85th Academy Award Winners

Well, the 2013 Oscars have come and gone. From Seth MacFarlane's moderately awkward attempt at hosting (seriously, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, WE ARE BEGGING YOU!!!) to J-Law face-planting on the steps to Ben Affleck's Argo taking home the Best Picture prize, the Academy Awards offered few surprises, but plenty of fun for viewers. And plenty of fun for the many films, as there wasn't a clear dominating film this year.  

Life of Pi ended up taking home the most naked, gold men statuettes with 4, followed by Argo's 3. While Lincoln was an early award season favorite, Spielberg's epic finished with 2 awards. A bit disappointing for sure, but nonetheless, not surprising as Argo was sweeping up the award circuit in the past months. As it has been painstakingly noted to death, Argo is the only film since the 1989 film Driving Home Miss Daisy to win Best Picture without having a Best Director nomination. In the biggest surprise of the evening, a tie between Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall for Best Sound Editing became only the sixth tie in Oscar history. The audience was so startled that equally stunned presenter Mark Walhberg said, "No BS, we have a tie." Ergo, nobody, I repeat NOBODY could have filled out a 100% correct Oscar ballot. So there.

One event that attracted attention was the post-Oscar protest of concerning Visual Effects. After being played off a bit early during the acceptance speech of Life of Pi Visual Effects winner, Ben Westenhofer, many people took to Twitter to point out the possible conspiracy. They claimed the Academy cut Westenhofer off early out of fear that he would mention the plight of VFX studios everywhere. It certainly is a problem, as Life of Pi (a film that based itself on visual effects) has been a big box office draw, yet the studio behind the visual effects, Rhymes & Hues had to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Westenhofer was able to get his message out, though, and in a statement he said:

"At a time when visual effects movies are dominating the box office, [the] visual effects companies are struggling. And I wanted to point out that we aren’t technicians. Visual effects is not just a commodity that’s being done by people pushing buttons. We’re artists, and if we don’t find a way to fix the business model, we start to loses the artistry. If anything, Life of Pi shows that we’re artists and not just technicians."

While the hubbub has been dying out, this might become a bigger problem in the future, especially due to the fact that, as Westenhofer pointed out, visual effects are becoming more and more necessary in big box office films.

Here are the winners of the 85th Academy Awards:

70th Annual Golden Globes and their Oscar Implications

Even though Ben Affleck's directing in Argo seemingly went unnoticed by the Academy, the Hollywood Foreign Press would not deny him at least some recognition. Affleck, while not nominated for Best Director in the upcoming Academy Awards, won the Critics' Choice Award and now the Golden Globe for the category that the Oscar voters snubbed him from. Argo also went on to win Best Picture for a Drama further muddying the waters for who will come out with the top prize at the Academy Awards.

The other big winner at the Golden Globes was Les Misérables. Tom Hooper's film took home Best Picture for a Comedy or Musical, along with actress Anne Hathaway winning Best Supporting Actress and Hugh Jackman winning Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical. While previously not projected to be a big player for Best Picture in the Academy Awards (musicals never do well, and the critics were mixed at best), Les Mis may be a force to be reckoned with.

The Golden Globes may not have the biggest impact on the Academy Awards, but it can give people a bit of a clearer indication on who will come out on top during the Oscars. However, this year added further complications with Argo and Les Mis winning big, along with other surprising, "un-Oscar-esque" picks.

The complete list of winners at the Golden Globes after their effect on the 85th Academy Awards:

Oscar Nominations for 2013

Earlier than I care for, the Oscar nominations were announced by Emma Stone and, to-be Oscar host, Seth McFarlane. There were certainly more than a few surprises (and huge snubs) for the 85th Academy Awards. Not surprisingly, Steven Spielberg's Oscar pandering sweeping epic, Lincoln, leads the way with 12 nominations. Ang Lee's self-righteous film snore visually stunning, Life of Pi, follows closely behind with 11.

Without any further ado, the official selection for the 85th Academy Awards!

EDIT: Just the Big 5 (more will come later)
Now that I'm out of class, here is the complete list.

Zero Dark Thirty, Les Mis, and Django Unchained Poised for Strong Award Season Runs

While it's far from being a three horse race for Best Picture, the trifecta of films set to release in December are rapidly garnering copious amounts of Oscar buzz. The early favorites such as Argo, Lincoln, and The Master should certainly not be forgotten, but the December newcomers are quickly overshadowing their Oscar-hopeful counterparts. Headlining this group is Katheryn Bigalow's bin Laden manhunt film, Zero Dark Thirty. Not to be ignored is Tom Hooper's gorgeous adaption of the musical, Les Misérables, and rounding out the trio is Django Unchained, the latest brutally brilliant film by Quentin Tarantino.

Although this group may not seem to have much in common (seriously, who'da thought that a musical, a gritty war film, and a slavery romp with Tarantino would be mentioned together?), all three are poised to make strong award circuit runs.

Cannes Film Festival 2012: Films in Competition

50th Anniversary of the Death of Marilyn Monroe

While Cannes is usually packed full of foreign language films, there is a strong presence of films from the United States for the 2012 festival. With six entries to compete for the prestigious Palme d'Or (or Golden Palm), the United States has as many films in competition as they have in the last three years combined. The class of 2012 should probably thank their predecessors, at least a little bit.

Can I have one...? My birthday's coming up...

Cannes 2011 featured three films from the United States, and all three ended up not only making a huge impact on Cannes but also on later film festivals and competitions. While only two of the entries from the United States were in competition, Terrence Malick's trippy dino romp Tree of Life won the Palme d'Or. The other two highly regarded films were Drive directed by Nicolas Winding Refn (who also won Best Director at Cannes) and Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris (which unfortunately wasn't in the running for the top prize). While these three films lost some steam heading into the "big time" award shows (specifically the Oscars), all of them generated a whole lot of buzz. Drive was featured on the top of many critics' best films of the year lists; Woody Allen took home Best Original Screenplay awards at the Golden Globes and the Oscars for Paris, and Malick's film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography. 

Even though many of the films that are highly regarded at Cannes don't usually make big splashes in the mainstream award shows (seriously, have you even heard of 2010's winner? Doubtful. Fun to say though), 2012 features many films that should be major players in competitions to come. 

While Paul Thomas Anderson's highly anticipated film, The Master, or Malick's latest and untitled project will not be unveiled at Cannes, the film festival still is packing a ton of power. It's not only the films from the United States that are going to make a splash either...

13 Oscar Contenders for '13

Well, we swung and totally missed out on the festivities of the 2012 Oscars... Some movie won, there was award show banter, and people were happy or sad about the winners. There. We didn't miss much... However, we do apologize whole-heartily for not covering the Oscars, as well as we should have. After all, we are, oh yeah, A MOVIE BLOG. Le sigh.

That being said, out with the old, in with the new! It's time to look forward and look forward we will. While the Oscar season may seem to be far off in the distance, it's never too early to think about what films are contenders to snatch up those weird gold, naked-men statues.

Do yourself a favor and WATCH THIS FILM!!!

After all, if we didn't cover the Oscars over the summer, you'd be bogged down by the latest superhero flick or mindless action movie... Not that there's anything wrong with that, just... Sometimes, a breath of high-brow film making is a sweet, sweet thing.

Like in years past, I have compiled a list of films that could be contenders in the upcoming Academy Awards. While my track record is less than stellar... these are films that should at least be kept tabs on. Even though some of the main Oscar buzz won't come until October or November at the earliest, again, it's never too early to look forward to these Oscar-esque films!

Here is a list of 13 films that should be contenders for the 2013 Academy Awards...