Film Review – A Good Day to Die Hard
Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com – click the title link above.
This year’s Academy Awards probably aren’t as “up for grabs” as everyone seems to think they are. I get the feeling that’s a lot of media hype. But, for my two cents, here’s who I think will win in the major categories. Not who I think should win, but my best guess for how the Academy will vote.
But don’t bet on me – I lose the Oscar pool every year.
Best Picture: Argo (too much momentum)
Directing: Steven Spielberg, Lincoln (consolation for being steamrollered by Argo)
Leading Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln (dry film, human performance)
Leading Actress: Emmanuelle Riva, Amour (underdog)
Supporting Actor: Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook (toughest category to call)
Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables (everyone’s forgotten Helen Hunt in The Sessions by now)
Animated Feature: Wreck-It Ralph (but Frankenweenie and The Pirates! are better)
Adapted Screenplay: Life of Pi (Canadian content)
Original Screenplay: Django Unchained (good scripts here, but the crowd still loves Tarantino)
Seth MacFarlane, Host: Will be funny, but not in the way Oscar likes
Last award announced: 12:09am
Best of luck to all. Enjoy the show!
Steven Soderbergh has announced that Side Effects will be his last directed film; he’s retiring to work on other projects. If so, he picked a pretty good one to end a career on. With a genuinely surprising plot and great performances, it’s a tight little thriller.
Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com:
Silver Linings Playbook is a dark horse in the running for this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture, but don’t count it out yet. With nominations for Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay and all four major acting categories, it’s certainly worthy of respect. And oh yeah, it’s actually not a bad movie, too.
Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com:
http://www.oakville.com/articles/silver-linings-playbook-movie-review/
Of the films nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Academy Awards, there’s a strong undercurrent of patriotism among the favourites to win. Argo is about the rescue of US citizens from an Iranian hostage crisis. Zero Dark Thirty is about the quest for American justice against her enemies. Heck, if you want to stretch things, even Les Misérables has French Revolutionaries in it. And perhaps the most patriotic of all is Lincoln, director Steven Spielberg’s portrait of America’s 16th President. But while Lincoln is an excellent film, worthy of its accolades, it may prove too academic to win Oscar’s popularity contest.
Read the rest of my review at Oakville.com: