BEST ACTRESS
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Chris Terrio, Argo
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM Brave
BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM Paperman
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina
BEST DOCUMENTARY Searching for Sugar Man
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT Inocente
BEST FILM EDITING
William Goldenberg, Argo
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM Amour
BEST MAKE-UP AND HAIRSTYLING
Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell, Les Miserables
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Mychael Danna, Life of Pi
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Adele, Paul Epworth "Skyfall", Skyfall
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN
Rick Carter (Production Design); Jim Erickson (Set Decoration), Lincoln
BEST SHORT FILM LIVE ACTION Curfew
BEST SOUND EDITING
Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers, Skyfall
Paul N.J. Ottosson, Zero Dark Thirty
BEST SOUND MIXING
Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes, Les Miserables
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS Life of Pi
The official Oscar season is now over with for the year in cinema that was 2012. I did not see every movie that was nominated for an Oscar, but I did see all nine of the best picture nominees. Were there any big surprises for you last night? Was there anyone you thought that was snubbed? Any favorite moments or speeches? Any speeches that were super awkward? Who did you think was best dressed? Feel free to sound off on all things Oscars below!
Unleash Your Inner Foodie: FOR YOUR OSCAR PARTY CONSIDERATION
I am once again honored to have DeeAnn McArdle publish one of my articles for her wonderful foodie and entertaining website "Unleash Your Inner Foodie". She asked me for my annual article regarding all things Oscars! We throw an Oscar party each year with many friends so I thought this was a perfect idea for her website. Don't forget to check out the rest of her website for fabulous recipes and cocktails for your Oscar party!
Here's the beginning of the article:
“We’re delighted our favorite Movie Critic – Paul McGuire is back to share his 2012 Oscar reviews and predictions. He also shares his tips on hosting a memorable Oscar party – too fun! I’m busy creating some sweet and savory popcorn toppings for the must-have Oscar viewing snack…
For Your Consideration” is a common phrase used throughout the Oscar season as studios try to promote their films for Oscar votes. One of my favorite parts of the Oscar season is not only watching the movies but hosting our annual Oscar party. We invite anywhere between 20-30 people over to our townhouse and have a grand time. Various appetizers, dishes, and beverages are served as well as Oscar ballots and trivia games for prizes. One of our guests tends to bring a dish based on one of the nominated movies. It is a fun time to be creative and try new recipes. Silver Linings Playbook is up for numerous awards this season, including acting nominations for its four main actors. If you have seen the movie, you will remember how “crabby snacks and homemades” were a big part of the Robert DeNiro’s character’s football game watching. You could make your own version of “crabby snacks and homemade”, and it would be one easy way to incorporate a theme to your Oscar party. It has been a phenomenal year for movies with so many exceptional movies to see. There are some clear frontrunners like Daniel Day-Lewis and Anne Hathaway, but there are other categories that could go in a multitude of directions. Here are some reviews of the celebrated movies as well as my predictions on some of the major categories"
As an actor, I love watching the Screen Actors Guild Awards. I am not a member of SAG/AFTRA so I am not an actual voter, but I have some friends that are members so it was fun hearing them talk about the movies they have gotten in the mail to watch. Actors love getting these awards as they sometimes mean the most to them as they are being awarded by their fellow actors and peers. Here is a list of the winners from the 19th SAG Awards:
OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY A CAST IN A MOTION PICTURE
The Cast of Argo
It was a big night in Hollywood as the 2013 Golden Globes were handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. While it usually is a precursor to the Oscars, there is no overlap in members of the Academy and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Ben Affleck won for Best Director and he was completely left off the Oscar nomination list.
