Oscar Nominations

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Luckily I was already awake early enough to catch the nominations on television, and it was totally worth it. The Academy made some pretty surprising nominations Thursday morning. Surprising for the Academy that is. But the obvious support of Beasts of the Southern Wild and Silver Linings Playbook in place of the predicted Les Miserables was the most intriguing for me: the most surprising and the most rewarding.



Beasts was probably my favorite film of year, but because of its independent status and its lack of support from studio Hollywood, I really didn't think Benh Zeitlin and his crew had much of a chance up against the crowd favorite Les Mis. Yet, both Benh Zeitlin and his star Quvenzhané Wallis made it in to their respective categories. Wallis is now the youngest Best Actress nominee in Oscar history, and if you haven't seen Beasts, these nominations are completely warranted.



Silver Linings Playbook also displayed a great amount of love with its nominations in all of the Best Performance categories, as well as David O. Russell snagging a nomination. I was lucky to get the chance to see the movie in theaters the night prior to nomination morning and was completely blown away. With the perfect amount of humor mixed with substantial characterization by Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, it was a greatly cohesive narrative buttressed by brilliant performances.



If I were the person to choose winners for the Oscars (from the list of nominees in the major categories) this is what the conclusion would be:

Best Picture: Beasts of the Southern Wild
Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis
Actress in a Leading Role: Quvenzhané Wallis (I haven't seen Zero Dark Thirty yet)
Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz
Actress in a Supporting Role: Amy Adams (Though I will admit her role was a bit underwritten)
Directing: Benh Zeitlin (David O. Russell a very close second)