The always infallible, J-Law
As for my predictions, I proved to be correct in all my big category picks. I was especially proud of my Ang Lee pick because a lot of people thought that came out of left field. Ang Lee is truly an incredible director and his ability to bring Life of Pi to the big screen was truly deserving of Best Director. Daniel Day-Lewis, becoming the first actor to ever win three Best Actor awards, was as a sure pick, and I was very very happy that Jennifer Lawrence managed to win as well. She is truly a deserving talent, although Adams and Riva were also apt choices. It really is astounding that someone my age has been nominated twice and is one of the most successful and talented actresses in her generation. I don’t think I could be anymore in love with J-Law. My last big prediction (that I posted here) was Argo taking it all. The backlash for Affleck being snubbed, in my opinion, helped propel Argo back to the forefront of voters’ minds after Silver Linings Playbook, Les Miserables, Zero Dark Thirty, and Lincoln all flirted with the media in the fall as being the “frontrunner”. It was nice to see Affleck get flustered as it proves he is still new to this game, albeit extremely talented.
I made a number of other predictions I chose to leave out of my previous post and I wanted to get a bit more into detail about some of them, especially with some of the controversies and close races.
Best Cinematography & Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi
On the live streams, live-blogs, and forums that I frequent, these categories seemed to be a big point of contention. No one could argue with the visual effects wonder that was Life of Pi. The very essence of the film is the questions of whether what we see is real or not, and boy did it deliver. The stunning CGI brought a tiger among other animals to life, and managed to create sweeping set piece that was nothing more than a wooden boat in a water tank. The others in this category had great visuals as well (among my favorite, Avengers and Prometheus), but it was a cake walk. The more controversial win for Life of Pi was the Best Cinematography category. For anyone that has an inkling of what cinematography is knows that Roger Deakins, Director of Photography for Skyfall, is a legend in the field and his Oscar nominations have piled on over the years. Many thought this year’s Bond flick, so beautifully shot and composed, would be a sure victory for Deakins finally… that is until Life of Pi was released. Where the controversy derived from is the extensive use of digital effects in Life of Pi and whether that use actually merits an award for cinematography, a category so enriched in the use of traditional filmmaking and camerawork. I would argue that, although Skyfall was truly beautiful in lighting and color grading, it lacked in some other features of cinematography like focus, shot depth (of field), lens choice, camera movement, framing, shot selection, use of off screen space, among others. Life of Pi not only had excellent color and light, but the camera work was so beautifully fluid and the shot selection was exquisite. There is a number of scenes as well where the use of focus is engaging and great. In addition, Life of Pi is a treat for its 3D cinematography, work I haven’t seen so great since Avatar. In my honest opinion, although I loved Skyfall, I think Life of Pi deserved the win.
An brilliant example of Life of Pi’s cinematography by Oscar winner Claudio Miranda
Best Animated Feature Film: Brave
This one I’m not too sure I can defend properly. Whether it was Cars 2 that started the snowball, it’s obvious that Pixar has not been up to the ludicrously high par that they set for themselves over the years. The animated visuals are still top notch, but the stories haven’t evoked the sort of emotions that UP or Wall-E did and lack the originality that these films did as well. There were a number of great films in the field this year. Wreck it Ralph was definitely a fan favorite (although a bit overrated in my opinion) and Paranorman was a pleasant surprise, so I had little idea as to who would win. I quietly guessed at Brave only because Pixar almost always strikes gold come February, and I was right, but I can’t really say that it was the clear favorite. Regardless, animated films have become increasingly sophisticated for children’s movies and we should be thankful for that much.
Just two away from the fabled ‘EGOT’, Academy Award winner Adele
Aside from those two categories, everything else was well scattered. Lincoln, aside from DDL’s big win, won production design, which was fitting, if not a little unexpected. There was the first tie in some 30 years for sound editing (shared between Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty). My highlight of the night was definitely Adele singing the Skyfall theme (which she would go on to win for). Adele is nothing short of a force of nature and the music industry is very very blessed to have her (although it seems they may now have to share her with the film industry). Michelle Obama made a very unexpected cameo near the end of the ceremony to introduce Best Picture which was a pleasant surprise. Overall however, I thought the ceremony was one of the better ones in recent memory and even Seth MacFarlane, who has become infamous for his cutaway gags in Family Guy and American Dad, did a great job and had me laughing most of the time (aside from the few cringeworthy jokes.. check the headlines if you don’t know what I’m talking about). I enjoyed the ceremony very much and can’t wait to see what movies 2013 brings us.
The Cinescape 