85th Annual Academy Awards (2013)

[DACrowe]

It seems many critics are rallying around ZD30. I will not see it for another week, but it is curious. Part of me wonders if the mainstream awards will join the party like they did with THL? The thing is that THL came out during a year of weak contention and the Academy was just itching to be politically noble and give its first Oscar to a female director (even playing that awful "I am woman hear me roar" when Bigelow won ). This year, they have had their self-congratulatory pat on the back in 2009 and it is a more competitive year.

P.S. This has nothing to do with Zero's quality. I haven't seen it. But it is a movie that looks like it is shot in that shaky-cam faux-documentary style that the Academy generally dislikes and does things that will make the politically minded wing of the Academy uncomfortable, like give credit to torture in the killing of Bin Laden. I could see them staying with something far safer like Les Miserables or Lincoln or even Argo over Zero in the end. Just a hunch. Kind of like how despite the critics going gaga for Social Network, the Academy went for the Oscar bait with The King's Speech. Feels very similar right now.

 

[terry78]

Yeah it getting acclaim up the ash.

 

[kvz5]

I wonder who can take on ZDT? Lincoln? The Master? SLP? Argo? The mixed reviews for Les Miz makes me think that it's not the strong BP contender that I initially thought it was. I have no doubts that Hathaway will win Supp Actress and someone other than her from the cast would get a nod (Jackman/Crowe/Redmaybe/Barks) but I don't think it's the 2nd strongest one after ZDT for BP.

 

[Project862006]

i still hope life of pi takes home the prize

 

[jmc]

I wonder who can take on ZDT? Lincoln? The Master? SLP? Argo? The mixed reviews for Les Miz makes me think that it's not the strong BP contender that I initially thought it was. I have no doubts that Hathaway will win Supp Actress and someone other than her from the cast would get a nod (Jackman/Crowe/Redmaybe/Barks) but I don't think it's the 2nd strongest one after ZDT for BP.

Les Mis is going to get support from the actors branch regardless of mixed reviews. Argo as good as it is I think is going to lose steam. To me the big unknown is where Django fits, so far word is extremely good for it and if that proves to be right maybe, just maybe it might be Quentin's time.

 

[Kansiov]

Lawrence was actually lucky to get a win out of LA, just reading some of the tweets, they were planning for a Riva win- that is until Boston and NY Online surprisingly both gave Riva the nod which made a significant portion of their membership dissent off the Riva bandwagon, making it a tie. Also, Field beat Watson by a single vote at Boston.

 

[kvz5]

San Diego Film Critics Nominations:

BEST FILM
ARGO
DJANGO UNCHAINED
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
THE MASTER
ZERO DARK THIRTY

BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee, LIFE OF PI
Ben Affleck, ARGO
David O. Russell, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Kathryn Bigelow, ZERO DARK THIRTY
Paul Thomas Anderson, THE MASTER

BEST ACTRESS
Helen Hunt, THE SESSIONS
Jennifer Lawrence, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Jessica Chastain, ZERO DARK THIRTY
Michelle Williams, TAKE THIS WALTZ
Naomi Watts, THE IMPOSSIBLE

BEST ACTOR
Bradley Cooper, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Daniel Day-Lewis, LINCOLN
Hugh Jackman, LES MISERABLES
Joaquin Phoenix, THE MASTER
John Hawkes, THE SESSIONS

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, THE MASTER
Anne Hathaway, LES MISERABLES
Emma Watson, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
Rebel Wilson, PITCH PERFECT
Samantha Barks, LES MISERABLES

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin, ARGO
Christoph Waltz, DJANGO UNCHAINED
Christopher Walken, SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS
Matthew McConaughey, KILLER JOE
Philip Seymour Hoffman, THE MASTER

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Quentin Tarantino, DJANGO UNCHAINED
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, MOONRISE KINGDOM
Sarah Polley, TAKE THIS WALTZ
Joss Whedon, THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
Paul Thomas Anderson, THE MASTER

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Chris Terrio, ARGO
David Magee, LIFE OF PI
Tony Kushner, LINCOLN
David O. Russell, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Stephen Chbosky, THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
AMOUR
HEADHUNTERS
HOLY MOTORS
THE INTOUCHABLES
THE KID WITH A BIKE

BEST DOCUMENTARY
BULLY
JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI
QUEEN OF VERSAILLES
SAMSARA
THE INVISIBLE WAR

