Juan’s Two Cents – The 85th Academy Award Nominees Edition

This is the part where I just rush through most things and only complain about one or two.

Costume Design

  • Likely Winner: Les Miserables or Anna Karenina
  • Most Deserving: Anna Karenina

Production Design

  • Likely Winner: Anna Karenina
  • Most Deserving: Anna Karenina
  • Go Away: Les Miserables
  • Pleasant Surprise: The Hobbit [1]

Sound Editing & Mixing

  • Likely Editing: Skyfall or Zero Dark Thirty
  • Likely Mixing: Les Miserables

Visual Effects

  • A Really Cool Category: Not including Snow White and the Huntsman [1] though. The rest rock here. Hobbit, Pi, Avengers [2], Prometheus [3] – I dig it.
  • Likely Winner: Fuck if I know. I want to say Life of Pi but it’s possible that’s a no go.

Film Editing

  • Likely Winner: Argo
  • Most Deserving: Argo

Makeup and Hairstyling

  • Likely Winner: The Hobbit
  • Most Deserving: The Hobbit
  • Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?: Hitchcock? Really? The work done on Anthony Hopkins was not a good makeup job. Neither was the work for Les Miserables.
  • Snubbed: Cloud Atlas [1]For all its minor flaws, Cloud Atlas had some fucking magnificent makeup and hairstyling work throughout and leaving this out is one of the stupidest decisions I’ve seen so far.

Original Score

  • Likely Winner: Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina
  • Most Deserving: Dario Marianelli for Anna Karenina
  • Go Away: Sick and tired of self-plagiarism being awarded. John Williams needs to stop getting nominations.
  • Snubbed: Another category where Cloud Atlas didn’t get any love. Tom Tykwer, Johnny Klimek & Reinhold Heil all crafted a marvelous score that features what is probably one of the best pieces of music in a film all year (The Cloud Atlas Sextet for Orchestra – which you can listen to here).

Original Song

  • Likely Winner: Suddenly from Les Miserables OR Skyfall from Skyfall
  • Most Deserving: Pi’s Lullaby from Life of Pi. I say this because I adored Danna’s score for the film and this song is a perfect introduction to the film itself. I’ll also go ahead and say Skyfall is a worthwhile one in my book.
  • Huh???: Before My Time from Chasing Ice is a snoozefest. How was this included?
  • What. The. Fuck???: Ted [1] is a film by Seth MacFarlane. Seth MacFarlane is hosting the Oscars. Maybe that’s why he got a nomination for original song? Mind you, it’s not a bad song, It’s actually sort of cute really and one of the better things of the movie, but…it’s certainly not a memorable piece of music whatsoever. I just don’t get it at all.

I haven’t seen a single live action or documentary short film, so I’ll just quickly mention that I think Paperman is the only candidate I wholeheartedly support in animated short, regardless of how excited I am to see Minkyu Lee’s Adam and Dog, which looks absolutely wonderful.

That’s all! Not as hateful as expected, but still plenty of anger thrown around.

So, feel free to leave all your thoughts and comments. Agree? Disagree? Tell me about it!

Juan Barquin

Just yer average twenty-something college student with no time on his hands who ends up watching (and writing) too many movies and shows for his own good.

6 Responses

  1. amy says:

    Lincoln is a big Oscar-bait, but I’m surprised it got so much love. The only way I can explain that is that it IS a weak year in film, so they feel like they need to award the same old same old. I thought Spielberg’s take on it was boring, overlong and maybe… even quite education, which does not make a good movie (see: The Founding of a Republic, LOL). I think the only awards that Lincoln deserves are Production, Costume design, and acting nods for Day-Lewis and Tommy xD

    Also, I was mildly surprised that we’re on the same page about Haneke’s Amour. LOL. Someone tweeted that Amour is The Notebook but European, which summed up a lot of that exactly for me. From the foreign picks, I’ve also seen Kon-Tiki, which… meh. And I’m about to check out No.

    I think Cloud Atlas got a bit of a snub in score and maybe visual effects.

    The biggest snubs of the year is Ben Affleck for director, and… I haven’t seen Bigelow’s yet, so I can’t tell yet. I think we might be ready for another edition of “Should Have Been Best Picture” hahaha

    • Juan Barquin says:

      @amy, I think we’re TOTALLY ready for another edition of Should Have Been Best Picture. Let’s make it happen!

      Anyway, I’m not at all surprised that Lincoln is getting so much love during awards season. It’s an extremely weak film but it caters to everything that older critics love. No distinct style, messy script, lack of focus on the issue at hand. I didn’t even care for the performances that much. Sassy Sally Field made it a little bearable in her totally unnecessary scenes though.

      I’m glad we’re on the same page about Amour though. It’s so…cold and distant. What could and should have been Haneke’s most emotionally rich and compelling narrative ended up feeling clinical as hell, and I hated that.

      I think Cloud Atlas was snubbed every which way. I friggin’ loved it. Visual effects, score, and make-up are definitely the three it got screwed on though.

  2. Rodrigo says:

    “Snubbed: Leonardo DiCaprio for Django Unchained & Matthew McConaughey for Magic Mike”

    Javier Bardem (Skyfall) is a bigger snub than both of these IMO.

    • Juan Barquin says:

      @Rodrigo, My reasoning for thinking both of these men were snubbed is because they are completely outside of their comfort zone. We’ve already seen Bardem as a villain, and regardless of my love for the role, it pales in comparison to his No Country For Old Men villain. McConaughey is seedy as hell in Magic Mike and I dig that – it’s a stark contrast to his Charming Handsome RomCom Man type, just like Killer Joe was an even greater dark role. Same with DiCaprio – it’s a role completely out of his comfort zone and against his gentlemanish type.

      • Rodrigo says:

        @Juan Barquin, I see your point, man. I did like McConaughey in Magic Mike and Bernie. Haven’t seen Paperboy and Killer Joe yet, but 2012 seems like a good year for him. DiCaprio was great as Candie, but IMO Django Unchained suffered heavily in its third act (everything was going well until you know…) and that made me sad as a Tarantino fan. I know this shouldn’t affect my thoughts on DiCaprio’s performance, but it works against him somehow. :S

        While Silva isn’t as masterful/deadly as Anton Chigurh, I still thought he was almost on the same level as AC, Joker-Ledger and Hans Landa. Silva was the kind of character I would have loved to see more of, but what Skyfall showed suffices.

      • Rodrigo says:

        @Juan Barquin, Oh, and the “against type” factor would have helped McConaughey a lot if Magic Mike could have gave him a few more minutes of screentime. I didn’t hated or loved the film, but MM can be easily ignored as a mere “stripper film” despite its content.

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