Andrew: Hello readers! It's that time again where
Sarah and I finally start breaking down the nominees for the 85th Academy
Awards that will be held on Sunday, February 24th! Last year we did it in a
pretty basic way and it seemed to go over pretty well, and we really don't want
to over-do it this year, so we'll stick to a relatively similar format.
A difference this
year, though, will be the order in which we break down the different
categories. Starting with this post, we will break down the Oscar nominees in
the following categories on these days:
Monday, February 18th: Best Animated Feature, Best Original Song and
Best Visual Effects
Tuesday, February
19th: Best Original &
Adapted Screenplays, and Best Director
Wednesday, February
20th: Best Supporting Actor
& Actress
Thursday, February
21st: Best Actor &
Actress
Friday, February 22nd: Best Picture and full list of predictions
So Sarah, let's kick
off our analysis and predictions for this year's Oscars, shall we?
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
The nominees for Best
Animated Feature are:
- Brave (Pixar)
- Wreck-It Ralph (Disney Animations)
- Frankenweenie (Disney Animations)
- ParaNorman (Laika)
- The Pirates! Band of
Misfits (Aardman Animations)
S: While I would
love to say that ParaNorman has the best chance to take home the win, I really
think that it will go to one of the Disney's; specifically Brave or Wreck-It Ralph. And when it comes down to it, I have to give the
win to Brave. While it wasn't our favorite animate movie of
the year, you have to admit that it was a beautiful film. When it comes to this
category, I think that it has become the “pretty” category, and it’s one in
which Pixar and Disney reign supreme.
A: I'm going to
agree and disagree with you on this one. I agree with you that there are two
films that stand out above to rest, and Wreck-It Ralph is one of
those, but I think ParaNorman is the other
one that will compete with Ralph for the statuette. Brave is fine but it's by
far one of the weaker Pixar offerings story-wise, whereas ParaNorman and Ralph combine great
animation with great scripts and voice-acting. I'd try to liken Brave to Cars 2 in how
disappointing it really is, but Cars 2 didn't even
get nominated in this category last year.
S: Well I guess we will just
have to wait and see but my money is still on Brave. I just think that the voters will love the
mother/daughter relationship and throwing in a little magic and mystique and you
have the recipe for a winner. I know the overall story was weak but we have
already seen Brave take home a
few awards this year so I think it could take home the big one.
A: That's true, Brave did
win the BAFTA and the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. I'm going to put
my money on Wreck-It Ralph, though, because of the
storyline, the script, the animation and the depth involved with the video game
world that's so much like Toy Story.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
The nominees for Best
Original Song are:
- "Pi's
Lullaby" by
Mychael Danna & Bombay Jayashri, from Life of Pi
- "Skyfall" by Adele, from Skyfall
- "Suddenly" by Claude-Michel Schonberg, Herbert Kretzmer
& Alain Boublil, from Les Miserables
- "Everybody
Needs a Best Friend" by Seth MacFarlane & Walter Murphy, from Ted
- "Before My
Time" by J. Ralph,
from Chasing Ice
A: This is the kind of category that
usually is up in the air come the actual show, whether it's because there's no
set amount of nominees for the category each year (last year there were only
two nominees) or because a number of songs come from lesser known or received
movies. But I'm fairly certain this might be the easiest category to predict
other than Best Actor or Best Supporting Actress, right Sarah?
S: Oh yeah, well duh! This
one 100% goes to Adele for "Skyfall." This song was
amazing. Not only did it do well in the award shows so far, but it also hit #8
on the Hot 100 charts here in the States! Adele is one of the hottest
singer/songwriters of the day and to have her sing the theme song for the 50th
year of Bond movies was brilliant! The song really embodies everything Bond and
is the blatant winner for this category.
A: Absolutely. I think it
goes without question that "Skyfall" is the
front-runner to win the award. We've heard a couple of the other songs
nominated here, like "Pi's Lullaby" and "Everybody
Needs a Best Friend" but those aren't nearly as memorable as
Adele's powerful opening credits song. I'd bet money on "Skyfall" winning
the Bond series its first Oscar since Thunderball won
the Best Visual Effects Oscar in 1966. Speaking of Best Visual Effects...
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The nominees for Best
Visual Effects are:
- The Hobbit: An
Unexpected Journey
- Prometheus
- Snow White and the
Huntsman
- Marvel's The
Avengers
- Life of Pi
A: I honestly have no idea who the front-runner
for this category is, nor do I know who to completely write-off, so I'm going
to let you tell me who you think the front-runners are.
S: I think the front-runner
for this is definitely Life of Pi. Another one
that wasn't a favorite, at least on my list, this year I do think that it had
some great visual effects that just made it a beautiful movie. I would love to
give this one to The Avengers but I just don't
think it will take home the Oscar. Having The Hobbit in this is a
little bit of a joke to me. I was so disappointed with this one and think that
everything from the acting to the visual effects was just a let-down. So this
would be the one that I would cross off the list.
A: After you
said it and it got me thinking a little more, I’m going to agree with you that Life of Pi is the front-runner, and it's primarily
because of the phenomenal job done to make the animals in the film
(particularly Richard Parker, the tiger) seem 100% believable. There was not
ONE moment where I didn't actually believe that tiger truly existed, and since
there was only one scene where a real-live tiger was used (when it's swimming
around the boat) I think the Academy has to give the award to Life of Pi. I feel like all the others have legit claims,
like Prometheus and The Hobbit for creating amazing looking landscapes, or The Avengers for the great motion-capture work done with
Mark Ruffalo's Hulk, but Richard Parker was too realistic to not get the award.
S: Well there
you have it guys, our first installment for Oscar Week! On Tuesday we will talk
about the Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director
categories. This was a great year for movies and while there are some
no-brainers, some of the next categories are going to be tough ones! Come on back as we lead up to our full predictions on Friday! And thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment