Oscar Class of 2013

Yesterday the Academy honored Oscar nominees with traditional awards Luncheon and here, for fun, the full class photo plus more.

Part 2 - 2013 Oscar Nominations- A Late Analysis plus My Awards

Let's continue with other categories. If you wish to read part 1 please go here.

Actress in a Supporting Role

As in this category there is a new movie let me talk about The Sessions by Ben Lewin. It is a good movie with a nice entertaining human story that could touch you beyond what you could image thanks to outstanding performances by leading actors Helen Hunt and John Hawkes. Hawkes will get his nod if he continues to work in good movies, unfortunately this year he did not and he truly deserved one in the Best Actor category. Helen Hunt is nominated as a Supporting actress, but she the leading female character and she is as good as always. If you have not seen this indie I strongly suggest you watch it as you will enjoy it.

No doubt that Helen Hunt deserves another Oscar but will not be with this movie as the category has as favorite one actress that delivered a short but remarkable performance. I say short as truly what's really impressive is when Anne Hathaway sings one song in Les Misérables, I Dreamed a Dream; the rest of her screen time is not remarkable. Another actress that has possibilities is Sally Field as she not only has more time in the screen than Hathaway but the way she deliver very smart lines is just fantastic. Lincoln has several great performances by great actors and Sally Field is one of them. If there was a race in this category definitively had to be between Hathaway and Field.

Not easy to understand why Jacki Weaver got a nomination for this role. Please understand that I do believe she is a very good actress but her little inconsequential screen time in Silver Linings Playbook is not really noticeable, especially when Robert De Niro, Jennifer Lawrence and/or Bradley Cooper are in the same scene, which is always. Much the same happens with Amy Adams as she has most scenes with outstanding Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, but she has a few close ups that clearly show how a great actress she is. I believe her 4th Oscar nomination thanks to The Master is very well-deserved.

When I compare in my head all the nominees definitely the one that has enough time to show how good she can be is Helen Hunt. The other four are eclipsed by performances by other more lead actors/actresses, so is not easy to select one that shines above the others, except for Hunt. Still, Hathaway can shine in the few minutes of screen time while singing one song.

... and My Award goes to Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables. Short in time but will stay with you, besides she was the one that sung the most memorable song in the Broadway musical and film plus she did it while giving a great performance. Even if words had not come out of her mouth, you could tell what her character was feeling.

Actor in a Supporting Role

I was really impressed by Robert De Niro performance as he made me believe his character, especially when considering that lately his performances in comedies look like caricatures and not "real-exaggerated" people. Alan Arkin was invisible for me as in my opinion John Goodman's performance/character was more remarkable and most scenes had them both together in the screen. The other three had extraordinary performances but only Tommy Lee Jones had a supporting role as Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christoph Waltz roles were leading and not supporting plus both had many extraordinary scenes where we are able to see how good they are.

So if I have to be strict, De Niro and Jones should be racing for this award as both had true supporting roles; choosing between Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christoph Waltz is not easy for me, but thinking about the type of movie they are in have to chose Hoffman. This brings me to think that the race probably will be between De Niro, Jones and Hoffman; any can win.

... and My Award goes to Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master. I know his role is not supporting but he is truly mesmerizing and the many scenes with Joaquin Phoenix are glorious exchange of words, body language and eye contact.

Original Screenplay

This is the hardest category where I have to "forget" about Amour as NO matter what I try to find in the other scripts, the best of all five nominees is Amour by far and I'm being very objective.

Zero Dark Thirty is my best American movie from 2012 but can't say that the movie screenplay is what made this movie so great as believe script had much to do with all the controversies and to me this means weakness, not greatness. Quentin Tarantino is fantastic writing scripts but Django Unchained according to me is not one of his best. Flight has a good story but is Denzel performance plus the visual effects what makes movie good. The story in Moonrise Kingdom is good dark funny and no doubt that was a main ingredient in making movie good to watch. If have to chose from only the four, without Amour, then Moonrise Kingdom is the best; but reality tells me that Amour is the best Original Screenplay and if one award Amour really deserves is this one and maybe will get it.

... and My Award goes to Michael Haneke for Amour. No other nominated screenplay has the strength of this story and storytelling, one that moves viewers emotions in very intense and opposite ways.

Adapted Screenplay

I have read only two original documents that were adapted for the screen, Argo and Life of Pi. In Argo found article a lot more interesting than film, so believe script could have had many improvements. Found Life of Pi book similar to movie, as a matter of fact was the movie, amazing.

