What did you give up for Gay Lent so your favorites could win on Oscar night? I didn’t give up anything! Why? There is an issue of exclusion – a theme we LGBT know all too well!
The biggest surprises are in the Best Director category. Ben Affleck didn’t get nominated for Argo, a film that has a very formidable chance of winning the Best Picture Oscar. (If so, this will be the first time a film won without a director nomination since Chicago in early 2003.) Kathryn Bigelow also didn’t get nominated for Zero Dark Thirty. I’m okay with that, since I found her first 20 minutes sloppy.
In both cases, my fellow cinefiles think Affleck and Bigelow missed the nomination because Oscar voters believed that others would vote for them. Instead, Benh Zeitlin was nominated for Beasts of the Southern Wild, a small indie and probably my favorite film this year, so I’m happy.
One other shaft was dealt to Moonrise Kingdom, which deserves to be in the list of Best Pictures with the other nine. They have space for 10 films, but there’s some mysterious, screwy math the Oscar board uses.
| Best Director
I would remove Michael Haneke – even though I loved quiet, devastating Amour – because it’s more an actors’ film. In his place, I would’ve nominated Ben Affleck for Argo or Wes Anderson for quirky Moonrise Kingdom. Life of Pi is an astounding achievement for Ang Lee (who also directed Brokeback Mountain). Spielberg did Spielberg in Lincoln – great but not at all surprising. Silver Linings Playbook is too standard for David O. Russell to win. |
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| Best Picture
Amour will win Best Foreign Film. Django Unchained is Tarantino doing Tarantino. I mostly dislike Les Miserables, and I had small problems with Zero Dark Thirty and Silver Linings Playbook. Life of Pi is earth-shattering, but it’s mostly special effects. Lincoln is a great script (written by Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner, Angels in America) filmed by a master, but I feel Spielberg could’ve been more daring. |
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| Best Actor
I love Hugh Jackman but didn’t find his Le Miz turn (hi, vibrato!) all too impressive. The same goes for Denzel Washington in Flight. I miss Suraj Sharma from Life of Pi and John Hawkes in The Sessions. Bradley Cooper’s Silver Linings Playbook confirmed he’s more than just a pretty face and amazing body. Joaquin Phoenix was transfixing in The Master. |
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| Best Actress
Now this is a list I have no qualms with! Jessica Chastain is the best reason to see Zero Dark Thirty, and Naomi Watts is overwhelming in the floods of The Impossible. We have the oldest Best Actress nominee Emmanuelle Riva (85) in the heartbreaking Amour, and the youngest, Quvenzhané Wallis (9), in Beasts of the Southern Wild. |
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| Best Supporting Actor
As much as I love Argo, Alan Arkin’s part is Hollywood shtick. Speaking of exclusion, where is Dwight Henry for Beasts of the Southern Wild? Phillip Seymour Hoffman deserves to be here for The Master, Christoph Waltz was fun in Django Unchained, and Robert DeNiro was subtle in Silver Linings Playbook. |
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| Best Supporting Actress
Another list I fully support. Other cinephiles bemoan Amy Adams in The Master, but I think she deserves a nomination. Helen Hunt was delightfully sweet and trashy in The Sessions. Sally Field revived her career playing Lincoln’s wife. Aussie Jackie Weaver was perfect in Silver Linings Playbook. |