Here are the winners of the Motion Picture portion of the evening:
Best Motion Picture-Drama
ARGO
Best Motion Picture-Musical/Comedy
LES MISERABLES
Best Director
BEN AFFLECK
Best Actor-Drama
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, Lincoln
Best Actress-Drama
JESSICA CHASTAIN, Zero Dark Thirty
Best Actor-Musical/Comedy
HUGH JACKMAN, Les Miserables
Best Actress-Musical/Comedy
JENNIFER LAWRENCE, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actor
CHRISTOPH WALTZ, Django Unchained
Best Supporting Actor
ANNE HATHAWAY, Les Miserables
Best Screenplay
QUENTIN TARANTINO, Django Unchained
Best Animated Feature
BRAVE
Best Foreign Film
AMOUR, Austria
Best Original Score
MYCHAEL DANNA, Life of Pi
Best Original Song
"Skyfall" by Adele and Paul Epworth, Skyfall
Do you agree with the choice of winners? Any surprises for you?
The Golden Globes are another great night of rewarding the best of the silver screen over the past year. The awards are handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and are typically the "party" awards. All of the nominees and presenters are basically drinking around their dinner tables all night long. It's even better when a presenter has had too much and slurs the names he/she is reading off the teleprompter. Clink on any of the links to read my reviews of the nominated movies. Here's a look at this year's nominees:
BEST MOTION PICTURE-DRAMA
1. ARGO
2. DJANGO UNCHAINED
3. LIFE OF PI
4. LINCOLN
5. ZERO DARK THIRTY
BEST DIRECTOR
1. Ben Affleck--Argo
2. Kathryn Bigelow--Zero Dark Thirty
3. Ang Lee--Life of Pi
4. Steven Spielberg--Lincoln
5. Quentin Tarantino--Django Unchained
BEST ACTOR-DRAMA
1. Daniel Day-Lewis--Lincoln
2. Richard Gere-Arbitrage
3. John Hawkes--The Sessions
4. Joaquin Phoenix--The Master
5. Denzel Washington--Flight
BEST ACTOR-MUSICAL/COMEDY
1. Jack Black--Bernie
2. Bradley Cooper--Silver Linings Playbook
3. Hugh Jackman--Les Miserables
4. Ewan McGregor--Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
5. Bill Murray--Hyde Park on Hudson
BEST ACTRESS-DRAMA
1. Jessica Chastain--Zero Dark Thirty
2. Marion Cotillard--Rust and Bone
3. Helen Mirren--Hitchcock
4. Naomi Watts--The Impossible
5. Rachel Weisz--The Deep Blue Sea
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Alan Arkin--Argo
2. Leonardo DiCaprio--Django Unchained
3. Phillip Seymour Hoffman--The Master
4. Tommy Lee Jones--Lincoln
5. Christoph Waltz--Django Unchained
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Amy Adams--The Master
2. Sally Field--Lincoln
3. Anne Hathaway--Les Miserables
4. Helen Hunt--The Sessions
5. Nicole Kidman--The Paperboy
BEST SCREENPLAY
1. Michael Haneke--Amour
2. Quentin Tarantino--Django Unchained
3. Tony Kushner--Lincoln
4. David O. Russell--Silver Linings Playbook
5. Mark Boal--Zero Dark Thirty
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
1. Daria Marianelli--Anna Karenina
2. Alexandre Desplat--Argo
3. Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek--Cloud Atlas
4. Mychael Danna--Life of Pi
5. John Williams--Lincoln
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
1. "For You"--Act of Valor
2. "Safe and Sound"--The Hunger Games
3. "Suddenly"--Les Miserables
4. "Skyfall"--Skyfall
5. "Not Running Anymore"--Stand Up Guys
BEST ANIMATED FILM
1. BRAVE
2. FRANKENWEENIE
3. HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA
4. RISE OF THE GUARDIANS
5. WRECK-IT RALPH
BEST FORGEIN FILM
1. AMOUR
2. KON-TIKI
3. THE INTOUCHABLES
4. A ROYAL AFFAIR
5. RUST AND BONE
SURPRISES? Nicole Kidman seems to be getting more praise for her work in Lee Daniel's The Paperboy. The movie came and out with mixed reviews, so it is surprising that she is getting nomations from SAG and the Golden Globes. I was surprised Maggie Smith was nominated for Quartet over The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
SNUBS? No Best Picture for Silver Linings Playbook is the biggest snub in my opinion along with them ignoring Robert DeNiro's work. Anthony Hopkins and Beasts of the Southern Wild were also snubbed.
