Oscar Nominations 2013

Oscar Nominations 2012

The nominations for the 85th Annual Academy Awards have been announced, with Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln leading the way with 12 nominations. The historical epic, released in the UK on 25 January, received nods for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. Ang Lee’s adaption of the best-seller Life of Pi follows closely behind with Les Misérables, Argo, Silver Linings Playbook and Amour all receiving several nominations. 

The nominees are as follows.

Warning: contains frequent complaining. 

Best Picture:

Amour

Argo

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Django Unchained

Les Misérables

Life of Pi

Lincoln

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty 

Where is The Master, I hear you say? Good question. Despite critical acclaim here in the UK (topping both the Guardian and Sight & Sound’s “best of 2012” lists) and various wins from the US critic circles, Paul Thomas Anderson’s brilliant portrayal of a struggling WW2 veteran and his subsequent involvement in ‘the cause’ has been well and truly snubbed.  The Academy are permitted to nominate up to 10 films in this category, would it really have been that hard to put The Master in there? I mean, Silver Linings Playbook wasn’t that good. 

A very pleasant surprise was the inclusion of Michael Haneke’s Amour. Though it pleased critics worldwide and gained an inevitable nomination for Best Foreign Film, it was definitely not a shoe-in for this group and performed well across various categories. 

Best Director: 

Michael Haneke for Amour

Ang Lee for Life of Pi

David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook

Steven Spielberg for Lincoln

Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild

The Academy may be allowed to nominate up to 10 Best Picture nominees but are only allowed to nominated five directors. It is unlikely that a film will win Best Picture without its director winning also - it has happened, Ang Lee won for Brokeback Mountain in 2006 whereas Crash took away the big gong (who knows why) - which limits bets for a win for Kathryn Bigelow’s thriller, Zero Dark Thirty. The Twitter-sphere was particularly unhappy about Ben Affleck and Quentin Tarantino not receiving nominations, both of whom received BAFTA nods yesterday, whereas Spielberg did not. 

Best Actor: 

Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook

Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln

Denzel Washington for Flight

Hugh Jackman for Les Misérables

Joaquin Phoenix for The Master

Is there really a need to discuss these nominations? Daniel Day-Lewis is nominated. Daniel Day-Lewis is playing Abraham Lincoln. Daniel Day-Lewis is going to win. A win for him would also make him the first ever actor to win three Oscars for Best Leading Actor after previous wins for My Left Foot (1989) and There Will Be Blood (2007). 

Joaquin Phoenix is also deservedly nominated for his brilliantly explosive performance in The Master (yes, I loved that film) but his recent bashing of award ceremonies makes a win  very unlikely and did I mention DDL is nominated? I’m going to look a little silly now if DDL doesn’t win. 

Best Actress: 

Emmanuelle Riva for Amour 

Jennifer Lawrence for Silver Linings Playbook

Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty

Naomi Watts for The Impossible

Quvenzhané Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild 

The Best Actress category is harder to call. Featuring the youngest ever nominee, Wallis at just 9 years of age, and the oldest ever nominee, Riva is 86, this category covers a broad range of actors and genres. Riva puts in a heartbreakingly believable performance as a woman struggling to come to terms with her deteriorating mental and physical state but her co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant who is equally as impressive missed out on a nomination and should have replaced Bradley Cooper in the previous category. 21-year-old Jennifer Lawrence, however, is a deserved nominee for her mature and humorous performance in Silver Linings Playbook and has a good chance, as it seems does Jessica Chastain who has burst onto the screen in recent years, offering a range of stellar performances.

Best Supporting Actor 

Alan Arkin for Argo

Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained 

Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Master (yay) 

Robert De Niro for Silver Linings Playbook

Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln 

Honestly, what does the Academy have against Leonardo DiCaprio? Django Unchained is yet to land on UK screens but from what I’ve seen in the trailer, which I play on repeat, DiCaprio looks a-w-e-s-o-m-e. 

Also, it’s nice to have you back, De Niro, it’s been too long. 

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams for The Master 

Anne Hathaway for Les Misérables

Helen Hunt for The Sessions

Jacki Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook

Sally Field for Lincoln 

From what the critics are saying, this category seems to a race between Field and Hathaway. Though the latter is only on-screen for around 15 minutes, her close-up portrayal of I Dreamed a Dream looks pretty good. 

Okay, have the SLP team paid The Academy? I personally found Jacki Weaver very annoying.