Oscar Wills & Wants

Here's my post where I say which movies will win and which I want to win.

To be fair, there are two films that were nominated that I didn't get the chance to see. So, you know, take my comments with a grain of salt. 

Of course it should go without saying that the Oscars are no indication of the quality of films that are released in a given year.  And yes, it's silly to make a big deal out of them. On the other hand, this is like, the one day of the year that seemingly everyone, from my parents to co-workers to random strangers on the street actually pay some attention to that past time that consumes a large part of my time 365 days a year.  So long as this is properly contextualized, I have no problem with me, or anyone else, getting into the fun of the Oscars.

The "wants" are listed in order of preference.  And for fun (always for fun, guys), I put some comments in red.

Best Picture

I wouldn't begrudge any winner here except Silver Linings or maybe Les Miserables.  Solid list, besides those.

 

WILL:

Argo

WANT:

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Lincoln

Argo

Django Unchained

Zero Dark Thirty

Amour

Life of Pi

Les Miserables

Silver Linings Playbook

Best Actor

 Would have said John Hawkes if he'd made the cut.

WILL:

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

WANT:

Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

Denzel Washington, Flight
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Actress

WILL:

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

WANT:

Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actor

I'd be fine with any win here besides SLP, since I didn't like the movie. Though the performance was fine, I guess. 

WILL:

Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook

WANT:

Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Alan Arkin, Argo
Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Supporting Actress

Almost all of these performances are equally deserving after Hathaway and Adams.

 

WILL:

Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

WANT:

Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Amy Adams, The Master

Sally Field, Lincoln
Jacki Weaver, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Hunt, The Sessions

Best Original Song

Can't say I have much invested in this category. Nothing I particularly liked or even remember.

 

WILL:

"Suddenly," Les Miserables

WANT:

"Skyfall," Skyfall

"Before My Time," Chasing Ice
"Pi’s Lullaby," Life of Pi
"Suddenly," Les Miserables
"Everybody Needs A Best Friend," Ted

Best Animated Feature Film

I loved Paranorman so much.  Wreck-It-Ralph is the only other film on the list that deserves recognition in any way.

WILL:

Brave

WANT:

Paranorman

Wreck-It Ralph

Pirates! Band of Misfits

Brave

Frankenweenie


Best Foreign Language Film

No film on this list came close to being a favorite of mine, even Amour.  I liked them all, and that's about it.

WILL:

Austria: Amour

WANT:

Austria: Amour
Denmark: A Royal Affair

Canada: War Witch
Chile: No

Norway: Kontiki

Best Director

Other than Silver Linings Playbook not winning, not too much riding on this one either since to me, Benh Zeitlin even getting nominated for it was massively cool.    

WILL:

Ang Lee, Life of Pi

WANT:

Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Michael Haneke, Amour

Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Original Screenplay

Moonrise really deserves to get something, guys. C'mon.

WILL:

Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

WANT:

Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, Moonrise Kingdom

Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained

Michael Haneke, Amour

Mark Boal, Zero Dark Thirty

John Gatins, Flight

Best Adapted Screenplay

Repeat after me: Anything but Silver Linings! 

 

WILL:

Chris Terrio, Argo

WANT:

Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Tony Kushner, Lincoln

Chris Terrio, Argo
David Magee, Life of Pi

David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

Best Cinematography

Not sure I'm particularly interested in this category.

WILL:

Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi

WANT:

Robert Richardson, Django Unchained

Roger Deakins, Skyfall

Janusz Kaminski, Lincoln

Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi

Seamus McGarvey, Anna Karenina


Best Costume Design

Not sure I'm particularly interested in this category.

WILL:

Paco Delgado, Les Misérables

WANT:

Paco Delgado, Les Misérables

Colleen Atwood, Snow White and the Huntsman

Eiko Ishioka, Mirror Mirror

Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina
Joanna Johnston, Lincoln


Documentary Feature

This is one of the categories I'm most looking forward to.  Every movie on this list was good, and all of them are deserving of the Oscar with the exception of Searching for Sugarman, which was a fascinating story but let's face it, just good film. Doesn't belong on that list.  I don't like saying that, especially about a documentary film, and one that I liked, at that.   Maybe I should suck it up and be glad that people are so moved by it that it'll encourage them to spend more time with the genre.

WILL:

Searching for Sugar Man

WANT:

The Invisible War

How to Survive a Plague

5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers,
Searching for Sugar Man

Documentary Short

Any one of these films could win and I'd be thrilled. I enjoyed them all so much that it was hard to choose amongst them.  I hope they all get seen by wide audiences. 

WILL:

"Mondays at Racine," Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan

WANT:

"Mondays at Racine," Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan

"Open Heart," Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern

"Kings Point," Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider

"Inocente," Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
"Redemption," Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

Film Editing

How about anything but Silver Linings Playbook, for a change?

WILL:

Tim Squyres, Life of Pi

WANT:

William Goldenberg, Argo
Michael Kahn, Lincoln

Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg, Zero Dark Thirty

Tim Squyres, Life of Pi
Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers, Silver Linings Playbook

Makeup and Hairstyling

Either way. I have only seen one of them, anyhow. (Embarrassing.)

WILL:

Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell, Les Miserables

WANT:

Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell, Les Miserables

Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel, Hichcock
Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey


Best Original Score

Since the Academy didn't nominate the obvious best score of the year (Beasts of the Southern Wild) I can't be bothered to care here. Sorry!

WILL:

Mychael Danna, Life of Pi

WANT:

John Williams, Lincoln

Mychael Danna, Life of Pi

Alexandre Desplat, Argo

Thomas Newman, Skyfall

Dario Marianelli, Anna Karenina



Best Production Design

<Shrug>

WILL:

Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, Anna Karenina

WANT:

David Gropman and Anna Pinnock, Life of Pi

Rick Carter and Jim Erickson, Lincoln

Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, Anna Karenina
Dan Hennah, Ra Vincent and Simon Bright, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson, Les Miserables

Best Animated Short

Has to be Head over Heels. So sweet! The others were totally fine too.  

 

WILL:

"Paperman," John Kahrs

WANT:

"Head over Heels," Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly

"Paperman," John Kahrs
"Adam and Dog," Minkyu Lee
"Fresh Guacamole," PES
"Maggie Simpson in 'The Longest Daycare,'" David Silverman

Best Live Action Short

Another category where all the entries are strong.  There's no worst case scenario here. A great film will win.

 

WILL:

Asad, Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura

WANT:

Asad, Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
Henry, Yan England

Curfew, Shawn Christensen

Buzkashi Boys, Sam French and Ariel Nasr
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw), Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele


Best Sound Editing

I'll take their word for it.

WILL:

Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton, Life of Pi

WANT:

Wylie Stateman, Django Unchained
Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn, Argo
Paul N.J. Ottosson, Zero Dark Thirty
Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton, Life of Pi

Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers, Skyfall

Best Sound Mixing

Fine with whatever.

 

WILL:

Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes, Les Misérables

WANT:

John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia, Argo
Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes, Les Misérables
Ron Bartlett, D.M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin, Life of Pi
Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins, Lincoln
Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson, Skyfall

Best Visual Effects

I think the first two on my "want" list far outshine the others.

WILL:

Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott,Life of Pi

WANT:

Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott,Life of Pi
Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson, Snow White and the Huntsman

Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill, Prometheus

Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick, Marvel’s The Avengers
Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey