Erin's Oscar Reviews 2012

The Oscar Award nominations were announced on January xx 2013, and so begins my annual quest to see as many as possible before Oscar Night (02/26/13). Fifty-three (53) films were nominated in 24 categories. On the day of the announcement, I had already seen 9 films (17%). To date (01/14/13), I have seen 12 films (22%).

The hardest films to see are always the short documentaries. If you know where I might go to see these films, please send me note.

I was disappointed to see that Kathryn Bigelow wasn't nominated this year. Her film was nominated, and I hope it does well.

The films are listed below in alphabetical order. I will add reviews of each film as soon as I see the film. The date in parenthesis is the date I saw the film.

1. Adam and Dog: nominated for best short film.
2. Amour: nominated for best actress, best picture, best directing, best foreign language film, and best original screenplay
3. Anna Karenina: nominated for best cinematography, best costume design, best original score, and best production design.
4. Argo: nominated for best supporting actor, best picture, best film editing, best original score, best sound editing, best sound mixing, and best adapted screenplay.
5. Asad: nominated for best short film (live action)
6. Beasts of the Southern Wild: nominated for best actress, best picture, best directing, and best adapted screenplay.
7. Buzkashi Boys: nominated for best short film (live action)
8. Brave: nominated for best animated feature film. I LOVED this film. (12/31/2012)
9. Chasing Ice: nominated for best original song.
10. Curfew: nominated for best short film (live action)
11. Death of a Shadow: nominated for best short film (live action).
12. Django Unchained: nominated for best supporting actor, best picture, best cinematography, best sound editing, and best original screenplay.
13. Flight: nominated for best actor and best original screenplay.
14. Frankenweenie: nominated for best animated film. I saw this film on the cruise ship. I love the homage to every monster film from the 1950s. (10/05/2012)
15. Fresh Guacamole: nominated for best short film (animated)
16. The Gatekeepers: nominated for best documentary.
17. Head Over Heels: nominated for best short film (animated).
18. Henry: nominated for best short film (live action).
19. Hitchcock: nominated for best makeup.
20. The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey: nominated for best makeup, best production design, and best visual effects. Another truly beautiful film from Middle Earth. I was as surprised as anyone that it is being stretched into three films, but not disappointed. (12/26/2012)
21. The Impossible: nominated for best actress.
22. Inocente: nominated for best documentary short.
23. The Invisible War: nominated for best documentary. This film is about rape in the U.S. military. It is a real downer. It is an important story, but there is only a very small ray of hope at the end. It makes me just too sad.
24. Kings Point: nominated for best documentary short.
25. Kon-Tiki: nominated for best foreign language film.
26. Les Miserables: nominated for best actor, best supporting actress, best picture, best costume design, best makeup, best original song, best production design, and best sound mixing. A great film, expertly done, but just too sad to watch twice. My favorite bit was when our hero sings about his future as a father, and he finally sees his life as full of hope. (12/25/2012)
27. Life of Pi: nominated for best picture, best cinematography, best directing, best film editing, best original score, best original song, best production design, best sound editing, best sound mixing, best visual effects, best adapted screenplay.
28. Lincon: nominated for best actor, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best picture, best cinematography, best costume design, best directing, best film editing, best original score, best production design, best sound mixing, and best adapted screenplay. Awesome! It was strange to see Congressmen describing Lincoln as a tyrant. Reminded me of all the bumper stickers calling Bush a war criminal. I wonder if Lincoln was really so soft-spoken and self-evaluating. And never would have guessed that even the Congressmen doing the right thing would have to sell their souls, and the winners would have to make such compromises. (01/13/2013)
29. Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare": nominated for best short film (animated).
30. Marvel's the Avengers: nominated for best visual effects. A super fun romp through the comic books again.
31. The Master: nominated for best actor, supporting actor, and best supporting actress.
32. Mirror, Mirror: nominated for best costume design. Super funny. I love that both Snow White films are nominated this year.
33. Mondays at Racine: nominated for best documentary short.
34. Moonrise Kingdom: nominated for best original screenplay.
35. No: nominated for best foreign language film.
36. Open Heart: nominated for best documentary short.
37. Paperman: nominated for best short film (animated).
38. Paranorman: nominated for best animated film.
39. The Pirates! Band of Misfits: nominated for best animated film.
40. Prometheus: nominated for best visual effects.
41. Redemption: nominated for best documentary short.
42. A Royal Affair: nominated for best foreign language film,
43. Searching for Sugarman: nominated for best documentary feature.
44. The Sessions: nominated for best supporting actress.
45. Silver Linings Playbook: nominated for best actor, best supporting actor, best actress, best supporting actress, best picture, best directing, best film editing, and best adapted screenplay.
46. Skyfall: nominated for best cinematography, best original score, best, original song, best sound editing, and best sound mixing. Too sad when M dies. I have really liked this new Bond, I’m worried they are trying to get back to the old Bond.
47. Snow White and the Huntsman: nominated for best costume design and best visual effects. The visual effects were stunning!
48. How to Survive a Plague: nominated for best documentary feature. This film is about the AIDS epidemic. I really liked it. I appreciated the historic review of events I sort of remember, and I appreciated that the first part is all righteous indignation against political leaders who won't prioritize the research, but then when it does get the attention it deserves, the science is still so hard that there is a real fear that it might not make any difference. Its just dumb luck that they finally do find an effective treatment, but ultimately it is a story of survival, and that's a good thing.
49. Ted: nominated for best original song.
50. War Witch: nominated for best foreign language film.
51. Wreck-it Ralph: nominated for best animated film.
52. Zero Dark Thirty: nominated for best actress, best picture, best film editing, best sound editing, and best original screenplay.
53. 5 Broken Cameras: nominated for best documentary feature.