As a rule I see the ACADEMY AWARDS as merely a way to promote the worst pictures. That has been the way it has been since the 1970’s. Occasionally they slip up and give a legitimate award. I tend to agree with Woody Allen, when he said something like, and here I paraphrase,(only because I can’t remember the direct quote). You can not judge art. No one really can. The things I might consider art another may consider junk. One would have to be able to completely divorce himself from all preconceived ideas. Open mindedness is a hard state to find. I have none of the preconceptions. I know what I like. I know what I don’t like. But I am able to put aside my feelings and make a pure judgement. Granted I may sometimes judge things by the cover. By that in regard to movies. I will some times read the plot and make a decision on whether or not it interests me. Some really interest me, and I may see them and be truly disappointed. Others I will say, “Okay I won’t pay to see this. I will wait for the TV or DVD release and see if any of my friends bought it.” Sometimes the plot just reads so thin. I don’t even think of seeing them. So here are my reactions to this years awards. I will rank them as I feel they should have been. Exception if I think another Picture, or Person more deserving that is where I will Place them. Actual winners will be in green.with a note if I did not see them and/or did not care to see them.
BEST PICTURE:
ARGO:
Linxoln: Saw this one. Gave Argo a close run.
Amour. Saw this in the French version. Loved the story line.
Django Unchained: Saw this. Lots of action. Just was pretty much unbelievable.
The rest were tied.
Life of Pi: Considered this but decided would wait for DVD.
Silver Linings: Same as above.
Beasts of The Southern Wild, Zero Dark Thirty. Did not see. Can’t imagine how they got on list. Should not even make it to DVD.
Les Miserables. Did not see. Cannot even imagine this great work as a musical.
BEST ACTOR:
bradley cooper silver linings. hugh jackman les miserables, joaquin phoenix the master. denzel washington,flight.
None of these truly deserved Best Actor. I saw much better portrayals in other movies. However of the list they gave us I would have to vote for Daniel-Day=Lewis. Of the listed he probably was most deserving.
BEST ACTRESS:
Nominees were jessica chastain, zero dark thirty: JENNIFER LAWRENCE, silver linings: EMMANUEL RIVA, Amour. naomi watts, the impossible: quvenzhane wallis, beasts of the southern wild.
It was my feeling the only true deserving winner for this category would have been EMMANUEL RIVA for AMOUR.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
NOMINEES WERE:
alan arkin, argo: robert de niro, silver linings playbook, philip seymour hoffman, the master: tommy lee jones. lincoln: and CHRISOPH WALTZ, django unchained. Of these I found none deserving. There were many better performances too many other movies to mention here.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
This category I find my choice for BEST ACTRESS, as I did not see her as a supporting actress but as the STAR. So I suppose because I see her as BEST ACTRESS she had to be the outstanding BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS. That person being HELEN HUNT. Of THE SESSIONS,
However the other nominees, why they got the nod Is way beyond any thinking I may be capable of seeing. them here. Nominees were. amy adams, the master; Sally Field (who would have been my second choice), Lincoln; ANNE HATHAWAY., (who had to have a lot of nerve, just to take the role on). and jacki weaver, silver linings playbook.’
BEST DIRECTOR;
This one is a tough call. You may have an excellent movie but poor direction, or great direction with a poor movie. That being said
Nominees are:
Michael Haneke, Amour
ANG LEE, Life Of Pi
David O. Russel , Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg , Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Like I said I have no input on this category.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY.
Again I have seen screeplays I liked better so I must yield to the nominated ones.
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom, (did not see, never even heard of this one).
Mark Boat, Zero Dark Thirty
John Gstins, Flight (again I never even heard of this movie ).
Michael Heneke, Amour, (I felt it was not directed to it’s potential).
QUENTIN TARATINO, Django Unchained. (which in my humble opinion the direction left a lot to be desired).
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
This is another category, I do not have the knowledge to call. as I have not read the books (i assume the adaption came from). so Nominees are:
Lucy Alibar and Beth Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild.
Tony Kushner, Lincoln
David Magee, Life of Pi.
David O Russell, Silver Linings Playbook
CHRIS TERRIO, Argo
Probably a good choice,
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE BRAVE:
Again I have no seen only one of these, BRAVE, The only one I am waiting for DVD is Wreck-It-Ralph.
Nominees were:
BRAVE: Which I have to agree with this choice.
Frankenweenie
ParaNorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits (which I will see on DVD)
Wreck-It-Ralph
The technical categories I will not go into. because I am unaware of what goes into these categories. I understand the success of many movies can rely on these services, so I will only list the winners.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
LIFE OF PI, Claudio Miranda
BEST COSTUME DESIGN:
ANNA KARENINA, jacqueline Durran
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Nominees were,
5 Broken Cameras, The Gatekeepers, How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, and
SEARCHING FOR SUGARMAN, (although I did not see this I at least heard of it.
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT:
INNOCENTE, Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine.
Other nominees were Kings Point, San gilman and Jedd Wider: Mondays at Racine, Cynthia wade and Robert Honan: Open HeartKief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern. Redemption, Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
BEST FILM EDITING:
ARGO, William Goldenberg
Life of Pi, Tim Squyres, Lincoln, Michael Kahn; Silver Linings Playbook, Jay Cassidy, and Crispin Struthers; Zero Dark Thirty, Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg.
BEST FOREIGN FILM:
AMOUR, Austria
Kon-Tiki, Norway; No, Chile; A Royale Affair, Denmark; War Witch, Canada.
BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING:
Hitchcock, Howard Berger, Peer Montagna, and Martin Samuel. The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey, Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater, and Tami Lane, LES MISERABLES, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell.
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE:
Anna Karenia, Dario Marianelli; Argo, Alexandre Desplat; LIFE OF PI, Mychael Danna; Lincoln, John Williams; Skyfall, Thomas Newman.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG:
Before My Time, from Chasing Ice, Music and Lyric by J. Ralph. Everybody Needs a Best Friend, from Ted, Mysic by Walter Murphy, lyrics by Seth MacFarlane. Pi‘s Lullabye, from Life of P i, Music by Michael Danna, Lyrics by Bombey Jayashri. SKYFALL, from Skyfall, music and lyrics by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth. Suddenly, from Les Miserables. Music by Claude-Michel Schonberg, lllyrics by Herbert and Alain Boubil.
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN:
Anna Karenina, Production Design, Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration, Katie Spencer. The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey, Production Design: Dan Hennah. Set Decoration Ra Vincent and Simon Bright. Les Miserables, Production Design Eve Stewart, Set Decoration, Anna Lynch-Robinson. Life of Pi, Production Design, David Gropman, Set Decoration Anna Pinnock. LINCOLN. Production Design; Rick Carter; Set Decoration Jim Erickson
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM:
Adam and Dog, Minkyu Lee. Fresh Guacamole, PES
