Oscar Wishlist And Predictions

I know, I know. I already said what my favourite movies of the year were and gave out my own mini Oscars. But of course, my posts basically mean jack shit to the average person. But, the Oscars mean quite a bit to the average person, and they're coming up. In anticipation I'm going to write two lists: the movies I want to win in each category, and the movie I think I will win. And no, I'm not going to predict the winner for Best Foreign Film. I'm writing on the stuff people actually care about. And away we go.

Will Win

Best Picture 
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln 
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Lincoln is everything the Academy voters love, but it's at least also a really good movie. It's not my pick, but I would be fine with it winning.

Best Actor In A Leading Role
Bradley Cooper- Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis- Lincoln
Hugh Jackman- Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix- The Master
Denzel Washington- Flight

Yup, another win for Lincoln. Day-Lewis is pretty much guaranteed at least a nomination in everything he does (well, everything in which he doesn't have to sing) I liked Hugh Jackman's performance and Denzel is good in everything, but I smell Day-Lewis winning this one.

Best Actress In A Leading Role
Jessica Chastain- Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence- Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva- Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis- Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts- The Impossible

Not even close.

Best Actor In A Supporting Role 
Alan Arkin- Argo
Robert De Niro- Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman- The Master
Tommy Lee Jones- Lincoln
Christoph Waltz- Django Unchained

Noticing a trend?

Best Actress In A Supporting Role
Amy Adams- The Master 
Sally Field- Lincoln
Anne Hathaway- Les Miserables
Helen Hunt- The Sessions
Jacki Weaver- Silver Linings Playbook

Duh.

Best Directing
Michael Haneke- Amour
Benh Zeitlin- Beasts of the Southern Wild
Ang Lee- Life of Pi
Steven Speilberg- Lincoln
David O.Russell- Silver Linings Playbook

I swear I'm not a huge Lincoln fanboy. Seriously if you're getting bored of this, scroll down to the want list.

Best Cinematography
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall 

The cinematography in this movie is so loved I think there would be backlash if it didn't win.

Best Original Screenplay
Amour
Django Unchained
Flight
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty

This one is down to ZDT and Django. The academy hates controversy, so this is the movie with tons of blood and violence vs the movie with torture. Still, I think Oscar is going to swing in favour of ZDT, but this one could go either way.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Beats of the Southern Wild
Life of Pi
Lincoln
The Silver Linings Playbook

Sigh....

Best Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life of Pi
The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White And The Huntsman 

Tough one! Still, Pi was a brilliant sight to behold and used CGI to create beauty rather than explosions. Nice.

Want To Win


Best Picture 
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln 
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Surprised? Quentin Tarantino has only ever won one Oscar. He deserves it here. This movie had it all: great story, great acting, great action, great pacing, great humour and a great commentary. Some may argue it's too jokey to win. Really? This took a good, raw look at slavery and was plenty serious. It's just a testament to Tarantino's brillance that he also made it hilarious and a ton of fun to watch. Would I be unhappy if Lincoln won? Not at all. It's a great movie, and certainly ranks as one of my favourite of the year. But this is the best of the year and deserves to be recognized as such.

Best Actor In A Leading Role
Bradley Cooper- Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis- Lincoln
Hugh Jackman- Les Miserables
Joaquin Phoenix- The Master
Denzel Washington- Flight

No, we're not doing this again, but credit where credit is due. Day-Lewis was Abraham Lincoln. When watching the movie you totally forget you're even watching an actor and instead just believe Lincoln has come back from the dead. He's that good.

Best Actress In A Leading Role
Jessica Chastain- Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence- Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva- Amour
Quvenzhane Wallis- Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts- The Impossible

No complaints here.

Best Actor In A Supporting Role 
Alan Arkin- Argo
Robert De Niro- Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman- The Master
Tommy Lee Jones- Lincoln
Christoph Waltz- Django Unchained

Ooo, tough one. Tommy Lee Jones was awesome, possibly the best actor in that movie. But Waltz was of course unbelievably awesome. He was easily my favourite character in Django Unchained and thus gets my vote.

Best Actress In A Supporting Role
Amy Adams- The Master 
Sally Field- Lincoln
Anne Hathaway- Les Miserables
Helen Hunt- The Sessions
Jacki Weaver- Silver Linings Playbook

If she loses, I will seriously cry. Or break something. Or both. Probably both.
Best Directing
Michael Haneke- Amour
Benh Zeitlin- Beasts of the Southern Wild
Ang Lee- Life of Pi
Steven Speilberg- Lincoln
David O.Russell- Silver Linings Playbook

Give it to Speilberg, sure. But the fact Tarantino isn't nominated is a travesty.
Best Cinematography
Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall 

That fight in the skyscraper alone is enough to win this one.

Best Original Screenplay
Amour
Django Unchained
Flight
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty

Surprised?

Best Adapted Screenplay
Beats of the Southern Wild
 Life of Pi
Lincoln
 David O.Russell 

Yes, I thought it was a well written script.

Best Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life of Pi
The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White And The Huntsman 

I think this one is a no brainer. Let me take this time to point out how bad it is for Warner Bros that The Dark Knight Rises got no nominations, making it the only movie in the Nolan trilogy to get no love from the academy. Considering that expanding the Best Picture pool to ten movies was known as "The Dark Knight Rule," and the huge push Warner Bros gave it for the Oscars, I'm honestly kind of surprised.