Monday, December 31, 2012

If I Had An OSCAR Ballot ...

... It would look something like this. Please keep in mind that while I loved certain movies (like THE RAID and THE GREY, which as you'll read soon, were two of my top-10 movies of 2012) it's hard to vote for them for Best Picture. These have to be somewhat REALISTIC choices, otherwise there would be no point to this exercise. Also of note: I haven't seen AMOUR and I have abstained from voting in categories which I am ill-informed about (like Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Art Direction, Original Song) or could not find five choices for due to my lack of familiarity with the possible nominees (all shorts categories). Feel free to show off your own Oscar ballot in the comments section below, and thanks in advance for reading. I hope you enjoy my choices.

Important Note: An asterisk (*) denotes my vote to WIN.

BEST PICTURE

Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
The Impossible
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
The Sessions
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty*

BEST DIRECTOR

Ben Affleck, Argo
Juan Antonio Bayona, The Impossible
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty*
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
David O. Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

BEST ACTOR

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
John Hawkes, The Sessions*
Joaquin Phoenix, The Master
Denzel Washington, Flight

BEST ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook*
Michelle Williams, Take This Waltz
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Smashed

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Samuel L. Jackson, Django Unchained*
Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Emily Blunt, Looper
Ann Dowd, Compliance
Anne Hathaway, The Dark Knight Rises
Kara Hayward, Moonrise Kingdom
Helen Hunt, The Sessions*

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Django Unchained
The Master
Moonrise Kingdom
Safety Not Guaranteed
Zero Dark Thirty*

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Lincoln
Rust and Bone
Silver Linings Playbook*

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Frankenweenie*
ParaNorman
Wreck-It Ralph

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope
The Imposter*
Room 237
Shut Up and Play the Hits
West of Memphis

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE

A Hijacking
Michael
The Raid
Rust and Bone*
Snabba Cash

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

The Impossible
Life of Pi
The Master*
Skyfall
Zero Dark Thirty

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Anna Karenina
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Magic Mike
Moonrise Kingdom*

BEST EDITING

Argo
The Impossible
Life of Pi
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty*

BEST MAKEUP

Hitchcock*
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Men in Black 3

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

Beasts of the Southern Wild
Compliance*
The Impossible
The Raid
Zero Dark Thirty

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

The Hobbit
The Impossible
Flight
Life of Pi*
Prometheus

BEST ENSEMBLE (not an actual award)

Argo
Lincoln
Django Unchained
The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Silver Linings Playbook*

FINAL TALLY (out of 18):

Zero Dark Thirty - 4 (Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Editing)
Silver Linings Playbook - 3 (Actress, Adapted Screenplay, Ensemble)
The Sessions - 2 (Actor, Supporting Actress)
Compliance 1 - (Original Score)
Django Unchained - 1 (Supporting Actor)
Frankenweenie - 1 (Animated Feature)
Hitchcock - 1 (Makeup)
The Imposter - 1 (Documentary Feature)
Life of Pi - 1 (Visual Effects)
The Master - 1 (Cinematography)
Moonrise Kingdom - 1 (Costume Design)
Rust and Bone - 1 (Foreign Language Feature)