Tempest's 2013 Oscars Watchalong - Progress Report:
Total movies with Oscar nominations: 53 Movies watched so far: 22
Movies going to watch before Feb 24th's ceremony: 17 to 21
Movies not available before Feb 24th or that I'm avoiding (including Life of Pi): 10
Movies blogged about (here's the bit where I'm lacking): 8....
......so in an effort to get more blogged about, and to not bore your RSS feeds with 45 posts in the 10 remaining days, I'm going to wait till I've seen all the films in each category AND then blog about the category nominations rather than individual movies. Like I did for the films up for Best Animated Feature. Will that keep us all happy? Yeah, that'll do (pig), that'll do.
So here are my thoughts on the actors (and their movies) up for the Academy Award for Actor in a Leading Role:
The nominees are:
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln
Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Denzel Washington - Flight
Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook (my thoughts here) is OK, although as I said in that previous post he's totally overshadowed by Jennifer Lawrence (up for Best Actress) and in some ways Robert De Niro (up for Best Supporting Actor). It's a sympathetic, understanding portrayal of bipolar (though we only really get to see him in the manic) that doesn't solely rely on the character's mental illness to push the plot along. For more thoughts of the movie, check out that previous post. It's not going to win him the Best Actor Oscar though.
Unfortunately, I haven't yet seen Joaquin Phoenix in The Master as it's not out on dvd release/itunes/VOD etc until February 26th, after the Oscar's Ceremony and I missed it last summer in theatres. So I can't assess his chances or whether I liked his performance. Here's Mark Kermode's thoughts on the movie. I'm guessing with his competition, he'll be unlikely to win.
Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables is very, very good, and bare in mind I didn't really like Les Mis but I'll tell you more about why when I do my Best Picture category post. He's probably the most believable in the movie and his character has such an incredible journey. I think he's the reason that Les Mis is such a good movie (blimey, did I just say that? If you saw my tweets straight after I'd seen it and how it killed a little bit of my soul haha...but more of that another day). If you need convincing that he is a serious contender for Best Actor, watch this:
I really, really liked Flight and thought Denzel Washington's acting in it superb. I think his nomination for Best Actor is rightly deserved and was totally convinced by his character's failings and amazing abilities despite these failings. Unlike Mark Kermode, I didn't think the outcome could be seen from an event early on in the movie (here's his review, but don't watch it if you don't want spoilers). I was genuinely gripped by his story and his acting and was very happy having spent the time watching this one......but he's not going to win either.
Daniel Day-Lewis as Lincoln is probably going to win, don't we think? Of the five men here, I would argue he IS the best actor (just look at his body of work and how diverse the characters he's played have been). It's interesting that in a film where I actually think the story about the politics, compromise and skullduggery in passing a nation-changing amendment, and where Tommy Lee Jones's character's journey is FAR MORE interesting and central than the person of Lincoln himself, Daniel Day-Lewis still shines resolute like the Lincoln Memorial watching over us all.
Again, I'll say more about Lincoln in next week's post on the 9 movies up for Best Picture. But I was totally convinced that Daniel will win when I was reminded of how he normally talks and moves during his BAFTA acceptance speech compared to his complete transformation in the movie. Heck, you just have to look at that movie poster above, DDL IS LINCOLN. Could anyone else have done this?
So, who do I want to win: Daniel Day-Lewis
Who do I actually think will win: Daniel Day-Lewis
Yeah, I know, it's rare that I actually want the favourite to win ;)
What do you reckon? Who are you going to be cheering for on February 24th at the Oscars?
If you want a list of all 53 movies up for an Oscar of any kind this year, I've made a list you can print off here.
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