Oscar Predictions 2012

The Academy Awards are upon us again. This Sunday the 84th Oscar Award ceremony will honour those films which The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences deem to be the ‘best’ in their respective categories. We here at Filmjuice like to play a little game of guess the winner. Below are our predictions and hopes for the glittery affair:

The Academy
Awards are upon us again. This
Sunday the 84^th Oscar Award ceremony will honour those films which
The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences deem to be the ‘best’ in their
respective categories. We here at
Filmjuice like to play a little game of guess the winner. Below are our predictions and hopes for
the glittery affair:

Best Film
The Artist, The Descendants, War Horse, Moneyball,
Tree Of Life, Midnight In Paris, The Help, Hugo, Extremely Loud And Incredibly
Close.
Close one this as
they all have Oscar worthy screaming from the rooftops. We’re still seething about the lack of
Drive or Shame, not to mention Tinker Tailor Solider Spy, but we’ll move on
from that and concentrate on those actually nominated. Tree Of Life is a stunning film but
perhaps too long gone in people’s memory.
The Help is topical but fractionally too cute as is Extremely Loud And
Incredibly Close. The front
runners must be The Artist and The Descendants, with War Horse feeling a little
too greetings card to challenge.
Our Heart Says: The Artist is a love letter to cinema, wonderfully
rendered and inch perfect in tone and simple pleasures.
Our Head Says: Probably The Artist for the way it has captured
hearts, but don’t rule out The Descendants as with the power of Payne and
Clooney behind it, it might just sneak the win.
Dark Horse: It’s a long shot but Hugo has similar themes and
ideas about cinema as The Artist but is made by Oscar darling Martin Scorsese.

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist, Alexander Payne –
The Descendants, Martin Scorsese – Hugo, Woody Allen – Midnight In Paris,
Terrence Malick – Tree Of Life
On paper this one
looks easy to call as Hazanavicius tried something so bold with The Artist and
achieved it so brilliantly he should be awarded for it. But, there are some
strong contenders here least of all the whiff of awarding people for former
glories, we’re looking at your Messrs Allen and Scorsese. If those two are nominated we can only
assume that Steve McQueen and Nicolas Winding Refn will be awarded later down
the line for Shame and Drive. Yup,
we’re not letting that one go in a hurry.
Our Heart Says: We’d love to see Terrence Malick win for The Tree Of
Life, if only for his body of work and this being the most beautiful film of
the last year. Hell if Woody Allen
and Martin Scorsese can be nominated for their past glories why not recognise
Malick for his stunning contribution to cinema?
Our Head Says: It’s a close call but Hazanavicius would be a worthy
winner for The Artist for the sheer ambition of what he set out to do in making
a silent film in a time when most directors are looking to shoot in 3D! Could be a close call with Alexander
Payne though as the Academy often like to reward local talents over foreign
imports.
Dark Horse: Woody Allen’s Midnight In Paris is probably not even
in the top ten Woody Allen films but Oscar might want to honour him for all
those films they didn’t award him for the first time round. He did win for
Annie Hall though so maybe he’s had his moment in the sun.

Best Lead
Actor

George Clooney – The Descendants, Jean Dujardin – The Artist, Gary Oldman –
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Brad Pitt – Moneyball, Demian Bichir – A Better Life
Of all the
categories this is probably the hardest to call. You’ve got the heavy hitters of Pitt and Clooney, both of
whom are Hollywood Royalty and give career-defining performances in their
respective films, and then you have Jean Dujardin. You see Dujardin manages to convey a plethora of emotions
without ever speaking, and what’s more he has a cute dog as a sidekick. He’s also been charming everyone the
globe over by falling asleep on Clooney’s shoulder, mocking himself on chat-shows
and generally melting our hearts whenever he’s on screen. We won’t mention the lack of Michael
Fassbender for Shame, oops we just did.
Our Heart Says: We’d love, love, love to see Gary Oldman take it
because he’s been so good in film for so long. Add to that a wonderfully understated, but heart achingly
damaged, performance in Tinker Tailor and it would bring a warm smile to us all
to see him win.
Our Head Says: Tough one but Clooney just nabs it over Pitt and
Dujardin. The world loves Gorgeous
George, hell we love Gorgeous George and you suspect he has a few friends on
the voting board.
Dark Horse: With voters torn between Clooney and Dujardin it
could be that Brad Pitt beats them both at the final hurdle. It would be warranted as well for he’s
had a great year with Moneyball and Tree Of Life.