Considering only film story and storytelling Silver Linings Playbook and Lincoln are both good and definitively I didn't like anything related to story/storytelling in Beasts of the Southern Wild. If Silver Linings Playbook could win an Oscar this will be one of the easiest and perhaps well-deserved, but the two that I believe are in the race are Lincoln and Life of Pi.

... and My Award goes to David Magee for Life of Pi. Great adaptation of a complex novel that leaves viewers to believe whatever they want and of course, what they chose to believe is a reflection of themselves.

Cinematography

Let's go to the point, the best cinematography of all nominated is in Life of Pi even when most compositions are visual effects. Anna Karerina was unwatchable for me and cinematography did not help me to imagine the "real thing" as all I was seeing was what they were showing.

Skyfall has good cinematography but nothing special for this type of film that requires good cinematography. Besides Life of Pi, Lincoln is the movie with great cinematography, great compositions and some good visuals; the race could be between these two movies.

... and My Award goes to Janusz Kamiski for Lincoln. Even if Life of Pi cinematography is good, due to the many special effects and because I'm still kind of old school , Kamiski prevails among all nominees with his chiarooscuro's, some very good use of light and darkness.

Film Editing

The race has to be between Argo and Zero Dark Thirty as editing absolutely was a key element in making the final product; but all five nominees without good editing would have been a mess, as each story has weaknesses that editing diminished quite good. So this is not an easy category and wont bore you with tech analysis, so let's say than in the first sentence I mentioned my best guess.

... and My Award goes to Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg for Zero Dark Thirty. Editing was key with this film and just imagine the huge amount of footage they had to work with to help create such a fantastic tense movie. The end product is remarkable.

Visual Effects

Do not want to get into trouble here but in my opinion the best visuals effects of all nominees are in Life of Pi that has created something new in this tech spec, something that will help storytelling beyond imagination and it is far away to the kind of common visual effects we usually see in movies like The Hobbit, The Avengers, Prometheus and Snow White and the Huntsman. To me this change is not like what Avatar did, is like what the first The Matrix did to change visual effects forever. Perhaps some of you recall what The Matrix did to change everything, that was nominated in four tech Oscar categories and that won all four.

... and My Award goes to Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott for Life of Pi. After this movie there are so many new possibilities for visual effects, especially in more serious less-blockbuster films.

So, will skip the rest of the categories and end post here as next will publish my predictions maybe for all categories. You already know what I think about the five nominees in the Foreign Language category as each has a post and there is no need to say that Amour HAS to win this category and if it doesn't will be a major upset, controversy and as I say every year: my Oscar credibility will go down the drain just as happened when Mungiu's first opus was not nominated.

Cheers!!!

2013 Richard Attenborough UK Regional Film Awards Winners

Today the UK Regional Critics' announced the winners for the current RAFA's edition after the voting that run from January 14 to 25. Winners are decided solely by the votes of arts/entertainment journalists, staff and freelance, editors, critics and bloggers in all forms of regional and local media around the UK.

Feature-length films of any genre and from any country of origin were eligible for consideration provided they had a UK theatrical release between 10 February 2012 and 8 February 2013.

The UK regional critics’ award winners in all categories are as follows:

Film of the Year: Argo
Director of the Year: San Mendes for Skyfall
Screenwriters of the Year: Amy Jump, Alice Lowe and Steve Oram for Sightseers
Rising Star: Ben Whishaw in Skyfall

British Performance of the Year -voted by the public-: Robert Pattinson in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2

Is the first major UK award in the local season that surprisingly went for an American film as usually UK films are honored with this famous distinction.

2013 Jussi Awards Winners

Last night was the award ceremony and Antti Jokinen's Purge ranked first by winning five awards; but top award went to Almost 18 by Maarit Lalli who got three awards in total. Winners are in *BLUE. To check winners in all categories go official site.

1/29/13
In the mood to watch Finish Cinema? If yes here are some suggestions from the best of 2012 that are honored by one of the oldest awards in Europe as the first Jussi Awards were given in 1944.

Purge and Naked Harbour got the most nominations 8 each, followed by Almost 18 with 6; so there you have three films that probably we can enjoy watching.

Awards ceremony will be on Sunday, February 3 and will be broadcasted live by Cable Factory MTV3.

