Oscar Nomination Reaction

Well, I did about as well as most in the predictions, which is to say pretty solid outside of the directing category. This year was quite a shock with the nominations, and the Academy proved once again that whether they have five nominees or ten, they prefer art house to studio. Lets break down the nominees.

Best Picture (* means I correctly predicted it)

Silver Linings Playbook*, Django Unchained*, Les Miserables*, Life of Pi*, Zero Dark Thirty*, Argo*, Lincoln*, Amour, Beasts of the Southern Wild.

7 correct, I predicted there would be 8 nominees when 9 got nominated. I thought the Master would get in and Beasts of the Southern Wild and Amour would be left out. Not huge surprises here though, The Master was a blind guess for me as I knew more would get in, I just predicted The Master would have more support.

Best Director

Steven Spielberg: Lincoln*, Ang Lee: Life of Pi, Michael Haneke: Amour, Benh Zeitlin: Beasts of the Southern Wild, David O'Russell: Silver Linings Playbook.

This is where it went off the rails. 1 of 5, and I should have nailed Life of Pi as its quite the directing achievement, but I thought 4 were locks and the 5th would be Tom Hooper for Les Miserables. However they snubbed Hooper, and Tarantino for Django, and Bigelow for ZDT, and Affleck for Argo (winner of the directing award at the Golden Globes). So basically 4 people got snubbed for me. Replacing them were two directors from films not considered great directing achievements (Haneke and O'Russell) and one who I never thought would have the support (Zeitlin).

Best Actor

Bradley Cooper: Silver Linings Playbook*, Denzel Washington: Flight*, Daniel Day-Lewis: Lincoln*, Hugh Jackman: Les Miserables*, Joaquin Phoenix: The Master.

4 out of 5 isn't bad, and Phoenix was my 6th option. However my thought was if Phoenix got in, Cooper wouldn't. However it was John Hawkes who got left out for Phoenix. I miscalculated how much wide spread support there would be for Silver Linings.

Best Actress

Quvenzhane Wallis: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Naomi Watts: The Impossible*, Emanuelle Riva: Amour*, Jennifer Lawrence: Silver Linings Playbook*, Jessica Chastain: Zero Dark Thirty*.

4 out of 5 again. I predicted Marion Cotillard over Wallis. Wallis was my 6th option however, it was more of a guessing game at that point.

Best Supporting Actor

Phillip Seymour Hoffman: The Master*, Robert DeNiro: Silver Linings Playbook*, Christoph Waltz: Django Unchained, Tommy Lee Jones: Lincoln*, Alan Arkin: Argo*.

4 of 5...again, I am sensing a trend here. For the 5th spot I thought Dicaprio over Waltz in Django, but Waltz has more support than I expected, especially after the Oscar nomination and Golden Globe win.

Best Supporting Actress

Anne Hathaway: Les Miserables*, Jackie Weaver: Silver Linings Playbook, Sally Field: Lincoln*, Amy Adams: The Master*, Helen Hunt: The Sessions*.

4 of 5 again. I didn't even mention Jackie Weaver, again I underestimated Playbook and Harvey Weinstein. I thought Judy Dench would get Skyfall a major nomination.

So overall not too bad, 4 of 5 in all four acting categories. 7 of 9 in Best Picture. Just could have used some help on that Best Director category.

-Maximus