The Screen Actors Guild Award Nominations have been announced! They are usually the strongest indicators of who will be nominated for an Oscar. The SAG winners often times walk away with the coveted Oscar as well. There are always exceptions to that as well. There are only a couple of surprises here. Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman received nominations beating out the likes of Matthew McConaughey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amy Adams, or Jacki Weaver. No actors from Django Unchained received any recognition. The cast of Zero Dark Thirty was not recognized even though Jessica Chastain received a Best Actress nomination.
I’ve added links to my reviews of any of the movies I have seen thus far. Make sure to check out my Oscar Watch 2013 page for the latest updates leading up to the announcement of the nominations and through Oscar Day!
Outstanding Performance by in Actor in a Leading Role
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Denzel Washington, Flight
Outstanding Performance by in Actress in a Leading Role
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Helen Mirren, Hitchcock
Naomi Watts, The Impossible
Outstanding Performance by in Actor in a Supporting Role
Alan Arkin, Argo
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Robert DeNiro, Silver Linings Playbook
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Outstanding Performance by in Actress in a Supporting Role
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Nicole Kidman, The Paperboy
Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Who are you excited to see nominated? Any of these surprised for you?
The SAG Awards air on TBS and TNT on January 27, 2012
LINCOLN
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jared Harris, David Strathairn, James Spader, John Hawkes, Tim Blake Nelson
If you go into Lincoln expecting to see Steven Spielberg's take on his assassination, you are going into the wrong movie. You will also not see a movie focused on his whole presidency making you feel like you are back in history class seeing a badly narrated movie. Even though the assassination is included, Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner focus their film on Lincoln's (Day-Lewis) battle to pass the 13th amendment to abolish slavery.
Lincoln was opposed to slavery and needed to get enough votes in the house to have the amendment pass. At the time, there was a sharp divide between the people regarding the equality of the races. Lincoln must also deal with the timing and outcome of the Civil War as the results of each have a drastic impact on the other one. On the side of the president we have his Secretary of State William Seward (Strathairn) and staunch abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens (Jones) among others. Opposing them and opposing the amendment are Democratic Congressman Fernando Wood (Pace) and Ohio representative George H. Pendleton (Peter McRobbie) to name a few.
Lincoln did not have it easy dealing with his family life back inside the walls of the White House. His wife Mary Todd Lincoln (Field) is having a hard time dealing with the death of their middle son William. She was a strong supporter of her husband's politics and was always a presence at the house hearings. Their oldest son Robert (Gordon-Levitt) has left school and returned home to fight in the war against his parents’ wishes. They are far too fearful of him perishing in combat. He joins the Union Army and is an attendant under Ulysses S. Grant (Harris).
The brilliant Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Tony Kushner and Spielberg previously collaborated together on Munich back in 2005. He has based his screenplay on a small portion of the epic book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Many political movies tend to feel stuffy and slow. Sometimes those movies are so full of themselves that they expect you to be a history major in order to understand what is going on. His screenplay is smart, intelligent, and funny without feeling too high brow or too smart for your standard movie going audience. He knows how to make his characters three dimensional and real without them feeling like the stiff caricatures we may have in our heads of who these people might be. Kushner has never been known to write a simple and short script. I applaud him for finding a way the keep the courtroom scenes quick and snappy. I found myself on the edge of my seat as if I did not already know how it was going to end.
