Today the nominations were announced for the 85th Academy Awards. I have to say that I think 2012 was an exceptionally good year for movies. And while it's still easy to predict the winners of Hollywood's most prestigious award, the Academy did at least throw some curveballs for us to discuss over the course of the next six weeks until Oscar night on Feb. 24. Let's get right into it, shall we?
Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook and Zero Dark Thirty
The Academy made a new rule that any number of films between 5 and 10 films can be nominated for the big prize and like last year, 9 made the list. None of these nominees are surprises save for perhaps Beasts of the Southern Wild which had been snubbed by the Golden Globes and British Academy of Film and Television Awards. My prediction: Lincoln, it's perhaps the most prestigious film in the group and has the most nominations and in all the right categories including Best Director, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress and Screenplay. Life or Pi, Zero Dark Thirty, Argo or Django Unchained would be interesting but it's doubtful.
The big snub for this category: I can only speculate what that 10th spot could have gone to but Moonrise Kingdom and Skyfall are the biggest possibilities.
Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook), Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln), Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Joaquin Phoenix (The Master) and Denzel Washington (Flight)
For me this is the most boring category. It's obviously going to Daniel Day-Lewis. I'm sure many of the Academy members submitted their votes for him as soon as he was announced as playing the 16th President. Hugh Jackman or Joaquin Phoenix are long shots but their films lost a lot of steam during the long Oscar season.
The big snub for this category: John Hawkes for The Sessions. He seemed like a frontrunner for a long time but it seems like he was the 6th possible nominee on the list.
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Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook), Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and Naomi Watts (The Impossible)
I think this is the most exciting category because there's no clear frontrunner and each actress has a good chance and reason to win. Both Riva and Wallis are the oldest and youngest Oscar nominee ever respectively and they are both critical darlings. Watts has been putting out great work for a long time without getting recognized and she plays a real life character which is always a plus. And both Lawrence and Chastain are Hollywood It-Girls with the resumes and talent to match. If I had to pick, I'd go with Jessica Chastain simply because it is truly a leading performance. The other actresses are balanced by a great ensemble or they are the 2nd leads of their movies. Well, I haven't seen Beasts or Amour so I can't speak for them.
The big snub for this category: Marion Cotillard for Rust and Bone. I was pretty sure she was going to get nominated over Quvenzhane Wallis.
Alan Arkin (Argo), Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Master), Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln) and Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)
As Emma Stone pointed out during the nominations broadcast, each of these actors has won the Oscar before so there are no real stakes in the category. I think the award will go to Tommy Lee Jones as he'll get swept in with all the Lincoln glory. Arkin seems like a good alternate winner also. Honestly, I don't feel like there is much excitement in this category as there aren't really any surprises.
The big snub for this category: Leonardo DiCaprio for Django Unchained. For some reason, DiCaprio again is being shut out even though he got widespread acclaim for this performance.
Amy Adams (The Master), Sally Field (Lincoln), Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables), Helen Hunt (The Sessions) and Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)
Okay, Weaver's nomination? Huge surprise! After being almost completely shut out by all the major awards groups, she pulled a "Maggie Gyllenhaal in Crazy Heart" and got nominated, making Silver Linings Playbook one of the few films ever with nominations in all four acting categories. Doesn't mean she'll win though as Anne Hathaway seems to still be the big frontrunner. It's likely for either Sally Field or Amy Adams to sneak in a surprise win. If Field wins alongside costar Daniel Day-Lewis, they will have the unique honor of winning their 3rd Oscars for the same movie. Not quite sure if that's happened before. The Academy might give Adams the win simply because the poor girl's been nominated three other times in the same category and has gone home empty handed each time.
The big snub for this category: Nicole Kidman for The Paperboy. With surprise nominations in the Golden Globes and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, Kidman seemed like she was climbing the ladder. But Weaver's surprise nomination put an end to all that.
Michael Haneke (Amour), Ang Lee (Life of Pi), David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook), Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) and Behn Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Since both Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow (two of the supposed frontrunners) were both shut out of the race, it seems like Spielberg's going to take it with Ang Lee being a close second. The two new entries Zeitlin and Haneke might win if there's some sort of upset but it seems unlikely. That's because both Life of Pi and Lincoln are both heavily nominated movies, which is a clear indicator of the winner.
The big snub for this category: obviously Affleck and Bigelow. I just can't even comprehend what the Academy was thinking.
Brave, Frankenweenie, ParaNorman, The Pirates! Band of Misfits and Wreck-It Ralph
This category is really hard to predict. I'm hoping for ParaNorman to win, which had glorious animation, a wonderful voice cast and a strong message. Brave has the Pixar pedigree but its notorious for not having its usual critical acclaim. The Pirates! Band of Misfits and Wreck-It Ralph have strong reviews and great animation but I haven't seen them or Frankenweenie to determine if they're better than ParaNorman. But I do love ParaNorman a lot so I'm pulling for it. -
The big snub for this category: Legends of the Guardian but it's not that egregious; I'm happy with the nominees as they are.
As I said before, the nominations aren't totally unpredictable but they were enough upsets and surprises to make this a very exciting year. Once the Golden Globe winners are announced, then we'll have a clearer feel for the Oscar winners.
