Oscar and the Grouch Part? Maybe 8 or 9?

Oscar and the Grouch Part? Maybe 8 or 9?


What a great year for film; that is if you enjoy sickness, depression, war, murder, terrorism and all kinds of water disasters. Although I am not counting Russell Crowe as Inspector Javert jumping to his death in the River Seine a disaster so to speak. There are some sure things this year but I also think this could be a real year for upsets and I am not talking about Ben Affleck not getting nominated for Argo because everyone else is so I don’t need to.

So here you go. Laura’s 2012 Oscar predictions.


Best Award Night Dancing: Seth McFarland or Neil Patrick Harris. I don’t know if NPH is going to show up but he probably will and if he does, than obviously he will sing and dance.


Best Award Night Singing: Barbara Streisand. Like that is even a question. Sorry Adele. You will win for Skyfall so you will get your chance to be on stage. Maybe you will also stop being mum on the name of your baby. Honestly, it’s not a big deal. Just tell us.

Best Dressed: Still believe that Naomi Watts will play it really beautiful and simple.

Who will shake the most showing her manicure in E!’s Mani-cam: Jennifer Lawerence.


Best Movie of the Year:

There are nine in this category. Let me start with what should and will win then go from there.

Will win: Argo
Should win: Argo
Runner up for who will win: Lincoln and Silver Linings Playbook
Runner up for who should win: Django Unchained or Silver Linings Playbook


Amour: I don’t know what to say about this. The acting was stupendous by both main actors. It was only filmed in a couple of rooms but I still loved the camera angles. The writing was genuine and raw and even with it being so unbelievably slow and at times, painful not to put your head on your neighbors shoulder for a nap, there were still surprises throughout and questions at the end. It will win for best foreign film so it won’t win in this category.

Argo: Besides nominations for Alan Arkin, best screenplay and editing, which it will not win, it is the front runner in my mind and in many critics’ minds to win best picture of the year and it should be. Filled with suspense, comedy and real-life situations, it definitely had me on the edge of my seat. I know that in real life, things were a bit different and the airport scene didn’t happen like that at all but that doesn’t matter. It kind of happened and that is enough for me. And I always know a movie is good when I need to spend the next day googling everything about it. Will win.


Beasts of the Southern Wild: Let me guess. You have never heard of this movie and you haven’t seen it right? Well I have and it was a great movie filled with “nobody’ actors in Louisiana. It beautifully portrayed the love of a group of people trying to live their life on their own terms in basically the swamps of Louisiana. The movie was great because of the little actress I will call “Q”. This won’t win.


Django Unchained: I loved this movie which is not what I thought would happen. I feel like I have been annoyed with Quentin Tarantino ever since my time at Syracuse when I had to write a paper about Pulp Fiction and I got a D because I suppose I wasn’t artsy enough at the time to understand the “essence” of the film in the eyes of a want- to-be director-turned professor. That being said, this film made me laugh, made me cringe and I really enjoyed all 3 hours of it. Won’t win but I am routing for it for best original screenplay.


Les Miserables: Le Sigh. I definitely think this deserves to be in this category and I sigh only because it doesn’t stand a chance to win against a movie like Argo and Lincoln. Only 9 musicals have won in the 85 years of Oscar history and it looks like this won’t be number 10. I blame Russell Crowe. When in doubt, always blame Russell Crowe. Although Meg Ryan did that very thing and look where that got her.


Life of Pi: I think the special effects and the cinematography were amazing even though I don’t think it needed to be in 3D. Any movie that has a tiger in a starring role is good enough for me. See the movie but definitely also read the book. Will win for visual effects and most likely cinematography if Lincoln doesn’t.


Lincoln: Who doesn’t like Abraham Lincoln besides the south? Even though I fell asleep for about ten minutes at the beginning and I was a bit confused as to what exactly was going on through most of it, I do think it is an amazing film achievement. I also think it’s important to remind us all that if we didn’t have Abraham Lincoln, I do know that the country’s bird would have been changed to a duck and the new capital of the country would have been the entire state of Texas.


Silver Linings Playbook: This is by far, the best movie depiction of mental illness that I have ever seen. I should know. I plan a film festival on films about psychiatric disabilities for god’s sake. Bradley Cooper delivered such a real and raw performance about a man with bipolar. He showed us all how people with it are creative and idealistic and how much a person can suffer to just fit in the world. This film also showed how important it is to find that certain someone who can love you not in spite of it but because of who you are. And that is, in my opinion, the only reason Jennifer Lawrence and Jacki Weaver are nominated. This movie might pull the upset for best picture.


Zero Dark Thirty: Why was this movie made? If you want to see one of the best tellings of this story, you need to watch the episode of the not so well known HBO TV series, The Newsroom. I didn’t see this movie and I most likely won’t.

Movie that got screwed: I can’t really think of a movie I saw that wasn’t rightfully nominated so I’ll say Les Mis again.

Worst movie of the year: The Grey. It technically was 2011 but it deserves to be mentioned here. Magic mike comes in at a close second.


Actor in a Leading Role:

Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook: This one I get. His performance was perfect and I hope that people seeing someone as hot as Cooper playing someone with mental illness will realize that you don’t have to walk around talking to yourself and drool to be considered mentally ill. I mean come on, really we are all a little mental. He won’t win but I think we will see him win in the future.


Daniel Day-Lewis for Lincoln: It will be hard to find anyone else in this category fill his size 15 shoes for his portrayal of the 16th President of the United States. The makeup and costumes were also perfect and you really do have to take a double-take when you look at the poster because if I didn’t know any better I would think it was really him. He really does deserve this award and he will win it.


Hugh Jackman for Les Miserables: I think if it wasn’t for Daniel Day-Lewis he would win for this. He was brilliant in this role. I knew that Jackman could sing but I have never seen him play such a powerful character. And the singing was live. I can’t stress this enough. He won’t win.


Joaquin Phoenix for The Master: This was such an incredibly bad movie even though the acting was great. I am a huge Phoenix fan and I truly believe he is one of the greatest actors of my generation. I think one day we will actually see him in a role where he doesn’t play an alcoholic or a drug addict and I am looking forward to that.


Denzel Washington for Flight: Great movie and great acting. He deserves to be in this category but he won’t win. Although the end of the movie when he is in court and admits to drinking because he is an alcoholic made my jaw drop and the runts in it to fall on the floor.

Most Screwed: John Hawkes for The Sessions and Jean-Louis Trintignant for Amour.

Who will win: Daniel Day-Lewis
Who should win: Daniel Day-Lewis

Actress in a Leading Role:

Jessica Chastain for Zero Dark Thirty: If you can win an Oscar for looking incredibly hot in Ray-Ban Aviators, Chastain should definitely win in this category. Heck, I should even win in this category. Like I said before, I haven’t seen this movie and I probably won’t until it comes out on DVD and I can’t find anything else to watch and I am really bored and that is the only movie left in the Redbox at Shaws. That being said, I really do love Jessica Chastain for no other reason that what she did in the movie “The Help”, which she should have won supporting actress and didn’t. Will she win? This is a tough one. I am going to say yes.


Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Lining Playbook: Am I missing something here? I mean she was great and the movie was great but I can’t really remember leaving the theater and saying “Wow, she deserves an Oscar for that role”. It was funny and heartwarming and not everyone can pull off white leggings, but Oscar worthy it was not. I can actually see her winning more for the Hunger Games than for this. She is the front runner in most reviewers list. And she is definitely the front runner for me for the future.


Emmanuelle Riva for Amour: This. Was. The. Most. Depressing. Movie. I. Have. Ever. Seen. That being sad, she did a fantastic job in this role. It was heartbreaking and for anyone who has ever watched a loved one suffer from dementia or Alzheimer’s (which thank god I have not), I can only imagine this is what it would be like. Will she win? No. But she is definitely in my top 3.


Quvenzhane Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild: You have never heard of her but hopefully you will in the future. She was delightful in this movie. The scene where she is helping her father as he is dying and the love she has for him even with his abuse was heartbreaking. She is the youngest ever nominated and that is an achievement all on its own. I am also just really looking forward to last year’s winner for Best Actor Jean Dujardin try to pronounce her name.


Naomi Watts in The Impossible: I sadly have not yet seen this movie but I am betting that when I do, I will say that she should win. I can’t really speak any more about it but I hope she pulls the upset. I don’t think she will though.

Most screwed: Only because reviewers are also saying this but I haven’t seen it yet is Marion Cotillard for Rust and Bone.

Who will win: Jessica Chastain
Who should win: Naomi Watts


Actor in a Supporting Role:


Alan Arkin for Argo: I remember saying after Argo that he would win an Oscar for this role. It reminded me so much of what he did in Little Miss Sunshine for which he won an Oscar. He was hilarious in delivering his lines and was such a hero of the movie. He won’t win.


