My favorite
movie of the year doesn’t normally win Best Picture and the for the last two
years it hasn’t even been nominated: Win-Win
(2011) and The Impossible (2012).
That said, I am still 2 for 3 with my Best Picture predictions.
For a complete look at eligibility and voting procedures, please take a
look at last year’s post: 84th Academy Awards –
Best Picture.
**********
Nominations:
·
Amour
o
Stefan Arndt – 1st nomination.
o
Margaret Menegoz – 1st nomination.
o
Veit Heiduschka – 1st nomination.
o
Michael Katz – 1st nomination.
Amour is also nominated for Best Director, Foreign Film, Leading Actress,
and Original Screenplay.
Won
honored with the coveted Pale d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, as well as, Best
Picture at the European Film Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Awards, and the National Society of Film Critics’ Awards.
In
addition, Amour has won the following awards for Foreign Film: the BAFTA, Golden Globe, Boston Society of
Film Critics Award, Chicago Film Critics Association Award, Dallas-Fort Worth
Film Critics Association Award, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award, Las
Vegas Film Critics Society Award, National Board of Review, New York Film
Critics Circle Award, San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award, Toronto Film
Critics Association Award, and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association
Award.
Amour will more than likely win the Academy Award for Best Foreign
Film, but I don’t think it has a chance for Best Picture.
·
Argo
o
Grant Heslov – 4th nomination.
Previously nominated for Good Night, and Good Luck (Best
Picture and Original Screenplay) and The Ides of March (Original
Screenplay).
o
Ben Affleck – 2nd nomination, 1 win for Good Will Hunting
(Original Screenplay).
o
George Clooney – 8th nomination, 1 win for Syriana
(Supporting Actor). Previously nominated
for Good
Night, and Good Luck (Original Screenplay and Direction), Michael
Clayton (Leading Actor), Up in the Air (Leading Actor), Ides
of March (Original Screenplay), and The Descendants (Leading
Actor).
Argo is also nominated for Editing, Original Score, Sound Editing,
Sound Mixing, Supporting Actor, and Adapted Screenplay.
Argo will probably win. It’s
fantastic and it has won TONS of awards:
AFI ‘Movie of the Year’, BAFTA Award, Golden Globe, the Broadcast Film
Critics Association Award, Florida Film Critics Circle Award, National Board of
Review ‘Top 10’, San Diego Film Critics Society Award, and the Southeastern Film
Critics Association Award.
·
Beasts of the Southern Wild
o
Dan Janvey – 1st nomination.
o
Josh Penn – 1st nomination.
o
Michael Gottwald – 1st nomination.
Beasts is also nominated for Best Directing, Leading Actress, and
Adapted Screenplay.
This
is a very impressive first feature by a first-time director.
Beasts was named to the AFI ‘Movie of the Year’ list and has won the
Austin Film Critics Association Award, 4 awards at the Cannes Film Festival,
the Deauville Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival, National Board of
Review ‘Top 10’, Reykjavik International Film Festival, and the Sundance Film
Festival.
·
Django Unchained
o
Stacey Sher – 2nd nomination. Previously nominated for Erin Brockovich.
o
Reginald Hudlin – 1st nomination.
o
Pilar Savone – 1st nomination.
Django is also nominated for Cinematography, Sound Editing, Supporting
Actor, and Original Screenplay.
This
movie is incredibly fun, but it is not a ‘Best Picture’.
Named
to the AFI ‘Movie of the Year’ list and to the National Board of Review ‘Top 10’.
·
Les Miserables
o
Tim Bevan – 3rd nomination.
Previously nominated for Atonement and Elizabeth.
o
Eric Fellner – 4th nomination. Previously nominated for Frost/Nixon, Atonement,
and Elizabeth.
o
Debra Hayward – 1st nomination.
o
Cameron Mackintosh – 1st nomination.
Les
Miserables is also nominated for Best Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling,
Original Song, Production Design, Sound Mixing, Leading Actor, and Supporting
Actor.
