The Oscar Post
I've always had a love/hate relationship with the Academy Awards. It is a lot of build up and then with a sigh of relief from the old men who live for the tradition of Oscar night, a bunch of beautiful people watch the favorites win. Sure there are occasional times where an underdog pulls it off but most of the time we watch the Oscars for the outfits and can easily call out the winner. So I've decided to give some naked bald men with swords to some of the deserving people this year. Maybe not the ones who will actually win but some who actually deserve to. Call this my "I wish I chose the Oscars." You may notice that some of the pictures and actors on my list are not nominated. I don't necessarily go by the man's Oscar nominations. This is simply the list of my favorites from last year. Let's Begin with the Best Picture of Last Year.
Best Picture
Argo
This one will probably win the actual Oscar and it deserves it. The Academy could decide to honor Lincoln because it has all the glamour Steven Spielbergy goodness that people are comfortable with. Here's the problem. Argo was a great movie. A combination of thriller, comedy and spy epic. Not to mention that it was a true story. I will give you a moment to pause at the horrible hair and awful leisure suits but hey, it was the 70's. Everyone thought that looked good. Yet another reason why kids of my generation can safely not pay too much attention to what our parents think of our clothes. Argo recreates a time and traumatic event in our history and makes it a truly fun adventure. It truly was the best picture of last year. Life of Pi can suck it.
Best Actor
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
It is one of those years that the Best Actor category was decided the moment Daniel Day Lewis decided to be in a movie. He is a great actor and I loved him in There Will Be Blood but seriously this guy could read the phone book and people would call it the greatest performance from A-Z. I just wish that Bradley Cooper had a chance here. His portrayal of a mentally disturbed man trying to reclaim his life and wife was perhaps the bravest performance of last year that was not Helen Hunt hanging her naked body out there. Whether he is in gold like Silver Linings Playbook or The Hangover, Cooper brings the goods. He has crapped the bed a few times (did anyone see that one where he banged Uhura and stole some guys book?) and his good looks probably play against him a bit. Regardless of what My Left Foot says, a performance this good deserves to be recognized.
Best Actress
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
I love this girl. From her feisty performances to her stunning looks, Jennifer Lawrence is a talent that will not be going away soon. From playing Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games to this performance as an equally broken woman looking to break through to Bradley Cooper, she broke my heart. I could see the pain, happiness, and sadness throughout this picture. Her energy lifted Cooper, DeNiro, and even Chris Tucker to Oscar worthy performances. She is such a refreshing person too, not being overly careful or trying to be the role model for the world. She had a performance worthy of gold this Sunday and I know the sexy pick is Jessica Chastain but her role in Zero Dark Thirty consisted of staring moodily and writing on windows. Lawrence's Tiffany is multi-layered and someone you want to root for. Romantic comedies are rarely recognized by the Academy and I believe they might of missed this one too had it not been for the cast and director. Lawrence steps up to the greats in the business and shows why she is one.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Samantha Barks - Les Miserables
I know what you are saying. Wait who the hell is that? You must have meant Anne Hathaway, right? Nope. I loved Anne Hathaway's performance as Fantine in Les Miserables and her performance of I Dreamed a Dream pretty much won her the Oscar from the moment she recorded it. I just wanted to point out what I believe to be the better performance. Samantha Barks is a relatively young actress and this was her first major role. She played Eponine, the daughter of the innkeeper and the heartbroken girl in love with Marius. Her performance of On My Own still brings me to tears. She had played the role before but that doesn't matter. I've always thought that the best supporting actor/actress plays the role and services the movie. Her story in Les Miserables is the definition of misery. In love with a boy who doesn't see her, she helps the boy find the girl he does love and then sacrifices herself to save him, dying in his arms completely at peace with her life. Barks was so powerful in her portrayal that I kind of resented Amanda Seyfried's Cosette. I'm not saying Anne Hathaway doesn't deserve it but, for me, Samantha Barks stole the show.
Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Samuel L. Jackson - Django Unchained
I just don't get it. Christoph Waltz is great in Django but he is basically playing the same role as he played in Inglorious Basterds except he was a good guy. Alan Arkin is great as the same character he played in Slums of Beverly Hills. Tommy Lee Jones plays a grouchy man with weird hair in a tour de force performance. Of the group of them, I would choose Robert DeNiro but I am writing Samuel L. Jackson's character in. From the moment he comes onscreen in Django as the house slave of Candieland, he commands the movie. His lines are so perfectly delivered and his role is the crux upon which the entire back half of the movie is set. He is the puppet master of the movie without which the movie would not have been as good. Sure, he uses colorful language and taboo words in a movie when saying the N word was not only acceptable but the norm. I wish Samuel L. Jackson could've been nominated. Not because the other performances were bland or lifeless but because in the movies this year, I cannot find a better supporting performance.
