New images from Christopher Nolan's 'Interstellar'!

The movie looks out of this world. Can't wait!

via Indiewire.

FINAL OSCAR PREDICTIONS!

A third year of prognostication comes to a close, and its another year where the true best picture of the year DOES NOT WIN! (You can view all my picks here.)

Best Picture:
ARGO

Best Director:
 STEVEN SPIELBERG, LINCOLN

Best Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis, LINCOLN

Best Actress:
Jennifer Lawrence, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

Best Supporting Actor:
Tommy Lee Jones, LINCOLN

Best Supporting Actress:
Anne Hathaway, LES MISERABLES

Best Original Screenplay:
Mark Boal, ZERO DARK THIRTY

Best Adapted Screenplay:
Chris Terrio, ARGO

Oscar Opinions: Les Miserables (2012)

Every Oscar year, there is just one shoddy nominee.

QUICK OPINION:
Last year showed off Extremely Loud and Incredibly Gross Close, and somehow Les Mis was just such a clunker. Right from the get-go, something was off. The opening shot is a long shot, but not every long shot is not a good one. Hugh Jackman is prevalent throughout almost every scene, and I do have to admit his performance was good, but it was inconsistent. To be honest, the whole movie was inconsistent and messy. It nails a tone/mood, but since the songs are intercut throughout the story, diversions between the individual songs/scenes can lead to severe messiness. Forget it, the whole movie is a mess.

BEST PERFORMANCE:
Easy: Anne Hathaway's emotive work was Fantine. The shot was a bit too tight, but she devastated everyone in the audience. Great stuff.

BEST MOMENT:
I Dreamed a Dream was pretty great.

BAFTA Winners!

*BAM* JUSTICE *BAM*       BAFTA emitting too much intelligent voting. 

Django might now be the Original Screenplay frontrunner... unless one considers impulsive ballot filling for Zero Dark Thirty, since it is the only frontrunner contending for WGA. So happy for Christoph Waltz, I honestly hope he wins again.

BEST FILM: Argo

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM: Skyfall

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER: The Imposter

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE: Amour

DOCUMENTARY: Searching For Sugar Man

ANIMATED FILM: Brave

DIRECTOR: Argo - Ben Affleck

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Django Unchained - Quentin Tarantino

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Silver Linings Playbook - David O. Russell

LEADING ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln

LEADING ACTRESS: Emmanuelle Riva - Amour

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway - Les Miserables

ORIGINAL MUSIC: Skyfall - Thomas Newman

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Life Of Pi - Claudio Miranda

EDITING: Argo - William Goldenberg

PRODUCTION DESIGN: Les Miserables - Eve Stewart, Anna Lynch-Robinson

COSTUME DESIGN: Anna Karenina - Jacqueline Durran

MAKE UP & HAIR: Les Miserables - Lisa Westcott

SOUND: Les Miserables - Simon Hayes, Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, Jonathan Allen, Lee Walpole, John Warhurst

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: Life of Pi - Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer

SHORT ANIMATION: The Making of Longbird - Will Anderson, Ainslie Henderson

SHORT FILM: Swimmer - Lynne Ramsay, Peter Carlton, Diarmid Scrimshaw

THE EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public): Juno Temple

OUTSTANDING BRITISH CONTRIBUTION TO CINEMA: Tessa Ross

THE BAFTA FELLOWSHIP: Alan Parker

BAFTA predictions.

BAFTA's are one thing I unfortunately have been undermining in my prognostication career. The BAFTA's this year could quite possibly be the turning point for three of the big categories this year- Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor. As lazy as I am, I have decided not to predict in every category. Like most teens, I am simply too lazy.

The winners will be...

BEST FILM- Argo
BEST BRITISH FILM- Les Miserables (boo boo! Skyfall 4 LYFE!)
BEST DIRECTION- Ben Affleck, Argo
BEST ACTOR- Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
BEST ACTRESS- Emmanuelle Riva, Amour (If Chastain wins, I will be happy because she did have the best performance of the year. If Riva wins, I'll be happy for a correct prediction. How cynical of me.)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR- Since BAFTA really liked Django, then it is Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS- Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY- Michael Haneke, Amour (In reality, I think Zero Dark Thirty will take either of Amour's two big prizes. This is about predicting, and I'm playing it safe with Amour winning both)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY- Chris Terrio, Argo (boo boo! Lincoln!)
BEST FOREIGN FILM- Amour (duh!)