When you have a rich story to tell full of historical personalities, you need a top-notch ensemble of actors. Spielberg has gathered another fine company of actors. You can scroll down the cast list and notice the plethora of heavy hitters that are known for being fantastic character actors. It seems as if anyone was willing to be a part of this movie no matter how big or small the role happened to be. You most likely will not even notice that Kevin Kline plays "Wounded Soldier". Kushner has given them all such brilliant material that each character has their moments to shine. Tim Blake Nelson, John Hawkes, and James Spader are hysterical as the three negotiators that Lincoln hires to go out and get the vote from some of the strongest house members who oppose the amendment. Gloria Reuben is quite moving and touching as Elizabeth Keckley who is always at the side of Mary during the hearings. Tommy Lee Jones is one of those actors that always seems perfect for his part. You know he is still Tommy Lee Jones and his gruff voice and attitude is there, but it always seems to work for each of his characters. There is plenty of humor with his character as well. His subtle facial expressions speak volumes. Sally Field could easily walk away with her third Oscar for his performance as Mary Todd Lincoln. The movie does not focus necessarily on how disturbed many people thought Mary was, nor does it just paint her as a grieving mother. Field knows when and where to play each emotional side of her character whether she is yelling at Abraham or putting her foot down toward Thaddeus Stevens.
The core of this ensemble belongs to Daniel Day-Lewis. The Academy should just print his name on the envelope at this point. I do not believe any other actor will be stiff competition for him. His approach to playing our sixteenth president is a master-class in acting. Never once did I think I was watching Daniel Day-Lewis. I never thought about Daniel Plainview, Bill the Butcher, Christy Brown, or any of his other characters. I was watching Lincoln fight for his beliefs, struggle to keep Robert out of the war, and deal with the death of his middle son. Like many of his followers, I was enthralled by his speeches and metaphors. Day-Lewis found the perfect voice for Lincoln that will make you forget about any notion of him being a deep-voiced man. He knew how to carry a room and the actor knows how to command the screen.
Many people think Spielberg has been hit or miss lately, but even his toughest critics will come way applauding this movie. Sure, it still has some flaws and you may agree or disagree with how he and Kushner end the movie. Lincoln is his best film since Saving Private Ryan. It is one of the most important films to see in theaters right now not only to see how one of the greatest presidents shaped history, but to see how it resonates with the politics we face in today’s society. Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field could easily walk away with their third Oscars. Tommy Lee Jones should expect a nomination and possibly a win. The whole ensemble of actors do strong work making their characters stand out no matter who small or minor they are to the story. I hope the movie encourages people to care about history. Hopefully, you may find yourself picking up “Team of Rivals” or stopping on the History Channel the next time there is a story about the Lincolns.
Lincoln hits theaters November 16th and this Spielberg fan will be there opening night. I started reading "Team of Rivals" by Doris Kearns Goodwin and am hoping to finish by the film’s release date. For anyone new to Lincoln, screenwriter Tony Kushner based her screenplay on portions of Goodwin’s book.
AMC Theatres hosted a live Q&A with director Steven Spielberg and star Daniel Day-Lewis after a screening of the film. They give an insightful look into the preparations of making this huge movie. Don’t worry, there are no spoilers discussed.
LINCOLN
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring:
Daniel Day-Lewis
Sally Field
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Tommy Lee Jones
Jared Harris
Lee Pace
Jackie Earl Haley
David Strathairn
I know I say this a lot, but I have actually been waiting and looking forward to this movie for YEARS. It was announced years ago that Spielberg would be at the helm with a script by Pulitzer Prize/Tony Winner Tony Kushner. Liam Neeson was first attached to star as the sixteenth president, but Daniel Day-Lewis eventually took over in the part. He wrote the screenplay based on parts of the book "Team of Rivals" by fellow Pultizer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin. Back in 2009, Kushner was at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis as part of a festival celebrating his works. He had a book signing after the "In Conversation" night and was very gracious and lovely to fans. Naturally, I geeked out and asked him about Lincoln. I am pretty sure this was far before the screenplay was even finished.
I know I have received flack for saying it, but Steven Spielberg is my favorite director as well. He has proved time and time again that he is a master at creating the perfect blockbuster like Jaws or Raiders of the Lost Ark, he can create fascinating sci-fi like Close Encounters of the Third Kind or E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. He has left a legacy with his dramas like Schindler's List or Saving Private Ryan. With an all-star cast and intelligent writing, Lincoln could be listed on many Best of 2012 lists.
In theaters November 16, 2012
Here's the trailer that was just released as well as a discussion with Steven Spielberg and Joseph Gordon-Levitt about the film:
