Sunday, February 24, 2013

Movies: My Oscar picks for 2012

My success rate for Oscar picks has been 15 out of 24 in 2005, 10 in 2006, 15 in 2007, 13 in 2008, 10 in 2009, 11 in 2010, and 15 in 2011, so hats off to blind intuition. Although I've seen a record 9 out of all nominated feature-length movies (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Brave, Frankenweenie, Hitchcock, Moonrise Kingdom, Prometheus, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and Zero Dark Thirty), frankly I'll be surprised if I draw a bead on anything this year. (Underline denotes my pick of deserving nominee. Bold will denote the actual winner.)

Best Picture
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Amour
Django Unchained
Argo

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Alan Arkin, Argo
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Best Supporting Actress
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Amy Adams, The Master

Best Director
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
Michael Haneke, Amour
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Actor
Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln
Denzel Washington, Flight
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Best Actress
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Original Screenplay
Zero Dark Thirty
Django Unchained
Moonrise Kingdom
Amour
Flight

Best Adapted Screenplay
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Argo
Life of Pi
Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Animated Feature
Frankenweenie
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph
Paranorman
Brave

Best Foreign Feature
Amour
A Royal Affair
Kon-Tiki
No
War Witch

Best Visual Effects
Life of Pi
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Cinematography
Skyfall
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln

Best Costume Design
Anna Karenina
Les Miserables
Lincoln
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman

Best Documentary Feature
Searching for Sugar Man
How to Survive a Plague
The Gatekeepers
5 Broken Cameras
The Invisible War

Best Documentary Short
Open Heart
Inocente
Redemption
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine

Best Film Editing
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Life of Pi
Argo
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Miserables

Best Music (Original Score)
Anna Karenina
Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Best Music (Original Song)
Before My Time from Chasing Ice
Everybody Needs A Best Friend from Ted
Pi's Lullaby from Life of Pi
Skyfall from Skyfall
Suddenly from Les Misérables

Best Production Design
Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln

Best Short Film, Animated
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare'
Paperman

Best Short Film, Live Action
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)
Henry

Best Sound Editing
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Sound Mixing
Argo
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall