Live Blog: The Oscars

Welcome to the Live Blog of the 85th Academy Awards from fabulous downtown Hollywood or, in my case, on the couch in the family room with my lap top, a pitcher of martinis and Parmesan popcorn, Oh, and lots of napkins. Feel free to critique the couture, I am sure there will be plenty of tastefully “coutured” ladies and gentlemen in designer gowns and tuxedos,  as well as, well as the faux pas, unintentional and otherwise. I always look for Helena Bonham Carter, who although not nominated this year, gave a memorable performance as Madame Thénardier in Les Misérables, along with Sacha Baron Cohen as her swindling innkeeper husband. She is the epitome of bizarre fashion. I’m looking forward to seeing her in this Summer’s Lone Ranger along with Johnny Depp as Tonto, The Lone Ranger‘s “faithful companion.”

My picks for the top four awards are:

Best Picture:Les Misérables because I’m French;

Best Director: Ang Lee for Life of Pi becuase he’s been nominated 11 times and never won;

Best Actor: Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables. He won this year’s Golden Globe Best Actor for his role as Jean Valjean and this is his first Oscar nomination.

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty because I think the Academy voters are just dumb enough to believe she “nailed” Osama bin Laden.

My other favorites to win awards are Brave for Best Animated Feature; Mirror Mirror for Best Costume Design (disclaimer: I know someone who has a friend with a family member in the cast); and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey for Best Visual Effects.

So, let’s go on with the show and the nominees are:

Best Picture:

Again this year, following the original format, there are nine nominees for the award:

• Amour – Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, and Michael Katz
• Argo – Grant Heslov, Ben Affleck, and George Clooney
• Beasts of the Southern Wild – Dan Janvey, Josh Penn, and Michael Gottwald
• Django Unchained – Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin, and Pilar Savone
• Les Misérables – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Debra Hayward, and Cameron Mackintosh
• Life of Pi – Gil Netter, Ang Lee, and David Womark
• Lincoln – Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy
• Silver Linings Playbook – Donna Gigliotti, Bruce Cohen, and Jonathan Gordon
• Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal, Kathryn Bigelow, and Megan Ellison

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

Best Actor:

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

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

The other nominations are below the fold.

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin – Argo
• Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook
• Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
• Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
• Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained

Best Supporting Actress

• Amy Adams – The Master
• Sally Field – Lincoln
• Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
• Helen Hunt – The Sessions
• Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Best Writing – Original Screenplay

• Amour – Michael Haneke
• Django Unchained – Quentin Tarantino
• Flight – John Gatins
• Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
• Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal

Best Writing – Adapted Screenplay

• Argo – Chris Terrio from The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez & The Great Escape by Joshuah Bearman
• Beasts of the Southern Wild – Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin from Juicy and Delicious by Lucy Alibar
• Life of Pi – David Magee from Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• Lincoln – Tony Kushner from Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
• Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell from The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick

Best Animated Feature

• Brave – Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
• Frankenweenie – Tim Burton
• ParaNorman – Sam Fell and Chris Butler
• The Pirates! Band of Misfits – Peter Lord
• Wreck-It Ralph – Rich Moore

Best Foreign Language Film

• Amour (Austria)
• Kon-Tiki (Norway)
• No (Chile)
• A Royal Affair (Denmark)
• War Witch (Canada)

Best Documentary – Feature

• 5 Broken Cameras – Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
• The Gatekeepers – Dror Moreh, Philippa Kowarsky, and Estelle Fialon
• How to Survive a Plague – David France and Howard Gertler
• The Invisible War – Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering
• Searching for Sugar Man – Malik Bendjelloul and Simon Chinn

Best Documentary – Short Subject

• Inocente – Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
• Kings Point – Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
• Mondays at Racine – Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
• Open Heart – Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
• Redemption – Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill

Best Live Action Short Film

• Asad – Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
• Buzkashi Boys – Sam French and Ariel Nasr
• Curfew – Shawn Christensen
• Death of a Shadow (Dood Van Een Schaduw) – Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
• Henry – Yan England

Best Animated Short Film

• Adam and Dog – Minkyu Lee
• Fresh Guacamole – PES
• Head over Heels – Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly
• The Longest Daycare – David Silverman
• Paperman – John Kahrs

Best Original Score

• Anna Karenina – Dario Marianelli
• Argo – Alexandre Desplat
• Life of Pi – Mychael Danna
• Lincoln – John Williams
• Skyfall – Thomas Newman

Best Original Song

• “Before My Time” from Chasing Ice – J. Ralph
• “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from Ted – Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane
• “Pi’s Lullaby” from Life of Pi – Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayashri
• “Skyfall” from Skyfall – Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
• “Suddenly” from Les Misérables – Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer, and Alain Boublil

Best Sound Editing

• Argo – Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
• Django Unchained – Wylie Stateman
• Life of Pi – Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
• Skyfall – Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
• Zero Dark Thirty – Paul N. J. Ottosson

Best Sound Mixing

• Argo – John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff, and Jose Antonio Garcia
• Les Misérables – Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson, and Simon Hayes
• Life of Pi – Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemphill, and Drew Kunin
• Lincoln – Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom, and Ronald Judkins
• Skyfall – Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell, and Stuart Wilson

Best Production Design

• Anna Karenina – Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Dan Hennah, Ra Vincent, and Simon Bright
• Les Misérables – Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson
• Life of Pi – David Gropman and Anna Pinnock
• Lincoln – Rick Carter and Jim Erickson

Best Cinematography

• Anna Karenina – Seamus McGarvey
• Django Unchained – Robert Richardson
• Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda
• Lincoln – Janusz Kamiński
• Skyfall – Roger Deakins

Best Makeup and Hairstyling

• Hitchcock – Howard Berger, Peter Montagna, and Martin Samuel
• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater, and Tami Lane
• Les Misérables – Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Best Costume Design

• Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran
• Les Misérables – Paco Delgado
• Lincoln – Joanna Johnston
• Mirror Mirror – Eiko Ishioka
• Snow White and the Huntsman – Colleen Atwood

Best Film Editing

• Argo – William Goldenberg
• Life of Pi – Tim Squyres
• Lincoln – Michael Kahn
• Silver Linings Playbook – Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
• Zero Dark Thirty – Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Best Visual Effects

• The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton, and R. Christopher White
• Life of Pi – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan de Boer, and Donald R. Elliott
• Marvel’s The Avengers – Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams, and Dan Sudick
• Prometheus – Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley, and Martin Hill
• Snow White and the Huntsman – Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould, and Michael Dawson