Oscar PIcks: Best Picture

Drum roll please! Last but not least of my Oscar Picks is the Best Picture category. To me, this is the most highly coveted category and usually has the greatest amount of drama and anticipation tied to it. This year I managed to see all nine films nominated. I have discussed many of the nominees in blogs past, so I will not go into detail about each of the movies because I don't think you want to sit here and read my musings for that long. The nominees are: Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, and Zero Dark 30. The winner isn't a clear choice this year, and I believe the tie-breaker may come down to politics as there were a few talent directors who were shut out of the director category this year.

The directors for both Argo and Zero Dark 30 were shut out of the director nominations. Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow are both very deserving of that award. Both movies are very deserving of the best picture award and that's why I think the politics of the Academy may dictate which movie wins this category. Throughout awards season the Academy has been wiping egg off their faces with win after win for Affleck. Since they can't go back and change the nominations and give him credit where credit is due, they may award him in the next best way. Quentin Tarantino was also shut out of the directing category despite his superb efforts with Django Unchained, however I feel it is less likely the Academy will try to pay him back at this time. These oversights by the nominating committee may be remembered just as much as who was actually nominated. 

Oscar Picks: Directing

There are not only juggernauts of movies, but there are juggernauts of categories at the Academy Awards. Best Director is one such category. It is a highly coveted award, with great levels of anticipation each year leading up to it. It is a very visible category and signifies an achievement almost to the level of the Best Picture Category.

This year there are five directors nominated from from five films, and I've seen them all, so I can venture an educated guess on this. Amour is a foreign language film directed by Michael Haneke that is nominated for directing as well as best picture, and best foreign language film. I believe it has a shot at winning the best foreign language film category, but no the others. There is some achievement in directing as the subject is a hard one to approach logistically and artistically, but when held up to the other films in this category it does not stand a chance.

Beasts of the Southern Wild's Benh Zeitlin is also nominated in the director category. I enjoyed this movie for its beauty and symbolism, but I fear that symbolism was lost on many and the beauty didn't extend past their confusion. The movie buddy I viewed the film with certainly did not understand what was going on in the movie, and therefore did not enjoy the movie. This film will not win for best directing.

Life of Pi is a gorgeous, well executed movie and in a just world Ang Lee would win the director prize. This is my favorite to win the category because Lee navigated mastered scenes that could be difficult to show in an entertaining fashion. He took a long story and made it compelling and memorable. I couldn't get this film out of my mind for days. 

Silver Linings Playbook's David O. Russell is nominated for his efforts. His film is a strong one with a gripping story that is somewhat hard to peel your eyes away from, like a train wreck. However, in my opinion there was no great achievement in directing in this film. It was a fun movie that may go in to my category of happy favorites for the year, but it will not win this prize.

In the end though, I believe the director that will win is Steven Spielberg for Lincoln. I do not agree with this prophecy of mine as I did not enjoy the movie half as much as the critics told me I should. I feel Hollywood has a love affair with Spielberg and historical dramas. Each year there is one semi unworthy film that generates a lot of buzz whether it wins or not. This year that buzz goes to Spielberg. It's not that I don't appreciate his efforts in this category because I do, but I believe what he did pales in comparison to the accomplishments of others.

Oscar Picks: Best Animated

The big day is getting closer and my excitement for the Oscars is growing. I have only a few categories left to analyze and make my picks official. I admit, I've been lazy on the category of Animated Feature Film. I have seen a few of the nominees and they're all entertaining for different reasons and many appeal to different aspects of the children's crowd. The nominees are: Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, The Pirates! Band of Misfits, and Wreck It Ralph. I have seen all except Frankenweenie and Wreck It Ralph. Frankenweenie is my fault totally. I have no excuse! The movie has been out on DVD and at RedBox for weeks now. At first there was limited availability because it was such a hot item. Now I blame my extremely tight budget and my priorities. Wreck It Ralph is a another movie I could have seen if I had a stronger desire, but I didn't. It was still in the theaters when the nominees came out, however it doesn't appeal to me. All that being said, I think Brave is an excellent movie and is filled with strong, positive messages for girls and children in general. It is a movie the whole family can enjoy. It would have my vote to win the category except for the buzz that is surrounding Frankenweenie. This movie has been raved about by critics. When it was in the theaters I wanted to see it and everyone laughed at me. Sure, it has a silly name, but the movie is said to be excellent. So, I am going out on a blind limb here and I'll say Frankenweenie will take home the Oscar.

