It's that time again... (From Sutton Guardian)

It's that time again...

10:40pm Tuesday 15th January 2013 in Freetime By Mark Foker

The 85th Academy Awards ceremony (or the Oscars to you and me) takes place on 24th February 2013. The host for this year’s glitzy extravaganza is none other than Seth McFarlane. Seth who? I hear you say. Avid fans of the American TV cartoon Family Guy will be very aware of Mr. McFarlane who is creator and developer of the adult comedy plus he also voices the main character of this dysfunctional family Peter Griffin.

To say that the Family Guy humour is ‘near the knuckle’ is an understatement and as a show host he could give both Ricky Gervais and Russell Brand a run for their money. I’m sure that the Academy knows what they are doing and controversy is always good publicity. However, they had better be prepared to be roasted for not nominating his 2012 movie TED about a fouled mouthed teddy bear. By the way, this reviewer gave TED three out of five stars back in July. 

Anyway, here is the top line (Ok! The important one's) Academy’s Oscar nominations: Lincoln racing out ahead of the field with twelve nominations and Les Misérables a close second with eight.

Best Film: 
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Misérables
Lincoln
Life of Pi
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Mark’s comments: 
I agree with most of the above especially the three L’s Lincoln, Les Misérables and Life of Pi. But where was Skyfall? The biggest grossing movie in UK history. I know that cartoons have their own Animated Feature Film category, yet I would have nominated Disney’s Brave for Best Film after all Toy Story 3 was nominated for Best Feature Film in 2011. 

Best Actress:
Jessica Chastain - Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva - Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis - Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts - The Impossible

Mark’s comments: 
Yep can’t argue with that.

Best Actor:
Daniel Day Lewis - Lincoln
Bradley Cooper - Silver Linings Playbook
Hugh Jackman - Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix - The Master
Denzel Washington – Flight

Mark’s comments:
My vote would be Hugh Jackman. But I think Daniel Day Lewis will win by a landslide.

Best Director:
Michael Haneke - Amour
Ang Lee - Life of Pi
David O Russell - Silver Linings Playbook 
Steven Spielberg - Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin - Beasts of the Southern Wild

Mark’s comments:
Once again good choices but where is Tom Hooper for Les Misérables and Ben Affleck for Argo? Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin - Argo Robert De Niro - Silver Linings Playbook Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln Christoph Waltz - Django Unchained Philip Seymour Hoffman - The Master Mark’s comments: All five actors in this category are movie giants. My choice would be Alan Arkin. I’ve been a long time fan of this actor since Catch 22 (1970) and winning a deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine (2006).

Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams - The Master
Sally Field - Lincoln
Anne Hathaway - Les Misérables
Helen Hunt - The Sessions
Jacki Weaver - Silver Linings Playbook 

Mark’s comments:
It’s between Sally Field for Lincoln and Anne Hathaway despite only being on screen for less than twenty minutes in Les Misérables.

Although Skyfall wasn’t nominated for Best Film, Oscar night will be celebrating The Best of Bond in a 50th anniversary retrospective. It’s not confirmed but I heard that HRH is making a guest appearance arriving on stage via a zip wire.