Academy Award Week (2013) Best Original Screenplay

Typically the Original Screenplay category has a pretty clear, or there has been a lack of competitive scripts which could compete within this category.  This category tends to honor films based on the following categories

The Unique Wins

What are the unique wins?  In my mind these are somewhat anomalies, and while they may make sense  during the year or in hind sight, there is something truly unique about their wins.

2002-Talk to Her (Hable Con Ella)-Foreign films rarely get a win in major categories outside of Best Foreign Language Film in the "major" categories.  Pedro Almodovar had another nomination in Best Director, but the film was not nominated in the Foreign Language film category.  On the other hand you had 10 time nominee Gangs of New York, the popular Nia Vardalos for My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and a multiple nominee Far from Heaven.

2004-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-This could be seen as a consolation prize, but this was a two time nominee with only a nomination for this and Kate Winslet.  Sunshine was up against more typical films like The Aviator, Hotel Rwanda, The Incredibles, and even Vera Drake.  Sunshine's win was somewhat expected in the sense that the film was very respected, but the film does not fit the norm.

2008-Milk-This was not a consolation prize, Penn won Actor (although people may not have known this was going to happen), but rarely does a bio-pic on this level win within this category.

Best Picture Sweep 

The Best Picture and Original Screenplay have only lined up 15 times in Oscars history, which does not bode well for the winners in this category, unless you are a massive Oscar favorite in the Best Picture category.

2005-Crash-At the time of the ceremony I saw this win as a consolation prize, but this ended up going along with the sweep.  It was easy to predict this win, but this one of those rare times when it predicted Best Picture.

2009-The Hurt Locker-The Hurt Locker vs. Avatar in Best Picture, on awards night The Hurt Locker won more than was expected, and this was a surprise as well.  My thought and many other people predicted Inglorious Basterds would win this as a consolation prize.

2010-The King's Speech-Like Hurt Locker this was one of those wins that was fierce battle, and it's competition was Inception.  Speech was not qualified for the WGA, but won at the BFCA, and BAFTA.  With few wins Speech needed this the way Argo needs adapted screenplay to help amass more wins.

The Consolation Prize (I Have to Win Somewhere)

Statistically this is where most of the winners fit.  All of the films (except Almost Famous) were nominated for Best Picture, and a few other awards, but this was the only win, which made sense.

2000-Almost Famous was snubbed in the Best Picture category the Miramax machine's Chocolat.  Almost Famous only received four nominations, but was a respected film from from Jerry Maguire nominee Cameron Crowe; he won to give the film some attention.

2001-Gosford Park-Park had lots of stiff competition from Memento, and The Royal Tenenbaums, but Park was the most "Oscar bait" film.  Park made the most sense as a winner, and it was the only Best Picture nominee.

2003-Lost in Translation, 2006-Little Miss Sunshine, 2007-Juno-All three of these films fit within the quirky comedy category.  Translation had the Copola name, and was solid.  Sunshine and Juno had heart mixed with quirk, which could never be taken seriously anywhere else.  While Arkin won for Sunshine that was not expected at all.

2011-Midnight in Paris-Midnight in Paris was another great Woody film, which never had a shot at Best Picture, but was one of the most respected films of the year.

So who wins this year....And the Nominees Are....

Amour-Michael Haneke

Django Unchained-Quentin Tarantino

Flight-John Gatins

Moonrise Kingdom-Wes Anderson, and Roman Coppola

Zero Dark Thirty-Mark Boal

Moonrise Kingdom and Flight, only have one, and two nominations respectively, they are out.  This is one of the tougher races to predict.  Django has won the Golden Globe, BAFTA, and BFCA, which gives it the best odds.  Django has a lot of respect, but why the Academy would honor one of the weakest screenplays is beyond me.  Zero Dark Thirty won the WGA, but Django was ineligible.  The difference between 2009 and this year is that Django has the edge because in 2009 Hurt Locker won all the awards Django won.  Yet can Amour pull off that unique foreign language film win, it has five other nominations. At the moment my winner prediction is Django, but this may change.

