Film
Jan 10, 2013

OSCAR NOMINATIONS- SNUBS & SHOCKERS

Photo Credit: The Academy

Seth Macfarlane and Emma Stone announced the nomination’s for the 85th Academy Awards this morning, apparently Mila Kunis was not available. Macfarlane’s nomination for Best Original Song was his formal invitation to Hollywood’s most prestigious night. This nomination also secured him a hosting gig for the Live ceremony airing February 24th.

If Macfarlane follows the footsteps of Three 6 Mafia, he is a sure lock-in for the win. Although, I was surprised there were no nominations for ‘best use’ of “Dubstep” in a film, I can admit I’m thankful this category was ignored!

Leading off with the ‘Best Picture’ category was Lincoln who received 12 nominations this morning followed by Life of Piwho scored a staggering 11 nominations. The other seven Best Picture nominations include: Beasts of the Southern Wild,Silver Linings PlaybookZero Dark ThirtyLes MisérablesAmourDjango Unchained, and Argo.

Speaking of Argo, Ben Affleck was snubbed by the Academy this morning in the Best Director category which was very surprising after his first ever nomination on Tuesday for the Director Guild Awards, not to mention Argo’s Academy nomination for Best Motion Picture of the Year. Don’t they think that might have had something to do with the director at its helm? The nominees For Achievement in Directing included: Amour– Michael Haneke, Beasts of the Southern Wild– Benh Zeitlin, Life of Pi– Ang Lee, Lincoln– Steven Spielberg, and Silver Linings Playbook– David O. Russell.

David O’Russell was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay with Silver Linings PlaybookArgo by Chris Terrio,Beasts of the Southern Wild by Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, Lincoln by Tony Kushner and finally Life of Pi by David Magee all grabbed a nomination in this category this morning.

For Original Screenplay, Amour written by Michael Haneke secured a nomination along with Quentin Tarrantino’s Django UnchainedFlight written by John Gatins, Moonrise Kingdom written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, and Zero Dark Thirty written by Washington, Homeland Security, Capital Hill, The CIA, Team Seal 6 and of course Mark Boal.

Zero Dark Thirty should have been in the ‘Adapted Screenplay’ category according to the FBI; however, everyone can agree that Jessica Chastain was outstanding in this film where she picked up a nomination for Best Performance by an actress in a leading role. Chastain was the only member of the cast to be recognized for acting; Meryl Streep and Hollywood’s remaining leading ladies were all on hiatus this season. The rest of the nominee’s were chosen by random at nursing homes, daycares, and teen franchises all over the country. Jennifer Lawrence secured a nomination in Silver Linings Playbook, Emmanuelle Riva in Amour, and Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild. To add a touch of legitimacy to the usually highly competitive category, Naomi Watts snagged the last nomination for her role in The Impossible.

The impossible dream came true this morning for Anne Hathaway who was nominated for Best Performance by an actress in a supporting role for Les Misérables. My money is on her for the win. However Hathaway’s competition is extremely stiff this year with Amy Adams being nominated for her role in The Master, Sally Field in Lincoln, Helen Hunt in The Sessions, and Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook.

Silver Linings Playbook continued it’s streak of acting nominations with Bradley Cooper for Best Performance by an actor in a leading role. Daniel Day Lewis was nominated for his performance in Lincoln and Hugh Jackman in Les Misérables. The academy wanted to make up for the lack of talent in this year’s Best Performance by a leading actress’ category, so Joaquin Phoenix for his role in The Master and Denzel Washington in Flight were also added into the mix. Ben Affleck was noticeably snubbed by the academy for his performance in Argo which I thought he strongly deserved, not being biased or anything, but this was his second snub of the morning for which his work should have been recognized.

Not everyone from the cast ensemble of Argo was left out this year; Alan Arkin did receive a nomination for Best Performance by an actor in a supporting role. Robert De Niro grabbed his seventh oscar nomination of all time for his role in Silver Linings Playbook. Philip Seymour Hoffman was nominated in The Master and Tommy Lee Jones was nominated for his performance in Lincoln. The last nomination for Best Performance by an actor in a supporting role went to Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained. They should have named this category ‘Deja vu’ since all of these actors have previously won Oscars.

Now on to the next two categories everyone has been on the edge of their seat for: ‘Best foreign language film of the year’ and ‘Best animated feature film of the year’. Leading off in the Best Foreign Language Film category was Amour- Austria. Amour is also up for Best Picture of the Year, which would make things very interesting if the film took home both awards. Kon -Tiki– Norway, No– Chile, A Royal Affair–  Denmark, and War Witch– Canada were all nominated as well.

For Best Animated Film of the year Brave leads the race – a sure win in my eyes – followed by Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, Sam Fell and Chris Butler’s ParaNorman, Peter Lord’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits, and Rich Moore’s Wreck-It Ralph.

Speaking of animated films that reminds me of everyone’s favorite fairytale Snow White and the Huntsman which was nominated for Best Costume Design by Colleen Atwood. Eiko Ishioka from the other Snow White film Mirror Mirror was also nominated. Paco Delgado was nominated for his exquisite achievement in costume design for Les Misérables as well as Joanna Johnston for Lincoln and Jacqueline Durran for Anna Karenina.

The 85th Academy Awards will air Live on Sunday, February 24th 2013. Seth Macfarlane will be hosting solo and if this morning’s broadcast was a preview of what’s to come, you should make sure you tune in. You know Macfarlane will be twice as high as James Franco was at last year’s ceremony and ten times as funny.

For the full list of nominees, please visit Oscar.com