Best Screenplay - Adapted
The Hunger Games
Gary Ross and Suzanne Collins and Billy Ray
To make a movie from a beloved book is hard. See the Twilight movies. They did a good job and still the movies pale to compare to the books. I'm not saying Twilight is literary gold but the movies are so just the essence of what the books told. So I could have gone with Argo or Silver Linings Playbook but I wanted to go off book here and give credit to what I tweeted (follow me at @MrUnhappy1331) was the best movie adapted from a book since The Godfather. Not small praise but I truly believe it. When I went to the theater, I expected the Twilight version of the book and instead was treated to a great version of the book that made me smile and laugh and cry. The Hunger Games would never be nominated in this category because it is considered a young adult movie and it has more than one writer. I think the latter makes the movie even more impressive. A collaboration of three writers brought the best adaptation of a novel I've seen in a long time.
Best Screenplay - Original
Looper
Rian Johnson
I can't believe this didn't even get a token nomination. It was, by far, the most original idea in theaters this year and mainstream enough to get noticed. I don't get it. Is it the sci-fi thing? I'll be honest that I was tempted to say Safety Not Guaranteed in this category. Between them, time travel movies have a lot more credibility. Looper just stands out because people saw this movie and then failed miserably in choosing movies. Django is great but still probably not the best screenplay of last year. Flight was a great dissection of alcoholism and riveting but was it the script or that impressive crash sequence? Moonrise Kingdom is Wes Anderson doing Wes Anderson again. Zero Dark Thirty...isn't that adapted from the real life hunt for Osama Bin Laden? Looper takes an idea, the mob using time travel to kill people in the past, and asks questions about real life. Science Fiction is always looked at as though they are the dirty little side show freaks of the movie world. The hobo living at the freak show is a horror movie which will never be nominated. I think it is high time that people take off the blinders and look at science fiction for the entertainment and storytelling it has and not the fancy gadgets or futuristic stories. Looper is one of the best movies made last year and it should have been nominated if not the winner. I know it isn't about an old couple who love each other but come on Amour? Really?
Best Director
Ben Affleck - Argo
I know I am going out on a limb here by saying that the best director of the year was the director of the best picture. I swear the Academy is so damn fickle about who they nominate. Sure Ang Lee and Steven Spielberg are great filmmakers but that doesn't mean Ben Affleck isn't. What Ben has done since starting to direct his own pictures is raise the bar for all directors. Gone Baby Gone was a masterpiece, The Town was a crime movie on par with The Godfather, and Argo is one of the best political thrillers I've seen. How does that not get him an invitation to the big boy table? It's ludicrous. Why is Amour's director even up for this when we all know that movie will win Best Foreign Film? He will be celebrated. Ben Affleck raised the bar of directors this year. It is a shame that he won't be honored for that. Even the Oscar lovers are crying foul on this one. Come on Academy. I know that Steven and Ang and David O. Russell made great films but to have a movie poised to win all the major film awards and fail to even be nominated for Best Director at arguably the most prestigious American film awards, it saddens me. Ben Affleck got screwed. He was and is the Best Director this year. Live with it.
****
This year's Oscars seem like they will be a bit ho-hum. I just wish they would step out of the box a bit. Even Seth McFarlane as the host seems tacked on to create young audience buzz. I will watch them, something I didn't do last year and I will probably not be surprised by the results. Just for shits and giggles, here are my picks from movies that were actually nominated or who I think will actually win:
Best Picture- Argo
Best Director- Stephen Speilberg
Best Actor- Daniel Day Lewis
Best Actress- Jessica Chastain
Best Actress in a Supporting Role - Anne Hathaway
Best Actor in a Supporting Role - Christoph Waltz
Best Animated Film- Wreck It Ralph
Best Foreign Picture - Amour
Adapted Screenplay - Life of Pi
Original Screenplay - Zero Dark Thirty
Let's see how I do.
And I swear to God if that little girl from Beast of the Southern Wild wins Best Actress, I may slap someone. Not that she doesn't deserve it but because it will be the Academy trying to be cool. Stop it. You are not cool. Sit in the front of the classroom and always raise your hand. Enjoy the show!
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