So, Sarah, which of the two categories would you like to
start with today? Best Actor or Best Actress?
Sarah: Since we started with the
ladies yesterday, lets start with the gents today. The Best Actor category is a
tough one this year. In my opinion I think it is probably the weakest acting
category this year. I also think that it's the most obvious win as well. So we
will start with the presumed front-runner, Daniel
Day-Lewis.
Lincoln was one of the most talked about movies of this year and I
don't think it was because of the story. Day-Lewis did a good job of playing
our 18th President of the United States and he certainly looked the part. Even
though the movie on the whole was quite dull Day-Lewis does deserve a spot for
Best Actor nomination.
A: You're absolutely right that he's
the easiest to predict. He's an Oscar darling, having won two Best Actor awards
already for My Left Food and There Will Be Blood, so playing The
Great Emancipator is a no-brainer for an Oscar nod.
I'm going to give our second Best Actor nomination
prediction to a performance that I absolutely loved, and that's Bradley Cooper for his role as Pat in Silver
Linings Playbook. He was alternately funny and frightening as a man
suffering from bipolar disorder. I thought he had excellent chemistry not just
with Jennifer Lawrence, but with Robert De Niro, Jackie Weaver and Chris Tucker.
It could have been a role that put some people off because he's not always
likable, but Cooper nails it. His best role in his career by far, and he's won
or been nominated for 14 awards already, including a SAG nom and a Golden
Globe. I think he's a shoo-in.
S: This leads into John Hawkes for the next spot. His role as paraplegic poet Mark
O’Brien in The Sessions brought a lot of buzz throughout the
independent film community and when the movie opened to a larger audience the
public fell in love with the real-life character.
We didn't get a chance to see this movie yet but have
heard nothing but good things. Hawkes has had a pretty big year too starring in
his own movie and showing up in LIncoln as well. For his
dedication to the character who is so handicapped but still seems to have a
sense of humor, Hawkes deserves the third-place spot.
A: I think those are the three shoo-ins
for Best Actor. Which means we're getting down to a tougher spot of guessing
the last two spots, and I think our guess for this fourth spot might surprise
some people, but I absolutely think he'll get a nomination based on how great
his performance is. I think Joaquin
Phoenix will get nominated for his job in The Master playing
the crazy Freddie Quell.
I know, I know. A lot of people think
Phoenix's chances at an Oscar nod are slim to none because of what he said in
an interview with Interview Magazine:
"I'm just saying that I think it's bullsh*t. I think it's total,
utter bullsh*t, and I don't want to be a part of it. I don't believe in it.
It's a carrot, but it's the worst-tasting carrot I've ever tasted in my whole
life. I don't want this carrot. It's totally subjective. Pitting people against
each other . . . It's the stupidest thing in the whole world."
Normally that would sound off the alarms and I'd go,
"Well he's DEFINITELY not getting an Oscar nomination now." But I
also think most voters couldn't care less about that and they'll still nominate
him because it's a sublime performance, especially during the "processing"
scene with Phillip Seymour Hoffman. He's already won or been nominated for 23
awards, though he didn't a nom from the SAG. Still, I think he'll get an Oscar
nom.
S: Yea and I think they might also give
him the nomination just to spite him.
The last spot is going to be a toughie. It's a toss-up
between Denzel Washington for his performance in Flight and
Hugh Jackman for his performance in Les Miserables. We
really had a hard time figuring out who would be in the last spot but I would
like to see Jackman get the spot. I
don't think he will but I still liked his performance as Jean Valjean. I
actually think this is the weakest spot left. Both actors are a little on the
disappointing side as far as the Best Actor position goes. Washington does a
fine job as well but we had seen it before. His character was predictable and I
think he brought nothing exceptionally new to the screen.
A: Yeah, this is a tough one. Going in to Les
Mis I figured Jackman was going to blow me away, but it was more of a
restrained singing performance. And then Denzel was great in Flight,
but you're right - it's not something we haven't seen before. Both men have a
Golden Globe and a SAG nomination, so that doesn't help us out any. Really it's
more of a gut call and I think we need to give the edge to the one who sang
almost everything in his performance, and that's Jackman.
S: So that about wraps it up for the
men, giving us these five guys we think will be nominated for Best Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Okay, so what about the Best Actress spot? This one is
also an interesting category. It's not filled with women who appeared in huge
Hollywood blockbusters but more smaller release flicks and foreign films. It's
a nice little change of pace.
So first I want to start off with the number one spot and
I think that will go to Jessica Chastain
for her performance as calculating agent Maya in Zero Dark Thirty.
She gives a riveting performance that follows the ten-year span of the hunt for
Osama bin Laden. We get to watch as the case slowly takes over her life and
ultimately leads her to her goal. It's riveting and she does a fantastic job proving
once again that she is a force to be reckoned with.
A: Chastain is a definite shoo-in.
She's won or been nominated for a whopping 29 awards already, including
garnering Golden Globe and SAG noms.
I think another shoo-in is going to be a personal favorite
performance this year, and that's Jennifer
Lawrence for her role as Tiffany in Silver Linings Playbook.
Lawrence was not only "The Girl on Fire" this year, but she was
electric playing opposite Bradley Cooper and Robert De Niro. Not only did she more
than hold her own against RDN but she did the incredible and trumped him in
their memorable scene. And if you thought Chastain's 29 noms/wins were
impressive, Lawrence has won/been nominated for 33. That'll be 34 come Thursday
morning.
S: The next spot goes to Marion Cotillard for her performance in
the foreign film Rust and Bone. This is another one we haven't
seen yet but it's not hard to believe that Cotillard is worth of an Oscar, another
one at that. She has a magnetism that captures the attention of the audience.
From what I can tell this film will be a good one during the awards season this
year. We'll need to see Rust and Bone before the awards season
fully kicks in.
A: For our fourth Best Actress
prediction, we're going to go with Naomi
Watts for her performance in The Impossible. Based on a true
story and yet another film we haven’t seen, Watts has been getting rave reviews
as the mother of a family on vacation in Indonesia when the 2004
tsunami hit the Indian Ocean. Ten nominations including a Golden Glob nod and a
SAG nod make us believe Watts is one of the strongest bets after Chastain and
Lawrence.
For our fifth and final prediction in
the Best Actress category, we're going to go with another French performance
that we haven't had the pleasure of seeing in theatres yet, and that's Emmanuelle
Riva in Amour. We honestly don't know a whole lot more than Riva
plays Anne, one half of a married couple that must deal with an illness that
hits one of them. By all accounts it's a fantastic film (it won the Palm d'Or
at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival) and Riva is marvelous in it. She's already
won or been nominated for 19 awards, and at the age of 85 we think she'll
become the oldest actress to ever be nominated in this category.
S: And that brings us to our limit of
five nominees in this category! Once again, here are the five women we think
will be nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role for this year's Academy
Awards:
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Emmanuelle Riva, Amour
A: Alright, dear readers, that does it
for these two categories. Check back tomorrow when we post our predictions for
Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Adapted Screenplay!
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