2013 Oscar Predictions: Was I Right?

The 85th Academy Awards ceremony had enough surprises to throw off my predictions but mainly panned out as expected. I'll see how those predictions went below, but first I thought I'd run through some thoughts on the other awards.

Despite enjoying the film, I was a little surprised to see "Brave" take the best animated feature. As one of Pixar's relatively weaker efforts, I thought it might open the door for "Wreck it Ralph" or "ParaNorman" but Pixar held strong. They also took the award for animated short with "Paperman", which I feel was a very worthy winner for it's combination of traditional 2D and 3D techniques. 

It was great to see "Amour" take the best foreign language prize as it was one of my favourites from last year, although it's a shame this success was not followed with an award for its lead actress Emmanuele Riva.

Roger Deakins' lack of award recognition was also a shame. A great cinematographer responsible for "No Country for Old Men" and "The Shawshank Redemption" amongst many other beautiful looking movies, he has now been nominated ten times without winning. His work on "Skyfall" lost out to Claudio Miranda's "Life of Pi", which was worthy winner none the less. 

Now on to the results of my predictions for the major awards -

Best Picture

Which Nominee Will Win: Argo (Correct)

Which Nominee Should Win: Zero Dark Thirty

What Should Have Won: The Master

As expected Argo took the prize. As I said in my predictions, I'm not sure time will be as kind to it as the Academy, but still a very good film. Congratulations Mr Affleck, and great beard.

Best Director

Which Nominee Will Win: Steven Spielberg (Lincoln) (Wrong)

Which Nominee Should Win: Ang Lee (The Life of Pi) (Correct, kind of)

Who Should Have Won: Joss Whedon (The Avengers)

Unexpectedly the Academy agreed with me and overlooked Steven Spielberg to go with Ang Lee as best director. He's been rewarded to successfully adapting a challenging novel, so I feel he's a very worthy winner.

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Which Nominee Will Win: Daniel Day Lewis (Lincoln) (Correct)
Which Nominee Should Win: Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)
Who Should Have Won: Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)
Daniel Day Lewis took best actor for the third time and deserved the accolade for his complete immersion in the role of Abraham Lincoln. Still, I think Phoenix would have won in any year that he wasn't up against Daniel Day Lewis.

Best Actress in a Leading Role

Which Nominee Will Win: Emmanuele Riva (Amour) (Wrong, it was Jennifer Lawrence)
Which Nominee Should Win:Emmanuele Riva (Amour)

Who Should Have Won: Emmanuele Riva (Amour) I completely misjudged this one, over estimating Hollywood's interest in foreign language films. The ceremony even took place on her 86th birthday, but Emmanuele Riva lost out to the youngest challenger for best actress, Jennifer Lawrence, who is sixty four years younger at just twenty two.  I have to admit "Silver Linings Playbook" was the only major Oscar challenger that I hadn't seen, so it's not surprising I didn't call this one.

Best Actor In a Supporting Role

Which Nominee Will Win: Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln) (Wrong, it was Christoph Waltz)

Which Nominee Should Win: Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

Who Should Have Won: Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

I was way off again here, with the prize going to Christoph Waltz in "Django Unchained". Waltz was excellent and a worthy winner, although I feel it was a less impressive performance than Seymour Hoffman's.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Which Nominee Will Win: Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables) (Correct)

Which Nominee Should Win: Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

Who Should Have Won: Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables)

As expected Hathaway took the best supporting Oscar, which I feel she deserved.

Correct Prediction: 3 out of 6 (Four, if I let myself count Ang Li)

Not too shabby, but room for improvement...