My Oscar Picks - 2012

With the Oscar clock ticking away to its last few hours, we have speculations galore running everywhere. These are my personal choices among the nominees(not my  predictions). I am choosing for everything other than for a few technical awards(for I frankly cannot tell the difference between sound mixing and Editing and I cannot tell who did the make up better among other things) and the awards for documentaries and short films  :

Best Picture : Zero Dark Thirty

Dude, come on! Try making a film about a manhunt for America’s most wanted man without caring for how politically correct you are and you won’t get a film like this. 2 Hours and 36 minutes goes the movie and I could not feel my eyes blinking. And there is none of that typical action film tomfoolery here.Even the intense 45 minute climax manages to pump up your adrenaline without any loud bombastic ammo or gore. You get the feel of a lady’s might both in the leading lady (Jessica Chastain) and the director(Kathryn Bigelow). Sorry Bigelow, your stellar effort won’t get the Academy vote, but my vote goes to it hands down.

Best Director : Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)

I pick this one because the Academy so cruelly snubbed my personal favourites, Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow (What the?). Spielberg pulled off a good historical,which he could have pulled off in his leisure time (this guy made Schindler’s List man). Everything about this movie had Spielberg stamped and sealed with wax across it. Yet, one must credit him with showing the cunning vote winning games played by the two political parties with such quirky realism, though his portrayal of the central character tends to be no more than an on screen eulogy.

Best Actor : Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables)

Yeah yeah!! I hear the boos coming already. Many would say – “Daniel Day Lewis. Duh!”. And though Daniel Day Lewis is destined to win it and become the record holder for Best Actor Oscars, I choose Hugh Jackman. It was a close call though. What with Denzel Washington giving that intense character study in Flight, Joaquin Phoenix rocking it as a sex addict in The Master and Bradley Cooper doing something he has never done before in Silver Linings Playbook, my mind was going berserk. But hold on. Les Miserables is probably the worst of all best picture nominees. Yet, it got there because of the sheer brawn of the performances in that film. I mean, who can sing, dance and be dramatic at the same time with such grace as jackman did in that film? Musicals are long gone from mainstram Hollywood trend. Yet, Jackman does a prisoner Jean Valjean with near Gene Kelly grace added with a dash of intense Marlon Brando. He’s going to lose it to Daniel Day Lewis (who is equally deserving). But I go with this guy for being the only thing I loved in a movie so inconsistent.

Best Actress : Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)

Here we have a movie about 2 psychologically disturbed people finding love in their own madness, with the guy beating the crap out of the guy his wife has an affair with and the girl being a widow who has attempted suicide. But wait, this widow is none other than a 23 year old Jennifer Lawrence. She does a crazed woman with such ease that I felt my eyes widening and my jaw dropping in awe of her performance which transcends her youth and goes well into the fully matured cadre. This lady has done the most stunning act of the year and deserves the Oscar hands down.

 

Best Supporting Actor : Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)

Sure, there isn’t that Tarantino meat in this movie, but it was the most stylish one this year. And Waltz does a diametrically opposite role to what he did in his previous outing with Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds – which won him how many awards?). And boy does he do it with panache. His role is the most meaty among all the supporting roles nominated here(not counting Philip Seymour Hoffman). He has all the clever wisecracks and the whiplash tongue play in the film with Jamie Foxx getting his share only after Waltz’s character is killed. Nope, there isn’t one supporting act so flamboyant as Dr King Schultz the Dentist bounty hunter and I choose this no good do gooder.

Best Supporting Actress : Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)

Refer to what I said about Hugh Jackman’s performance and paste the description over here. This lady is absolutely intense in the 20 odd minute role she gets. And add to this, the fact that the other nominees seem to have been chosen merely for the purpose of giving the nomination (Seriously man, what did jacki Weaver do in Silver Linings Playbook that any other old lady like Angelica Huston could not have done? And Sally Field has done something that a veteran like her could pull off with ease, Helen Hunt bared it all in The Sessions, but so did Anne Hathaway in Love and other Drugs and Amy Adams who gets a role shorter than Hathaway’s afore said role in The Master). She’s gonna get the Oscar alright, and deservingly so.

Best Original Screenplay : Wes Anderson and  Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom)

I chose them over Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty) only because I felt that they have written a screenplay so bordering on the ridiculous and yet, is so alluring and heartwarming. I mean, 2 kids do a jump and indulge in some pretty adult talk here, but the innocence of their thoughts of building their own Utopia is depicted in such an original way that it does justice to the title of this award. And add to this, the fact that I love Wes Anderson’s style of narrative.

Best Adapted Screenplay : Chris Terrio (Argo)

This movie has been severely snubbed by the Academy this year. It has swept so many other best picture awards and is touted to be the first one to win the Best Picture oscar without a Best Director nomination since Driving Miss Daisy won in 1989. The narrative is so tightly packed that I was hooked to the screen throughout the 2 hour length of the movie. The movie runs with a load of characters who have very high tension meters. In the process, the viewer gets an up shoot in his tension reading too. It is a politically correct and taut adaptation of a real life happening and deserves this award for Ben Affleck’s cruel snubbing by the Academy (yet again).

 

Best Animated Feature : The Pirates! Band of Misfits

I choose this because – One, I simply love Aardman’s stop motion animation, two, I loved Hugh Grant’s baritone in this film and three, I fall for the British charm in movies like the tree trunk that falls on Tom’s head after Jerry saws it). No other reasons guys. I liked all the movies in this category.

Best Forieign Language Film – Amour

Because, I haven’t watched any other movie nominated in this category. But this one will win it alright. It’s the only one that’s got a Best Picture nomination with it. So Duh!!!!

Best Original Score : Thomas Newman (Skyfall)

Because he has given the best score for a Bond movie after John Barry (who is the creator of all the classic Bond musical pieces). Plus, he has lost the award 7 times already, so I am keen on seeing this guy win it.

Best Original Song : Adele (Skyfall)

Because there is nothing about Adele’s rendition of this song that did not mesmerise me. And it is the best Bond theme song in a long time too. So Duh!!! (yet again)

Best Cinematography : Roger Deakins (Skyfall)

Now I hear a crowd go – “Dude!! Didn’t you watch Life ofPi?”. But I say, “Dude! That was 75% CGI. Hardly worth a win”. Roger Deakins canned the exotic locations shown in Skyfall in his typical style. The initial sequence of Skyfall wouldn’t have been half as effective had it not been for Deakins’ clever cinematography. I choose you Deakins. Just Like I chose Barry Ackroyd(who cinematogaphed Hurt Locker) over Maurio Fiore(who cinematographed 30% of Avatar which was mostly visual effects again).

Best Film Editing : William Goldenberg (Argo)

The editing job is so sharp in this film that it cuts through all inhibitions that come with watching a dialogue driven thriller. The high pressure atmosphere maintained throughout the movie is the result of an expert editing job. This one takes it from me hands down.

Best Visual Effects : Life of Pi

This one is the most grossly overrated movie of  the year and was watchable only because of the glossy visual effects. Plus, the Richard Parker factor prevails too. That tiger was CGI throughout. So I give it to Life of Pi. Because the movie ran and gained most of its acclaim only from the pure visual power of the effects in that filmi.

 

And the countdown to Kodak Theatre continues with the clock ticking away faster…………!!!!!!!!!!!!