A Reel Opinion: Oscar Picks, Episode II

 

In this second and final Episode of Oscar picks for the year that was 2012, Reel Speak delves into the madness of selecting winners for three major categories:

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

This category is a three-way race by three Disney films; WRECK-IT RALPH, FRANKENWEENIE, and Pixar’s BRAVE. RALPH won the Producers Guild Award and the Annie Award, but this Blogger found the film to be off-balance, too watered down for kids, and ultimately dull. Pixar’s BRAVE walked away with the Golden Globe and BAFTA, but critics and fans have pointed out a weak third act, and this Blogger has trouble ranking it amongst Pixar’s best despite how visually stunning it is. The dark-horse here is Tim Burton’s wonderful and clever stop-motion-puppet-starring FRANKENWEENIE, which was a triumphant return to form for a director who has been churning out crap for the past decade. FRANKENWEENIE pulled at the heartstrings better than the rest of the field, and it has one thing that voters tend to love…homage to classic Hollywood. Remember that last point…

Winner: FRANKENWEENIE

BEST DIRECTOR

This Blogger’s heart is pulling for Steven Spielberg. Sure, he had a lot of help in LINCOLN from the Greatest Actor Who Ever Lived in Daniel Day-Lewis, but he also directed two other actors to Nominations (Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones), and he made people sitting around talking very interesting and exciting. However, David O. Russell’s SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK is the first film to achieve the rare feat of being nominated in all four acting categories since REDS way back in 1981. Rare achievements go a long way.

Winner: David O’ Russell

BEST PICTURE

A funny thing happened on the way to the Oscars. In October, this Blogger right away called ARGO the Best Picture winner. Then when the Nominations were announced, director Ben Affleck was left out (read about it here), and since only three films in the 85-year history of the Academy have won Best Picture without that Best Director nomination, it was reasonable to assume ARGO didn’t have a prayer. However, ARGO went ahead to clean house in the Globes, SAG, BAFTA’s, DGA, PGA, and in about ten-thousand other Guilds and Societies. Now the Oscars tend to do the opposite of what everyone else does, but many of those Guild members are Academy voters, too. Looking at the field…LINCOLN has The Greatest Ever and will be awarded thusly. LIFE OF PI is spectacular but no Nominations for acting. LES MIS will get its due thanks to Anne Hathaway, and no one (sadly) seems to be talking about ZERO DARK THIRTY. That leaves ARGO and its warehouse of awards going up against the juggernaut of acting films, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK. So with all that said here is Reel Speak’s tiebreaker: ARGO is a film which shows Hollywood as the good guys. Academy voters are mostly made up of people who live and work in (ahem) Hollywood. People are going to vote for themselves. AR-GO win the Oscar.

Winner: ARGO

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The 85^th Oscars will be awarded this Sunday, Feb. 24^th.