By Jake O’Bannon and Jason Hubbert
Jason Hubbert: If you love movies, it’s been a great year!
Love the comic book movies? Batman’s conclusion was epic (and unjustly locked out of the Best Picture category), and the Spiderman relaunch was decent, The Avengers was awesome fun, and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Slayer was surprisingly entertaining.
Love the rom-coms? Silver Lining Playbook hit the rom and the com while showcasing two of the hottest actors working today.
Dig the serious period pieces? Lincoln had you covered.
Love fantasy? Beasts of the Southern Wild, Life of Pi, The Hobbit, John Carter, and Cloud Atlas made for an unusually diverse (and big-budget) year.
Art house? The Master.
Political thrillers? Argo and Zero Dark Thirty are the best since Syriana.
Jake the Movie Guy:
I couldn’t agree more! And I think we would both agree that because of that, the Oscars are wide open this year in a number of categories (but not all of them *cough, Anne Hathaway, Daniel Day-Lewis cough*) and that will make them tough to pick. But let’s give it a shot anyway.
Here are Jason Hubbert and Jake The Movie Guy’s picks (and wishes) for the major categories at this year’s Oscars.
Best Supporting Actress
Nominees: Amy Adams “The Master”, Sally Field “Lincoln”, Anne Hathaway “Les Miserables”, Helen Hunt “The Sessions”, Jacki Weaver “Silver Linings Playbook”
Jason:
Will Win – Anne Hathaway; She should have gotten it for Rachel Gets Married, and the academy loves her.
Should Win – Amy Adams; She is iron masquerading as velvet as she controls and channels the fire in Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master.
Jake:
Will Win – Anne Hathaway; There is no doubt. She has won at every award show thus far, and the Oscars won’t be any different.
Should Win – Anne Hathaway. Sure, Field was incredible (and got to do her signature cry), and Jason, you hit it on the head, Adams was awesome. But this has to go to Anne, even if it’s really only for one (flawless) solo.
Best Supporting Actor
Nominees: Alan Arkin “Argo”, Robert De Niro “Silver Linings Playbook”, Phillip Seymour Hoffman “The Master”, Tommy Lee Jones “Lincoln”, Christoph Waltz ‘Django Unchained”
Jake:
Will Win – Tommy Lee Jones; Lincoln may be underperforming at the other award shows, but I really feel like The Oscars are going to be much more kind. And Jones was strong in a field of AWESOME performances.
Should Win – All of them (but Christoph Waltz if I had to pick); Waltz was fantastic in Django. But he won’t win because he won the same award for another Tarantino film in 2009.
Jason:
Will Win – Philip Seymour Hoffman; in an extremely tough race to call.
Should Win – Philip Seymour Hoffman; but, any other year, Alan Arkin.
Best Actress
Nominees: Jessica Chastain “Zero Dark Thirty”, Jennifer Lawrence “Silver Linings Playbook”, Emmanuelle Riva “Amour”, Quvenzhane Wallis “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, Naomi Watts “The Impossible”
Jason:
Will Win – Impossible to call, but I’ll go with Emmanuelle Riva. The Academy doesn’t like to make tough calls and votes old.
Should Win – Jessica Chastain, who keeps cranking out greatness.
Jake:
Will Win – Jennifer Lawrence; Her movie is not controversial, she isn’t too young, she isn’t too old, and people actually saw her movie. My process of elimination says this one goes to Lawrence.
Should Win – Jessica Chastain. As far as I’m concerned this one isn’t even close. But the Academy isn’t going to vote for such a controversial role. What a shame.
Best Actor
Nominees: Bradley Cooper “Silver Linings Playbook”, Daniel Day-Lewis “Lincoln”, Hugh Jackman “Les Miserables”, Joaquin Phoenix “The Master”, Denzel Washington “Flight”
Jason:
Will Win – Daniel Day-Lewis. Yet again. Lincoln is everything the Academy loves in a film and Daniel Day-Lewis is our greatest living actor.
Should Win – Joaquin Phoenix. What he does in The Master is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Jake:
Will Win – Daniel Day-Lewis. No arguments here. His performance as Abe Lincoln was perfect.
Should Win – This award is all Lewis, but I would love to see if go to Jackman too. He played a tough role. And yes, Phoenix is hauntingly brilliant in The Master.
Best Director
Nominees: Michael Haneke “Amour”, Benh Zeitlin “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, Ang Lee “Life of Pi”, Steven Spielberg “Lincoln”, David O. Russell “Silver Linings Playbook”
Jake:
Will Win – Steven Spielberg; This award was decided when the nominees were announced. No Bigelow or Affleck means Spielberg is a lock.
Should Win – Christopher Nolan. Why not? Give him the Oscar for the trilogy. If only…
Jason:
Will Win: Steven Spielberg
Should Win: Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty) or Ben Affleck (Argo), neither of which were even nominated!
Best Picture
Nominees: Amour, Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Life of Pi, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty
Jason:
Will Win – The trends say Argo, but I’m going Lincoln. The Academy tipped their hand with the Affleck snub, and Lincoln is a movie they love to reward.
Should Win – There were four perfect movies made this year: Zero Dark Thirty, Argo, Silver Linings Playbook, and The Avengers. I’d rank them in that order based on originality and relevance, with ZDT the best.
Jake:
Will Win – I’m buying the hype. I don’t like the hype, but I’m buying it. This is going to Ben Affleck and Argo
Should Win – Lincoln. It’s the best film of the year. And that means a lot in such a strong year of film. If it were last year, any of these nine movies would have competed with The Artist for Best Picture.
So there it is. Tune in to the Oscars on February 24th to see how we did!
Disclaimer: This article does not represent an endorsement of any of these movies by SNU. Students should research any movie and determine whether or not they are comfortable with the content prior to watching it.