Thursday, January 10, 2013

Kneejerking to the 2013 Oscar Nominees

In case you missed it because you live under a rock, the nominees for this year's Academy Awards were announced today, and I, of course, have some reactions. Not predictions, mind you; I haven't actually seen all the movies involved yet so I'm not about to make any predictions... but that doesn't mean I don't have any thoughts! Not many, mind you, because I'm tired and verging on sick, but here we go...


Starting at the top, what the hell is Amour? Seriously, how is there a Best Picture nominee that I haven't even heard of? Also, I'm shocked as hell that Django Unchained got nominated. I've yet to watch it, but it doesn't seem like the kind of movie the Academy would recognize. It must be really, really good. When it comes to Best picture, though, I'm really pulling for Silver Linings Playbook, which would surprise no one at this point.

Best Actor is a hell of a field this year, past winners abound and all, and I'd be really, really surprised if we don't see a repeat. Sorry, Bradley Cooper... you'll just have to settle for being one handsome, charismatic, rich son of a bitch...

Initially, I was surprised as hell that Anne Hathaway didn't get a nod for Best Actress, because she was just amazing in Les Miserables. But as I thought about it, even though she gave arguably the movie's best performance, she was only in it for about 20 minutes, not really Best Actress material. Which is fine with me, because having to choose between her and Jennifer Lawrence for me would be like what I can only imagine it felt like for mothers to have sons on opposing sides of the Civil War.

Holy wow.
But we all know the Academy loves a great story, and with the Best Actress field this year having both the oldest and the youngest actresses to ever get nominated, well, it'll be interesting.

Anne Hathaway being moved from Best Actress to Best Supporting Actress really boned the rest of the ladies in that category though, didn't it?

I got nothing at the moment for Best Supporting Actor. Best I can say is that Alan Arkin was the only thing about Argo I enjoyed.

Speaking of which, the biggest surprise for me is that Ben Affleck didn't get any love for Best Director. I mean, as I said, Argo didn't do much for me, but everyone and their drunken sister loved it, it got a Best Picture nod, and everyone always raves about Affleck as a director, so I'm pretty surprised by this.

Those are the immediate reactions I had when reading the nominations today. If you were looking for predictions, sorry to disappoint you; I'll make it up to you the day of the show, once I've seen all the relevant movies. Til then, if you have any thoughts about the nominations, let's talk about them!

2 comments:

  1. Amour is one of those indie darlings, and actually a touching love story directed by a guy who usually directs GRUESOME, truly shocking movies. It's about an old married couple and the love they have for each other as one of them is dying.

    As for predictions:
    Daniel Day will win for best actor. (sleeper pick Joaquin Phoenix)
    Jessica Chastain will win for best actress. (sleeper pick Emmanuelle Riva)
    Robert DeNiro wins for best supporting (HE was by far the best in that movie) - sleeper pick Alan Arkin
    Anne Hathaway wins for best supporting actress (sleeper pick Amy Adams)
    Best Director - Spielberg ugh....(sleeper Ang Lee)
    Best Picture - Les Mis (Sleeper Django)

    The actors from Django got screwed cause they were SO over the top with the N words, that the oscars wouldn't want to touch them.

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    1. I think the idea that Lincoln doesn't win Best Picture is pretty crazy, but as I enjoyed Les Mis more, I'd be okay with that.

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