4th Annual "And The Oscar Goes To"

Gooooood evening ladies and gentleman...we are tonight's entertainment. Its been exactly 364 days since my last post and that is just unacceptable. So right here right now I am making a declaration... More Posts! More entries! More everything!

If it weren't for the Oscar's I don't know if I would have been able to muster up the brainpower to sit down and crank out a post. But god damnit it's the Oscar's. Hollywood's big night, and if you have read any of my posts in the past you know that it's my big night too. Well not really. I just sit in bed, rip a few thunderous farts and watch the Oscars. It also marks a bit of tradition as this is our 4th annual posting in which I try to predict the winners. Last year I successfully predicted 5 out of the 6 major awards, and 16 of 24 overall.

This year is particularly strong year in terms of films and thus, predicting the winners is rather difficult. However, I have a bit of an advantage. I am an avid theater going and therefore I have had some time to take in several of the films nominated for best picture. In fact I will have seen 6 of the 9 movies nominated for Best Picture. And if you don't count foreign movies or musicals, there's only 1 movie I haven't seen, Beasts of The Southern Wild, and chances are you haven't either.

The format is simple... "Who Will Win", "Who Should Win" and "Who I Want To Win". Sometimes the answers overlap, sometimes I provide three fresh predictions, you never know. I'm a little crazy like that. So no more filibustering, it's time to make the picks. As usual, you can click on the movie for a link to its trailer.

I hope you use this information wisely and enter some kind of pool. And if my predictions are terrible and you lose everything...Argo Fuck Yourself.

Best Picture - 

Who Will Win : Argo - It's amazing that a picture who's director (Ben Affleck) was not nominated for Best Director will win Best Picture. Sometimes the Best Picture winner is different than the Best Director winner, but almost ALWAYS the director of the Best Picture winner is at least NOMINATED. This movie has all the momentum having won Golden Globe, SAG, DAG, PAG and every other AG that exists. Argo is the true story of the covert CIA mission to rescue U.S. Embassy workers. It was fantastic, I thoroughly enjoyed it. It raised two thoughts on my part. 1) It's a great accomplishment when you as the viewer know how the story ends and yet you are still gripped and enthralled with the ending. 2). This movie came together after the CIA released sealed information which made me think the CIA should created a movie studio and use declassified information to make incredible movies. I mean we've gotten 4 Mission Impossible movies, 5 Die Hard movies, 6 Fast & Furious movies and god knows how many Transformers/Pirates of the Carribean/ X-Men movies. It appears that Hollywood is running out of good ideas, who better than the CIA to revive the state of movies.

Who Should Win : Argo - After careful consideration, it's just the best movie of the nominees. It's too bad for the other movies, because this is such a strong class. If any of these had been nominated when Crash or The Artist won Best Picture, they would easily have won. Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty, Django Unchained and Silver Linings Playbook are all fantastic movies. I wouldn't be surprised if any one of them win, but I am standing firm with Argo. 

Who I Want To Win : Django Unchained - Tarantino rarely gets any love from the Oscars (only 1 win for Best Original Screenplay for Pulp Fiction and only 5 nominations), and although Inglorious Basterds may be a little better, Django is superbly acted and beautifully filmed. Overall its probably the most entertaining, and all around best movie. But due to the controversy, the violence and Tarantino involvement, it will not win.

Best Director - 

Who Will Win : Steven Spielberg - This category should have an asterisk next to it in the record books. The notable absence of Ben Affleck, Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty), Tom Hooper (Les Miserables) and Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) is simply appalling. Having said that Spielberg is Spielberg, one of the greatest directors of all time. He was able to take a potentially very boring subject (Civil War Congress members arguing about an Amendment to the Constitution) and make it engaging, fast paced and highly believable. Spielberg is the best of the class and I believe the default winner.

Who Should Win : Ben Affleck - But he's not even nominated.

Who I want to Win : Quentin Tarantino -  See "Who Should Win". How can he not be nominated?

Best Actor -

Who Will Win : Daniel Day-Lewis - He absolutely deserves this award. It was eery watching his performance. And while none of know how the real Abe talked or acted, I am very confident that it can't be much different that Daniel Day-Lewis's portrayal. Although I am getting sick of Mr. Day-Lewis. We get it, he's a great actor and only emerges from his cave once every 5 years. Having said that, he delivered an absolutely incredible performance and deserves every award and accolade. I mean just look at that picture.

Who Should Win : Daniel Day-Lewis - Seriously though, did you see Lincoln? He was amazing.

