The OSCARS race is on and the results will be out on the 26th February. Normally during this time of the year, I will be busy watching all the Oscars nominated films. This year however, I have only watched a few. Namely, The Artist, The Help and The Descendants. Most of the nominated films this year are still not released in Singapore yet. Kinda killed the fun. Still waiting for The Iron Lady, Moneyball, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Albert Nobbs and Hugo. Here are my predictions:
Actor in a Leading Role
- Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
- George Clooney in "The Descendants"
- Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
- Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
- Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"
Having only watched two of the five nominated performances, I really hope George Clooney will not win. His performance in The Descendants is so mediocre, I am still wondering why he has been winning awards everywhere. Anyway, he will probably win but I hope someone else will upstage him. Jean Dujardin is the dark horse but I don't think he acted fantastically well for his role. I think Leonardo Dicaprio was robbed of his Oscars once again. Personally, I think he acted really well for J. Edgar.
Actor in a Supporting Role
- Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
- Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
- Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
- Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
- Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
Cant really say who had the performance here because I didn't watch any of the movies. But the frontrunner now is Christopher Plummer and the dark horse is Kenneth Branagh.
Actress in a Leading Role
- Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
- Viola Davis in "The Help"
- Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
- Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
- Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"
Oh Best Actress....my favorite actress Meryl Streep is nominated once again! She is finally going to pick up another Oscars after sooo many years. Although I love her to win, I am secretly rooting for Viola Davis. Having watched her performance in The Help, I really thought this could be her year..if not for Meryl Streep.
Actress in a Supporting Role
- Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
- Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
- Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
- Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
- Octavia Spencer in "The Help"
Octavia Spencer stunning performance in The Help will in her the Oscars. Enough said.
Animated Feature Film
- "A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
- "Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
- "Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
- "Puss in Boots" Chris Miller
- "Rango" Gore Verbinski
For the first time since this category was created, Pixar did not get a nomination. Then again, Cars 2 wasn't really that great. Cars was already the weakest film in Pixar's amazing record of outstanding films. Now with Cars 2, they have two. With Pixar out of the race, this year best animated film can be any of the five films. I think Kung Fu Panda 2 might win. Rango is the dark horse.
Visual Effects
- "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2"
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson - "Hugo" Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning
- "Real Steel"
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg - "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
- "Transformers: Dark of the Moon"
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier
Harry Potter has an amazing 10 years and this might be Oscars reward for Harry. Its too bad, Harry Potter did not get a best picture nomination, as expected. So this prize will be a consolation for the team. Personally I hope Rise of the Planet of the Apes will win for bringing such lifelike and moving performance out of CGI apes.
Directing
- "The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
- "The Descendants" Alexander Payne
- "Hugo" Martin Scorsese
- "Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
- "The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick
The front runner of this race is The Artist, having picked up the Best Directing award from the Director's Guild.
Best Picture
- "The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
- "The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
- "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
- "The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
- "Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
- "Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
- "Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
- "The Tree of Life" Sarah Green, Bill Pohlad, Dede Gardner and Grant Hill, Producers
- "War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers
Finally the best picture award. This year, instead of 10 nominees, we have 9. I hope The Help will win even though the chances are slim. The award will most probably go to The Artist or The Descendents which I think are totally undeserving.
Last year, I watched 7 of the 10 nominated films for best picture so it was kinda exciting awaiting the results. This year I only watched 3 of the 9 nominated films so there wasn't as much anticipation.