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Ben Richardson, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Robert Richardson, DJANGO UNCHAINED
Danny Cohen, LES MISERABLES
Claudio Miranda, LIFE OF PI
Mihai Malaimare Jr., THE MASTER

BEST ANIMATED FILM
BRAVE
FRANKIEWEENIE
PARANORMAN
RISE OF THE GUARDIANS
WRECK-IT RALPH

BEST EDITING
William Goldenberg, ARGO
Brian A. Kates and John Paul Horstmann, KILLING THEM SOFTLY
Tim Squyres, LIFE OF PI
Leslie Jones and Peter McNulty, THE MASTER
William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor, ZERO DARK THIRTY

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Sarah Greenwood, ANNA KARENINA
Sharon Seymour, ARGO
Hugh Bateup and Uli Hanisch, CLOUD ATLAS
Eve Stewart, LES MISERABLES
Adam Stockhausen, MOONRISE KINGDOM

BEST SCORE
Alexandre Desplat, ARGO
Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Mychael Danna, LIFE OF PI
Alexandre Desplat, MOONRISE KINGDOM
Jonny Greenwood, THE MASTER

BEST ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE
ARGO
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LES MISERABLES
SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS
THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

 

[redhawk23]

While I don't think it has much of a shot at winning Best Picture, Django Unchained just might tear things up in the Director categories, and maybe in some of the acting, but I fully expect some attention where the script is concerned.

 

[flickchick85]

Everybody loves Django the same way they loved Inglourious Basterds: a great time, but hardly "The One" for Quentin. From what I've gathered, it's a hyper-violent hilarious crowd pleaser. Nobody's describing the movie as Tarantino's crowing achievement or anything, so I don't expect it to get too much awards love outside of the screenplay, acting and technical categories.

But then, I wasn't expecting Zero Dark Thirty to sweep everyone off their feet like this either, so who knows. I'm very much looking forward to ZDT, because at this point the only other "contenders" that I've been particularly impressed with were The Master and Life of Pi. I very much enjoyed Lincoln, The Silver Linings Playbook and Argo, but I personally wouldn't have declared them BP material. I also saw Anna Karenina today, and would probably put that one above those 3 as well. So while I truly did enjoy them all, I can't help but feel a little let-down by the "front-runners" so far.

That said, I'm kinda loving how up-in-the-air this race has been this year. It's not as much fun when the winner was already made clear way back in September at TIFF (which is basically what happened in the last 2 races).

 

[Project862006]

life of pi should be front runner just due to it's ambition the novel was seen as unfilmable it was a huge undertaking and he pulled it off if anything ang le should win best director

 

[Kansiov]

http://www.dcfilmcritics.com/awards/

THE 2012 WAFCA AWARD WINNERS:

Best Film:
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Director:
Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)

Best Actress:
Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

Best Supporting Actor:
Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

Best Supporting Actress:
Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

Best Acting Ensemble:
Les Misérables

Best Adapted Screenplay:
David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

Best Original Screenplay:
Rian Johnson (Looper)

Best Animated Feature:
ParaNorman

Best Documentary:
Bully

Best Foreign Language Film:
Amour

Best Art Direction:
Uli Hanisch, Hugh Bateup - Production Designers; Peter Walpole, Rebecca Alleway - Set Decorators (Cloud Atlas)

Best Cinematography:
Claudio Miranda (Life of Pi)

Best Score:
Jonny Greenwood (The Master)

The Joe Barber Award for Best Youth Performance:
Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)

 

[redhawk23]

Whoa, they gave screenplay to Looper? I have no real problem with that, I'm just surprised.

 

[Poeman]

Dont understand why Life of Pi and Ang Lee arent winning anything. So strange, I also think Daniel Day Lewis should not win for Lincoln after seeing the film.

I think it should be Phoenix for The Master

 

[terry78]

I honestly think, while he did a good job, DDL getting a nod for transforming himself is kind of on the nose. We all expect it, and i actually would not mind a little upset of the status quo. I know it's wrong, but I'm actually getting bored with good actors.

 

[kvz5]

The Master is MIA.

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR

ARGO
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LES MISÉRABLES
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
MOONRISE KINGDOM
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
ZERO DARK THIRTY

http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/afi-awards-2012-winners/

 

[DACrowe]

Everybody loves Django the same way they loved Inglourious Basterds: a great time, but hardly "The One" for Quentin. From what I've gathered, it's a hyper-violent hilarious crowd pleaser. Nobody's describing the movie as Tarantino's crowing achievement or anything, so I don't expect it to get too much awards love outside of the screenplay, acting and technical categories.

