Oscar Nominations

Best Picture

Amour / Life Of Pi / Argo / Lincoln / Beats Of The Southern Wild / Silver Linings Playbook / Django Unchained / Zero Dark Thirty / Les Miserables

Verdict? The obvious suggestion is that Lincoln ill leave victorious , however part of me wonders if this will be a controversial year for the Oscars and Argo or Les Mis may take the top prize? 

Best Actor 

Bradley Cooper / Joaquin Phoenix / Daniel Day Lewis / Denzel Washington / Hugh Jackman

Verdict? The winner will be Day-Lewis , and while I'm content I also think it's time for someone else to win , Phoenix' performance in The Master was extraordinary and worth commending. 

Best Actress

Jessica Chastain / Jennifer Lawrence / Emmanuelle Riva / Quevenzhane Wallis / Naomi Watts

Verdict? I see Chastain as the winner , while Lawrence is  skillful actress she deserved it more for Winters Bone than Silver Linings , Watts also gave a tremendous performance in The Impossible. 

Best Supporting Actor 

Alan Arkin / Robert De Niro / Philip Seymour Hoffman / Tommy Lee Jones / Christoph Waltz

Verdict? The obvious choice is Christoph Waltz , he does deserve it too he is a terrific actor. 

Best Supporting Actress

Amy Adams / Sally Field / Anne Hathaway / Helen Hunt / Jacki Weaver

Verdict? Hathaway will win and rightly so for that heart rendition rendition of I dreamed a dream , and for stealing the show with less than 20 minutes screen time. Although I pity Adams who's seems to always crop up and never win , she undoubtedly deserved it more for The Fighter than for The Master though. 

Best Director 

Michael Haneke / Benh Zeitlin / Ang Lee / Steven Spielberg / David O Russell

Verdict? I see no other option than Spielberg taking the prize , although perhaps the academy will surprise us. I am yet too see Beasts. so I can't comment on Zeitlin , I will hope however that Lee gets some recognition for his extraordinarily mesmerising direction of Life Of Pi. 

Best Adapted Screenplay 

Chris Terrio (Argo) / Benh Zeitlin & Lucy Alibar (Beasts.) / David Magee (Life Of Pi) / Tony Kushner (Lincoln) / David O Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)

Verdict? Russell's screenplay was unique , witty and surprisingly respectable for a rom-com , Argo was cleverly paced and formed so Terrio is also worth commending. Magee took the difficult job of transforming Pi onto screen but despite all this I can only picture the award being handed to Kushner. 

Best Original Screenplay 

Michael Haneke (Amour) / Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained ) / John Gatins (Flight) / Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola (Moonrise Kingdom) / Mark Boal (Zero Dark Thirty)

Verdict? I would love Moonrise Kingdom to win for its off beat , odd and rare take at a sort of rom-com , but I think Tarantino will take the prize for this one.