Oscar PIcks: Technical Awards

     There are several categories for the Academy Awards that still puzzle me. After all of the research I have done I still have not been able to come up with a clear explanation of the categories of Best Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects. Furthermore, some of these categories seem so closely linked I cannot differentiate them. The best explanations I have come across says Best Sound Editing goes to a film that has the best or most artistic sound editing or design. Best Sound Mixing is an award that recognizes the most ear pleasing sound mixing or recording in a movie. I have a vague idea on how to judge these categories for myself, but I cannot explain this to others. Best Visual Effects and Best Editing are not categories that overlap with others, however it is still difficult to define the efforts, which lead to success in such categories.

     That being said, I will venture my predictions in these four categories. Starting out with what could be the easiest of the categories to predict, I believe Best Editing will go to Argo. Visual Effects will likely go to The Avengers, even though I didn’t see all movies in this category so this is more of a guess (I did not and will not see Prometheus). We’re now onto the more difficult categories. For Sound Editing I pick Skyfall and for Sound Mixing I will go with Les Misérables. I should probably qualify these picks by saying I frequently guess wrong in these categories.

Oscar Picks: Music

The musical categories for the Academy Awards are not my forte as far as selections and guesses go. After all, I am a lover of the Oscars and not necessarily the Grammys. Alas, I will venture my guesses. Nominated for Best Original Score are Anna Karenina, Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, and Skyfall. From my understanding of this category I will venture to say that Life of Pi will win. For Music Original Song there is a composition from Chasing Ice, Ted, Life of Pi, Skyfall, and Les Misérables for which the selection from Skyfall will win. The song “Skyfall” is the radio hit recorded by Adele.

Oscar Picks: Best Shorts

     I had the pleasurable opportunity to view the nominations for Best Short Film - Live Action and Animated. I viewed the nominees in just one of these categories last year during the cinematic feature, and this year I decided to extend my enjoyment. Normally these categories would fall under my category of Best Guesses, however I feel I am now able to make an educated guess on each group.
     There are five animated short films nominated this year, and they range in subject matter and content from Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare: to the very short "Fresh Guacamole,"which was only two minutes long. I have two favorites in this category. I thoroughly enjoyed "Head Over Heels" for its innovative, gravity defying concept. I also enjoyed the whimsical "Paperman" short, which featured paper airplanes turning into birds and propelling two individuals together. I believe "Paperman" will win this category due to the amount of buzz surrounding storyline and the enjoyability of the plot. I hope the short "Adam and Dog" is rejected by the Academy because it was long, slightly confusing and had plenty of extraneous and tangent ideas muddying the intent.
     There are also five films nominated for the Best Short - Live Action category. They range from telling the story of an Alzheimer's patient in "Henry" to a fictional account of death by shadows in "Death of a Shadow" to a suicidal man who is given a renewed purpose in life in "Curfew." My favorite in this category is "Asad," a movie about a boy in Somalia who is trying evade pirates. I feel the short "Buzkashi Boys" has the most artistic appeal and therefore it is my favorite to win.

Oscar Picks: Writing

There are two Academy Awards categories for writing and the divisions often showcase some of the less mighty movies. Some of the typical heavy weights are nominated in the category of Best Adapted Screenplay: Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, Lincoln, and Silver Linings Playbook. I believe a more this prize will go to Life of Pi because it is a more artistic and beautifully woven screenplay and the adapter had to write a good deal of side directions for the many non dialogue portions of the movie. The other writing category is for an original screenplay, and this category features some movies that otherwise wouldn't have been nominated. In this category Moonrise Kingdom is taking on Flight, Zero Dark 30, Amour, and Django Unchained. I would love to see Moonrise Kingdom take home the statuettes as it was one of my favorite whimsical, feel good movies of the year, however I think the prize will actually go to the deserving Zero Dark 30.