But then, I wasn't expecting Zero Dark Thirty to sweep everyone off their feet like this either, so who knows. I'm very much looking forward to ZDT, because at this point the only other "contenders" that I've been particularly impressed with were The Master and Life of Pi. I very much enjoyed Lincoln, The Silver Linings Playbook and Argo, but I personally wouldn't have declared them BP material. I also saw Anna Karenina today, and would probably put that one above those 3 as well. So while I truly did enjoy them all, I can't help but feel a little let-down by the "front-runners" so far.

That said, I'm kinda loving how up-in-the-air this race has been this year. It's not as much fun when the winner was already made clear way back in September at TIFF (which is basically what happened in the last 2 races).

I'm hoping ZD30 or Les Miserables or Django will sweep me off my feet. I really liked Lincoln and SLP and more respected Argo than loved it, but none of them blew me away.

I am kind of intrigued you thought Anna Karenina was better than Lincoln and SLP. I thought it was a very pretty looking movie, but was too overdone with its "high society is a stage" concept to make the story interesting. It felt like Wright had become bored with period pieces to me and did this to keep himself interested to the detriment of the story.

 

[flickchick85]

I am kind of intrigued you thought Anna Karenina was better than Lincoln and SLP. I thought it was a very pretty looking movie, but was too overdone with its "high society is a stage" concept to make the story interesting. It felt like Wright had become bored with period pieces to me and did this to keep himself interested to the detriment of the story.

Well to be clear, I said "probably," putting it not much higher than those others in my mind at the moment. And I think where we fundamentally differ on it is that I didn't think the technique was overdone in trying to make the story interesting, I thought it succeeded in making the story interesting. I'm not a Tolstoy fan, so forgive me for the oversimplification of such a highly-regarded classic novel, but Anna Karenina as a story is one big soap opera to me. Of course there are bigger themes at work and all, but when it comes to the characters, I've never cared about them or their plight in any adaptation. But when you really emphasize the context of it like this technique did, take it out of Tolstoy's "realist" mode and intentionally paint these characters more as larger-than-life archetypes than naturalistic human beings, it really brought out the high tragedy of it all for me, and got me involved in the same way I get involved with fairy tales and some Shakespeare adaptations.

It also managed to give the Levin/Kitty relationship its due, something no adaptation I've seen has done. And of course, I couldn't help but marvel at the technical achievement. Bringing the story to life in this way was one bad place of an undertaking from every single department of the production. I wanted to stand up and applaud them all by the end of it, lol.

But yes, like you, I'm still waiting to be swept off my feet by one of these front runners. The buzz and clips from Les Miz and Django are suggesting to me that it might not be them (though I'm still expecting to enjoy the bad place out of Django), so I'm really crossing my fingers for ZDT now.

 

[jacobed]

No surprise, I didn't think The Master was anything to write home about

 

[Warhammer]

I honestly think, while he did a good job, DDL getting a nod for transforming himself is kind of on the nose. We all expect it, and i actually would not mind a little upset of the status quo. I know it's wrong, but I'm actually getting bored with good actors.

I'm with you actually. I don't even know why everyone is pussyfooting about it. Daniel Day-Lewis was going to win Best Actor from the day one. Does it make me a bad guy to see him NOT get the award? I legitimately want there to be an upset for anyone else for the sake of shock.

And it is cool to see Joss Whedon get a Best Original Screenplay nomination from the San Diego Film Critics. The man had his breakout year and it's been a long time coming for him.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Yeah, I do kind of agree with you to some extent on this. I have yet to see Lincoln, but it seemed like everyone wanted to crown DDL with the award even before the trailer hit.

 

[Kane52630]

The Master is MIA.

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR

ARGO
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
DJANGO UNCHAINED
LES MISÉRABLES
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
MOONRISE KINGDOM
SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
ZERO DARK THIRTY

http://www.deadline.com/2012/12/afi-awards-2012-winners/

Of that list I still need to see Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty, Django Unchained, and probably Les Miserables.

 

[Warhammer]

Yeah, I do kind of agree with you to some extent on this. I have yet to see Lincoln, but it seemed like everyone wanted to crown DDL with the award even before the trailer hit.

