When monster meets monster, one monster has to give way, and it will NEVER be ME.
— Geraldine Page, Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
Love her. What a talent.
Geraldine Page - ‘Sweet Bird Of Youth’ - 1962
GERALDINE I want to be you
me too!
James Dean with the great Geraldine Page in her dressing room, New York City, 1955.
Lmao
(Source: graceawaits)
You’re doing it again.
Having perfectly normal conversations while standing right on top of each other, and you, Barnabas, giving her that look.
I hope you all appreciate the lengths I had to go to to snag this snazzy shot of Julia’s gorgeous face. (I’m not even entirely satisfied with it.)
It was a simple enough shot, but idk I guess Julia was sort of batting her eyelashes at Barnabas or something, because just about every shot I took she in various stages of blinking.
Best Picture:
Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
When the award season officially kicked off, it was all about Les Miserables and Lincoln. Of course all of this mayhem began to ensue even before the Oscar nominations were announced. Those nods came out at about the same time the Golden Globe awards were to be handed out. Everything seemed to be running smoothly until Oscar snubbed Ben Affleck for best Director. So long Lincoln and Les Mis and hello Argo and Ang Lee. Isn’t it amazing what one big snub can do in movie land? Obviously by this time we know Ben Affleck’s snub was a shameful one and unforgivable, but honestly what else is new coming from Oscar? I say this because Affleck has managed to not only be nominated for every major directing award, but he’s also won them all. Including the all important Director’s Guild award. He even managed to win Best Director at the BAFTA’s-The British equivalent of the Oscars. I mean that’s a whole different country for crying out loud, not to mention Argo won best picture there and everywhere else as well.
So without his one and only missed nomination of the year (ridiculous), this leaves the director category wide open for consideration. I personally am not happy with all the nominees.
My Choice:
Ben Affleck (Argo)
Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty)
Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)
Quentin Tarrantino (Django Unchained)
Actual Nominee’s
Michael Haneke (Amour)
Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
David O’Russell (Silver Linings Playbook)
Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)
Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Affleck’s snub hurts Spielberg’s win for Lincoln, so I’m pretty sure Affleck’s consolation prize will be the mother prize, Best Picture for Argo. Not to mention George Clooney is behind Argo and it won Best picture at the BAFTA’s, Globes and Best cast at the S.A.G. awards. This makes it the obvious frontrunner.
With Argo probably winning Best Picture this will leave voters up in the air to think twice about who the actual winner of best director should really go to. I believe they will steer away from Spielberg and wind up giving the award to Ang Lee. I believe out of the five nominee’s Ang Lee deserves it the most. Who would have thought The Life of Pi could easily be made into a movie? Lee owned this script and he makes you believe that no one else could have done anywhere near the spectacular job he did.
A lot of critics praised Lincoln, but there were a few who criticized it for being slightly overlong and if you’ll forgive me, “historically boring.” To you critics who said that, here is my short note to you: “You are retarded.” I thought the film was excellent. Unfortunately I believe the length and comments might hurt Spielberg’s chance, but he could be the surprise winner of the night.
The only film I have not seen is Amour. It is a given that the only award this movie will receive is best foreign film. In fact it has a 100% chance overall. Why is it obvious? Well it’s the only foreign nominee up for best picture…Wait to go Austria. Director opinion: Who the hell is Michael Haneke? Not a chance.
The other two directors we have are Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild) and David O’Russell (Silver Lining’s Playbook). I enjoyed Beasts of the Southern Wild for its originality and overall performances. This was the little Independent film that could and managed to make it to Oscars home, but that’s as far as it will go. David O’Russell could be a possibility for runner up in the category. Silver Linings is also up for Best Picture, screenplay, and 4 acting awards (one in each acting category). Overall however, the writing, acting and the power of Robert Deniro outshines the director.
Best Actress:
Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
Naomi Watts (The Impossible)
I have unfortunately only seen three out of the 5 nominations, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the three that will matter most on Oscar night. Frontrunners are Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain. Emmanuelle Riva may have won the BAFTA, but with that one and only major win it won’t stand for much. When I think about The Academy Awards overall, something tells me that if she were slightly younger she wouldn’t have even been nominated, but I could be wrong. Opinion only. The S.A.G awards tend to go out to the actors most likely to win at the Oscars (except for last year, Viola Davis won S.A.G. but Meryl Streep won Oscar!! Still loving that).