Best Lead
Actress
Glenn Close – Albert Nobbs, Viola Davis – The Help, Rooney
Mara – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Meryl Streep – The Iron Lady, Michelle
Williams – My Week With Marilyn
There are some
great performances in this category and you’d like to think any one of them
stands a chance of winning. You’d
be wrong of course, this one is almost a forgone conclusion with the whole
world accepting that Meryl Streep will rightfully walk away with the little
gold statue.
Our Heart Says: We’d like to say Viola Davis because she’s always so
engaging on screen and nails it in The Help, but the truth is Streep oozes
class and should probably be handicapped in all award ceremonies after this
one.
Our Head Says: With 17 nominations and only two wins to date Meryl
Streep really deserves to take home her third Oscar in a role which she manages
to find a lot of heart where most only saw a monster.
Dark Horse: Michelle Williams is basically the new Meryl Streep
in terms of acting clout and awards darling so she might just sneak it.

Best
Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh – My Week With Marilyn, Jonah
Hill – Moneyball, Nick Nolte – Warrior, Christopher Plummer – Beginners, Max
Von Sydow – Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close
Like the leading
man category this one is tough to call with all being strong contenders. Plummer, on paper, looks like the
strong lead having been around for so long and finally getting the recognition
he should have had years ago, but the same is true of Von Sydow and Nick
Nolte. And there is Jonah Hill who,
having made a career of being in comedies, proves in Moneyball he’s more than
able to mix it as a serious actor.
Our Heart Says: Christopher Plummer gives such an endearing
performance in Beginners we’d love to see him take it.
Our Head Says: It’s probably too early for Jonah Hill, Oscar likes
you to earn it over a whole career these days, so again we’re going for
Plummer.
Dark Horse: Nick Nolte goes through the ringer in Warrior and
it’s a shame that film didn’t get more recognition so he could just punch his
way to a win with this one.

Best
Supporting Actress

Berenice Bejo – The Artist, Jessica
Chastain – The Help, Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids, Janet McTeer – Albert
Nobbs, Octavia Spencer – The Help
What a bunch of
lovely ladies this one is and very hard to pick a winner. Berenice Bejo is simply stunning in The
Artist, while Jessica Chastain has had one of the most stellar leads of any
female actress in quite some time with The Debt, Tree Of Life, Take Shelter and
The Help all proving her to be a huge talent. Melissa McCarthy was the best thing in Bridesmaids but you
wonder if Oscar is going to reward a film with that many poo jokes in it. Meanwhile Octavia Spencer is quite
brilliant in The Help and gives the sort of heartwarming, but funny,
performance Oscar loves.Our Heart Says: If we’re basing this one single performance it’s Bejo
all the way for being radiant in The Artist.
Our Head Says: If we’re going on what an amazing year Chastain has
had it’s her all the way, but again you wonder if Oscar might go down the route
of wanting to award something otherwise over-looked and therefore Octavia
Spencer will probably take this one.
Dark Horse: Don’t rule out McCarthy as Oscar might want to prove
that he’s down with the kids and likes a fart joke as much as the mainstream audience
do.

Best
Original Screenplay

Michel Hazanavicius – The Artist, Kristen
Wiig & Annie Mumolo – Bridesmaids, JC Chandor – Margin Call, Woody Allen –
Midnight In Paris, Asghar Farhadi – A Separation
Some have
commented that The Artist has no dialogue, it’s a silent film you know, so therefore
has no right to be nominated.
Those people are wrong in every sense possible. A script should be judged by story,
character and structure and The Artist nails all of those things. However, if Woody Allen is overlooked
in other catagories Oscar might want to throw him a bone here, but don’t rule
out Wiig and Mumolo for delivering a female driven adult comedy which will
hopefully see a rise in stronger roles being written for the fairer of the
species.
Our Heart Says: The Artist for daring to do what other wouldn’t even
think of. Hazanavicius should be
widely applauded for re-inventing and reminding us just how powerful cinema can
be without all the bells and whistles some would hang off it.
Our Head Says: With so many nominations you just feel like Oscar
wants to give Woody Allen a big old pat on the back and Midnight in Paris might
be their way of doing just that.
Dark Horse: JC Chandor’s Margin Call is topical, packs a punch
and isn’t scared of addressing some serious issues. It might just clinch it.

