My Oscar Predictions 

The grand finale of award shows is upon us on Sunday, February 24. Surprisingly enough, for an award show goon like myself, the Oscars are at the bottom of my list of award shows. Everyone just seems so uptight and since it’s the last one, it’s usually predictable and boring. The last two surprises are still engrained in my brain – Adrien Brody (The Pianist) upsetting Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt) for Best Actor and his famous kiss with Halle and also Marion Cotillard winning for “La Vie En Rose”.

This year, I actually have my hopes up a tad for a little surprise element because the major categories aren’t as wide open as they have always been in previous years. If nothing else, the Best Director category is way wide open seeing as Ben Affleck and Kathreyn Bigelow were snubbed, so it is anyone’s game. Also, Seth McFarlane (Ted, Family Guy) is hosting and that should be a breath of fresh air. He’s not too young and not too old. I think it’s a great choice *fingers crossed*. I am not looking forward to the whole movie musicals tribute, not because I don’t enjoy musicals – I do but these things are just never done right, but we’ll see. In preparation for the awards, I am going to list out my predictions of who will win the grand prize on Sunday. My picks are in bold:

BEST ACTOR

• Bradley Cooper in “Silver Linings Playbook”
• Daniel Day-Lewis in “Lincoln”
• Hugh Jackman in “Les Misérables”
• Joaquin Phoenix in “The Master”
• Denzel Washington in “Flight”

So this should be a no brainer. Dude had this on lock even before the movie was completed. I am sure all the other nominees know it too. Not much to say.

BEST ACTRESS

• Jessica Chastain in “Zero Dark Thirty”
• Jennifer Lawrence in “Silver Linings Playbook”
• Emmanuelle Riva in “Amour”
• Quvenzhané Wallis in “Beasts of the Southern Wild”
• Naomi Watts in “The Impossible”

If you had asked me a few months ago, I would have guaranteed that Chastain had this on lock. My bias against Chastain aside, the tides have changed. SLP has gained a lot of traction and so has the likeable Jennifer Lawrence. I do think the controversy surrounding the accuracy of Zero Dark Thirty hurts Chastain. Also, the fact that Lawrence snagged the SAG awards which are voted on by actors too make me swing in her favor.

P.S I have actually seem all 5 women and the most deserving is actually Quvenzhane Wallis. Movie was a bit overhyped and left field for my taste but that little girl gave it everything. Too bad the Academy aren’t fans of the very young.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

• Alan Arkin in “Argo”
• Robert De Niro in “Silver Linings Playbook”
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in “The Master”
• Tommy Lee Jones in “Lincoln”
• Christoph Waltz in “Django Unchained”

I have to say I am not so confident about this choice. It’s too soon since Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for a character that some may argue is quite similar, so they might be reluctant to reward him so soon but then I remember Hilary Swank was rewarded in the same time span for “Boys don’t cry” and “Million Dollar Baby”, so who knows. This should be an open race between – Waltz, De Niro and Lee Jones.

PS – I”m totally irritated by Alan Arkin being on this list instead of John Goodman’s character from Flight or the oldest son from “The Impossible”

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• Amy Adams in “The Master”
• Sally Field in “Lincoln”
• Anne Hathaway in “Les Misérables”
• Helen Hunt in “The Sessions”
• Jacki Weaver in “Silver Linings Playbook”

Nothing much to say. I’ll just say if you haven’t seen The Sessions, I recommend it.

BEST DIRECTOR

• “Amour” Michael Haneke
• “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Benh Zeitlin
• “Life of Pi” Ang Lee
• “Lincoln” Steven Spielberg
• “Silver Linings Playbook” David O. Russell

Anyone with a brain, would not dare to bet against Steven Spielberg but I am totally going left field on this one. I just feel that Russell is going to benefit from the SLP momentum. It’s a personal movie inspired by his son who suffers from bipolar disorder. Not to take away from this good movie but this might tug at some emotions from the Academy.

BEST PICTURE

• “Amour” Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka and Michael Katz, Producers
• “Argo” Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck and George Clooney, Producers
• “Beasts of the Southern Wild” Dan Janvey, Josh Penn and Michael Gottwald, Producers
• “Django Unchained” Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin and Pilar Savone, Producers
• “Les Misérables” Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward and Cameron Mackintosh, Producers
• “Life of Pi” Gil Netter, Ang Lee and David Womark, Producers
• “Lincoln” Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
• “Silver Linings Playbook” Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen and Jonathan Gordon, Producers
• “Zero Dark Thirty” Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow and Megan Ellison, Producers

Not much to say here either. As an outrage to being snubbed for Best Director, Hollywood loves a good come back story or Argo sweeping all other awards, It was a good movie. Any one of these could be the reason for Mr Affleck to pick up that statuette come Sunday night.

Well those are my picks in the major categories. What do you guys think? Feel free to name your predictions and faves and also feel free on Monday morning to come shame or praise me. Hehe.