So, with the announcement of this year's Oscar nominations, the awards season truly is now about to kick off - the Golden Globes taking place on Sunday night being the first major date on the calendar.
There were a few surprises and quite a few obvious choices in the nominations this year. The one absentee, most notably, in the Oscar list is Skyfall, The Culture Section's Film of 2012. However, as with the Harry Potter franchise, this blog feels that the Bond franchise will never win a major Oscar such as Best Film. It was a slight shame not to see Javier Bardem nominated for Best Supporting Actor from it, however, as he has been in quite a few other lists. Still, the first prediction is that "Skyfall" the song by Adele has a very good chance of winning.
The Screenplay Prizes are anyone's guess - they are such a mixed bag of talents, genres and writers, a very good thing for the season we've had. It's nice to see the Indie hit of the year, Beasts Of The Southern Wild, up for a prize here, though one suspects Life Of Pi might just nail it in that particular category - the book was supposed to be unadaptable, after all.
Foreign Film - everyone's favourite has to be Amour, Michale Haneke's sensitive, heart breaking portrayal of old age that's won pretty much every prize it can including the Palme D'Or at Cannes last year. It could also be a very worthy winner of Original Screenplay.
There are five Animated films up for a gong this year; one of the surprises was to see Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists up there; sadly, it might just be there for Aardman's sake- it hasn't been nominated for any other award ceremonies. One would guess that Brave has the upper hand, though Frankenweenie could surprise people.
Best Supporting Actress - Everyone is saying Anne Hathaway, Anne Hathaway - in this blog's books, she would be a worthy winner, though her work in Les Miserables that she is nominated for is yet to be seen. Still, she would the fave to win.
The Best Supporting Actor is trickier to call - in fact, one could argue that these are the more genuine of acting awards, as they really are a mixed bag. If Lincoln is going to be the love in that people might predict, Tommy Lee Jones would need to win this one to get the ball rolling. However, this blog predicts that Robert DeNero will take the upper hand in this particular fight for Silver Linings Playbook.
There are five powerful men on the list for Director this year, Kathryn Bigelow a notable admission despite her latest film Bravo Two Zero being praised. Though Spielberg could win his third gong for his passion project, as seems to be the case for when he makes a passion project, The Culture Section picks Ang Lee as the winner for his work on Life Of Pi.
Though it is nice to see Hugh Jackman pick up a nod for Best Actor in Les Mis, the only name on people's lips for this category is Daniel Day Lewis in Lincoln. Looking at stills and clips, you cannot blame them - this is a transformative performance, one such as Charlize Theron took on in Monster where the prosthetics, wig and make-up (a shoo in for win, by the way) only come alive because of the actor underneath it all. Daniel Day Lewis it is then.
One name has been banded about more than any other; Jennifer Lawrence. Her work in Silver Linings Playbook could guarantee her the Best Actress nod this year. However, she faces stiff competition with Emmanuelle Riva in Amour. Still, Lawrence just clinches it for this blog's choice.
Finally - Best Film. What a list to choose from. Lincoln is the blockbuster with the most nominations, yet we know that is never a guarantee of ultimate glory (case in point: Avatar, The Colour Purple) It would be nice for Les Mis to take the crown- the Academy is quite fond of a musical every now and again, and it's been at least ten years since Chicago won. Still, for pure spectacle and innovation, The Culture Section predicts that Life Of Pi will win the Best Film Oscar.
But what do I know?
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