SAG Winners!

I was able to get 3/5 on my predictions. In my defense, Argo winning Best Cast was a surprise, and Supporting Actor was a mess this year.

BEST ACTOR: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
BEST ACTRESS: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
BEST CAST: Argo

The Guilds, some things to note.

Every year, the most important precursors shake the race. The guilds, namely SAG and PGA. The Screen Actors Guild is on Sunday, and the Producers Guild announces tomorrow. The two films that are truly seeking Oscar gold are Silver Linings Playbooks and Lincoln, based on number of nominations. Argo is also one one more contender that is missing the all-precious directors nomination that is restraining a potential Oscar victory.

PGA Prediction:
Lincoln

SAG (Best Cast) Prediction:
Silver Linings Playbook

This weekend can mark a weekend of great change. In 2006, Little Miss Sunshine won the PGA, and became a hopeful to a true contender. It lost the Golden Globe and was mainly skunked out of a directing nomination. 2006's PGA also marked the beginning of the end of Dreamgirls.

2006 was one of the more messy years in recent memory, and I would like to see a major upset within this weekend. Like Zero Dark Thirty winning the PGA, but that's all just a dream.

The actors in SAG are in the Academy, the same won that gave four acting nominations to Silver Linings Playbook. This is the same Academy that gave 3 acting nominations to The Master, and 1 SAG nomination. Still, Silver Linings Playbook is an actors piece, and it is a piece that is quite popular.  Still, Silver Linings will probably win the big prize in this shindig. This probably means they will give the Best Actress prize to Jennifer Lawrence's very good work in Silver Linings Playbook instead of Jessica Chastain's powerhouse work in Zero Dark Thirty.

Complete SAG predictions below:

Best Actor- Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Best Actress- Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Best Supporting Actor- No idea. Hoping for an upset, so Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master (No Django nominees)
Best Supporting Actress- Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables (duh!)

More after the jump discussing this weekend's significance.

Golden Globe predictions!

The Golden Globes announce today, and I feel today is going to be a very good show (Poehler + Fey). I hope the winners are also surprising too, especially Breaking Bad for TV drama. That show better win tonight.

Anyways....

BEST MOTION PICTURE- DRAMA
All 5 nominees in this category have gone on to be Best Picture nominees. I'm going to have to say Lincoln will win this one because it is the current frontrunner. I won't be surprised by an Argo upset, and I would be delighted by a Zero Dark Thirty win.

BEST MOTION PICTURE- COMEDY/MUSICAL
The Golden Globes bring  welcome surprises. I feel that the force with Silver Linings Playbook is strong, but any musical in this category is usually a strong contender. In 2007, Sweeny Todd beat out Juno. Still, I'm going with Silver Linings.


BEST DIRECTOR
It's weird what Oscar did. They left out Ben Affleck for Argo, and yet, I think he is going to win Best Director. (Golden Globes hardly predict the Oscar winner. Scorsese won last year, then Fincher, Cameron, Boyle won the Oscar, but then before was Schnabel, Inarritu...)

Les Miserables (2012)- The pillars of a body are ignored (2 Stars)

Les Miserables has been in the Oscar conversation ever since the idea of a movie adaptation has ever been though of. Once Tom Hooper signed on, the buzz got as fierce as a bumblebee. But after viewing the film, I was puzzled. Why does this even exist as a movie?

Best Supporting Actress predictions (12/17/12)

Last time I did this, Hitchcock was a sight unseen, and Scarlett Johansson occupied one of the slots. Currently there are three locks, one almost lock, and a free-for-all.

1. Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
She's been nominated before (almost won!), and she's quite popular in a popular film. This is a sure thing for a win.

2. Sally Field, Lincoln
Sally Field's performance has been captivating critics groups and has redefined Mary Lincoln as a nut. It's great work.

3. Amy Adams, The Master
Because I am doing this on my phone, I am frankly to lazy to check how many times Amy has been nominated. I believe this could be her 5th/6th nomination. The performance has been well-embraced by critics, and got a Globe nomination, but no SAG can hurt.

4. Helen Hunt, The Sessions
This is the third lock. Amy is a near lock, but she has a higher chance (but not too high) of winning. The Sessions, I think, will be a difficult film for the Academy because of SEX.

