Ahoy, squirts! Quint here in the wee hours of the morning, waiting for Gwen Stacy and the foul-mouthed teddy bear to tell the world who is in contention for the little golden statue this year.
Oscar culture fascinates me. It always has, going back to me being a little squirt. I didn't understand about the politics of the awards then, I didn't know about all the money spent and shoulders rubbed and hands shaken. All I knew was that I loved movies and for that one night everybody in the world was as interested in movies as I was.
I have friends that have just written the show off as inconsequential back-patting. They're not too wrong about the back-patting part, but inconsequential they are not. The world's changed a bit since I was a kid and with the internet there's a place for even the most remotely located little geek-to-be to find like-minded people, but for a broader audience these awards highlight that it's not just famous faces that make the movies they love. Sound mixing, editing, writing, special effects... they're all given a moment to register with the average film-goer.
Even if you don't want to acknowledge that effect, there's no denying that great power is handed out with those little gold statues. An Oscar winning director or actor is more likely to follow up with a passion project. An Oscar winning writer guarantees he or she will work in the industry for decades and not have their scripts in the massive pile of "never happened" projects. An Oscar winning short filmmaker gets his or her foot in the door (hell, even an Oscar nominated short filmmaker can start a career).
For all its extravagance and glitz and glamour, at the end of the night the Oscars are all about celebrating this particular artform we all love and celebrating it with tens of millions of people around the world. For that reason alone I'll always love The Oscars.
I might not love the fervor in the months leading up to them or the sub-culture of Awards bloggers that have popped up, for that matter, but the Oscars themselves will always hold a special place in my heart. I'll always be that kid watching the awards ceremony, wishing I could be in that room, amongst the men and women who work all year round to spark the imaginations of people like me. Some day I'll get to attend, sitting up in the nosebleeds somewhere, it's a bucket list event for me, but until that day I'll get swept up in the excitement of the awards season as nominees are announced and the guessing game begins in earnest.
The 85th Annual Academy Awards announce their nominees in a couple of short hours, at 5:30am PST, 7:30am CST and 8:30am EST. As they're announced I'll fill in the list below and run some commentary up here when all is said and done.
In the meantime, let's start talking about hopes and wishes. I know it's not going to happen, but if Denis Lavant somehow snags a Best Actor nom for Holy Motors I'll jump for joy. I really dug Lincoln, The Master, Silver Linings, Django, Argo and Moonrise and I expect Zero Dark Thirty will be the front runner. Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Skyfall are also possibilities.
What do you want to win?
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BEST PICTURE
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Silving Lingings Playbook
- Zero Dark Thirty
- Lincoln
- Les Miserables
- Life of Pi
- Amour
- Django Unchained
- Argo
BEST DIRECTOR
- David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
- Michael Haneke, Amour
- Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
- Ang Lee, Life of Pi
BEST ACTOR
- Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
- Denzel Washington, Flight
- Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
- Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
- Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
- Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
- Robert De Niro, Silver Linings
- Alan Arkin, Argo
- Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
BEST ACTRESS
- Naomi Watts, The Impossible
- Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
- Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
- Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
- Jackie Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
- Helen Hunt, The Sessions
- Amy Adams, The Master
- Sally Field, Lincoln
- Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- John Gatins, Flight
- Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty
- Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
- Michael Haneke, Amour
- Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Chris Terrio, Argo
- Tony Kushner, Lincoln
- David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
- David Magee, Life of Pi
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
- Frankenweenie
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Paranorman
- Brave
- Pirates: A Band of Misfits
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
- Amour
- No
- War Witch
- A Royal Affair
- Kon-Tiki
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- Seamus McGarvey, Anna Karenina
- Robert Richardson, Django Unchained
- Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi
- Janusz Kaminski, Lincoln
- Roger Deakins, Skyfall
BEST DOCUMENTARY – FEATURE
- 5 Broken Cameras
- The Gatekeepers
- How to Survive A Plague
- The Invisible War
- Searching for Sugar Man
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
- Inocente
- Kings Point
- Mondays at Racine
- Open Heart
- Redemption
BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
- Asad
- Buzkashi Boys
- Curfew
- Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)
- Henry
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM
- Adam and Dog
- Fresh Guacamole
- Head over Heels
- Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare"
- Paperman
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
- Dario Marianelli, Anna Karenina
- Alexandre Desplat, Argo
- Mychael Danna, Life of Pi
- John Williams, Lincoln
- Thomas Newman, Skyfall
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
- "Skyfall" - Skyfall
- "Everybody Needs A Friend" - Ted
- "Pi's Lullabye" - Life of Pi
- "Suddenly" - Les Miserables
- "Before My Time" - Chasing Ice
BEST SOUND EDITING
- Argo
- Django Unchained
- Life of Pi
- Skyfall
- Zero Dark Thirty
BEST SOUND MIXING
- Argo
- Les Miserables
- Life of Pi
- Lincoln
- Skyfall
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- Anna Karenina
- Les Miserables
- Life of Pi
- Lincoln
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
- Hitchcock
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- Les Miserables
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- Life of Pi
- The Avengers
- Prometheus
- Snow White and the Huntsman
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
- Anna Karenina
- Les Miserables
- Lincoln
- Mirror Mirror
- Snow White and the Huntsman
BEST FILM EDITING
- William Goldenberg, Argo
- Tim Squyres, Life of Pi
- Michael Kahn, Lincoln
- Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers, Silver Linings Playbook
- Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty
Alright, so the complete list is in. Zero Dark Thirty didn't hit as hard as I thought it would and with Katheryn Bigelow not getting a Director nomination I'd say that makes it pretty unlikely to win the big prize. I love that Django Unchained made the best picture cut, but I think it's a three way race between Lincoln, Beasts of the Southern Wild and Amour. Silver Linings Might edge in there, but my feeling is that the Oscars are going arty this year and if they pick any studio film they'll go with Lincoln. I'm no expert, by any means, but that's what it feels like to me.
Best Actor's a tough category. If it were me, I'd pick Joaquin Phoenix in The Master, but I think this one is Daniel Day-Lewis' to lose.
Best Actress... this one's kind of up for grabs. I don't think it's going to Naomi, but they could throw a bone to Zero Dark Thirty and give it to Chastain. Jennifer Lawrence is an up and coming A-lister and was damn good in Silver Linings, so I think she could take it. If not her, it'll go to Quvenzhane Wallis.
Supporting Actress, I love everybody in this category, but Anne Hathaway's I Dream A Dream crushed me. It's her statue to lose.
Supporting Actor - I honestly have no feel for how this one will go. De Niro turned in his best work in years in Silver Linings, Arkin, Jones and Waltz are all memorable and great in their films (although how does Alan Arkin get a nom for Argo and John Goodman not?) and Phillip Seymour Hoffman is amazing in The Master. So, I think it's between De Niro and Hoffman, but really have no idea how this one will settle out. Also, where the funkin' funk is Sam Jackson for Django!?!?
Animated feature - I'm really pulling for Wreck-It Ralph, but I'd be just as happy to see ParaNorman or Frankenweenie get some recognition. Especially ParaNorman since a whole lot of love and heart was poured into that movie and it fizzled at the box office.
Avengers snuck into the Visual Effects category, but I hear the Weta folks have really wowed the viz effects voters with their reels, so don't be surprised if Hobbit burgles a win in this category.
Those are my initial thoughts. I'm pissed that Holy Motors got zilch, no West of Memphis for documentary, nothing for Cloud Atlas, no Misty Mountains in Song (I guess it's not original enough) or Tarantino for director. And The Master getting snubbed for Cinematography is borderline criminal.
What do you think of the overall noms?
