Oscar nominations- the 2013 edition

People, the Oscar nominations are here and there are some surprises. I like this year- not only for the shocks, but also because you can't know for sure who is going to win in most categories, and that makes it more exciting. Seth MacFarlane seems funny, so I guess will have a good time, too. This year's Oscars will be entertaining.

The big players- Lincoln, Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Les Miserables, have all gotten multiple nominations, but I wouldn't be surprised to see major letdowns when the winners will be announced, especially in categories like Director or Picture.

Let's get down to business

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

Who will probably win? Lincoln or Zero Dark Thirty
Who I want to win? I haven't seen all of them, but I am rooting for either Django Unchained or Argo
Surprises? For me, Beasts, I wasn't expecting to see it here


Best Actor- nominations
Daniel Day Lewis- "Lincoln"
Denzel Washington- "Flight"
Hugh Jackman- "Les Miserables"
Bradley Cooper- "Silver Linings Playbook"
Joaquin Phoenix- "The Master"

Who will probably win? Daniel Day Lewis is the almost sure winner
Who I want to win? Call me crazy, but I am rooting for Bradley Cooper, although I know he won't get it. So let's go to choice nr.2, which is Hugh Jackman, and nr.3 is Denzel Washington
Surprises? None too big, but I was happy when I saw Cooper's name there, I wasn't sure he will make it


Best Actress- nominations
Naomi Watts- "The Impossible"
Jessica Chastain- "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence- "Silver Linings Playbook"
Emmanuele Riva- "Amour"
Q. Wallis- "Beasts of the Southern Wild"

Who will probably win? Chastain or Lawrence...or maybe a surprise win by Riva
Who I want to win? Hmm...I don't really care for this category, no female really impressed me this year. Mabe Lawrence, she would be nice- young, beautiful, quirky, talented. Yeah, my pick is for Lawrence
Surprises? Q.Wallis, no doubt. The rest were seen in the other award nominations lists, too.


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

Who will probably win? I think the battle is between DeNiro and Tommy Lee Jones
Who I want to win? Hoffman, because I have a soft spot for him, or De Niro
Surprises? Uh...Alan Arkin. Don't get me wrong, he is a wonderful actor, but he just didn't impress me in Argo, his part was not awards worthy, I really don't get it. I would have easily put Ezra Miller or Dwight Henry or Garrett Hedlund there instead of him. Oh, and where is poor Leonardo DiCaprio? poor man, what does he have to do to get an Oscar?


Best Supporting Actress-nominations
Amy Adams- "The Master"
Sally Field- "Lincoln"
Anne Hathaway- "Les Misérables"
Helen Hunt- "The Sessions"
Jacki Weaver- "Silver Linings Playbook"

Who will probably win? Again, I think it's between Sally Field and Anne Hathaway
Who I want to win? Amy Adams is such a wonderful, talented actress, I would love for her to win. But I would be fine with Hathaway, too, she is equally amazing.
Surprises? Jacki Weaver- a nice surprise, I liked her more in SLP than DeNiro


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

Who will probably win? Very hard to say, considering the surprises, but I'll go for Spielberg or Lee
Who I want to win? Please, please, just don't make Bigelow win again- oh wait, she is not on the list.Yey! Actually, you can scratch Spielberg from my list, too, I wasn't impressed. Anyone else is perfect. Maybe Ang Lee? or Behn Zeitlin? that would be shocking
Surprises? Zeitlin, Haneke and even Russell- this was by far the most shocking category reveal for me, and probably for most. No Tarantino? No Paul Thomas Anderson? No Wes Anderson? No Ben Affleck?


Best Original Screenplay- nominations
Amour: Written by Michael Haneke
Django Unchained: Written by Quentin Tarantino
Flight: Written by John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom: Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty: Written by Mark Boal

Who will probably win? A three-way between Django, Zero Dark Thirty and Moonrise Kingdom. Wes Anderson might bag it
Who I want to win? I'm rooting for Tarantino or Wes Anderson, I loved Moonrise Kingdom
Surprises? Amour, I didn't imagine there would be so much love for it


Best Adapted Screenplay- nominations
Argo: Screenplay by Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild: Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi: Screenplay by David Magee
Lincoln: Screenplay by Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook: Screenplay by David O. Russell

Who will probably win? Again, I don't know for sure, it could be Argo or SLP, maybe even Lincoln
Who I want to win? SLP- a great film and the script was definitely one of its high points.
Surprises? Life of Pi?


Best Cinematography- nominations
Anna Karenina: Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained: Robert Richardson
Life of Pi: Claudio Miranda
Lincoln: Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall: Roger Deakins

Who will probably win? Life of Pi or Lincoln, they will go for the big guns
Who I want to win? Anna Karenina- I have a soft spot for this film and I want it to have some recognition
Surprises? Skyfall? I mean I get why they nominated it, but I wasn't expecting it

Best Score- nominations
Anna Karenina: Dario Marianelli
Argo: Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi: Mychael Danna
Lincoln: John Williams
Skyfall: Thomas Newman

Who will probably win? Argo or Lincoln
Who I want to win? Again, Anna Karenina or Skyfall, I want some surprises in there, too
Surprises? Skyfall?

Best Foreign Film- nominations
Amour: Austria
Kon-Tiki: Norway
No: Chile
A Royal Affair: Denmark
War Witch: Canada

Who will probably win? Amour
Who I want to win? In absence of Beyond the Hills, Untouchables, or Rust&Bone, I am going with Amour
Surprises? Totally disappointed Beyond the Hills, the Romanian entry, didn't get it. Where in the hell did Kon-Tiki come from?

