2013 Academy Awards Nominations

This morning the contenders where released for the 85th Academy Awards and I must say, I’m pretty surprised with the outcome. There were some serious snubs this year that I don’t think anyone saw coming. Anyway here’s the list…

Best Picture

• Amour
• Life of Pi
• Argo
• Lincoln
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Django Unchained
• Zero Dark Thirty
• Les Miserables

Actor in a Leading Role

• Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook
• Joaquin Phoenix in The Master
• Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln
• Denzel Washington in Flight
• Hugh Jackman in Les Miserables

Actress in a Leading Role

• Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty
• Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook
• Naomi Watts in The Impossible
• Emmanuelle Riva in Amour

Actor in a Supporting Role

• Alan Arkin in Argo
• Robert De Niro in Silver Linings Playbook
• Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln
• Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained

Actress in a Supporting Role

• Amy Adams in The Master
• Sally Field in Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables
• Helen Hunt in The Sessions
• Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook

Animated Feature Film

• Brave
  
• Frankenweenie
• ParaNorman
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits
• Wreck-It-Ralph

Cinematography

• Anna Karenina
• Django Unchained
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Skyfall

Costume Design

• Anna Karenina
• Les Miserables
• Lincoln
• Mirror Mirror
• Snow White and the Huntsman

Directing

• Michael Haneke for Amour
• Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Ang Lee for Life of Pi
• Steven Spielberg for Lincoln
• David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook

Documentary Feature

• 5 Broken Cameras
• The Gatekeepers
• How to Survive a Plague
• The Invisible War
• Searching for Sugar Man

Documentary Short

• Inocente
• Kings Point
• Mondays at Racine
• Open Heart
• Redemption

Film Editing

• Argo
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook
• Zero Dark Thirty

Foreign Language Film

• Amour
• Kon-Tiki
• No
• A Royal Affair
• War Witch

Makeup and Hairstyling

• Hitchcock
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Les Miserables

Music–Original Score

• Anna Karenina
• Argo
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Skyfall

Music–Original Song

• “Before My Time” from Chasing Ice
• “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from Ted
• “Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi
• “Skyfall” from Skyfall
• “Suddenly” from Les Miserables

Production Design

• Anna Karenina
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
• Les Miserables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln

Short Film Animated

• Adam and Dog
  
• Fresh Guacamole
• Head Over Heels
• Maggie Simpson in “The Longest Daycare”
• Paperman

Short Film Live Action

• Asad
  
• Buzkashi Boys
• Curfew
• Death of a Shadow (Dood van een Schaduw)
• Henry

Sound Editing

• Argo
  
• Django Unchained
• Life of Pi
• Skyfall
• Zero Dark Thirty

Sound Mixing

• Argo
  
• Les Miserables
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Skyfall

Visual Effects

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
  
• Life of Pi
• Marvel’s The Avengers
• Prometheus
• Snow White and the Huntsman

Writing Adapted Screenplay

• Argo
  
• Beasts of the Southern Wild
• Life of Pi
• Lincoln
• Silver Linings Playbook

Writing Original Screenplay

• Amour
  
• Django Unchained
• Flight
• Moonrise Kingdom
• Zero Dark Thirty

Now that all the nominations have been made, I’m going to try and take the next month and a half to see as many of these films as I can so I make my predictions for who will win.

30 Day Movie Challenge: Day #28

Day 28. Movie With Your Favorite Hero

I’ve used some of my favorite heroes for other categories but here are some others that I really do love.

• Gru in Despicable Me (2010)–When a criminal mastermind uses a trio of orphan girls as pawns for a grand scheme, he finds their love is profoundly changing him for the better. Starring the voices of Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig and Miranda Cosgrove. Besides just loving everything about this movie, Gru is one of my all-time favorite movie characters! He tries so hard to be a bad guy but he just has too big of a heart.

• Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality (2000)–An FBI agent must go undercover in the Miss United States beauty pageant to prevent a group from bombing the event. Starring Sandra Bullock, Michael Caine and Benjamin Bratt. This movie is too freaking funny! Gracie Hart is a badass chick but in a really fun way. She’s just adorable!

• Slim in Enough (2002)–On the run from an abusive husband, a young mother begins to train herself to fight back. Starring Jennifer Lopez, Billy Campbell, Juliette Lewis and Noah Wyle. Here is a woman that doesn’t take any crap from anyone. She is so strong and really stands up for herself and her daughter.

• Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump (1994)–Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny eludes him. Starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise and Sally Field. Even though he doesn’t always do things by thinking them through, Forrest has a great heart and always does things for others. He is an all around good guy.

• Erin Brockovich in Erin Brockovich (2000)–An unemployed single mother becomes a legal assistant and almost single-handedly brings down a California power company accused of polluting a city’s water supply. Directed for Steven Soderbergh. Starring Julia Roberts, Albert Finney and David Brisbin. The epitome of tough woman. She doesn’t let anyone tell her what to do. She stands for what is right even when no one else will.

What’s a movie with your favorite hero??

30 Day Movie Challenge: Day #18

Day 18. Film That Is Your Guilty Pleasure

Everyone has movies that they love to watch over and over again no matter how bad they are. Here are some of my favorites!

• Beautiful (2000)–Mona sacrifices everything, including family, in pursuit of a beauty pageant victory. Her friend Ruby helps her to an amazing degree. Directed by Sally Field. Starring Minnie Driver, Hallie Kate Eisenberg and Joey Lauren Adams. There is something so touching about this movie yet so powerful. Who doesn’t love a pageant movie?!

• Crossroads (2002)–Three childhood best friends, and a guy they just met, take a trip across the country, finding themselves and their friendship in the process. Written by Shonda Rimes. Starring Britney Spears, Zoe Saldana and Taryn Manning. Even though I was probably a little too young to see this when it originally came out, I think it really does adress some important issues that teens face in this rapidly grown up world. Britney looks so young in this!!

• Center Stage (2000)–A group of 12 teenagers from various backgrounds enroll at the American Ballet Academy in New York to make it as ballet dancers and each one deals with the problems and stress of training and getting ahead in the world of dance. Starring Amanda Schull, Zoe Saldana, Ethan Stiefel and Peter Gallagher. I absolutely love dance flicks and must admit that this is one of the best ones. The dance at the end always makes me wish I was a dancer.

• Heartbreakers (2001)–A mother and daughter con team seduce and scam wealthy men. Starring Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Gene Hackman, Ray Liotta and Jason Lee. These two con-artists are inappropriate and yet hilarious! The situations that they find themselves in make it seem like they could earn money easier by getting a real job than what they are doing.

• Wild Child (2008)–A rebellious Malibu princess is shipped off to a strict English boarding school by her father. Starring Emma Roberts, Aidan Quinn, Natasha Richardson, Juno Temple and Alex Pettyfer. It’s the typical bad girl turned good story mixed with a fish out of water story. So good!!

What’s your favorite guilty pleasure movie??