2013 Oscar Nominations, Surpises, Snubs and Predictions

The 85th Academy Award nominations were announced this morning in Los Angeles by Oscar host Seth Macfarlane and actress Emma Stone. As expected, Steven Spielberg’s historical drama Lincoln leads the pack with 12 nominations, including best picture, director for Steven Spielberg and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. Life of Pi follows closely with 11 nominations. Read on for a full list of nominees, surprises, snubs and predictions. The Academy Award winners will be announced on Sunday, February 24th.

BEST PICTURE
Argo
Amour
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
The Academy is able to list up to 10 nominees in this category. I’m wondering why they didn’t finish off the list with one of the blockbusters either Dark Knight Rises or Skyfall which many were predicting would happen. The Master was at one point favoured to take the category. Also Moon Rise Kingdom was expected to make the Top 10 nominees. Expect a showdown between Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook.

BEST DIRECTOR
Ang Lee – Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Michael Haneke – Amour
Behn Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
This has got to be the most surprising category. Only 2 of the DGA nominees for Best Director made list (Ang Lee and Spielberg). No Tom Hooper (Les Miserables), Ben Affleck (Argo), Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) or Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty). Zeitlin is a pleasant surprise to make the cut with his first feature film getting him a nom. The Academy loves their Spielberg so I’m predicting the Lincoln director will take this category come Oscar night.

BEST ACTOR
Denzel Washington – Flight
Hugh Jackman – Les Miserables
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
The most predictable category in my mind. The fifth slot was a toss-up between Joaquin Phoenix for The Mater and John Hawkes for The Sessions. Daniel Day-Lewis is heavily favoured to take home the trophy.

BEST ACTRESS
Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Quvenzhane Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
How exciting for Riva and Wallis to make Oscar history as the oldest and youngest nominees ever. Biggest surprise is the lack of Marion Cotillard whose performance in Rust And Bone was not only expected to be nominated but at one point was favoured to take home the statue. This category is too hard to predict a winner. I think we will have a better idea once we see who wins at the Critics’ Choice Awards which is happening tonight and Golden Globes which is happening on Sunday. Personally, I’m routing for Lawrence.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook
Alan Arkin – Argo
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained
If you know me, then you know I’m pissed. Leonardo DiCaprio not getting nominated for his beyond amazing performance in Django Unchained is just wrong. What the flip?? I don’t understand why the Academy hates him so much. Just give him a damn Oscar already!! This is not to take anything away from Christoph Waltz who was also incredible in that movie and Philip Seymour Hoffman who continues to deliver brilliant performances in anything he is in. Sometimes the Oscars can be very stale and boring which brings us to this list of all former Oscar winners. My fingers are crossed for Waltz winning and giving his Oscar to the equally deserving DiCaprio. Just kidding….. kind of.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway – Les Miserables
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Sally Field – Lincoln
Amy Adams – The Master
Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook
Refreshing to see Jacki Weaver make the cut over Nicole Kidman’s performance in The Paperboy. I have to predict Anne Hathaway for this one. I cried the entire time she was on the screen in Les Miserables thanks to her heartbreaking portrayal of Fantine. She needs to win just for her brilliant performance of “I Dreamed A Dream”.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Mark Boal – Zero Dark Thirty
Quentin Tarantino – Django Unchained
Michael Haneke – Amour
Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola – Moonrise Kingdom
John Gatins – Flight

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Tony Kushner – Lincoln
Chris Terrio – Argo
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
David Magee – Life of Pi
Lucy Alibar, Behn Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Would’ve been nice to see the underdog, Perks Of Being A Wallflower make the list, but it’s hard to compete with the big dogs.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Claudio Miranda – Life of Pi
Roger Deakins – Skyfall
Janusz Kaminski – Lincoln
Robert Richardson – Django Unchained
Seamus McGarvey – Anna Karenina

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FEATURE
Amour – Austria
No – Chile
A Royal Affair – Denmark
Kon-Tiki – Norway
War Witch – Canada
I’m not sure if you can compete with a film that is also nominated for Best Picture but… Go Canada!

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Frankenweenie
Brave
ParaNorman
Wreck-It Ralph
The Pirates! Band of Misfits

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
Searching for Sugar Man
5 Broken Cameras
The Invisible War

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
Inocente
Kings Point
Mondays at Racine
Open Heart
Redemption

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Lincoln
Life of Pi
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Anna Karenina
Les Miserables

BEST FILM EDITING
William Goldenberg, Dylan Tichenor – Zero Dark Thirty
William Goldenberg – Argo
Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers – Silver Linings Playbook
Michael Kahn – Lincoln
Tim Squyers – Life of Pi

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Dario Marianelli – Anna Karenina
Mychael Danna – Life of Pi
Thomas Newman – Skyfall
John Williams – Lincoln
Alexandre Desplat – Argo

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
“Skyfall” – Skyfall
“Suddenly” – Les Miserables
“Pi’s Lullaby” – Life of Pi
“Before My Time” – Chasing Ice
“Everybody Needs a Best Friend” – Ted
Adele’s going to win this right? I mean… nice try Les Miserables. Also, it’s kind of cute that they nominated Everybody Needs A Friend from Ted which was co-written by Oscar host Seth Macfarlane

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Life of Pi
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Prometheus
Snow White and the Huntsman
The Avengers
Can someone tell me why Dark Knight Rises wasn’t nominated?

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Lincoln
Anna Karenina
Les Miserables
Mirror Mirror
Snow White and the Huntsman
I’m laughing at Mirror Mirror getting nominated for an Oscar.

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING
Hitchcock
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Les Miserables

BEST SOUND EDITING
Skyfall
Argo
Zero Dark Thirty
Life of Pi
Django Unchained

BEST SOUND MIXING
Skyfall
Lincoln
Life of Pi
Les Miserables
Argo

BEST SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
Adam and Dog
Fresh Guacamole
Head over Heels
The Longest Daycare
Paperman

BEST SHORT FILM (LIVE-ACTION)
Asad
Buzkashi Boys
Curfew
Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)
Henry