Will Win: Django Unchained

Spoilers: Amour then Zero Dark Thirty

Academy Award Week (2013): Best Director (No Your Pick Can't be Ben Affleck)

This year one of the most interesting, if not the most interesting race is Best Director.  Over the years at the Academy Awards Best Picture and Best Director often match up.  Over the last twenty years (from 1992-2012) Best Picture and Best Director have matched up 16 times, which is an impressive statistic.  This year Argo's name is chiseled on the statue already, and unless if you have been living under a rock you know Ben Affleck was snubbed.  Affleck has won this award at the BFCA, Golden Globes, DGA, and BAFTA.  Without Affleck nominated this makes this race a lot more interesting than I can remember.

While I am not going to go on a rant about sexism within the film industry I am a bit baffled at why more people over cited Affleck's snub instead of Bigelow's snub.  I do believe that this will go down as one of the biggest mistakes in Oscar history.

How do you define great direction, and who was "snubbed?"  One way at looking at great direction is by using auteur theory.  Auteur theory "holds that a director's film reflects the director's personal creative vision, as if they were the primary "auteur" (the French word for "author"). In spite of—and sometimes even because of—the production of the film as part of an industrial process, the auteur's creative voice is distinct enough to shine through all kinds of studio interference and through the collective process."  While this perspective is a bit more old school and looks at film as a one man show, many would attribute this vision to greats like Orson Welles, and Alfred Hitchcock.  These men controlled the vision for their films.

If you look at this year's director race many would describe David O. Russell's direction using auteur theory.  O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook is a passion project dedicated to his son.  O. Russell's film is about a bi-polar man returning home to his family.  O'Russell has talked openly about his son being bi-polar and what it meant for him to make this film.

Benh Zeitlin who directed Beasts of the Southern Wild directed the script and scored the film.  This was Zeitlin's first film and made on a shoe string budget.  Zeitlin's heart and soul went into this film, and his vision drives the heart of the film.

One of the reasons auteur theory is widely criticized is because it negates the contribution of other people who worked on the film stating the the director is the end all be all.  Zeitlin and O. Russell did not create their films out of thin air, no man is an island after all.  If you look at Steven Spielberg's work in Lincoln and here him talk about Tony Kushner's script, and every aspect of the film you feel this sense of teamwork.

This couldn't be more true with Ang Lee and his direction of Life of Pi.  Lee's work with his cinematographer, visual effects team, screenwriter, and son on created an beautiful experience from a book that was thought to be impossible to adapt to the big screen.  The use of 3D technology along with many other elements transcends most traditional aspects of film making, and made this an incredible achievement.

The nominees are 

Michael Haneke-Amour

Ang Lee-Life of Pi

David O. Russell-Silver Linings Playbook

Steven Spielberg-Lincoln

Benh Zeitlin-Beasts of the Southern Wild

Who will win?  Without a previous winner/front runner in the group this leads things wide open.  While many would probably say Spielberg I just do not think he is going to win.  My gut tells me this is a race between David O. Russell and Ang Lee.  In the past director's win in this category have won a good deal of the time because the film "feels important" or because it has an "epic" nature."  Think Ben-Hur, Lord of the Rings, Schindler's List, Out of Africa, The Sound of Music.  There are location shots, visual effects, and so on.  This could be Beasts, Pi, or Lincoln.  Zeitlin is in fifth leaving Lincoln and Pi to fit that category.  Pi and Lincoln are both well respected films, from respected directors.  Before I go on about those two films like Silver Linings Playbook rarely win director, Annie Hall fits within that category, but that rarely happens.  So I am going to go with my gut and say Ang Lee.

Will Win: Ang Lee-Life of Pi

Spoilers: Steven Spielberg and David O. Russell

Amour is a Gripping Journey on the Depths of Love, as an Older Couple is Faced with Challenging Decisions through Illness

Amour (5 out of 5 Stars)

Directed and Written by Michael Haneke (Cache, The White Ribbon)

Starring: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Emanuelle Riva, and Isabelle Hupert

Amour is a gripping journey on the depths of love, as an older couple is faced with challenging decisions through illness.  From the moment the film opens you know the end, but even through this knowledge understanding this couples story is still important.  Georges (Trintignant) and Ann (Riva) take in a piano concert.  The next day there is a moment during breakfast where Georges is speaking to Ann, and then silence.  Georges walks away leaving the fountain on and after three minutes, and Ann responds scolding him. 

