Thursday, January 10, 2013

Some Oscar Surprises

Oscar morning. Too early, as usual...

The announcement was an interesting mix. I'm proudest that I was one of the few pundits who called that Ben Affleck was not going to be nominated in Best Director, while Michael Haneke was. I also had David O. Russell on the list for a long time, but took him off after the DGA announcement, when so many were saying it was going to be 4/5 at Oscars. (Peer pressure...)

I did not see the omission of Kathryn Bigelow coming, however. Nor did most people.

Nor did I foresee all the love for Beasts of the Southern Wild. My Oscar prediction usually falters on two things: one, movies I did not see, and the inability to get past performances I did not personally like.

Thus, I omitted Denzel Washington in Flight (Best Actor) and Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln (Best Supporting Actor), even though most were slotting them in.

Two that few people were brave enough to put in (though I did see them on many of the "Gee, it would be nice if... " lists) were the nine-year-old girl from Beasts of the Southern Wild and Jackie Weaver from  Silver Linings Playbook.

I also had Robert DeNiro on my prediction list for a long time, then caved to peer pressure (another Oscar prediction failing). Shoulda stuck with my instincts on that.

No surprise: the cinematography noms, the editing noms. Where Mirror, Mirror came from in the Best Costume noms was a bit of a surprise.

I'm also happy that I predicted four out of five documentary feature noms (not on this page, but in prediction contests).

Since I didn't see it, I wasn't sure where to put Django Unchained. Knew for sure that Tarantino wasn't going to be in Best Director. Also knew (and predicted) that Christoph Waltz would be the one that landed in the Best Supporting Actor category.

Most happy for: Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Hugh Jackman, receiving their first Oscar nominations.

We have the oldest Oscar nominee (85, will turn 86 the day after the cerermony) in Emanuelle Riva, as well as the youngest (the woman from Beasts of the Southern Wild).

All in all, a good day. Congrats to all the nominees.