Named
to the AFI ‘Movie of the Year’ list and to the National Board of Review ‘Top 10’.
Also won the Golden Globe (Musical or
Comedy) and the Hollywood Film Festival ‘Producers of the Year’ Award,
·
Life of Pi
o
Gil Netter – 2nd nomination. Previously nominated for The Blind Side.
o
Ang Lee – 5th nomination.
Previously nominated for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
(Picture and Direction), Brokeback Mountain (Direction), and
also nominated for directing Life of Pi.
o
David Womark – 1st nomination.
Life of Pi is also nominated for Best Cinematography, Direction, Editing,
Original Score, Original Song, Production Design, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing,
Visual Effects, and Adopted Screenplay.
Named
to the AFI ‘Movie of the Year’ list and to the national Board of Review ‘Top 10’.
Also won the Las Vegas Film Critics
Society Award and Mill Valley Film Festival.
·
Lincoln
o
Steven Spielberg – 15th nomination, 3 wins for Schindler’s
List (Director and Picture) and Saving Private Ryan (Director). 8th nomination for Best Picture.
o
Kathleen Kennedy – 8th nomination. Previously nominated for producing The
Color Purple, The Sixth Sense, Seabiscuit,
Munich,
The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and War Horse.
Lincoln
is also nominated for Best Cinematography, Costume Design, Direction, Editing,
Original Score, Production Design, Sound Mixing, Leading Actor, Supporting
Actress, Supporting Actor, and Adapted Screenplay.
Named
to the AFI ‘Movie of the Year’ list and to the national Board of Review ‘Top 10’. It was also named Best Picture by the
Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association.
·
Silver Linings Playbook
o
Donna Gigliotti – 3rd nomination, 1 win for Shakespeare
in Love, previously nominated for The Reader.
o
Bruce Cohen – 3rd nomination, 1 win for American
Beauty, previously nominated for Milk.
o
Jonathan Gordon – 1st nomination.
Silver Linings is also nominated for Best Direction, Editing, Leading Actor,
Leading Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, and Adapted Screenplay.
Only
13 films have been nominated in all four acting categories and only two of them
have won Best Picture: Mrs.
Miniver (1942) and From Here to Eternity (1953). This does not bode well for Silver
Linings Playbook.
Silver
Linings Playbook has won the Austin Film Festival, Broadcast Film Critics
Association Award (Comedy), Capri Movie of the Year, Hamptons International
Film Festival, Mill Valley Film Festival (American), names to the National
Board of Review’s ‘Top 10’ list, Philadelphia Film Festival, and the Satellite
Award for ‘Best Movie’.
·
Zero Dark Thirty
o
Mark Boal – 4th nomination, 2 wins for The Hurt Locker (Original
Screenplay and Picture), also nominated for Original Screenplay for Zero
Dark Thirty.
o
Kathryn Bigelow – 3rd nomination, 2 wins for The
Hurt Locker (Director and Picture).
o
Megan Ellison – 1st nomination.
Zero is also nominated for Best Editing, Sound Editing, Leading
Actress, and Original Screenplay.
I
wasn’t a huge fan of this movie. It is
well made, but I found it rather drab and boring. Then again… I was living in Pakistan during
the events of this film. That said, it
has won a lot of awards and could give Argo a run… and who knows. The Hurt Locker was my second place choice
the year it won… so Bigelow has a chance to dupe me twice.
Named
to the AFI ‘Movie of the Year’ list and to the national Board of Review ‘Top 10’. Also won the Austin Film Critics Association
Award, Boston Society of Film Critics Award, Chicago Film Critics Association
Award, named to the National Board of Review ‘Top 10’, New York Film Critics
Circle Award, San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award, Vancouver Film Critics
Circle Award, and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Award.
**********
My Two-Cents:
There isn’t much to say here… I think Argo has this thing
locked.
**********
Prediction:
1. Argo
2. Zero Dark Thirty
3. Silver Linings Playbook
4. Life of Pi
5. Les Miserables
6. Lincoln
7. Django Unchained
8. Beasts of the Southern Wild
9. Amour
