Thursday, January 10, 2013

Oscar Nominations 2013


In the lead up to the nomination announcements for the 85th Academy Awards, I thought I would predict which films would be most likely to be nominated for this year's round. 

A few of these I haven't seen so far but I'm sure will be a part of the massive 10-strong Best Picture category so forgive my ignorance on details if they're lacking. These films are my shortlist with the *'s representing films I'm not so sure would be included in the nominee considerations but which I have put in anyway. 


  1. Argo
  2. Django Unchained
  3. Flight
  4. The Grey*
  5. Hitchcock
  6. The Hobbit*
  7. The Intouchables
  8. Killing Them Softly*
  9. Lawless
  10. Les Miserables
  11. Life of Pi
  12. Lincoln
  13. The Master
  14. Moonrise Kingdom
  15. On The Road*
  16. The Paperboy*
  17. Quartet
  18. Savages*
  19. The Sessions
  20. Zero Dark Thirty

And here is my top 10:

1. Argo - "My little story is the only thing between a gun and your head"
Nominated for 5 Golden Globes. Another 19 wins & 27 nominations 
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It's been a slow road for Ben Affleck in trying to make a serious name for himself since that stupendous flop of a movie, Gigi. Before Argo, there was The Town and the short film, Gimme Shelter, noteable mentions but nothing that gave him any acclaim. Now, Argo puts him at the forefront of the new Hollywood - edgy, realistic films that tackle contemporary issues with a new twist. Argo tells the story of how the CIA devised a plan to extradite 6 American hostages from Iran after the US embassy was seized in 1979. The plan? To create a fake movie set in Iran and smuggles the hostages out with the film crew after wrap. From the trailer, the film has the same gritty texture I enjoyed so much in The Town and this time around, I think Affleck has got his story much more sewn together. Releasing this film in this particular era of our society will help the film's chances of being nominated, with recent stories like this continuously coming out of the Middle East affecting America. The film-within-a-film is always a hit with the Academy as well so it'll be interesting to see how far Affleck can go with this. 

2. Django Unchained - "Gentlemen. You had my curiosity. Now you have my attention."
Nominated for 5 Golden Globes. Another 11 wins & 12 nominations
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After a 3-year hiatus, Quentin Tarantino returns with yet another spine-chillingly gruesome and violent cinematic assault on the senses in the form of Django Unchained. This time around, he's taking on the Western genre with Jamie Foxx playing a slave who is hired by everyone's favourite Nazi (Christoph Waltz), as a bounty hunter. However, Foxx isn't interested in being manhandled for long as he navigates himself and his new boss towards plantation boss, Calvin Candie (played by Leonardio Di Caprio) who has Foxx's wife. Though notoriously sidelined by the Academy year after year, I believe Tarantino has a real chance this year, having taken on the nation's price genre and added his special style of insanity with a few stars to blinker those too prude to watch. He'll have to get over his obsession with violence though to ensure the story is more than just blood, guts and tears. 

3. Hitchcock - "I'm just a man hiding in the corner with a camera. Watching."
Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 nominations
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Its the film movie freaks have been dying to see for as long as anyone can remember. The man who sparked a revival in the cinema and reminded us all what it means to go to the movies. Alfred Hitchcock was a god among men and a pain in the ass amongst his peers. Anyone who's ever taken a Film History unit will know this. But above it all, he made brilliant movies. The film that bears his name explores the life of this great filmmaker at a time defined by one of his greatest creation - Psycho. Many know the film but not the process behind its creation, the dramas and tragedies involved in Hitchock's life at the time that he had to overcome in order for us to hear those piercing screams coming from Janet Leigh's mouth. Its a film the Academy will love for its appreciation of an era long gone, a filmmaker non-existent in modern society, and a style of filmmaking that disappeared years ago. 

4. Lawless - "It is not the violence that sets men apart. It is the distance he is prepared to go." 
1 win & 3 nominations

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I was fortunate to actually get to watch Lawless as opposed to the trailers of the previous nominations I've mentioned and I have to claim, this film is a contender. Not just for the strong American values and history the Academy love so much, but for the high-end production values and a direction which brings this true story to fruition in a way many fail to achieve. The film follows 3 brothers who participate in the black market trade of alcohol during the prohibition era of 1920-1933. As expected, threats and violence ensue leading to an epic shootout, the likes of which have not been seen since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. One Best Actor nomination is sure to be cemented for at least one of the cast, my hopes being on Tom Hardy who has shown again and again that he has a range and talent that far outshines many of his English cohorts. 