Best Film
*Kohta 18 (Almost 18), Maarit Lalli
Miss Karkuu-Suomi, Matti Kinnunen
Niko 2: Lentäjäveljekset (Little Brother, Big Trouble: A Christmas Adventure), Kari Juusonen and Jørgen Lerdam (Animation)
Puhdistus (Purge), Antti Jokinen
Vuosaari (Naked Harbour), Aku Louhimies

Best Director
Antti Jokinen for Puhdistus (Purge)
*Maarit Lalli for Kohta 18 (Almost 18)
Aku Louhimies for Vuosaari (Naked Harbour)

Best Leading Actress
*Laura Birn in Puhdistus (Purge)
Pamela Tola in Härmä (Once Upon a Time in the North)
Pamela Tola in Kaksi tarinaa rakkaudesta (Must Have Been Love)

Best Leading Actor
Samuli Edelmann in Tie pohjoiseen (Road North)
Vesa-Matti Loiri in Tie pohjoiseen (Road North)
*Eero Ritala in Kulman pojat (Fanatics)

To learn nominations in other film categories go here, available only in Finish.

5th Gaudí Awards Winners

Thanks to social media today learned about these awards given by the Catalan Movie Academy (Acadèmia de Cinema Català) which last night had they awards ceremony. Juan Antonio Bayona's The Impossible became the top winner with 6 awards followed by Pablo Berger's Blancanieves and with 4 Cesc Gay's Una Pistola en cada mano.

News today speculate that these awards could be similar to what will happen in the upcoming Goya Awards, but I hope that the local huge box office success of The Impossible does not influence the Goya Awards as in my opinion what news call "Hollywood Made-in-Spain" is not superior to many other great made in Spain movies. The Impossible is not a bad movie but I cannot say it is superior to Le Havre or Dans La Maison, movies that were also nominated in the Best European Film category.

Will list the nominees and winner in top categories, but if you wish to check all categories go to the Academy official site.  Winners are in *BLUE.

Best Picture in Catalan Language
*Blancaneu (Blancanieves), Pablo Berger
El Bosc, Oscar Aibar
Els Nens Salvatges, Patricia Ferreira
Fènix 11•23, Joel Joan and Sergi Lara

Best Picture Not in Catalan Language
[REC]³ Génesis, Paco Plaza
Red Lights, Rodrigo Cortés
The Pelayos (Winning Streak), Eduard Cortés
*Una Pistola en cada mano, Cesc Gay

Best Animated Film
Cuccioli e il codice di Marco Polo, Francesco Manfio, Sergio Manfio
*Las Aventuras de Tadeo Jones (Tad, the Lost Explorer), Enrique Gato
Papá, soy una zombi, Joan Espinach and Ricardo Ramón

Best European Film
Dans La Maison (In the House), François Ozon
Le Havre, Aki Kaurismäk
Intouchables, Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano
*Lo Imposible (The Impossible), Juan Antonio Bayona

Best Director
*Juan Antonio Bayona for The Impossible
Pablo Berger for Blancaneu
Cesc Gay for Una Pistola en Cada Mano
Joel Joan and Sergi Lara for Fènix 11•23

Best Actress
*Marina Comas in El Nens Salvatges
Angela Molina in Blancaneu
Maria Molins in El Bosc
Maribel Verdú in Blancaneu

Best Actor
*Alex Brendemühl in El Bosc
Nil Cardoner in Fènix 11•23
Alex Casanovas in Fènix 11•23
Alex Monner in El Nens Salvages

Best Screenplay
*Tomàs Aragay and Cesc Gay for Una Pistola en Cada Mano
Pablo Berger for Blancaneu
Patricia Ferreira and Virginia Yagüe for Els Nens Salvatges
Albert Sánchez Piñol for El Bosc

Believe is interesting to learn a vision from the Catalan film industry regarding their own industry, Spain's cinema as well as European cinema that's screened in Cataluña.

2013 Austrian Film Awards Winners

With the absence of Amour it is not a surprise that Ulrich Seidl's Paradise: Love raised with most top awards as is a good movie, perhaps the best of Seidl's work up to date. Winners are in *BLUE.

1/4/13
Yesterday the Academy of Austrian Film announced their nominations for the current edition and most surprising is the absence of the film that is Austria's submission to Oscar, Amour. As the movie absence is top news let me share the reason why from reliable news sources.

