Thursday, January 10, 2013

My Thoughts on the 2012 Oscar Noms

Best Picture:


  • "Amour", "Life of Pi", "Lincoln", "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and "Zero Dark Thirty: Haven't seen these and will probably only see "Zero Dark Thirty" before the Oscar telecast
  • "Argo": Excellent movie
  • "Django Unchained": Good, fun Tarantino flick, but a bit uneven with too many loose ends
  • "Les MisĂ©rables": Yeah, the direction sucked and it was relentlessly depressing, but any movie that makes me "feel" as much as this movie made me "feel" (almost sobbing) deserves the accolades it gets
  • "Silver Linings Playbook": Best of the bunch, in my opinion.

Acting Nominations:

  • Best Guy: Of the nominees, I only saw Bradley Cooper and Hugh Jackman, but I put BC over HJ.
  • Best Girl: OTN, I only saw Jennifer Lawrence and she was phenomenal, as always
  • Sup' Guy: I missed The Master when it was in theaters, so I hope it comes back before the Oscar telecast, 'cause I love PTA and PSH. Arkin was great, DeNiro was better than lately, but Waltz was perfect (again).
  • Sup' Girl: Only saw Anne Hathaway and Jackie Weaver and, while JW was great, AH was devastatingly good.

Directing:

In this category, I only saw Silver Linings Playbook, but I loved the movie and I, for the most part, love David O. Russell films. Actually, I can quantify that statement that I love DOR films from alternating decades;  I loved his movies from the 1990s and now I love his movies from the 2010s, but I Heart Huckabees left me flat (the 2000s).

Cinematography:

I love Roger Deakins and SkyFall may be the best Bond film I've ever seen. (I never saw the Connery ones; I know, I'm a bad person.)

Screenplays:

  • Argo and SLP are both excellent, but if I have to give it to Argo under the "truth is stranger than fiction" heading
  • Django Unchained: I really enjoyed the movie and I really enjoy QT dialog, but as a whole, not worth the nomination.
  • Moonrise Kingdom was the single most enjoyable, wonderful movie I saw all year long and ranks up there next to Fantastic Mr. Fox as my favorite Wes Anderson films. I love this movie and I hope it wins Best Screenplay. It's a shame that it wasn't nominated for Best Picture.