It's Just Movies

— by ADAM POYNTER —

The past year has been filled with many memorable performances and movies that just amazed. Awards season is upon us and the announcements for nominees to the 85th Annual Academy Awards were announced by Oscar host Seth MacFarlane and actress Emma Stone.

There are so many films nominated this year worthy of winning an Oscar, but some are more likely to take home Oscar gold because they have multiple nominations. “Lincoln” is at the top of the heap with an astounding 12 nominations in total, followed closely by “Life of Pi” which has 11. “Les Misérables” and “Silver Linings Playbook” both have eight, while “Argo” has seven. Rounding out the top five spots we have a four-way tie with “Amour,” “Django Unchained,” “Skyfall” and “Zero Dark Thirty” with five nominations each.

As prominent as the list of exceptional filmmakers, writers, directors, actors and the many other people who were nominated is the list of people who got “snubbed” by the industry and weren’t nominated.

First and foremost, with a list of nine Best Picture nominees and only five Best Directors chosen, we obviously have some exceptional directors left out. At the top of that list is Ben Affleck for “Argo,” which was an extraordinary movie that utilized a true story and had loads of suspense and tons of comedy and is in my opinion one of the top films of the year. Also left out was Kathryn Bigelow for her phenomenal work in directing “Zero Dark thirty.” The film has garnered praise and is up for multiple awards, so why not best director? Finally, another major oversight is Tom Hooper, whose imperative vision and craftsmanship was able to bring to life a beloved musical and his decision to have the actors sing live in the film made it the most compelling musical I have ever seen. The performances leap off the screen and touch your heart. If it’s good enough for Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, then in my opinion the director should get some recognition as well.

In the acting categories, Anthony Hopkins was deserving of a nomination for his portrayal of the iconic figure “Hitchcock,” and John Hawkes should have been up for Best Actor, as his performance in “The Sessions” as a man confined to an iron lung and looking for his first sexual experience was as touching as it was awkward and funny. Another surprise was Jamie Foxx’s name not appearing in the Best Actor category. After all, he is the titular character in “Django Unchained” and was easily one of the best parts of the film, along with Samuel L. Jackson as supporting actor. Jackson’s character Stephen was the biggest surprise and source of comedy in the movie.

I am surprised that “The Impossible” isn’t in the running for Best Picture since it is one of the most emotionally-driven movies and is a journey everyone should take. Although it has been criticized for focusing on a foreign family during the horrible catastrophe in Thailand when the Tsunami hit in 2004, I recommend everyone see this film, and in a theater if you can. Feeling your seat shake as the wave hits the beach evokes a reaction where you feel the fear for the characters. Another major snub in my opinion was Rian Johnson’s “Looper,” which not only should have been on the Best Pictures List, but should have been at the top of the Best Achievement in an Original Screenplay list. Seeing that film in theaters was astounding and I was blown away, but the voters in the Academy seem to have a distaste for science fiction and the time travel aspect of the movie probably hurt it in their opinions.

Even though I know there is no point in saying this because Comic Book movies are never really taken serious as nominees for Best Picture, but the fact is that two films were terrific pieces of entertainment, while also making over a billion dollars last year at the box office. Yes, I’m talking about “Marvel’s the Avengers” and “The Dark Knight Rises.” I know that it popular to choose the small foreign films and those that are really heartwarming, but I think a courtesy nomination for Christopher Nolan was in order. He finished the Batman franchise and even though “The Dark Knight Rises” wasn’t my favorite film from the trilogy, the story, effects and everything involved should have made it one of the films nominated. Maybe it’s just the fan boy in me that loves to see these characters come to life, but as Hugh Jackman said in his opening number in 2009 at the 81st Annual Academy Awards, “How come comic book movies never get nominated? How can a billion dollars be unsophisticated?”

And even though James Bond films are never nominated for the top prizes, I wanted to give a shout out to “Skyfall,” which, in my opinion, is best film in the franchise for quite some time and rivals “Casino Royale” for the top Daniel Craig Bond film.

Although I know there are many snubs I didn’t talk about – such as “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Cloud Atlas” — because then this article would be really long, what do you think of the list of nominees? Who do you think will win each category and what films, actors, directors etc. do you think should have been nominated? Leave your comments and let us know us know.

Keep an eye on It’s Just Movies for more Academy Award coverage and don’t forget to watch the 85th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 24.

Here is the full list of movies and actors nominated:

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Argo
Amour
Django Unchained
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Life of Pi
Zero Dark Thirty
Les Misérables

Best Achievement in Directing
David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook
Ang Lee for Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg for Lincoln
Michael Haneke for Amour
Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day Lewis for Lincoln
Hugh Jackman for Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix for The Master
Denzel Washington for Flight

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva for Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts for The Impossible

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin for Argo
Robert De Niro for Silver Linings Playbook
Phillip Seymour Hoffman for The Master
Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln
Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams for The Master
Sally Field for Lincoln
Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables
Helen Hunt for The Sessions
Jacki Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Michael Haneke for Amour
Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained
John Gatins for Flight
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola for Moonrise Kingdom
Mark Boal for Zero Dark Thirty

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Chris Terrio for Ago
Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild
David Magee for Life of Pi
Tony Kushner for Lincoln
David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Brave
Frankenweenie
Paranorman
The Pirates! Band of Misfits
Wreck-It Ralph

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Amour
Kon-Tiki
No
A Royal Affair
War Witch

Best Documentary, Features
5 Broken Cameras
The Gate Keepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

Best Short Film, Live Action
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow (Dood Van Een Schaduw)
Henry

Best Short Film, Animated
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
The Longest Daycare
Paperman

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Alexandre Desplat for Argo
Mychael Danna for Life of Pi
John Williams for Lincoln
Thomas Newman for Skyfall

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Chasing Ice: J. Ralph (“Before My Time”)
Ted: Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane (“Everybody Needs a Best Friend”)
Life of Pi: Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayashri (“Pi’s Lullaby”)
Skyfall: Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth (“Skyfall”)
Les Misérables: Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil (“Suddenly”)

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Argo
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Achievement in Sound Mixing
Argo
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Skyfall

Best Achievement in Production Design
Anna Karenina
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Misérables
Life of Pi
Lincoln

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

Best Achievement in Makeup
Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Les Misérables

Best Achievement in Film Editing
Argo
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Life of Pi
Marvel’s The Avengers
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman

. . .

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