Ah the Oscars, my favorite TV event of the whole year. So many have criticized this prestigious ceremony over the years for many different reasons. Some say it focuses more on the best marketed movies than the actual best movies, and there could be some truth to that. Though for the most part I believe the Academy makes the right decisions regarding who they nominate and who they award. I just love the Oscars because it celebrates the movies and hey, sometimes it’s even funny… Though certainly not last year. Luckily the host with most Billy Crystal is back at the helm and the field of nominees is pretty solid. Though you probably wont see much variance in my list from most critic’s lists as there always seems to be that strange point where everyone agrees on the same things. So who knows, maybe I’ll be way off with some of these, I like surprises.
Best Adapted Screenplay
My personal favorite of this year’s crowd would be Moneyball for it’s ability to bring a book I wouldn’t expect to as a movie to the big screen. Though I think there’s a good chance it will go to The Descendants. Alexander Payne has a knack for finding the humor of “Painful” real life situations and I think that will be recognized. Actors Jim Rash and Nat Faxon co-authored and the screenplay and to think of a world where Dean Pelton from Community and some guy from Beerfest could have oscars fills me with hope for this world, go team The Descendants!
Best Original Screenplay
Of course my favorite for every category is going to be The Artist but everyone says Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris, so I’ll go with the safe bet. I wouldn’t be surprised by an upset for the Woodman here (like he would care) as this usually seems to be an unpredictable category. Bridesmaids is the dark horse but even that has an outside chance. It also makes me interested to see A Separation nominated. When I see a foreign movie with that many nominations it always makes me wonder… Is the only thing holding that film back from winning the fact that it’s foreign? Is it one of the best films of the year? Unfortunately it’s foreign so I didn’t get to see it. Where was I? Oh yeah, Midnight in Paris but I don’t know, Woody is always a no show at the Academy Awards. How will that affect the film’s chances? This one could be interesting
Best Supporting Actress
I like to think Octavia Spencer is a lock but that’s also because she’s my favorite in this category. The strange case here is why Shailene Woodley wasn’t nominated for The Descendants. Granted I didn’t see Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs I think Shailene Woodley easily gave the second best supporting actress performance of the year. Anyways, the fact that Octavia Spencer could now have an oscar is why I watch the Oscars. Here is an actress that I previously knew for roles like the prostitute in Bad Santa and as a bank employee in Drag Me to Hell and now she could have an oscar? Nothing better than seeing a talented actress get a break in the biggest awards ceremony of the year.
Best Supporting Actor
If there’s one nominee that’s been a lock since day one of award’s season it’s Christopher Plummer. I feel like I can say that with confidence because, 1. Plummer is completely deserving of the award and has consistently been winning in this category and 2. Once again the biggest competition in this category, in this case Albert Brooks, wasn’t even nominated. I didn’t see Kenneth Branagh in My Week with Marilyn but I did see all the other performances for this category and I can tell ya, no one is taking this night away from Christopher Plummer.
Best Actress
Meryl Streep keeps coming up again and again so this is a tough one. I didn’t really have any interest in seeing The Iron Lady and the bad reviews didn’t help. Streep of course took home the Golden Globe so I wonder how the film’s bad reviews will weigh into the situation. Of course it shouldn’t matter when were only talking about the performance, I feel like the Academy usually tries to focus on the better reviewed movies when it comes to bringing home the gold. So I’m just going to go ahead and go with my favorite performance in Viola Davis for The Help. Davis is completely deserving but she apparently has some stiff competition, this is one of the categories where I’m really not sure.
Best Actor
Now here is where I’m most unsure. The Artist has been this year’s darling on the award show circuit but Clooney’s name has consistently come up. It doesn’t help that most ceremonies split the best actor award into both a dramatic and comedic category. I like Clooney but I really don’t see the need to give him a second oscar for what’s essentially a very typical Clooney performance. Don’t get me wrong, he’s good but he’s not really stepping out of his boundaries for this one. Dujardin on the other hand gave a a delightfully expressive performance in The Artist, but the fact that it’s silent? That could be a tough obstacle to get around. Nonetheless I’m pulling for Dujardin and he’s ultimately my pick.
Best Director
One of the few categories where I think everyone is equally deserving of the award. Woody Allen, Alexander Payne, Terrence Malick, Martin Scorsese, what a lineup… And then you have Michel Hazanvicius. A name I’m sure no one had heard of before The Artist. Though I’m not sure he actually deserves it what it really it comes down to is “How much does the Academy love The Artist?” Being nominated for ten oscars sure is something, so will it be the big winner or not? Hard to say but I’m putting my money on Hazanavicius.
Best Picture
It’s got to be The Artist, if there’s even one category it deserves to win it’s this one and how cool would that be? The idea of a silent film winning best picture in this day and age? Oh how much joy that would fill me with. It’s pretty brave to make a film like The Artist in this day and age and not only that but the fact that it succeeded on such a triumphant level. I wouldn’t care if I was wrong in every category as long as this took home the gold.