Categories: Film

The Oscar nominations are near!

In only a few days — January 10 — this year’s Academy Award nominations will be unveiled. Yeah, folks, it’s the Oscar season, once again. The time for voting is over and the time for speculation has begun!

I’ve chosen big movies that will possibly get a lot of nominations.

Five favourites this year

Zero Dark Thirty

Jessica Chastain. Source: forbes.com

This thriller tells the story of a very delicate operation overseas: the hunt of Osama Bin Laden. With a cast led by Jessica Chastain, it features the director-screenwriter duo from The Hurt Locker, director Kathryn Bigelow and screenwriter Mark Boal. It has been widely acclaimed by critics. Best picture, Best Director, and Best screenplay nominations seem very possible, and I can totally see Jessica Chastain winning a Best Actress award. Even if she’s quite young, her career up to now has been incredibly good (Anyone remembers her role in The Tree of Life?).

The Master

Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, this movie has created quite a buzz in the cinema world. The narration of a man who decides to found his own religion, and of those who follow him, The Master’s cast is led by Joaquim Phoenix, Philip Seymour-Hoffman and Amy Adams. The nominations in this case seem obvious, but does The Master have any chance at a win? The Academy has nominated Anderson five times in the past but he has always lost- maybe this is the year they right that wrong. On the actors department, things are more unclear. Nominations for Phoenix, Seymour-Hoffman and Adams (the last two in the supporting role category) are quite possible but could be cut from the final five.

Lincoln

Steven Spielberg’s latest film provides a closer look to one of the most beloved American president. Portrayed by the always efficient Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln is a very strong drama with intense interpretations. A nom in Best Picture and Best Director is expected, as well as one for Day-Lewis (this would be his fifth nomination! And the third Oscar should he win!).

Argo

A very possible winner, this thriller tells the story of a CIA operation that got six Americans out of Iran during the hostage crisis in 1979. Ben Affleck’s third movie behind the cameras has received much applaud, by both critics and public (unlike The Master , who has the staggering amount of 40 negative user reviews in metacritic), it handles the tension very well and has a happy ending. A probable winner (in my opinion) on the best picture category, but not many interpretations seem to be Oscar material. Alan Arkin, maybe. And I loved Scoot McNairy, although I would nominate him for his role in Killing Them Softly rather than this one.

Life of Pi (?)

Suraj Sharma in a still from Ang Lee’s film. Source: wired.com

Ang Lee’s latest work is the story of young boy who, after being in a shipwreck, is trapped on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. Although the critics have loved this movie, it feels a bit too exotic for the academy. Not to mention that Ang Lee already has two Oscars: one for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2003) and the other one for Brokeback Mountain (2005). It may be nominated in the big categories, but Life of Pi winning Best Picture seems a bit unlikely. But The Best Adapted Screenplay nomination is a must. This is a very good adaptation from a not-so-easy-to-adapt novel.

Other important movies: Django Unchained, Moonrise Kingdom (even if Wes Anderson may be a bit too weird for the Academy), Silver Linings Playbook, Beasts of the Southern Wild.

My wish list

Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets nominated! For his supporting roles in Lincoln or in The Dark Knight Rises or for his lead on Looper…  Like commenter cacherr1 said in one of my previous articles, 2012 was Gordon-Levitt’s year. It would be nice if the Academy recognized that.

The Avengers get many technical nominations (and wins): I like it when my favorite movies (not usually very intellectual films, I must confess) receive many Oscars even if it is in lesser known categories. Like Inception did two years ago. Go technical awards! Sound design! Editing! They exist too!

Source:sunnivaixchel.tumblr.com

The Dark Knight Rises is nominated as Best Picture: Not only because of this movie, but because the whole trilogy was great. Christopher Nolan was a great, deep director that showed us comic-book movies can have profound reflections about society and life. The trilogy has changed comic book movies. Isn’t that worth an award?

Looper is nominated in The best Original Screenplay category:  Ok, so I have a soft spot for time-travel and JGL, so I’m not the most unbiased source with this movie. But it was great, people. And it was great, in a great part, because it was original, because of its story. And Rian Johnson is a good writer in general (anyone seen Brick?).

So, who do you think will be nominated  in the main categories (picture and director)? Who were your favourite actors and actresses this year? And who would you like to be nominated/win the Oscars this year?

We’ll see this Thursday how things go!

View Comments

  • thanks for the shout out! I really do stand by my statement, it was sort like how 2011 was Fassbender's year. I do hope JGL gets a nod for Looper. I too want DKR to get a nod but the academy would only do it if they have pressure and so far talks been it is unlikely, they for somewhere reason they dislike Nolan (I mean Inception was robbed and I don't care what anyone says). Leo and Waltz probably get nods for Django. Anne Hathaway will get nominated and might win for best supporting for Les Mis.

    • I spent about a year trying to convince my friends of how awesome Inception was and they kept saying that it was just a summer action movie. The Bourne legacy is a summer action movie. Inception was a deep, well told story and it made the two and half hours feel short. I'm happy there are fans like me out there :). And if I had a say in it even Memento would have gotten a couple awards, at least original screenplay. Haven't seen Django or Lincoln (why do movies reach Europe so late?) but Joaquin Phoenix's performance in The Master was disturbingly good. But I don't know if The Master is Oscar-winning material.

      • Lincoln was good but I don't think Daniel Day is going get another oscar, he got one recently, same goes for Meryl. I'm still under the opinion Joaquin should have won for Walk the Line but I'll be okay with him winning for The Master. I personally won't see Django as much as I love Tarantino and the cast, the story is disrespectful to my ancestors, slavery was not a western.
        tvfanatic.com has like list of leaders, on the bubble and fat chances for this year's nominees.
        Also your friends, need their head check, Nolan doesn't do summer action movies and the movie really only has 30 minutes of action in it.

  • Ang Lee only has one Best Director Oscar for Brokeback Mountain. He was nominated for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and lost to Steven Soderbergh, though the film did win a Best Foreign Film Oscar.

    • Hey! Author here. I realised the first Oscar was in the Best Foreign film category! But I didn't say that he has two Oscars in the Best Director category, I said he has two, period. Since that Oscar usually goes to the director and it was him who received it, I thought the specification was not necessary. Sorry if that was confusing. :)

  • nominations came out... Leo didn't get on it. Ben didn't a director's nod. I have wonder with Leo if it because they may want to give it to him for great gastby or they want to make him the clark gable of his generation.

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