5. Les Miserables - "Life has killed a dream, I dreamed."
Nominated for 4 Golden Globes. Another 14 wins & 44 nominations
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As much as I don't want to admit this film amongst my other nominess, I know full well that this epic will be included amongst the clan this year. Production value alone is what sets this film apart with a great attention to detail easily setting Les Mis apart from its opponents. For me, the film just did not capture story in a way I hoped it would. I know its a tricky narrative to navigate, given the book contains 1500 pages and the musical lasts for 3.5 hours itself; but I was sincerely hoping the cinematic version would have achieved the emotion that is rife within this story with a subtly defined by cinema. Alas, I feel this is not the case but I know that's an opinion and and not an educated assessment. For that, I know Les Mis will be in the nominees and has a great chance of taking out the main gong. 

6. Life of Pi - "The next part of the story you'll find hard to believe."
Nominated for 3 Golden Globes. Another 11 wins & 25 nominations
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Ang Lee's highly anticipated return to cinema yet again sets him up to be a major upset amongst the Best Director nominees at this year's Academy awards. Life of Pi was said to be the book that could never be adapted for film and yet, Lee has managed to take its impossible subject matter and turn it into a masterpiece. Life of Pi follows the story of a young man cast away at sea with the most unusual of fellow survivors - a Bengal tiger, a zebra, a hyena and an orangutan. The main pull of this film other than its story though is its amazing cinematography, captured beautifully by Claudio Miranda, a stunning visuality of a story that previously had only ever been seen in the mind's of the readers of the book. 

7. Lincoln - "Today, we will vote."
Nominated for 7 Golden Globes. Another 14 wins & 43 nominations
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Yet another great American story, Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of the slave trade still resides in the nation's memory as the biggest gamechanger in the history of the world. In a time rife with civil war, President Abraham Lincoln chose to change the course of his country against all odds... and won. Its the film that America has been waiting to see for years and now finally, Steven Spielberg has brought it to light. Daniel Day-Lewis shines again in the title role and many audience members will appreciate the extreme level of dedication he adopted to capturing the essence of this great historical figure just so. 

8. Moonrise Kingdom - "Jiminy Cricket, he flew the coop." 
Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 11 wins & 29 nominations
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If there's one filmmaker I can't stand more than Woody Allen, its Wes Anderson. Doesn't matter the cast, doesn't matter the story, I just don't like his style. That said, I know Moonrise Kingdom will be considered for the Best Picture nominees for the following reasons. First of all that this is Anderson's first picture since The Fantastic Mr Fox. I can see the Academy trying to collect the great director's of our time once again as they did back in 2009 to have a real showdown amongst the great. Secondly, the film is set in New England and again, American virtues are rife amongst this solid tale of young love and adventure (Huckleberry Finn springs to mind as inspiration). Whilst I may not be enamoured by Moonrise, I'm sure the Academy will and this will be included in Thursday's announcement.  

9. Quartet - "Fancy a little 'rumpy-pumpy'?... Qu'est ce que c'est 'rumpy-pumpy'?"
Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination
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Ratings: 6.7/10 from 767 users   Metascore: 56/100
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I'm not one to give first-time director's much credit but considering the strength of cast, story and location that this film had, Dustin Hoffman has a strong chance of having this film nominated. There were parts of the film that amplified his inexperiences as a director (yes, even at the tender age of 75, you can still be inexperienced), but the remainder was a pleasant story, with amazing moments of comic timing mixed in with reflective gestures on life, love and liberty - all in the name of old age. This may or may not be a strong choice for a nomination but I think the Academy may look fondly on it. 

10. Zero Dark Thirty - "There's a 60% probability he's there...It's 100%, I know certainty freaks you guys out but its 100."
Nominated for 4 Golden Globes. Another 21 wins & 29 nominations

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Ratings: 7.5/10 from 8,874 users   Metascore: 95/100
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After her major success as a filmmaker in 2009 with The Hurt Locker, Kathryn Bigelow returns to her favourite subject matter with Zero Dark Thirty, an action-thriller centred around one of America's greatest military triumphs - the capture of Osama Bin Laden. For some, it was an emotional end to a journey gone too long. For others, it was just the start of a whole new war. Bigelow artfully explores this amazing story through Jessica Chastain's character, Maya, the human link to an otherwise objective and hard-edged tale of men fighting in a foreign land to capture the evil master. This film will definitely be a contender for Best Picture. If its not, I expect the Academy will likely to be stoned. A film with such power and representation of one of the greatest moments in American history cannot go unnoticed.