5. Maggie Smith, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
Fox Searchlight could potentially have two supporting actress contenders. I think Dame Maggie will boot out Nicole Kidman's Paperboy because Fox can easily distribute Marigold quicker than Paperboy's little distributor can. Also, SAG gave Marigold a Best Cast nomination.

Check back for some more Oscar predictions

New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) predictions!

NYFCC is announcing tomorrow, which is nothing less than exciting. I remember last year when I was so happy that Chassy and Pitt won acting prizes for The Tree of Life, and I thought that the film had a real shot at winning the top prize. Alas, it lost to The Artist. This year, I'm going all out for The Master. Members of NYFCC include AO Scott and Lisa Schwarzbaum, who both have given the film equivalents of 100%.


And since the film is my bet for Best Picture, it will probably win Best Director. Predictions below.

Best Picture- The Master (Alt. Zero Dark Thirty)
Best Director- PT Anderson, The Master (Alt. Steve Spielberg, Lincoln)
Best Actor- Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln (Alt. Joaquin Phoenix, The Master)
Best Actress- Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty (Alt. J. Law, Silver Linings Playbook)
Best Supporting Actor- Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master (Alt. Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln)
Best Supporting Actress- Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables (Alt. Amy Adams, The Master)
Best Screenplay- The Master (Alt. Lincoln)
Best Cinematography- The Master (Alt. Life of Pi)
Best Foreign Film- Amour (Alt. The Intouchables)
Best First Film- Beasts of the Southern Wild (Alt. The Perks of Being a Wallflower)

Judging from my predictions, the big ones out of the gate tomorrow will be The Master, Zero Dark Thirty, and Lincoln, a race that I am perfectly content with.

Check back tomorrow for complete list of winners!

Argo loses its lead to 'Les Mis', Anne Hathaway WILL win Best Supporting Actress.

'Les Mis' had its first screening today in the Big Apple, and to say it was overwhelming is an understatement.

Tweets across the interwebs report 'standing ovations', and a rather spectacular 'I Dreamed a Dream', sung by a skinny Catwoman. The acting in the film is allegedly described as 'superb', and Anne Hathaway as the runaway leader. Since Jessica Chastain is going lead for 'Zero Dark Thirty', Catwoman is going to have very little competition. And since the acting is great, the actors branch will give this the BP nom, and maybe even the win.

Since this film is a musical, and very epic, the Acadeny is clamoring for both, since both have been missing from the BP lineup for awhile. The win for the film could also change the way studios treat their releases due to the tides of independent films like 'Slumdog', 'Hurt Locker', 'King's Speech'...

Tom Hooper will also do well with the directors branch, since he was a previous winner in 2010. The art direction and the costume design will also be victors. It's been awhile since a film has swept the Oscars, and this will be it.

On the bright side for me, 'The Master', will probably win 2 Oscars, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor (Hoffman). Maybe it could win Best Actor.

Best Supporting Actress predictions.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
1. Anne Hathaway for Les Miserables
Like J. Law for Silver Linings Playbook, Anne Hathaway's star power is going to help her get the gold. Once nominated, and not hated for hosting the Oscars, and I have adamantly stated that Les Mis is not going home empty-handed... the stars are aligning for her win.

2. Amy Adams for The Master
Though praise for her performance is muted due to Hoffman and Phoenix, Weinstein will push Adams for the nomination. Star power, and being nominated four times before does not hurt. If Les Mis falls, expect Adams for the win.

3. Helen Hunt for The Sessions
This film is going to be difficult for the Academy. A main subject in the film is sex, which was a big no-no last year (Shame anyone?), so it seems Fox Searchlight is trying to market it as a comedy. Helen's role is quite clearly a lead, but it seems Fox doesn't even have faith in itself. Hopefully the Supporting Actress nom goes through.

4. Sally Field for Lincoln
Even if her role is not that meaty, the Academy will nominate her. They like her, they really really like her.

5. Scarlett Johansson for Hitchcock
It seems I am probably one of the most adamant supporters of Hitchcock, mainly because I think that it might be something special. Others are predicting Maggie Smith for Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, but that film was from May, and Fox might be busy pushing Helen Hunt for The Sessions. ScarJo has the star power and the younger voters of the Academy will give their vote to her.

Check back tomorrow for Best Supporting Actor
predictions. While your at it, why don't you guys find out why the Academy really likes Sally Field.