Best
Adapted Screenplay

Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash – The Descendants, John Logan – Hugo, George
Clooney, Grant Heslov & Beau Willimon – The Ides Of March, Steve Zaillian
& Aaron Sorkin – Moneyball, Bridget O’Connor & Peter Straughan – Tinker
Tailor Soldier Spy
Adapting a
screenplay from another source material might seem like an easy thing to do but
it’s far from it. Figuring out
what to keep, what to throw away and how to convey emotions, in a visual
manner, where the novel allows the reader inside the characters heads is no
mean feat. This list reads like a
who’s who of great writing talent.
Tinker Tailor is a stunning adaptation of a breathtaking novel. The Descendants injects huge emotional
pull into the story while Moneyball is much more character led than any sports
film has the right to be. The Ides
Of March was a film horribly underrated last year and it’s great to see Oscar giving
recognition to a film many had forgotten about.
Our Heart Says: Tinker Tailor Solider Spy has it all and then some,
add to that one of the co-writers untimely death before the film’s release and
you just know that it’s going to be a tear-jerking acceptance speech.
Our Head Says: The Descendants manages to be an honest look at a man
in crisis for all the right reasons.
It’s also really very warm and fuzzy which Oscar likes a lot, look at
The King’s Speech as an example.
Dark Horse: Never, ever ever rule out the powerhouse that is Aaron
Sorkin and Steve Zaillian both of whom are two of the best writers in Hollywood
right now and might just mean Moneyball pips all others to the post. The acceptance speech would also have
that element of The West Wing’s Jed Bartlett which is always very welcome
indeed.

Best
Animated Feature Film

A Cat In Paris, Chico & Rita, Kung
Fu Panda 2, Puss In Boots, Rango
Well this one’s a
bit of a turn up for the books with no Pixar film being nominated this year the
competition is wide open. Chico
& Rita is a worthy nominee and Rango was one of last year’s most pleasant
surprises.
Our Heart Says: Rango, it was the closest thing to a Pixar film with
wonderfully wacky well-realised characters and sporting the best Johnny Depp
performance since he first played Captain Jack.
Our Head Says: Puss In Boots will have a lot of weight behind it and
comes as a spin off from the Shrek franchise which has always proved popular
Dark Horse: Chico & Rita, Oscar might just decide to reward
classic hand drawn animation rather than the digital format.

Best
Cinematography
Jeff Cronenweth – The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Robert
Richardson – Hugo, Janusz Kaminski – War Horse, Emmanuel Lubezki – Tree Of
Life, Guillaume Schiffman – The Artist
Suffice to say
all the films on this list are fully deserving of their nominations, although
again the inclusion of Drive would have been nice. The Artist might take it for its classic recreation of a
bygone era but both Hugo and War Horse rely more heavily on their beautiful
visuals. Having said that Tree Of
Life is poetry in motion and the visuals only heighten that. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
meanwhile didn’t feel quite as bleak at some points as it should have done and
besides that film includes torture and rape and Oscar is a bit shy about such
things.
Our Heart Says: Tree Of Life for the fact that the visuals transport
you so completely into the existential world of Malick’s brain it is hard to
forget or ignore.
Our Head Says: The Artist or Hugo, it’s a tough call between two
films that both look to re-create a style not seen much anymore.
Dark Horse: War Horse, obviously. The clue is in the name.

So there you have
it, Filmjuice’s Oscar predictions.
Of course by putting these out into the real world we’ve probably jinxed
all the nominees meaning someone not nominated will win….which puts Drive and
Shame back in the running. Happy
Days.