My Oscar Predictions

I am so excited about the Oscars tonight!  Like I said in another post, Adam and I compete with each other each year to see who can predict the most correct.  So, here are our Oscar predictions, and I’ll let you know later who won and how many we each got right.  And don’t forget to watch the Oscars tonight 7 eastern time on ABC.

2013 oscar predictions   (lauren’s pick, adam’s pick, both)

Best Picture–Argo
*note–only three movies have ever won best picture without winning best director as well, and Ben Affleck is not nominated for Best Director
Actor in a Leading Role–Daniel Day-Lewis
Actress in a Leading Role–Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain
*note–Emmanuelle Riva and Quvenzhane Wallis (also nominated) are the youngest and oldest actresses to be nominated for best actress.
Actor in a Supporting Role–Christoph Waltz, Robert De Niro
Actress in a Supporting Role–Anne Hathaway
Animated Feature Film–Brave
Cinematography–Life of Pi
Costume Design–Anna Karenina, Les Miserables
Directing–Steven Spielberg
Documentary Feature–Searching for Sugar Man, How to Survive a Plague
Documentary Short–Inocente, Mondays at Racine
Film Editing–Argo
Foreign Language Film–Amour
Makeup and Hairstyling–The Hobbit, Hitchcock
Music-Original Score–Life of Pi, Skyfall
Music-Original Song–“Skyfall”
Production Design–Anna Karenina, Lincoln
Short Film-Animated–Paperman
Short Film-Live Action–Curfew, Death of a shadow
Sound Editing–Zero Dark Thirty, Skyfall
Sound Mixing–Les Miserables, Skyfall
Visual Effects– Life of Pi, Avengers
Writing-Adapted Screenplay–Argo
Writing-Original Screenplay–Django Unchained

So who do you think will win?

4 Days to My Favorite Event!

There are only four more days until the Oscars!  I look forward to this almost more than any other event.  The last two years Adam and I have each predicted the winners and then we see who gets the most right.  I have won the last two years, and I’m feeling good about this year as well.

I follow a lot of Oscar news throughout the year and there has been even more Oscar content lately to read about.  Here is one article from Entertainment Weekly (EW) that I particularly enjoyed.  “Top Ten Best Picture Winners that should have Lost”.  In case you don’t want to go out and look at it yourself, let me tell you what it says, and how I feel about it.

10.  Winner–Forrest Gump (1994)   Should Have Won–Pulp Fiction
Now, I know that my sister will not agree with this because Forrest Gump is one of her absolute favorite movies.   She has watched it over and over.  And while I do enjoy watching Forrest Gump, I agree with EW that Pulp Fiction probably deserved to win the Oscar.  Pulp Fiction was groundbreaking.  It is known as the movie that “reinvented movie making,” and I agree that when I first watched it I was excited about the things that were done with it.

9.  Winner–The Last Emperor (1987)  Should Have Won–Broadcast News, Moonstruck, or Fatal Attraction
The Last Emperor is not a fantastic movie, but it is very ornate.  I did not particularly like it.  I have not seen Broadcast News or Moonstruck and I do not think that Fatal Attraction is an “oscar movie,” but I did enjoy it, so the other two must be good.  Maybe one day I’ll watch the other two films and then I’ll be able to weigh in better.

8. Winner–Around the World in 80 Days (1956)  Should Have Won–Giant
I have not seen either one of these movies, so I can not say one way or another.  However, because of this article I now plan on watching Giant, the final performance of James Dean, soon after I finish my Best Picture list.

7.  Winner–Gandhi (1982)  Should Have Won–E.T.  Extra Terrestrial
I Agree!  Because E.T. was definitely the better movie.

6.  Winner–The English Patient  (1996)  Should Have Won–Jerry Maguire or Fargo
Now, I did love The English Patient, but I will say that I loved Jerry Maguire more.  However, to me, Jerry Maguire just doesn’t seem like an Oscar film.  Fargo is another one that I will be adding to my list of movies to watch.

5.  Winner–Dances with Wolves  (1990)  Should Have Won–GoodFellas
I was not a fan of Dances with Wolves and I recently watched GoodFellas and was not a fan of it either.  Which one was worse?  I’m not really sure.  So I guess I’ll just have to trust EW on this one.

4.  Winner–Chariots of Fire (1981)  Should Have Won–Reds
Now, here is where I disagree with EW.  Even though I have not seen Reds, I absolutely loved Chariots of Fire.  I thought it was a great story.  I enjoyed everything about it and I do think it deserved to win.

3.  Winner–Shakespeare in Love  (1998)  Should Have Won–Saving Private Ryan
This may be one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history.  From everything that I have read, everyone thought that Saving Private Ryan deserved to win, and even though I absolutely love Shakespeare in Love, I would have to agree.  When you compare the two movies side by side, which is hard because they are nothing alike, Saving Private Ryan is heads and shoulders above Shakespeare in Love, and rememer, I love Shakespeare in Love.

2.  Winner–How Green Way My Valley (1941)  Should Have Won–Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is another one of those movies that is known for reinventing movies.  And having seen both of these films, I agree with EW that Citizen Kane should have won the Oscar.  I did not enjoy How Green Way My Valley.  To me, it didn’t have a striking story and it didn’t know what it wanted to be.

1.  Winner–Crash (2005)  Should Have Won–Brokeback Mountain
I have seen Crash and part of Brokeback Mountain, but not enough to feel like I know enough to make the decision between the two.  Crash tells an honest, yet hard to hear story.  In their article EW states that maybe the academy just wasn’t ready for Brokeback Mountain.

What do you think?  Do you agree with these conclusions?  Disagree?  What Oscar film do you think doesn’t deserve it’s statue?

Check another one off my list

Monday nights Adam works from 4:30 to 9 and then on Tuesdays he has a night class until 9.  On these days I leave the house after lunch and don’t see him until after nine.  So on Monday nights my sister comes over to do laundry, but then Tuesday nights I’m all alone.  So I usually plan on watching a Best Picture Movie to mark another one off my list.  That’s exactly what I did this last Tuesday.  Mrs. Miniver won the best picture award in 1942.  It is the story of (can you guess), Mrs. Miniver and her family during World War II.  They live in Europe, her husband and son are in the military, and Mrs. Miniver has to deal with her husband in son being gone, while also taking care of the rest of the family.  This movie was pretty good, and kinda sad in the end.  I would not say it is one of my favorites, but I can see why it won Best Picture.  Only 13 more Best Picture movies to go!

Academy Award for Best Picture

One of my goals for the past two years has been to watch all of the Best Picture winning movies.  I watched another one today, which leaves me only 14 more (or the current 84) to watch.  And next month one more great movie will join the list.

To see what I have watched and what I have let, visit my Best Picture List.  The movie I watched today won in 1949.  It is called “All the King’s Men.”  This movie was about political corruption.  This film, like many other best picture movies, ended in death.

Here are some other funy facts about the Best Picture winners over the past 84 years:

-with the current nominations, 503 films have been nominated for Best Picture
-Of the 84 films to win, 62 of them also won for Best Director
-to date, only 9 foreign films have been nominated and three semi-foregin films have won (Godfather Part 2, The Last Emperor, and Slumdog Millionaire)
-no animated film has ever won
-no science fiction film has ever won
-eight comedies have won
-one horror film has won
-The Artist was the first silent film to win since the first Best Picture winner, Wings

This years Oscar nominees for Best Picture are:
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Which one has your vote?  Which one do you think will win?