2013 Academy Awards -- Picture: ARGO, Director: ANG LEE, Actress: JENNIFER LAWRENCE, Actor: Who else

[solecity]

Django was this illest movie I've seen so far this year.

 

[big j 33]

http://www.pajiba.com/think_pieces/the-2012-oscars-and-how-best-almost-never-means-favorite.php

The 2012 Oscars and How "Best" Almost Never Means "Favorite"

If there’s one thing that putting together our 10 Most Rewatchable Films of 2012 demonstrated, it is this: There’s a huge difference between what is the best, and what are our “favorites.” In our own lists, there were three crossovers: Looper, Moonrise Kingdom, and Safety Not Guaranteed . None of those were nominated for Best Picture by the Academy this year. In fact, looking at the 2012 nominees for Best Picture, there are exactly two I’d watch a second time: Silver Linings Playbook  and Django Unchained, although I’m sure there are many who’d also give Les Mis  a second viewing.

The others? Great films, but none of them will be occupying space on my DVD shelf. It’s probably why most of them won’t be lasting movies, either. To truly survive the ages, a film needs to be rewatched, shared with others, passed down to our new generations. I think The Hurt Locker  is a brilliant film, but I’m not going to watch it again with friends or family, and I’m certainly not going to watch it on a Saturday night with the kids now or in ten years. Most Oscar films are watched because  they’re Oscar films: People feel obligated to see what all the fuss is about, and when they’re over, we often sit in stunned silence, nod our heads with approval, commend the actors on their brilliant performances, and then we watch Fight Club  or The Princess Bride  again.

Still: I don’t care what people say: The Oscars matter. They matter because there’s money involved; they matter because they generate millions of news headlines; they matter because the horse race can be entertaining; and they matter because they’re often the only reason many people will even see the films being nominated. Whether they’re an accurate representation of what’s best is anybody’s guess, but what is for certain is that they’re rarely an accurate representation of what people will be watching five, ten or 30 years from now.

Look: The movie we best remember from 1983 is Return of the Jedi. In 1984, that title belongs toGhostbusters  and Temple of Doom. In 1985, it was Back to the Future. 1986: Ferris Bueller’s Day Offand Stand By Me. In 1987 it was Dirty Dancing. In 1988, it was Big  and Die Hard. Those are the movies from those years that will be watched and rewatched, that will be fondly remembered, that will be shared with future generations. How many Best Picture nominations do they have combined? Zero (there’s a couple of screenplay nominations, one acting nod, and a lot of technical nominations among them). But ask someone under 30 if they’ve ever seen A Passage to India  or Terms of Endearment  or Amadeus, and you’re more likely than not to get a blank stare.

All of which is to say: Best doesn’t mean favorite, and best certainly doesn’t mean classic. There’s a pretty good chance that audiences will trickle out and see the films that are nominated, and even more may run out and see the Best Picture winner (unless it’s Amour), but chances are, most of the nominated films will rarely be spoken of again. We’ll be too busy watching The Avengers  and Pitch Perfect  to give Beasts of the Southern Wild  another look.

Below, I’ve taken the liberty of running down the Best Picture nominations since 2005. Check them out. How many have you seen a second time? Of the nearly 50 films, I’ve seen about 20 percent of them a second time. And maybe three or four of them might be watched a third time in the future.

2005

Crash
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Good Night, and Good Luck
Munich

2006

The Departed
Babel
Letters to Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

2007

No Country for Old Men
Juno
There Will Be Blood
Michael Clayton
Atonement

2008

Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader

2009

The Hurt Locker
Avatar
The Blindside
District 9
An Education
Inglorious Basterds
Precious
A Serious Man
Up
Up in the Air

2010

The King’s Speech
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are Alright
127 Hours
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

2011

The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
Tree of Life
War Horse

 

[macbk]

I think supporting actors are spot on. Waltz was better than Leo, So was PSH and TLJ. Deniro and Arkin are close with Leo, but since Waltz already is in this category for same movie, than why not.

I didn't see SLP or Argo yet, but Leo was better than Waltz in Django.

 

[duba169]

I'm sorry but the Waltz love is way OD for this role. He did nothing better in Django than he did in Inglorious Basterds. Which he was truly fantastic in.

Leo showed range and played the Villian very well. H stole every scene he was in. A nasty piece of crap who pretended to be cultured.

 

[duba169]

so much overacting in that movie

I haven't seen the movie yet but there is a lot of overacting in PTA movies. Daniel Day Lewis is the king of overacting but people love him

I really wanna see the master so bad

 

[swendro]

I'm sorry but the Waltz love is way OD for this role. He did nothing better in Django than he did in Inglorious Basterds. Which he was truly fantastic in.

Leo showed range and played the Villian very well. H stole every scene he was in. A nasty piece of crap who pretended to be cultured.