Georges takes to Annto the doctor, against her wishes, and they find out that Ann has had a stroke.  The doctor recommends a surgery, but the surgery fails, and in this instance Ann's motor functions on the right side of her body are left useless.  Through this Georges feels guilt, and decides to take care of her as her quality of life decreases.

Without giving too much of Haneke's genius away the film leaves you emotionally raw for days pondering the depth of this couples love.  Haneke uses his traditional style from both Cache and The White Ribbon in which there are moments of long silence where the actions of the actors help flesh out the script.  There are times when the long action moments mean more than realized.  One of the most meaningful moments for Georges is the pigeon landing in the apartment.  While leaving the window open a pigeon enters the apartment.  During the first instance the pigeon leaves easily.  When the pigeon enters the second time there is a deeper meaning and the quiet dance Georges does with the pigeon while letting the pigeon go means more to him than he realizes.

Haneke's direction and script brilliantly unfold a tale filled with moments of agony, grief, but ultimately filled with love.  As you watch Georges struggle, or Ann slip further into illness their connection may hit rough patches.  As Ann slips further away Georges loses his temper, hits her, has nightmares, and these moments all come as their love start to slip from his reach.  Yet even as they lose their true connection, their love remains true. 

Haneke does not spell out his direction with 100 percent certainty; he often works in the grey leaving ambiguity for the viewer to decide the meaning of a touch, a look, or silent moment.  This helps further strengthen the depth of the story, and makes the performances in his film even stronger. 

Emanuelle Riva is incredible this year, and gives one of the best performances of the year, her slow downturn into being a fully capable woman into someone who can barely drink water is heart wrenching.  Later in the film you realize that Ann was a piano player, and trained one of the rising stars in the world of concert piano.  When he comes to visit her after her attack, you can see his anguish when he realizes his mentor is on the path to death.  The real pain arrives when he sends them a CD describing how sad the experience made him, and Ann's heart breaks, her face says it all.

While Riva has received most of the awards attention Trintignant who plays Georges is also impeccable; he provides one of the most honest performances of the year.  You can see the life drain from him in a different way.  As you watch Georges care for Ann, and watch her slowly move towards death you see life slip from his eyes.  Trintignant has turned in one of the most under rated performances of the year.

Haneke's film is one of the most poetic films of the year, leaving you walk away with one of the beautifully sad moments.  As you watch Ann pass away, you realize the actual importance and impact love has on people, and can't help but contemplate the struggles it provides to everyone daily.

Lincoln leads BAFTA Nominations this Year, While they Leave Most Brits Behind

A couple of days ago in analyzing and predicting the British Academy of Film and Television Awards (BAFTA) there were couple of trends, they line up with Oscar pretty well, but also tend to bolster British nominees.  This year broke with that pattern to some extent, although this years nominees have that traditional feel.

While films like Skyfall and Best Exotic Marigold Hotel made the Best British Film list, I was convinced one of them would make the Best Film list.  BAFTA did not ignore one of their British made films, they nominated Les Miserables in both categories.  

The Best Director category had some shake ups as well, making the BAFTA more unique.  Michael Haneke and Quentin Tarantino were nominated, replacing sure fire bet Steven Spielberg for Lincoln and shockingly the British director Tom Hooper, for Best Film nominee Les Mis!  One day after the Director's Guild Awards (DGA) this shakes things up more than ever.  One thing is certain Spielberg will not be ignored this year, and I am shocked he missed the cut here because the film has the most nominations with 10, but Hooper is more vulnerable than ever! Hooper not being embraced by his own statesmen is a big deal.  The DGA will typically nominate a musical director, while Oscar will forget them Bill Condon for Dreamgirls, and Baz Lurhmann for Moulin Rouge are two examples of this within the last decade.  Hooper got a boost yesterday, but being forgotten today is proof this category is a hard one to predict.  Of the two BAFTA nominees Haneke has the biggest chance at unseating him tomorrow morning.

Haneke's nomination is proof this award group supports foreign language films more, but Oscar may follow suit this year.  Haneke's films received four major nominations, the other three nominations were Best Film Not in the English Language, Emanuelle Riva in Best Leading Actress, and Best Original Screenplay.  Amour could surprise tomorrow morning and earn nominations in all of these categories.  Amour helped shake things up in many of these categories, and BAFTA did not totally forget the Brits in the acting categories.

Skyfall helped Judi Dench score her 14th film nomination at the BAFTA's with a Best Supporting Actress nomination for Skyfall, and while not a Brit Javier Bardem was nominated in the Supporting Actor category for Skyfall as well.  Helen Mirren was the only other British acting nominee; she was nominated in the Lead Actress category for Hitchcock.  

These two ladies nominations were not surprising, but there were one or two surprises in the acting categories.  Ben Affleck got an acting nomination for Argo, this is his first nomination and he beat out John Hawkes whose co-star Helen Hunt received a nomination for the film.  Although beyond this most of the nominees were not unexpected.

While these awards do not have a perfect line-up with the Academy Awards they are a good barometer for who will get nominations, and who will get snubbed. Here is a list of all the nominees, and after a look at sure fire BAFTA nominees, who will show up at Oscar.

Surefire nominees tomorrow:

BEST FILM

• ARGO Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, George Clooney
• LES MISÉRABLES Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh
• LIFE OF PI Gil Netter, Ang Lee, David Womark
• LINCOLN Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy
• ZERO DARK THIRTY Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, Megan Ellison

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

• ANNA KARENINA Joe Wright, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster, Tom Stoppard
• THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL John Madden, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin, Ol Parker
• LES MISÉRABLES Tom Hooper, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, Cameron Mackintosh, William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer
• SEVEN PSYCHOPATHS Martin McDonagh, Graham Broadbent, Pete Czernin
• SKYFALL Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

• BART LAYTON (Director), DIMITRI DOGANIS (Producer) The Imposter
• DAVID MORRIS (Director), JACQUI MORRIS (Director/Producer) McCullin
• DEXTER FLETCHER (Director/Writer), DANNY KING (Writer) Wild Bill
• JAMES BOBIN (Director) The Muppets
• TINA GHARAVI (Director/Writer) I Am Nasrine

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• AMOUR Michael Haneke, Margaret Ménégoz
• HEADHUNTERS Morten Tyldum, Marianne Gray, Asle Vatn
• THE HUNT Thomas Vinterberg, Sisse Graum Jørgensen, Morten Kaufmann
• RUST AND BONE Jacques Audiard, Pascal Caucheteux
• UNTOUCHABLE Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache, Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun

DOCUMENTARY

• THE IMPOSTER Bart Layton, Dimitri Doganis
• MARLEY Kevin Macdonald, Steve Bing, Charles Steel
• McCULLIN David Morris, Jacqui Morris
• SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN Malik Bendjelloul, Simon Chinn
• WEST OF MEMPHIS Amy Berg

ANIMATED FILM

• BRAVE Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman
• FRANKENWEENIE Tim Burton
• PARANORMAN Sam Fell, Chris Butler

DIRECTOR

• AMOUR Michael Haneke
• ARGO Ben Affleck
• DJANGO UNCHAINED Quentin Tarantino
• LIFE OF PI Ang Lee
• ZERO DARK THIRTY Kathryn Bigelow

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• AMOUR Michael Haneke
• DJANGO UNCHAINED Quentin Tarantino
• THE MASTER Paul Thomas Anderson
• MOONRISE KINGDOM Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola
• ZERO DARK THIRTY Mark Boal

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• ARGO Chris Terrio
• BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
• LIFE OF PI David Magee
• LINCOLN Tony Kushner
• SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK David O. Russell

LEADING ACTOR

• BEN AFFLECK Argo
• BRADLEY COOPER Silver Linings Playbook
• DANIEL DAY-LEWIS Lincoln
• HUGH JACKMAN Les Misérables
• JOAQUIN PHOENIX The Master

