Oscar Picks

My absolute favourite film of the year was Life of Pi. Spectacular visuals!  I want to see this in 3D again. And again. I loved the novel and was dubious it could be made into a film. Ang Lee did not disappoint. Truly innovative in its adaptation. And it is a Canadian co-production! I don't think it will win Best Picture, not because it doesn't deserve to win so much as because most of the voters in the Academy are rumoured to be old white guys.

We all have our biases. Personally, I have absolutely no desire to see Django Unchained... way too violent, and way too long. So when Rob went to see Django, I was in the theatre watching Lincoln. Daniel Day-Lewis was outstanding. He portrayed Lincoln with a bit of a hobble, and I couldn't help but wonder if he had studied a pair of the dead President's shoes with an informed cobbler's eye (one of Day-Lewis' hobbies is shoe-making).

Anna Karenina was definitely worthy of the big screen.  The transitions were brilliant in the way they layered behind-the-scenes against the stage. The scale of the story and the sheer magnitude of some of the scenes demanded a large frame. The music, costumes, and sets were meticulously rendered. The adaptation of the novel must have been intimidating; it is such a long work and so well known. I walked out of the movie with a new perspective of the characters and their place in time. 

Amour is the Oscar nominee I've most recently seen. The actress' portrayal of the end of life is incredibly real. It must have been an exhausting role to play.
 
Of this year's nominees  I've also seen The Master, The Impossible, Argo, Hitchcock, and Moonrise Kingdom. 


So here are my Oscar picks... let's see how close I get:

Best Picture: Lincoln
Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis
Best Actor (in a supporting role): Robert De Niro
Best Actress: Emnanuellle Riva (Amour)
Best Actress (in a supporting role): Sally Field
Foreign Language: Amour
Make-up: Hitchcock
Cinematography: Anna Karenina
Costume Design: Anna Karenina
Director: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
Production Design: Les Mis
Music (original score): Anna Karenina
Music (original song): Sky Fall
Sound editing: Argo
Sound mixing: Les Mis
Visual Effects: Life of Pi
Writing (adapted Screenplay): Anna Karenina
Writing (Original): Amour

I've not seen: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty, Les Miserables, Sky Fall, Flight, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman, The Hobbit, Chasing Ice, The Avengers, Prometheus, Documentaries, Animated Features or shorts, most of the Foreign Films