeup and Hairstyling:
Hitchcock, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Les Misérables
Don't have much opinion on this one, think Les Misérable will win though, and I guess it deserves it.
Winner: Les Misérables won, as predicted.
Music (Score)
Anna Karenia, Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall
Neither Argo's nor Life of Pi's score really stuck out to me, I can't hum any theme from any of them. I honestly think Skyfall will win solely because of Adele's song.
Winner: Here's another I didn't expect, Life of Pi won. I honestly can't really remember any music from the film, even when people on twitter linked me songs I couldn't quite connect them up to the film's experience.
Music (Song)
Chasing Ice, Ted, Life of Pi, Skyfall, Les Misérables
Yeah, there isn't really any competition here.
Winner: As predicted, there was no competition, at all. Skyfall just won.
Production Design:
Anna Karenia, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln
Lincoln will win because it's Lincoln, but Les Misérables should win because of the way it brilliantly merged theatre style sets with film style sets. It didn't put me out of the story, but it was fun to see how the sets where built up as for a theatre, but filmed as a film.
Winner: Lincoln won this one, like I've said I haven't seen the film, but I guess it isn't really an unworthy winner. These sorts of prices tend to go to period pieces anyway.
Short Film (Animated):
Adam and Dog, Fresh Guacamole, Head Over Heels, The Longest Daycare, Paperman
No doubt Paperman will win this one, the way everyone has talked about it, but I found it to be rather average when it comes to its story, art and direction. Its technology, mixing 2D and 3D animation, was amazing, though.
But Adam and Dog should win, it was heartwarming and heartbreaking, it was beautiful and it was ugly, it was the best animated short I saw last year.
Winner: Paperman took home the undeserving win here, as predicted.
Short Film (Live-Action):
Asad, Buzkashi Boys, Curfew, Death of a Shadow, Henry
Haven't watched any of these, but Buzkashi Boys sound like a winner, I suppose.
Winner: Curfew won, guess that title sounds kind of like a winner as well.
Sound Editing
Argo, Django Unchained, Life of Pi, Skyfall, Zero Dark Thirty
Winner: Here's another shocker, something I didn't even think was possible, both Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty won. It was a tie! It's apparently only happened five other times in the history of the Academy Awards. I've got to say, it seems rather odd that they couldn't just get some new person to come in and settle the tie. Something! But oh well, this was one really threw of people's Oscars predictions, that's for sure.
Sound Mixing
Argo, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Skyfall
GAH! I'm not much of a sound guy, and I'm finding it really hard to justify my choices on these categories. I'll just go for Argo.
Winner: Les Misérables won this one, guess it sort of makes sense with all the music and sounds mixing together. But, alright.
Visual Effects:
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Life of Pi, The Avengers, Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman
This is more like me! Life of Pi will win, no doubt about it, it's stunning, it's beautiful, it's technically well done, and everyone loved it. The Avengers should win, though. I don't think many realise, but the very most of this film was complete CG. That battle in New York? They weren't even in New York for most of the time. Sure, Life of Pi handled water and pictures of skies well, as well as their trademark photoreal animals, but The Avengers was a technical marvel. Pun intended.
Winner: Of course Life of Pi won this one, Rhythm and Hues, in particular, did an amazing job on the film. I'll talk a bit more in length about their work on this film in my blogpost about Animex 2013.
Writing (Adapted)
Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook
I think Argo will win, because the Academy will want to give it some awards, but I think Silver Linings Playbook should win. It just works so much better.
Winner: Argo won! Best Film and Adapted Writing, not bad for a film not nominated for Directing.
Writing (Original)
Amour, Django Unchained, Flight, Moonrise Kingdom, Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained should win, because it's frakking amazingly written, but I think they'll actually go for Zero Dark Thirty because of its real-event story and closeness to a really proud moment for the USA.
Winner: Wish I'd gone more for my guts on this one, Django Unchained won, as deserved. Don't really know why I went for Zero Dark Thirty anymore, seems rather obvious now that the Academy would go for Django, oh well.
Results: I got 12 out of 24 categories correct, half and half. From what I remember, that's a bit better than what I did last year. Maybe in a few years time I'll master the art of predicting the Oscars and starting making the complete opposite films. Maybe.
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