Yep, exactly. If he did get the Oscar, it wouldn't go to someone who didn't deserve it. His performance was Oscar caliber. But the award would then just seem rather predictable.

 

[DACrowe]

Well to be clear, I said "probably," putting it not much higher than those others in my mind at the moment. And I think where we fundamentally differ on it is that I didn't think the technique was overdone in trying to make the story interesting, I thought it succeeded in making the story interesting. I'm not a Tolstoy fan, so forgive me for the oversimplification of such a highly-regarded classic novel, but Anna Karenina as a story is one big soap opera to me. Of course there are bigger themes at work and all, but when it comes to the characters, I've never cared about them or their plight in any adaptation. But when you really emphasize the context of it like this technique did, take it out of Tolstoy's "realist" mode and intentionally paint these characters more as larger-than-life archetypes than naturalistic human beings, it really brought out the high tragedy of it all for me, and got me involved in the same way I get involved with fairy tales and some Shakespeare adaptations.

It also managed to give the Levin/Kitty relationship its due, something no adaptation I've seen has done. And of course, I couldn't help but marvel at the technical achievement. Bringing the story to life in this way was one bad place of an undertaking from every single department of the production. I wanted to stand up and applaud them all by the end of it, lol.

But yes, like you, I'm still waiting to be swept off my feet by one of these front runners. The buzz and clips from Les Miz and Django are suggesting to me that it might not be them (though I'm still expecting to enjoy the bad place out of Django), so I'm really crossing my fingers for ZDT now.

Huh. You make a fair point. Still, I think while it is a melodrama, it only works if you believe the characters. By making it so artificial, it only brought into clarity more how quickly Anna and Vronsky were destroying their lives. Beyond that it made me view them as not real people, thus not really caring about the drama which drives the second half of the film.

 

[Kansiov]

http://www.examiner.com/article/detroit-film-critics-society-announces-their-2012-nominations

Detriot Film Critics Society

BEST PICTURE

• ARGO
• THE IMPOSSIBLE
• SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
• TAKE THIS WALTZ
• ZERO DARK THIRTY

BEST DIRECTOR

• BEN AFFLECK - ARGO
• JUAN ANTONIO BAYONA – THE IMPOSSIBLE
• KATHERINE BIGELOW – ZERO DARK THIRTY
• SARAH POLLEY – TAKE THIS WALTZ
• DAVID O. RUSSELL – SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

BEST ACTOR

• BRADLEY COOPER – SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
• JOHN HAWKES – THE SESSIONS
• DANIEL DAY-LEWIS - LINCOLN
• BILL MURRAY – HYDE PARK ON HUDSON
• JOAQUIN PHOENIX – THE MASTER

BEST ACTRESS

• JESSICA CHASTAIN – ZERO DARK THIRTY
• GRETA GERWIG – DAMSELS IN DISTRESS
• JENNIFER LAWRENCE – SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
• NAOMI WATTS – THE IMPOSSIBLE
• MICHELLE WILLIAMS – TAKE THIS WALTZ

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• ROBERT DENIRO – SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
• PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN – THE MASTER
• TOMMY LEE JONES – LINCOLN
• MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY – MAGIC MIKE
• EWAN MCGREGOR – THE IMPOSSIBLE
• EZRA MILLER – THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• AMY ADAMS – THE MASTER
• ANN DOWD - COMPLIANCE
• SALLY FIELD - LINCOLN
• ANNE HATHAWAY – LES MISÉRABLES
• HELEN HUNT – THE SESSIONS

BEST ENSEMBLE

• ARGO
• MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS
• LINCOLN
• MOONRISE KINGDOM
• SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

• STEPHEN CHBOSKY – THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
• ZOE KAZAN – RUBY SPARKS
• REBEL WILSON – PITCH PERFECT
• BENH ZEITLIN – BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
• CRAIG ZOBEL - COMPLIANCE

BEST SCREENPLAY

• STEPHEN CHBOSKY – THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER
• DREW GODDARD & JOSS WHEDON – THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
• TONY KUSHNER - LINCOLN
• SARAH POLLEY – TAKE THIS WALTZ
• DAVID O. RUSSELL – SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

BEST DOCUMENTARY

• THE HOUSE I LIVE IN
• THE IMPOSTER
• JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI
• THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES
• SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN

 

[Bruce Malone]

Where are these societies coming from? "The Detroit Film critics society"? I swear there's like a million of them now when there's like two that matter.