Who I Want To Win : Denzel Washington - While I very much enjoyed Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook I think the easy runner up in this category is Denzel. Without him I don't even know if Flight gets made. Denzel absolutely carried this movie and every time he was on screen he commanded your attention. I think Flight is a good movie that seems great simply because of how good Denzel is in it.

Best Actress -

Who Will Win : Jennifer Lawrence - She is fairly young by Academy standards (22 years old) this is her second nomination for Best Actress (2010's Winter's Bone). Despite her age, she couldn't be any hotter, both physically and performance wise. She was outstanding in Silver Linings Playbook and if you can stand out when acting with Robert DeNiro and Bradley Cooper you must be doing something right. Originally Harvey Weinstein did not want Lawrence to play the role of Tiffany because he thought she was too young. Well it turns out she will most likely win the Oscar, so good call Harvey.

Who Should Win : Jennifer Lawrence - There's been a lot of talk about Jessica Chastain but I thought she was just average in Zero Dark Thirty. Don't get me wrong she was good, but it wasn't that big of a part and it didn't have nearly the range of emotions that Lawrence's performance had.

Who I Want To Win : Jennifer Lawrence - She's hot and she delivered an excellent performance. Those two factors have earned my vote, even though I don't have one.

Best Supporting Actor -

Before I provide my breakdown of this category, I want to take a second to recognize the nominees (man I sound like a stiff who's presenting an award). This is the first time in the history of the Academy Awards in which all 5 nominees in an acting Category have previously won an Acting Oscar (DeNiro - Godfather II, Raging Bull , Tommy Lee Jones - The Fugitive, Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine, Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Capote and Christoph Waltz - Inglorious Basterds). 

Who Will Win : Robert DeNiro - This is the hardest category to predict. I am going with DeNiro as the sentimental winner. He hasn't had a great role in nearly 15 years and his return to dominance should be enough to steal the statue. He plays an addictive father who's compulsive fandom of the Eagles causes problems with his personal life.

Who Should Win : Christoph Waltz - The ONLY reason I think he won't win is that this role is so similar to the role that earned him this exact award for Inglorious Basterds. However, among the nominees he did have the best performance. It was funny, endearing and memorable and performed in only a way the Waltz can pull off. He should win this award, but it will be interested to see if the Academy thinks its too similar to Hans Landa. Tommy Lee Jones is the sleeper here, and depending how much credence the academy give Lincoln, he could sneak in and win his second Oscar.

Best Supporting Actress -

Who Will Win : Anne Hathaway - This is her second nomination and her turn as Fantine, the prostitute in Les Miserables will bring her the trophy. Now I did not see this movie, so I can't comment on her performance. However, based on her ability to sing and the emotion that she brought to the famous "I Dreamed a Dream" song it seems like a no brainer.

Who Should Win : Anne Hathaway - I mean really, the other nominees feel like they were given pity nominations for being in such good movies. Sally Field in Lincoln? Really?!?! She was in it for like 5 minutes. Amy Adams got the nomination for giving the best (and maybe only) Over-the-Pants-HJ in the history of film. Jacki Weaver also was barely in Silver Linings Playbook. She got nominated so the whole starring cast could say they were nominated. And Helen Hunt in the Sessions? Be happy with your win in As Good As It Gets because that was more than just a movie title, it was a metaphor for your acting career.

Who I Want To Win : Anne Hathaway - Again, look at the picture. She's a smokeshow. Don't you dare disagree.


FULL LIST OF PREDICTIONS

Best Picture - Argo
Best Director - Steven Spielberg
Best Actor - Daniel Day-Lewis
Best Actress - Jennifer Lawrence
Best Supporting Actor - Robert DeNiro
Best Supporting Actress - Anne Hathaway
Cinematography - Life of Pi
Costume Design - Anna Karenina
Animated Feature - Frankenweenie
Animated Short - Paperman
Documentary Feature - Searching For Sugar Man
Documentary Short - Open Heart
Short Film Live Action - Death of a Shadow
Film Editing - Argo
Foreign Language Film - Amour
Make-up - The Hobbit
Original Score - Life of Pi
Original Song - Skyfall
Production Design - Les Miserables
Sound Editing - Zero Dark Thirty
Sound Mixing - Les Miserables
Visual Effects - Life of Pi
Original Screenplay - Django Unchained
Adapted Screenplay - Lincoln 



So there you have it folks. Hopefully we can at least producte the same percentage, if not better, than last year. Sit back and enjoy the Oscar's on Sunday and hopefully my picks can help you win some money.

Until next time, as always...STAY SWEET!