2012 Oscar Prediction's and Commentary of a Movie Lover

It’s Oscar time-The time of year that I stare at the TV for hours because I love movies! There’s the actual Oscars, the pre-show, and the pre-pre show! Oh, plus the Academy Awards is never officially complete until I watch the Oscar Fashion Wrap-up with Joan Rivers. This is like the Super Bowl for movie nerds!

I realize that some of you might not keep up with Oscars and movies as much as I do. Therefore, this Blog will enlighten you on what to expect this year. I’ll include nominations for the top categories and my predictions of winners. If you disagree with my predictions, feel free to comment & let me know!

The Oscar telecast should be great this year! Billy Crystal is hosting for the 9^th time because Eddie Murphy dropped out of this is years hosting gig. As a Oscar Host, Crystal never disappoints and brings plenty of spontaneity and wit!

The 84^th Academy Awards is Breaking New Ground

2012 is the year of the silent film and women, particularly African- American Women. Giving captivating performances and transporting us into their intense character’s, several well-deserving actresses fill the Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress categories this year. 

February is Black History month, and I predict the 84^th Oscar telecast will reflect that, and give two black actresses Academy Awards for both actress’ categories. If this happens, it will be the first time in Oscar history that 2 African-American women won both top actress awards. With so many fine performances, I think it will be a close race in Best Actress category. However, even though Meryl Streep gave a striking performance and is always an Oscar favorite, I believe Viola Davis is taking home Best Actress for her powerfully, introverted character in The Help.  I think that even though her co-star Jessica Chastain won’t win for her Best-Supporting Actress, you had better plan to see a whole lot of her in the future. As well as giving an awesome performance in The Help, Chastain was also in Best Picture nominee The Tree of Life with Brad Pitt and Sean Pean. Davis' other Co-star, Octavia Spencer is a no-brainer for the Best-Supporting Actress category and if she loses that will be the biggest shocker of the night!

This year also brought famous moviemakers into new territory. Woody Allen came out of New York with Midnight in Paris and my long-time favorite, Martin Scorsese, stepped out of his R-Rated genre with a 3-D family movie, Hugo.

Best Picture Nominee's

           Best Picture nomine The Help is of course the biggest moneymaker of all the nominees. It is certainly the people’s favorite for Best Picture. I enjoyed it very much and think it was very worthy of all its nominations. The Tree of Life was unlike most movies, but I liked it because I like movies that make you think outside the box. However, it’s not the kind of movie for everyone and can be hard to follow. War Horse was okay, I think my expectations were too high for the movie and it was too sappy at times. The Descendants was a decent movie that can keep a movie-lover audience full-filled. I haven’t seen Moneyball since it was in the theaters which was several months ago. But, I do remember liking it. I enjoyed it and was pleased with the movie. However, at the time, I did not think it was Oscar material-guess I was wrong there. Midnight in Paris was funny and witty. Even though I enjoy Woody Allen movies, I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would. Every American should see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Even though the script seems implausible at times, it is a good reminder of the effects that 9/11 had on the people it directly affected. The movie is not too sappy, but does make you tear up a few times. Martin Scorsese is my favorite director, but I must admit Hugo is the only Best Picture nominee I have not seen. I decided that I only would see it in 3-D and whenever I was looking, it was never showing at any theaters close to me, which stunk!

          Finally, My favorite Best Picture of the Year is The Artist. I try to see all Best Picture nominees, but I was not sure if I would be able to follow a silent movie because I had never seen one before. However, The Artist does a very clever job at introducing the audience to silence movies and I was more captivated by The Artist than any movie all year long. It is amazing how much can be expressed through non-verbal communication-approximately 53% of communication comes from face, 38% from the voice, and 7% from words. Everything about The Artist was great, and the actors were incredible, especially Best-Supporting Actress nominee Berenice Bejo and Best Actor nominee Jean Dujardin (Don’t be surprised if he wins, he speaks mostly in French-He doesn't speak good English!)  

WATCH THE ARTIST TRAILER BELOW!

Well, that’s all I have on the Oscar movies and what to expect from the 84th Oscar telecast. See the list below on my predictions on who will win the top categories. I know I didn’t touch on the most important topic of the night, but it was just too difficult to predict. So you will just have to stay tuned to find out..."WHO ARE YOU WEARING"???

NOMINATIONS AND PREDICTIONS OF TOP OSCAR CATEGORIES...  

BEST PICTURE

The Artist- Who I Think Will Win

War Horse

The Descendants

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

Midnight in Paris

The Help

Hugo

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

BEST DIRECTOR

Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist- Who I Think Will Win

Alexander Payne, The Descendants

Martin Scorsese, Hugo

Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris

Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life

BEST ACTOR

Demian Bichir, A Better Life

George Clooney, The Descendants

Jean Dujardin, The Artist -Who I Think Will Win

Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Brad Pitt, Moneyball

BEST ACTRESS

Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs

Viola Davis, The Help- Who I Think Will Win

Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Michelle Williams, My Week With Marilyn

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Jonah Hill, Moneyball

Kenneth Branagh, My Week With Marilyn

Max von Sydow, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Nick Nolte, Warrior

Christopher Plummer, Beginners- Who I Think Will Win

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Berenice Bejo, The Artist

Jessica Chastain, The Help

Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids

Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs

Octavia Spencer, The Help- Who I Think Will Win

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Artist

Bridesmaids

Margin Call

Midnight in Paris- Who I Think Will Win

A Separation

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

The Descendants- Who I Think Will Win

Hugo

The Ides of March

Moneyball

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Watch the Oscar Red Carpet Live tonight at 6pm central on ABC and the actual telecast at 7:30 central. Also, if you’re an Oscar junkie like me, E! televises a live countdown to the Red Carpet from like 12:30 central until the ABC broadcast!