My 2013 Academy Award Predictions (for movies released in 2012)
There are two things that really annoy me. One is the fact that so many of the major Oscar-nominated films don’t get released on this side of the pond until after the nominations (and sometimes the awards) go out. The other is Americans who think it sounds clever to refer to the Atlantic Ocean as “the pond.”
Like most other loudmouths, I’m not letting the fact that I’m still waiting for Les Misérables (it arrives here today) and Lincoln to open in my country of residence to stop me from having loud obnoxious opinions about the Oscar nominations. I’m just glad that they keep moving nominations and telecasts for all these award thingies earlier and earlier in the year so we can get past last year that much sooner and then focus on this year. And finally we don’t have to read all those stupid articles that tell us that the Golden Globe winners are some sort of indication of what will happen at the Oscars. At this rate, some genius will someday be writing that the Oscar winners are an indication of what may happen at the Golden Globes.
And here’s a question. Is the screenplay for a movie based on a comic book considered to be original or adapted? Has this ever come up in the nominations before? This occurs to me because I think The Dark Knight Rises (which generally got robbed in this whole process) should have gotten a nomination for its screenplay, but I don’t know what category it would/should fall in. It suits me, though, to treat it as original, so that’s what I have done.
With the list below my work is now done (for the time being). All that is left is decide which spirit to imbibe during the all-night (in my time zone) telecast. I always waver between gin and vodka (not really) and scotch, while sometimes toying with the idea of tequila. This year I’m wondering if I should splurge and go for akvavit, in honor of Denmark’s nomination for A Royal Affair in the Best Foreign Language Film category. Earlier this year, the Missus splurged on a bottle to help me get in touch with my heritage (even though the particular bottle was Danish rather than Swedish). Sadly, akvavit is very hard to find in Ireland and, when found, it is outrageously expensive—about the price of an Academy Award marketing campaign.
Readers desiring to defray the costs of this website should feel free to have a bottle shipped directly to my house.
|
Category |
Most Likely to Win |
Most Deserving to Win |
Should Have Been Nominated But Wasn’t |
|
Best Picture |
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Best Actor |
Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) |
Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln) |
Suraj Sharma (Life of Pi) |
|
Best Actress |
Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook) |
Emmanuelle Riva (Amour) |
Andrea Riseborough (Shadow Dancer) |
|
Best Supporting Actor |
Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln) |
Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master) |
Michael Caine (The Dark Knight Rises) |
|
Best Supporting Actress |
Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables) |
Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables) |
Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises) |
|
Best Director |
Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) |
Ang Lee (Life of Pi) |
Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises) |
|
Best Original Screenplay |
Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty) |
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom) |
Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight Rises) |
|
Best Adapted Screenplay |
Tony Kushner (Lincoln) |
David Magee (Life of Pi) |
Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey) |
|
Best Animated Feature |
Brave |
Frankenweenie |
Rise of the Guardians |
|
Best Foreign Language Film |
Amour (Austria) |
A Royal Affair (Denmark) |
The Raid (Indonesia) |