If the prediction of Oscar winner is unpredictable, usually they hand the S.A.G to a much older, experienced and elite actor, as kind of an honorary win for their career perhaps. In this case Jennifer Lawrence won over both Riva and Chastain. Riva has no chance. Not to say we Americans don’t love to nominate amazing foreign actors. They definitely have a great chance at winning. Remember that lady who played in Sophie’s Choice, or how about that one from Out of Africa, perhaps you remember that British lady who won best actress last year. Let’s not forget about the Australian who was nominated for A Cry in the Dark…I mean they do get plenty of shots. Ok, that was a bad joke and if you were completely lost by that, then you obviously have some catching up to do. Lawrence and Wallis are the most deserving of the Oscar in my opinion, but seeing how Wallis has lost all the major awards this gives Lawrence the edge. The Globe win, S.A.G win and her popularity with the Hunger Games means gold. Not to mention she was previously nodded for Winter’s Bone.
There is no denying Chastain’s popularity and her fresh nod from last year’s huge hit The Help. Not to mention her acting chops are amazing, but it’s not enough this year. Chastain gave an excellent performance in Zero Dark Thirty, but really any other good actress can be seen in her role playing Kick Ass. Even Jennifer Lawrence. However, I cannot see Chastain or anyone else in Lawrence’s role. There is no doubt in my mind that Chastain will win Oscar at some point in her career, but not this year.
Best Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
Bradley Cooper (Silver Linings Playbook)
Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables)
Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)
Denzel Washington (Flight)
There isn’t much to say here. If you’re up against Daniel Day-Lewis you’re screwed. He is the male equivalent of Meryl Streep. They are considered the two greatest living actors for a reason. Together both will have 6 Oscars, and that’s more than impressive.
Here is some interesting and non sense trivia. The Oscars have been handing out trophies since 1927, so this will be its 85th year. I’m going to pick the top 10 Oscar winners and just the amount of trophy’s that these 10 earned makes the award seem a little more elite in saying that really not everyone wins an Oscar. Meryl Streep, Daniel Day Lewis, Katharine Hepburn, Jodie Foster ,Sally Field, Jane Fonda, Luise Rainer, Bette Davis, Ingrid Bergman, and Spencer Tracy = 24 Oscars…only 2 of those being in a supporting category. There have been a few more double winners, so really there have not been too many actors in the past 85 years who have actually managed to win. Definitely not anywhere near 85.
Although sometimes the choice of nominees is ridiculous and Sandra Bullock winning in 2009 over Meryl Streep’s Julia Child is a little bit more than a joke…popularity contest. No offense, I do enjoy Sandra Bullock. She cracks me up. That makes me believe that there are some years that don’t matter, the films are mostly mediocre so the voters become lazy. Give me a break.
Anyway back to this year’s male contenders. Hugh Jackman was wonderful in Les Miserables and very believable but overall that movie should have been grander as far as musical sequences went. Master of the House is one of my favorite overall moments and it was nothing short of flat in this movie. What kills Jackman’s chance is the fact that no movie version will ever be as great as it is when seen on stage.
Denzel Washington was excellent in Flight but I kept being reminded of Ray Milland in The Lost Weekend. This type of role has been done a million times over.
Daniel Day-Lewis played Abraham Lincoln and nailed it. My runner up is Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings. He played bipolar and managed to play it in away where he could still get laughs and be truly likable without being offensive. He became a character that I’m sure many people can identify with. That’s not easy to do.
Original Screenplay:
Amour
Django Unchained
Flight
Moonrise Kingdom
Zero Dark Thirty
I can’t say much for Amour (really hate my theatre sometimes) because I have not been able to see it. My favorite nominee here is Django Unchained. By far the most original, entertaining and creative film in this category (sorry Moonrise Kingdom). My runner up goes to Zero Dark Thirty mainly because it’s not completely original. I mean it’s technically written in our American history books that Osama is going down! Both Django and Zero Dark Thirty are completely mesmerizing and truly entertaining to a tee despite both films long lengths. They are both extremely well crafted and directed. Flight was excellent but like I said previously, it is a story that has been done over a million times. The only difference is the lead character happens to be a pilot.
Moonrise Kingdom is cute but Wes Anderson is definitely an acquired taste. I like some of his other work better. My favorite part about this film was the cast despite Angelica Huston not being a part of it. WHAT? She’s like a Wes Anderson staple. Kudos to Tilda Swinton who actually managed to look attractive in this film. I’m just not sure I really liked this one overall.
Adapted Screenplay:
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Silver Linings Playbook
Personally I believe this is one of the most difficult categories of the night to predict. All five nominees are deserving of the gold statuette. Most likely it will go to Argo However I would say Silver Linings and Life of Pi are close on the heels of a win as well. The Life of Pi must have been the most difficult to adapt and the special effects are nothing less than spectacular. Not to mention I’m sure the writer’s had to be super careful bringing the religious aspect of the book to film without being offensive etc. or just plain not making it ridiculous. The one thing that could hold of its win is the special effects. All the glory will go to them putting the writing in 2nd place. Maybe even 3rd right after Ang Lee’s amazing direction.