Michael Haneke decided not to enter his French-language drama "after being told it would not be eligible for several top categories". Because is in French and does not meet other criteria (including an Austrian certificate of origin, delegate producer and evidence of "significant Austrian cultural influence") it would only have been considered for "directing, screenplay and editing prizes by AFA". Surprisingly, Haneke's decision is not being described as the result of a fit of pique: instead, the filmmaker has been praised for allowing other local movies a better chance of recognition and is being considered as "a very noble gesture" by his filmmaking peers. So, everyone is happy with the decision; but its undeniable that this situation seems to add more fire to those that question why Amour is Austria and not France's submission to Oscar.

Nevertheless the absence of Amour allowed Florian Fliker's Grenzgänger (Crossing Boundaries) to pick the most nominations -seven- and Ulrich Seidl's Paradies: Liebe follows with six nods. The AFA ceremony will take place in the ceremonial hall of Vienna's Rathaus on January 23.

These are the nominations.

Best Film
Grenzgänger (Crossing Boundaries), Florian Flicker
*Paradies: Liebe (Paradise: Love), Ulrich Seidl
Die Wand (The Wall), Julian Roman Pölsler

Best Director
Florian Flicker for Grenzgänger (Crossing Boundaries)
Julian Roman Pölsler for Die Wand (The Wall)
*Ulrich Seidl for Paradies: Liebe (Paradise: Love)

Best Actress
Martina Gedeck in Die Wand (The Wall)
Chirstine Ostermayer in Anfang 80
*Margerethe Tiesel in Paradies: Liebe (Paradise: Love)

Best Actor
Lars Eidinger for Tabu – Es st die Seele ein Fremdes auf Erden
Andreas Lust for Grenzgänger (Crossing Boundaries)
*Karl Merkatz for Anfang 80

Best Screenplay
*Florian Flicker for Grenzgänger (Crossing Boundaries)
Julian Roman Pölsler for Die Wand (The Wall)
Ulrich Seidl and Veronika Franz for Paradies: Liebe (Paradise: Love)

Best Cinematography
*Martin Gschlacht for Grenzgänger (Crossing Boundaries)
Wolfgang Thaler and Ed Lachman for Paradies: Liebe (Paradise: Love)
Carsten Thiele for Kuma

Best Costume Design
Cinzia Cioffi for Kuma
Birgit Hutter for Tabu – Es st die Seele ein Fremdes auf Erden
*Thomas Olàh for Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World)

Best Makeup
Fabienne Adam and Brigitte Dettling for Tabu – Es st die Seele ein Fremdes auf Erden
*Monika Fischer-Vorauer and Michaela Oppl for Die Vermessung der Welt (Measuring the World)
Martha Ruess for Kuma

Best Music
Lorenz Dangel for Die Lebenden
*Eva Jantschitsch for Grenzgänger (Crossing Boundaries)
Judit Varga for Das Pferd auf dem Balkon

Best Editing
Karina Ressler for Grenzgänger (Crossing Boundaries)
Karina Ressler for Oh Yeah, She Performs!
*Monika Willi for Die Lebenden

Best Art Direction
Andreas Donhauser and Renate Martin for Paradies: Liebe (Paradise: Love)
*Katrin Huber for Kuma
Renate Schmaderer, Enid Löser, Petra Heim and Hajo Schwarz for Die Wand (The Wall)

Best Sound Design
Heinz K. Ebner, Philipp Mosser and Berhard Maisch for Das Pferd auf dem Balkon
*Nils Kirchhoff, Bernhard Maisch and Dieter Meyer for More than Honey
Dietmar Zuson and Tobias Fleig for Die Lebenden

Best Documentary
Evolution der Gewalt (Evolution of Violence), Fritz Ofner
Low Definition Control (Malfunctions #0), Michael Palm
*Der Prozess (The Trial), Gerald Igor Hauzenberger

Best Short Film
Hatch, Christoph Kurschnig
*Unser Lied, Catalina Molina
366 Tage, Johannes Schiehsl

To read info and watch trailers for each film use links at AFA's official site.

Part 1 - 2013 Oscar Nominations - A Late Analysis plus My Awards

Been writing this post since the date the nods were announced but was traveling and became impossible to finish it, until today. But as always happens, what wrote before today was dramatically changed as now have more information to include in the analysis, which I believe is good.

We tend to forget that when playing the Oscar game we have to be objective -meaning: do not center on what you like and/or according to you deserves to win. I will try to be objective in the analysis but will also include my very subjective part as will share with you what I think of each movie plus MY Awards.

To be really objective I have to "forget" that Amour is nominated in more categories than Foreign Language as you know how strongly I feel for this movie and Michael Haneke. My biggest wish is film to transcend the "niche" into the top awards and exactly that is what will keep me watching the Oscar show on February 24th. With so many strange things happening this year, Amour winning all categories where is nominated will be the BEST strangest thing that could happen and IF happens already have a champagne bottle ready to celebrate!