LEADING ACTRESS

• EMMANUELLE RIVA Amour
• HELEN MIRREN Hitchcock
• JENNIFER LAWRENCE Silver Linings Playbook
• JESSICA CHASTAIN Zero Dark Thirty
• MARION COTILLARD Rust and Bone

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• ALAN ARKIN Argo
• CHRISTOPH WALTZ Django Unchained
• JAVIER BARDEM Skyfall
• PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN The Master
• TOMMY LEE JONES Lincoln

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• AMY ADAMS The Master
• ANNE HATHAWAY Les Misérables
• HELEN HUNT The Sessions
• JUDI DENCH Skyfall
• SALLY FIELD Lincoln

ORIGINAL MUSIC

• ANNA KARENINA Dario Marianelli
• ARGO Alexandre Desplat
• LIFE OF PI Mychael Danna
• LINCOLN John Williams
• SKYFALL Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• ANNA KARENINA Seamus McGarvey
• LES MISÉRABLES Danny Cohen
• LIFE OF PI Claudio Miranda
• LINCOLN Janusz Kaminski
• SKYFALL Roger Deakins

EDITING

• ARGO William Goldenberg
• DJANGO UNCHAINED Fred Raskin
• LIFE OF PI Tim Squyres
• SKYFALL Stuart Baird
• ZERO DARK THIRTY Dylan Tichenor, William Goldenberg

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• ANNA KARENINA Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
• LES MISÉRABLES Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson
• LIFE OF PI David Gropman, Anna Pinnock
• LINCOLN Rick Carter, Jim Erickson
• SKYFALL Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock

COSTUME DESIGN

• ANNA KARENINA Jacqueline Durran
• GREAT EXPECTATIONS Beatrix Aruna Pasztor
• LES MISÉRABLES Paco Delgado
• LINCOLN Joanna Johnston
• SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN Colleen Atwood

MAKE UP & HAIR

• ANNA KARENINA Ivana Primorac
• HITCHCOCK Julie Hewett, Martin Samuel, Howard Berger
• THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY Peter Swords King, Richard Taylor, Rick Findlater
• LES MISÉRABLES Lisa Westcott
• LINCOLN Lois Burwell, Kay Georgiou

SOUND

• DJANGO UNCHAINED Mark Ulano, Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, Wylie Stateman
• THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY Tony Johnson, Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, Brent Burge, Chris Ward
• LES MISÉRABLES Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, John Warhurst
• LIFE OF PI Drew Kunin, Eugene Gearty, Philip Stockton, Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemphill
• SKYFALL Stuart Wilson, Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell, Per Hallberg, Karen Baker Landers

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

• THE DARK KNIGHT RISES Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Peter Bebb, Andrew Lockley
• THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, R. Christopher White
• LIFE OF PI Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer
• MARVEL AVENGERS ASSEMBLE Nominees TBC
• PROMETHEUS Richard Stammers, Charley Henley, Trevor Wood, Paul Butterworth

SHORT ANIMATION

• HERE TO FALL Kris Kelly, Evelyn McGrath
• I’M FINE THANKS Eamonn O’Neill
• THE MAKING OF LONGBIRD Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson

SHORT FILM

• THE CURSE Fyzal Boulifa, Gavin Humphries
• GOOD NIGHT Muriel d’Ansembourg, Eva Sigurdardottir
• SWIMMER Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw
• TUMULT Johnny Barrington, Rhianna Andrews
• THE VOORMAN PROBLEM Mark Gill, Baldwin Li

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)

• ELIZABETH OLSEN
• ANDREA RISEBOROUGH
• SURAJ SHARMA
• JUNO TEMPLE
• ALICIA VIKANDER

Surefire Oscar Nominees

Best Picture-All of them!

Best Director-Affleck, Bigelow, and Lee

Best Actor-Cooper, Jackman, Day-Lewis

Best Actress-Lawrence, Chastain, and Cotillard

Best Supporting Actress-Field, Hathaway Hunt

Best Supporting Actor-Arkin, Seymour Hoffman, and Lee Jones

Of the rest of the nominees many have them have a strong chance, but these awards never line up right away, so prepare to pick a few changes for tomorrow morning, my predictions are coming later today!