It's time to play the music...
It's time to light the lights....
It's time to meet the actors at the Oscars Show tonight... (boom, boom, boom)
Hello Darlinks! Well as per usual, in this year my third year of trying to watch as many of the Oscar nominated movies as possible....I've watched far more movies than I've been able to tell you about. But here's this year's breakdown:
So I've watched 68% of the movies with nominations (compared to 55% in 2010 and 52% in 2011). Not bad.
I wish I'd managed Django Unchained to see Christoph Waltz's performance (nominated for Best Supporting Actor) so I could judge whether he's better than Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln, but as 8 out of the 9 best picture nominations were still in theatres rather than being out on demand/dvd, it made it too difficult to get to see them all. Still 7 out of 9 weren't half bad (I used my "there's no way I'm going to see that" card on Life of Pi (read the book, didn't want to see the movie).
It's strange, the thing I like most about my annual Oscars Watchalong is I watch movies I wouldn't normally shell out money to see and am blown away by many of them.
This WAS the same as usual in the Documentary Features category - I love and would heartily recommend you see Searching for Sugarman (best feel good documentary), The Invisible War (most important documentary you should watch to be informed about things you might not previously have known about), 5 Broken Cameras (quite stunning film made by an ordinary man about a situation I could never imagine living in, and made by two men you might think would be enemies), How to Survive a Plague (absolutely incredible historic documentary that should be watched to remember how life was and how we should keep on fighting). Unfortunately I haven't managed to see The Gatekeepers as it's only just been released here in select cinemas....I suspect it will probably win then as that's exactly the same as when I didn't get to see The Undefeated last year ;)
But this WASN'T the case with the 9 best picture nominations.....I wasn't really blown away by any of them. Zero Dark Thirty was much better than I expected and in NO WAY glorifies torture, I've seen waaaay worse in Lethal Weapon, Casino Royal, any Tarantino etc etc and though it lets you make up your own mind about it, I think it points pretty clearly to the fact that the information that lead to the death of Osama Bin Laden had been files all along and not discovered during torture. Silver Linings Playbook was nice, not mind-blowing but you come away with that feel-good vibe. Lincoln is immense, and only good because of the telling of how votes to secure the 13th amendment were obtained....and Tommy Lee Jones, who's character's story was fab and acting perfect. Les Miserables is a movie I'm appreciating more and more the longer time moves me away from when I watched it. The costumes were good....Beasts of the Southern Wild is charming and worth watching not just for little Quvenzhané Wallis's performance, but that the superb performance by Dwight Henry as her father Wink was his first time acting....they found him in his bakery across the road....how he isn't nominated for a Best Supporting Actor I have no idea. Argo is probably the best of the bunch and one I'm putting my (non-existent) money on. And Amour, a very, very hard watch but one that you'll remember made me like it inspite of myself.
So without further ado, here's my picks (and yes, I'm aware that some of these have no chance, but I like 'em, so nerrr) for this afternoon/evening's awards:
Picture: Argo (though Lincoln's going to win)
Director: Steven Spielberg - Lincoln (though it should be Sam Mendes for Skyfall)
Actor: Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln (I'll eat my stovepipe hat if he doesn't)
Actress: Emmanuelle Riva - Amour (and it's her 86th birthday, what a party!)
Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln (no Christoph Waltz, no Tommy Lee Jones...ok, sticking with that one. I think)
Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables (I'll eat 5 baguettes and sing a jaunty cocker-ney ditty if I'm wrong, cor luv a duck guvnor)
Animated Feature: Brave (hopefully winning in memory of Miss Ariel Rose)
Cinematography: Skyfall (possibly the one I'll be most upset about if wrong, and I will be, Life of Pi will win this)
Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran for Anna Karenina (though if Eiko Ishioka posthumously wins for Mirror Mirror that would be lovely)
Documentary Feature: The Invisible War (this is the hardest category to choose a favourite - all so different, all so worth seeing. The Invisible War is the one I'd like people to see from the publicity of winning, In Search of Sugarman or 5 Broken Cameras will probably win though)
Documentary Short: Mondays at Racine (confession, I haven't been able to find a way of watching any of the 5 nominations yet....really annoyed they're not released on iTunes to buy like the other shorts, but from what I've been able to read or trailers on youtube, Mondays at Racine is the one that appeals to me the most)
Film Editing: Zero Dark Thirty (though Argo will win)
Foreign Language Film: Amour (well if it's good enough to get a Best Pic nom....though I wish I'd been able to find a way of watching A Royal Affair....which seems to have been available in the UK for ages)
Makeup and Hairstyling: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (if simply for Bombur's plaited beard)
Music (Original Score): Anna Karenina (though Life of Pi will win)
Music (Original Song): Skyfall - Adele (though I love Everybody Needs A Best Friend from Ted too)
Production Design: Anna Karenina (though it felt like watching a perfume commercial, and the movie over-driected, it was beautiful and quite spectacular)
Short Film (Animated): Paperman (surely? surely....please...pretty please?)
Short Film (Live Action): Curfew (my fave, but I suspect all the hype around Buzkashi Boys might not actually be hype and they'll win it)
Sound Editing: Life of Pi (just based on Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton winning for Hugo last year...this is my least convincing guess of the night)
Sound Mixing: Les Miserables (surely with all the singing live to a accompanying piano before later mixing in the orchestra to the original performance alone is impressive enough?)
Visual Effects: Life of Pi (if everything I read about it is to be believed...I'd like The Hobbit to win, but I always wanted Harry Potter to win stuff or even be nominated too)
Writing (Adapted Screenplay): Argo (this is the best worst prediction I've got)
Writing (Original Screenplay): Zero Dark Thirty? Amour? erm.....let's go with Amour, it's late and I need to put my pretty frock on for the red carpet.....who am I kidding, I'm donning my leopard print onesie and a big bag of cheespuffs.
Phew. Done.
Finally, the two movies I enjoyed the most? (I couldn't pick just one) Skyfall and The Sessions.
OK, see you on the other side...
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