So, this is a a brief review/analysis of every other movie, mostly American productions.

Let's start with the 8 other films nominated in the Best Film Category.

Argo
It is a good mainstream entertaining film, similar but not better than other films Ben Affleck directed. Film story is interesting but not memorable; still motivated me to read the full article that inspired the movie and found it outstandingly good, a lot better than the movie. Believe all honors film/director is collecting in America celebrate more his body of work than this film specifically as was time Affleck was recognized as a good American director, a lot better than what he is when performing as an actor.

After last night Directors Guild award today's news proliferate with many forecasting that Argo could win Best Picture, and IF wins seems will be the third film to win without the director being nominated.

Beasts of the Southern Wild
To understand why I hated movie please read movie post. Was not surprised got a nod as in early awards season film was a favorite but when critics awards came went into deep silence only to wake up with SAG nominations. Trying to be objective, actors performances, director and tech specs are not that bad (hated the story and "raw reality") so festivals and industry had to honor movie as they have done.

Django Unchained
Liked movie a lot more than what I expected, laughed hard at many moments and even spontaneously clapped with Franco Nero scene dialogue! (I was a huge Franco Nero fan for all his Spaghetti Westerns, including the original Django). But is a "heavy" movie that shows what now is considered in America as "not politically correct"; still, is nothing new if you are familiar with America's history. What many forget is that this is a Quentin Tarantino film and is as "irreverent" as all his movies; most surprising found film to be less graphically violent than previous films, so maybe due to story he contained himself with his usual very graphic violence. Suggest you watch movie no matter what you heard about story and IF you like Tarantino films. Good was nominated but believe is not Oscar winner material.

Les Misérables
As suspected I was not going to enjoy much this movie as don't really enjoy only song lyrics conducting the narrative. Have seen the Broadway musical and highly enjoyed the great singing; that is exactly what film lacks: great singing. Anne Hathaway and Hugh Jackman sing very acceptable and perhaps shine more because their face and body performance while singing; Russell Crowe is really bad singing, as well as other secondary roles, while some not-known secondary actors and all extras are remarkably good singers. For me film is no Oscar material, but due to the Broadway musical high success, film's epic storytelling style and one remarkable performance, I'm not surprised got some nominations and will get some Oscar love.

Life of Pi
Highly impressed with film and story; so much that read book while traveling. Outstanding visual effects that highly deserve many honors. Ang Lee was REALLY able to make the "impossible to film" story into a very entertaining, visually awesome and epic film. Talk about spending time in the vast sea, here 227 days feel so light while in Kon Tiki half feels tiresome. Strongly suggest you watch if you have not yet and preferably in real 3D to appreciate more the visual effects. Avatar was full of outstanding tech specs plus visual effects and could NOT win Best Picture (got 3 tech Oscars), so imagine that Life of Pi will run with similar luck among Oscar voters.

Lincoln
Great performances in this movie that surprisingly kept my interest and full attention during the 150 minutes. Know that many find it "boring" perhaps because is a "talkie" and a history lesson; but while knew much about that specific American history moment, I was impressed to be reminded that Lincoln was a Republican! Gosh, things have really changed for this political party. It is a good epic movie, perhaps the best not-so-mainstream movie that Steven Spielberg has ever done. Still believe that is a strong Best Picture contender plus race is between this movie and Argo.

Silver Linings Playbook
Enjoyed movie a lot more than I ever imagined as is an entertaining romantic comedy (not drama or dramedy but a romcom) that shines with great performances. Believe film could become a classic romcom as find movie style very similar to classic romcoms like When Harry Met Sally (1 Oscar nod) and Moonstruck (3 Oscars), so believe could get some Oscar love, but will not be Best Picture unless voters softened to give award to a romantic comedy.

Zero Dark Thirty
Amazing movie that kept me in full tension while watching, just as it happens when I watch TV show Homeland. The comparison is on absolute purpose as not only both are fiction/inspired on reality, but while the second is highly praised, ZD30 became the object of negative media buzz even when both deal with similar stories, which I find extremely unfair and subjective. Film is about the ride and not the known destination, but most of all is the story of a woman's tenacity and successful prevail in a man's world and is this story I find simply outstanding. But Kathryn Bigelow's storytelling style is what makes the ride incredibly tense. It's a great movie telling a hard-to-watch story with extraordinary Oscar worthy performance by Jessica Chastain that with deadpan face,  mostly expressionless body and very tiny eyes-expressions tell more than what words could say. Fantastic performance by Chastain, very similar to what in European cinema is common and highly celebrated.

