Oscars 2013 Thoughts

Well the 85th Academy Awards finally happened and overall it was better than I had expected. Seth MacFarlene was our host; and while he did have his corny moments, there were definitely moments of laughter he provided me with -- plus his singing pieces weren't so bad. For this year's Oscars, they decided to go with a musical theme -- honoring musicals of the past ten years. I liked the musical segments. We had the pleasure of seeing Catherine Zeta-Jones being sexy in her Chicago performance, then Jennifer Hudson took over and performed a powerful piece bringing us back to Dreamgirls. Then the wonderful cast of Les Miserables closed out the segment showcasing some powerful singing. The Oscars this year was in no way perfect but I really enjoyed it better than last year's show. It felt more lively and Seth MacFarlene was a decent enough host. I really hope they get Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on board as hosts for next year's show.

I thought the James Bond montage could have showcased more but Adele and Dame Shirley Bassey's performances rocked the house nonetheless. This year's categories were unpredictable for me, but at the same time I wasn't that surprised at the winners of each category. Life of Pi ended the night with the most wins (4), Argo and Les Miserables finished the night with 3 wins each and Django Unchained, Lincoln and Skyfall with 2 awards each.

Argo wins Best Picture, Ang Lee wins Best Director

It wasn't a surprise that Argo won this award. Ever since director Ben Affleck got snubbed of a best director nomination, Argo has been the frontrunner this award season. Argo is one of my fave movies of 2012 but I never really thought of it as a Best Picture winner - instead I was more rooting for Ben to win the best director award. Fortunately for Ben Affleck, this snub caused an outrage and gave him an awards season to remember. Still, Argo is a riveting movie worth the watch.

If you saw Life of Pi in 3D, then I don't see why anyone should be mad that Ang Lee won Best Director. It was a breathtaking theater experience and very deserving if you ask me. I was kinda disappointed that Argo and Zero Dark Thirty was snubbed from this category because they should have been included. All the nominees were great.

Acting Awards

Was there any doubt that Daniel Day-Lewis would not take home the Best Actor Oscar? Not at all. The other nominees were impressive but Day-Lewis standed tall completely submerging himself in his role as President Lincoln. I was also rooting for Bradley Cooper who I thought was crazily impressive but it's pretty hard going up against a legend. The ever so impressive Jennifer Lawrence took home the Best Actress award, beating out frontrunners Emmanuelle Riva and Jessica Chastain. I still think Leonardo DiCaprio should have won Best Supporting Actor but unfortunately he was snubbed. However his co-star Christoph Waltz who was also exceptional in Django Unchained took home his second best supporting actor award, courtesy of Quentin Tarantino. Anne Hathaway, like Daniel Day-Lewis, had her category locked. Best Supporting Actress was her award and the whole world knew it.

The Screenplays!

I was hoping Silver Linings Playbook would have won Best Adapted Screenplay but Argo took it - better luck next time David O. Russell. Argo's screenplay was nonetheless fantastic and deserving. Quentin Tarantino continues to show how truly great of a writer he is -- Django Unchained is the second time he has won an Oscar for Original Screenplay.

Amour wins Best Foreign Language film. I found this movie a bit slow at times but I thought the performances were great. I'm still pissed that my favourite movie of 2012 The Intouchables was not in this category but the nominees were all great selections. Brave won the award for Best Animated Film, which I found a bit weird. Wreck-It Ralph, Paranorman and Frankenweenie were all better in my opinion. As expected, Life of Pi dominates the technical awards such as Best Cinematography, Best Visuals Effects and Best Original Score. Skyfall and Adele brought home the Oscar for Best Original Song which was quite deserving. That song definitely set the atmosphere in a great movie.

Check out the other Oscar winners for these categories here:

 Oscar Winners and Nominees