The thing is, Waltz isn't going up against his performance in Basterds. He doesn't have to be better than himself in IG to be better than Leo in Django. Maybe you're overrating Leo's performance by not understanding that people preferred Waltz.

 

[calibeebee]

No Moonrise Kingdom

man eff the Academy!! this is outrageous!!

 

[duba169]

He wasn't a supporting actor so this should be moot lol. He was the star for 2/3 of the movie

I'm not one to swoon over Leo. His most powerful performances were from Gilbert grape and the basketball diaries and that's more than a decade ago. I thought his performance was underrated in shutter island.

But I thought he stood out in every scene he was in. And it was a harder character to portray than waltz.

Okay he doesn't win, I get it. But not to be nominated? Seems like a smack in the face



And I agree moonrise was underrated as ****. Bruce Willis should have gotten a nod for supporting actor.

 

[thadocta]

what about dark knight rises?

 

[bence23]

I want life of pi to win.. lincoln will probably win though..

 

[suberzat1]

what about dark knight rises?

Was thinking the same on this one to... DKR was top three all time in finishing a trilogy

 

[big j 33]

I see a lot about DiCaprio not having won yet, but Amy Adams is another actress who has been nominated four times without a win.

She lost to Rachel Weisz, Penelope Cruz, and Melissa Leo, and I'd guess there's absolutely no chance she beats Anne Hathaway. I think they've made the right choice with Cruz and Leo, I haven't gotten around to seeing The Constant Gardener which Weisz won for, but Adams was excellent in Junebug.

I guess since they were supporting actress nominations, it goes more unnoticed.

 

[kix4kix]

I admittedly have not seen all, but django unchained was by far my favorite film. I enjoyed Leo's performance I thought was very good, but my dude tommy lee jones ain't missing out on that one, and I feel that Samuel l Jackson got played.

 

[cronicmolemolereturns]

Argo should win best picture and Ang Lee should win for best director.

 

[twosickjays]

All I can say is that the biggest snub of this year's Oscar's is Kathryn Bigelow not being nominated for best director.

 

[mastamind033]

Lincoln will probably win the most awards but other then DDL's performance, I didn't find it that interesting and I will probably never watch it again.

 

[cronicmolemolereturns]

Lincoln will probably win the most awards but other then DDL's performance, I didn't find it that interesting and I will probably never watch it again.

THIS. A film about a president, with DDL as a role and Speilberg directing will probably win unfortunately. Just watched Silver Linings Playbook.. it was really good.

 

[MetalMario]

always love award season

 

[slab_diaz]

silver linings playbook is nominated for an academy? damn shud have watched that the other night instead of gangster squad

 

[venom lyrix]

It's a 3 horse race for Best Picture - Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook and Life of Pi.

Kathryn Bigelow getting snubbed almost eliminates ZDT from Best Picture unless a miracle happens, and it should, because it is by far the best movie of the year.

I'd love to see SLP beat out Lincoln but the chance that happens I unfortunately feel is slim.

Best Actor is going to Day-Lewis, it should go to Phoenix.

Best Actress is going to Chastain or Lawrence and if those two somehow cancel each other out - Riva will win.

Best Supporting is the hardest to pick - 3 horse race - Jones, De Niro and Waltz

Best Supporting Actress is a shoe in - Hathaway

Best Director will probably go to Spielberg unfortunately.

Sorry, but I didn't enjoy Lincoln like many people did. i felt it was far too long and boring and tried way to hard. Pure Oscar bait in the truest form.

 

[venom lyrix]

Joaquin Phoenix better win best actor for the evaluation scene alone.

this man knows

 

[venom lyrix]

I have to be honest, really did not like Life of Pi. Did not think it was good.

what didn't you like?

I was at the World Premiere of the film with Ang Lee and the cast at the NYFF and the film blew me away. Visually, it used 3D as an enhancement and not a gimmick like every other stupid 3D film. The story telling was sublime, Lee's directon was on point. Most of all, Suraj Sharma gave one of the best performances of the year, and one of the greatest debut performances in Hollywood history.

They took a book and a story no one thought could be made into a movie and executed it flawlessly.

 

[venom lyrix]

I'd rather Leo get it for the Wolf on Wallstreet... that sounds like it will be great.

I read the book, the character is outlandish but no way he wins an Oscar for that role. Nor will he win for Gatsby

 

[venom lyrix]

No Moonrise Kingdom

one of my favorites of the year - got a screenplay nomination at least

 

[venom lyrix]

Lead Actress: Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Thank you, unfortunately I knew this was going to happen.

There can't be more than a a few hundred thousand people in the US who saw Smashed, but those that did know how amazing Winstead was. I thought she absolutely deserved an Oscar nomination, but I knew she would be overlooked based on the scope and size of the film.