... and My Award goes to Zero Dark Thirty. I know all the negative publicity has diminished its Oscar chances BUT for me, is the BEST of the 8 nominated films and yes, I'm excluding Amour. As a matter of fact is the BEST American movie I saw during 2012 and one that will stay in my mind for a long time, as an excellent example of what great American filmmakers can do. Wish they could do it more often.

Directing

It is hard to consider that the best American movie I saw during 2012 did not translate into an Oscar nomination for Kathryn Bigelow; her snub is one that makes no sense especially when you consider that she had the most critics' wins. Movie went into wide release in January 11 and as of Feb 1st Box Office Mojo has an estimate of US$ 74.1 million domestic (US$7.7 million foreign), so believe that is Kathryn Bigelow's best revenge for her snub, lots of viewers have and will see her great work.

As Kathryn Bigelow already has a "milestone" Oscar, no surprise that the other snubbed director, Ben Affleck, is collecting most season awards. Affleck came close second in the critics' tally wins and film/director has been collecting major Guild awards. His movie has collected more than US$100 million in the 115 days that has had wide release but movie nomination while giving him a bump did NOT made it rank 1st with Best Picture Nomination effect as that position belongs to ZD30. But a nod in this category for me will have meant more an honor for his good career as a director than because only what he did in Argo.

So, after venting about the snubs, the great joy came when Michael Haneke got a nomination and as I have to avoid talking about "that" let's review the other four nominees.

In my opinion Steven Spielberg and Ang Lee got well-deserved nominations as their films are good and epic; David O. Russell nod is surprising if you NOT consider the huge influence and Oscar marketing efforts by Weinstein Bros, but it is a fact and believe without them, Russell would not have gotten a nod as this and Benh Zeitlin nods should have been for Bigelow, Affleck or Quentin Tarantino. Even Tom Hooper did a better job directing than those two nominees, not to mention some directors of extraordinary documentaries.

... and My Award goes to Kathryn Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty. When creating viewer intense emotions and tension in war-related movies, a genre that used to belong to male directors, there is NO ONE like her. Of course I left out Michael Haneke!

Actress in a Leading Role

I'm really following Jennifer Lawrence career since Winter's Bone and believe she is a great actress; her second Oscar nomination is well-deserved and have no doubt that Jessica Chastain impressive career had to take her to her first Best Actress nomination -her first Oscar nod was for Supporting role-, both are great actresses with a great future if they continue to do great movies. I believe Oscar race in this category is between them and the only thing that could damage either one of them winning chances is that voters could split votes among them allowing a third actress to rise as a winner.

As Lawrence and Chastain have similar credentials it is very easy to guess that AMPAS voters -due to average age- could split votes among them and then there is a possibility that Emmanuelle Riva wins as the other two nominees do not have the clout to raise above Riva. Consider Quvenzhané Wallis nod well-deserved but not so Naomi Watts as she was NOT good in The Impossible, her average performance allowed young Tom Holland to steal the complete movie. This slot should have belonged to Marion Cotillard, Rachel Weiz, Helen Hunt, Emayatzy Corinealdi, and many more actresses that had great performances in American movies during 2012, all above Watts average performance.

... and My Award goes to Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty. She really delivered a magnificent European style performance, amazing. Of course, I left out Emmanuelle Riva.

Actor in a Leading Role

According to me only Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix and Denzel Washington truly deserve the nominations as each of them were outstanding in Lincoln, The Master and Flight. Bradley Cooper and Hugh Jackman are good but not great and slots should have been occupied by Jean Louis Trintignant (Amour), John Hawkes (The Sessions), and/or even Denis Lavant (Holy Motors). Also Christoph Waltz has no supporting role in Django Unchained, he is the leading role and when he dies you really miss him in the screen as he is the reason why Jamie Foxx shines above what he has done before -including his Oscar winning role.

... and My Award goes to Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln. He really knows how to chose a role as most of his performances are always Oscar worthy ones; in Lincoln he absolutely shines and fills the screen with his amazing artistry.. He has to and will win his third Best Actor Oscar (a record) and if he does not, will be a major controversy.

So that's it for today, Part 2 will follow with other categories.  To continue reading Part 2 please go here.