Best Documentary- nominations
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Who will probably win? I don't know...maybe Searching for Sugar Man or How to Survive a Plague
Who I want to win? Searching for Sugarman, I really liked it
Surprises? No The Imposter? No Queen of Versailles?


Best Animated Feature- nominations
Brave: Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
Frankenweenie: Tim Burton
ParaNorman: Sam Fell and Chris Butler
The Pirates! Band of Misfits: Peter Lord
Wreck-It Ralph: Rich Moore

Who will probably win? Uh, Frankenweenie....or maybe Brave. Surprise win: Wreck-it Ralph
Who I want to win? ParaNorman- my favorite animation this year, very funny and well made, but probably doesn't stand a chance
Surprises? The Pirates


One month and a half to go- I can't wait: the red carpet filled with beautiful men and some nice dressed women, the dreaded speeches, the "OMG- he/she/it did not just win!", the opening monologue and much more- 24th of February cannot come sooner!

Who are you rooting for?

Best of 2012- FILMS

Thinking about the past year, I actually think it wasn't a strong one for movies- I wasn't impressed or moved by most of them, and the few who succeeded that had other flaws that made me reconsider the overall opinion. I, personally, think there was no film in 2012 to take the masterpiece or instant classic prize, although some came close to it (Moonrise Kingdom, Holy Motors, Silver Linings Playbook or Perks of being a wallflower), but there were definitely some very good films that need to be showcased and seen by most people. I still haven't seen many of this year's late releases, like Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Django Unchained or Zero Dark Thirty, but my list would probably look almost the same.


As you know, I don't like to make a top 10 or 20 or give specific marks, so I will just name my favorites of 2012. In no particular order (maybe just release date), here they are:


Avengers Assemble- because of its amazing characters, action scenes and overall entertainment factor

Moonrise Kingdom- quirky, funny, sweet, visually beautiful and wonderfully scored. One of my favorites this year

Searching for Sugarman- a sweet, moving, rather interesting and unbelievable documentary that is definitely worth seeing

On the road- a personal and subjective choice, because of the book it is based on and the people involved. I was probably one of the few who loved it

Holy Motors- crazy, unpredictable, imaginative and wild. Totally different from most releases this year. A must see

Anna Karenina- a masterpiece in set and costume design, not to mention art direction. Visually stunning.

Sightseers- a British gem that is not showcased enough. Dark and violent, but surprisingly hilarious!

ParaNorman- probably my favorite animation of this year, even better than Frankenweenie, in my opinion. Verry funny!

Beyond the Hills- a Romanian masterpiece and one of this year's best all around. I am so proud of Mungiu and his work.

Skyfall- James Bond at its finest- amazing action sequences and surprisingly good script.

Argo- very good in almost all areas. A well-deserved contender for Best Picture

Cloud Atlas- I am, probably, one of the very few who loved it. From the greatly directed action scenes, to the characters and storylines and the way it was build, it's one of my favorites this year

Silver Linings Playbook-perfect example of a simple, yet moving and entertaining movie that can deal with delicate themes and get out of it successfully. Surprisingly good performance from Bradley Cooper!

Perks of being a wallflower- it made cry like I haven't cried in a while. A wonderful and realistic coming-of-age story that I wish everyone would see. The soundtrack and Logan Lerman & Ezra Miller's performance seal the deal.

Other notable mentions: Hunger Games, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Ruby Sparks, Amour


Do you have a number 1 of 2012? Which is it?

Argo [2012]

Last week, on its first day of release in Romanian cinemas, I went to see Argo, Ben Affleck's latest directorial and acting effort. Written by Chris Terrio and based on a true story, it tells the story of 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran. It's a very well made film that has mostly high points, although it is not as perfect as some might say.

The true story set in the 1979/1980s recalls the conflict between the US and Iran over the extradition of former Iranian leader, which led to a hostage situation and even a revolution in the Arabic country, and that's the main trigger of the script. Tony Mendez, played by Affleck, comes in as an extraction specialist to help get out 6 embassy employees who managed to get out of the building before the people marched in and took control. As much as it is a suspense and thriller story, it is also an emotional one, and the end will keep you on your toes on all accounts. The screenplay is quite good and manages to mix different themes and characters without creating confusion or being too cliche. Maybe this where the movie's success lies in, in the interesting and qualitative combination of story, character development and emotional deliverance, one that has proven hard to accomplish lately in cinema.

But things aren't perfect all the way through; one thing that I particularly didn't like was Affleck's direction. It felt, in most cases, too dynamic, too fast, and it did not have a clean and fluid shooting style- some scenes were rather hard and visually tiring to watch. I know he is mentioned in many awards predictions of Best Director, but I think there are better ones on the list that should have the prize. Other than that, the rest of the filmmaking elements were pretty good, especially the score and cinematography, but also the set design.

Casting wise, Argo was flawless. I, personally, thought Ben Affleck was a better actor than director here, although I have seen better performances from him in previous years. I also don't get why people are pushing Alan Arkin for a Supporting category; if it would be my choice, I would go for either Bryan Cranston or John Goodman, these two shined much more than him. The actors portraying the 6 embassy employees were also well chosen and I particularly loved the woman playing Cora Lijek, Clea DuVall.

Since we are already talking about awards, I can definitely see it nominated for Best Picture, Director (although I don't agree), Cast, maybe Script, and I can see it being a worthy candidate for Best Picture, most likely.

Argo is a very well made film that deserves all the attention is getting, but it is not the masterpiece some are claiming it to be. It is a film that will appeal to many and I wouldn't mind it that much for it to win Best Picture, it would be a safe and predictable choice. Definitely see it!