Silver Linings because they managed to adapt a book about people with mental disorders and make it funny and romantic without being offensive. Like I said before, this is a very relatable story and one I find even myself relating to. When a film is well written, relatable and the actors nail their roles it’s bound to see some gold somewhere. In this case that will most likely be seen in the best actress category.
Lincoln is a possibility and I loved the film. Unfortunately many thought the length of the film was long and if you’ll forgive me for saying, “boring.” In my opinion if you thought it was boring, you probably didn’t like American History when you were in school or you have crap tasted in film. You probably think The Hangover is the greatest movie ever made…ok that movie is funny but you know what I mean.
Beasts of the Southern Wild was excellent but what shines the most overall in this film is the young actress Quvenzhane Wallis.
Best Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin (Argo)
Robert Deniro (Silver Linings Playbook)
Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)
Phillip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)
Christoph Waltz
The most interesting thing about this category is that all the nominees are previous Academy Award winners. My personal vote would go to Christoph Waltz. Waltz won the Golden Globe but was ridiculously overlooked for a nomination at the S.A.G. awards. Tommy Lee Jones deservedly won the S.A.G. Jones is only my runner up because he was amazing enough in Hope Springs that I whole heartedly believe he was sorely overlooked for a lead actor nomination. Lincoln may be the better film, but…
Alan Arkin is a favorite of mine and he was hilarious as the movie mogul in Argo, but John Goodman was just as wonderful-not to mention he also appeared in this year’s nominated film Flight as well. The man is a fine actor and deserves some glory. He even had a role in last year’s best picture winner The Artist…could it happen again?
Robert Deniro was hilarious as the OCD father of Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings. I can’t speak for Phillip Seymour Hoffman because The Master is one of the 2 critical films I have not seen for this year’s Oscars. Damned my theater! Overall I am happy with all the nominees and this will be difficult to predict but I personally believe one of the biggest snubs of the year belongs to Eddie Redmayne who played Marius in Les Miserables. He gave a superb performance with an extremely emotional role and his singing was very good. He was truly marvelous.
Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams (The Master)
Sally Field (Lincoln)
Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)
Helen Hunt (The Sessions)
Jackie Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook)
Sally Field is my favorite contender in this category. She did a fantastic job portraying Mary Todd Lincoln and it was refreshing to see her back up on the big screen. Not to mention seeing Sally Field and Daniel Day Lewis act side by side was movie magic. Let’s face it though, this is Anne Hathaway’s year 100%. Plus she’s already proven that she’s Oscar material with her great performance in Rachel Getting Married. Also being in the blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises as cat woman no less really helps her out. She truly does deserve to win for Les Miserables no matter what. Who would have ever thought the Princess of Genovia would win an Oscar?
Jack Weaver doesn’t have a chance but I really like her. However, her performance in Animal Kingdom a few years back was far more memorable.
Overall Predictions
Best Picture
My Choice: Argo
Runner up: Django Unchained
Could be surprise: Lincoln
Will Win: Argo
Best Director:
My Choice: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
Runner up: Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)
Could be surprise: Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)
Will Win: Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
Original Screenplay
My Choice: Django Unchained
Runner up: Zero Dark Thirty
Could be surprise: Moonrise Kingdom
Will Win: Django Unchained
Adapted Screenplay:
My Choice: Argo
Runner up: Silver Linings Playbook
Could Be Surprise: Life of Pi
Will Win: Argo
Best Actor
My Choice: Daniel Day Lewis
Runner up: Bradley Cooper
Could be surprise: No surprise here
Will Win: Daniel Day Lewis
Best Actress
My Choice: Jennifer Lawrence
Runner up: Quvenzhane Wallis
Could be Surprise: Jessica Chastain
Will Win: Jennifer Lawrence
Best Supporting Actress
My Choice: Sally Field
Runner up: Anne Hathaway
Could be Surprise: No surprise here
Will Win: Anne Hathaway
Best Supporting Actor:
My Choice:Christoph Waltz
Runner up: Robert Deniro
Could be Surprise: Tommy Lee Jones
Will Win: Christoph Waltz
For Graysonphiles everywhere. This bit of footage of the 1965 Oscar ceremonies includes a glimpse of Grayson Hall smiling a little nervously as her nomination for “The Night of the Iguana” is called (at about 0:12).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uS5zp5Z46I8
*From the Grayson group at Facebook.
Classy dame
Grayson Hall :):):)
(Source: ladyoftheseine)
Grayson Hall
(via whenwewerecool)
Grayson Hall (Night of Dark Shadows)
(Source: portiafitzsimmons)
[video]
I have a feeling I will be failing my 6 Months (300 movie bet) because I can’t stop watching Murder She Wrote and my beloved Dark Shadows…Jessica Fletcher and Dr. Julia Hoffman HAVE TAKEN’ OVER!! Kick Ass!
Seriously…Don’t mess with those women …
…REALLY