Time for a film

With the Oscar’s just two days away, I’m ready to post all my predictions. This will be my first year attempting every category (well, my first year officially documenting my picks at all) and I’d love to get 20/24 or better. I think it’s doable although I’ve identified 7 categories that I think could go in multiple directions including Animated Film, Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor, Production Design, Original Score, Documentary Short and Actress.

I’m still having a tough time separating Brave and Wreck-It Ralph, with both basically tied in the betting odds as well. The Waltz vs Jones battle is most intriguing but I’m comfortable in ruling out DeNiro. Lawrence is still holding out Riva, but it would not surprise me in the least to see the latter with an upset win. Production Design and Original Score could go either way, and while Open Heart is a big favourite for the Documentary Short, everyone I respect has put a lot of faith in Inocente, leaving me confused.

Finally, the Original Screenplay category is a nightmare with three legitimate contenders in Django, Zero Dark Thirty and Amour all having valid claims.

Alas, I can only make one selection in each category, so here are my full predictions. I’ll be tallying them up after the ceremony, so feel free to put your predictions in the comments and we shall see who predicts the most accurately!  Read more

The 85th Academy Awards are only 10 days away and while some categories are locked up as usual, there feels as if there’s plenty of open one’s that could go either way. Daniel Day-Lewis has Best Actor in the bag, with Anne Hathaway certainly winning Best Supporting Actress. Thankfully Searching for Sugar Man is a lock for Best documentary too and Amour winning Best Foreign film is also a no-brainer. But there are still plenty of interesting battles to look forward to come Oscar night…

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#5 – Best Picture – An Argone conclusion?

A month ago Lincoln looked to have one hand tightly on the highest accolade at the Academy awards but one month is a long time in film and after Argo won the SAG, DGA, PGA + Golden Globe’s (amongst other awards) it basically has Best Picture in the trophy cabinet. I still have a strange feeling about this one though. If we are basing it on the Oscar nominations, Argo would be behind Lincoln, Life of Pi and Silver Linings Playbook. It got no Best Director nomination, which while many would say has helped it, it doesn’t install me with confidence that the Academy loved the film.

Whatever happens, history will be defied with either Argo going against statistics and winning without the Best Director nomination, or a film that’s won basically all the precursors losing out for Best Picture.  Read more

So it’s that time of the year again with Oscar nominations just around the corner (January the 9th to be exact). I’ve decided to attempt to predict every category, with Film Actually running a great prediction contest over on his blog. 

I haven’t seen a lot of these films, primarily Zero Dark Thirty, Silver Linings Playbook and Django Unchained, which makes some of the predictions guesswork, however I feel I have a pretty good grasp on what’s likely to happen thanks to following Oscar discussion and the odds pretty heavily. I’ll order my rankings too but my winners predictions will come after the nomination period.

Here are my predictions in every group, with a little commentary for some key categories!
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Best Picture
1. Lincoln
2. Zero Dark Thirty
3. Argo
4. Les Miserables
5. Silver Linings Playbook
6. Life of Pi
7. Django Unchained
8. Moonrise Kingdom
9. Beasts of the Southern Wild

I’m feeling pretty good about 9 nominees and it’s safe to say the first 7 are basically locked in at this time. 8th/9th/10th spots will be a battle between Moonrise, Beasts, The Master, Skyfall and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for mine. It would surprise me greatly to see anything else sneak in (ie Amour, Flight, The Sessions). I personally think Moonrise will get in and it’s mainly that 9th spot that’s up for grabs.   Read more