Robert DeNiro for Silver Linings Playbook: I can definitely see him winning this year, if not just because the movie has all four leading characters nominated and somebody has to win. I wouldn’t be upset. For anyone who has OCD, or even just a little bit of OCD (and let’s face it who doesn’t), you can definitely understand his character. It makes you uncomfortable and upset. It seems like he worries so much more about keeping things in order than he does for his family but that is not true at all. I say he is runner-up.


Philip Seymour Hoffman: Again, just like with Joaquin, this was an awful movie. However, he was fantastic in his role (as usual). He did his fair share of sweating and mumbling like he does in every movie he is in but he commanded the screen and just completely pissed us all off. All of us besides the thousands of people in middle America who actually believe this religious shit. And John Travolta.


Tommy Lee Jones for Lincoln: Hmmmmm. He really was great in this role and he is the front-runner. So is his wig. I say he shouldn’t win only because he ALWAYS has a scowl on his face no matter what role he plays. Think about it; The Fugitive all the way to Hope Springs. I can honestly say that I still have no idea what he said in Lincoln and I couldn’t tell if he was a “good” guy or “bad” guy for the entire movie until the end when I realized he was on “our” side or should I say “the side where people don’t believe in hanging trees.” He might win but I am still going with Waltz.


Christoph Waltz for Django Unchained: I love him in this movie. He won for Inglorious Bastards as such, well I am going to say it, a bastard. I really want him to win for this again. He played the good guy. I was cracking up at every one of his scenes and I couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say next. I think he will win. I hope so.


Most Screwed: I’ll say Leonardo DiCaprio just because I love him so much. However, I will say that an award should go out to John Goodman for being the most over-used side-kick in movies this year. Let’s count them, Trouble with the Curb, Argo, Flight and even The Artist last year. Also, the soon to be Hangover 3. Yes, you heard me right. I don’t drink. This might lead me to it.

Who will win: Christoph Waltz
Who should win: Christoph Waltz or Alan Arkin


Best Supporting Actress AKA this year as Best Naked or Semi Naked Woman in a Supporting Role:


Amy Adams for the Master: Her again???? I understand Joaquin and Hoffman, but not so much her. I am getting sick of her. I’d like to see her in some sort of action movie.

Naked Scene: Naked pregnant and singing.


Sally Field for Lincoln: Don’t get it. If we are talking about roles of woman suffering from PTSD and depression, then Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway and Naomi Watts I get. But, Sally Field not so much. Don’t get me wrong, she was fine and played the role to the best that was written for her.

Naked Scene: She wasn’t. Thank god.


Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables: Yes, she will win. Yes, she deserves to win. I’ve seen the movie twice and this is still my favorite scene both times. And when she reappeared at the end, I lost it and could not hold in the tears anymore. For those of you who are going to say “but she was only in the movie for 28 minutes” let us not forget the year Judi Dench (see below) won for only being in the movie for 8 minutes. And let’s all agree that who doesn’t sing “I’ve Dreamed a Dream” every now and again especially when I work in particular the line “I had a dream my life would be so different from this hell I’m living.” Hathaway sang this song live in one take. Done. She should win. Jennifer Hudson won for her one song. Please though, I hope after she wins, she doesn’t sell herself and go make money in Weight Watchers commercials.

Naked Scene: not exactly naked but in the rape scene her emotions were raw and naked so that counts.


Helen Hunt for The Sessions: Love her and love her in this. I definitely chose her as my second pick for winning. The scene in the car when you finally realize how important her relationship was with Mark and she had to say goodbye with tears was fantastic. If it wasn’t for Hathaway, she could have won.

Naked Scene: Basically the whole movie and good for her.


Jacki Weaver for Silver Linings Playbook: I can imagine that living with a father and a son with mental illness you would have to be a little screwy yourself to deal with it and she was definitely that in this movie. She seemed kind of quiet and reserved but when it was necessary really spoke up to herself with her husband. Yeah, she was good. No she shouldn’t win.

Naked Scene: She wasn’t naked but was in pajamas in bed. Guess that counts.

Most Screwed: Cannot believe I am going to say this but Judi Dench in Skyfall. I know I give her a lot of crap for always being nominated and stuff but finally we got to see a more personal side to this woman. And we got to see her die.

Who will win: Anne Hathaway
Who should win: Anne Hathaway

And there you go. My predictions for Sunday February 24th on ABC! Enjoy the show everyone!