I have still not seen Zero Dark Thirty, Django Unchained or The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, but after watching Les Miserables last night it is rather clear to me it is a certain Best Picture nominee and should lock down three acting nominations for Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe and Anne Hathaway, the latter of which you can pretty much sew up Best Supporting Actor right now as her rendition of “I Dreamed a Dream” will leave you floored. (And on a side note, Samantha Barks is great!)
However, after keeping Les Miserables at #1 since I first revealed my predictions back in September it is time for a switch.
Almost immediately after seeing Lincoln it felt like a film the Academy would eat up and now after seeing Les Mis it’s quite clear Lincoln has a little more of that general appeal Academy members tend to go for along with top notch performances, particularly one from Daniel Day-Lewis that will find him breaking an Oscar record this year.
This isn’t to say the tide still can’t shift back into Les Mis‘ favor. After all, there is still an embargo on reviews and many have still yet to see it. I am only speaking based on my own personal feeling of what the Academy will vote for and the buzz that is currently in the air. To that effect, this weekend still holds a lot of possibility for this race as two more films will become even more widely seen.
On top of additional screenings of Zero Dark Thirty this weekend and throughout next week, critics and award season pundits will begin screening Django Unchained and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. So far there is really nothing out there on either of the latter two films, but you can guarantee by Monday the chatter will be quite lively.
One film I also don’t want to forget to mention is Argo, which I’m now beginning to wonder if it can, in any way, leapfrog to the top. Audiences and critics are loving it and it’s made just shy of $150 million worldwide, which is impressive given the fact it’s a political-minded adult feature. But can it top the epic nature of Lincoln, which Dreamworks is pushing hard and surely has more in store? I don’t think it can, but I’ve been known to be wrong before.
Just below are my latest predictions for Best Picture. You can get my full field of 19 contenders right here.
- Lincoln
- Les Miserables
- Argo
- Silver Linings Playbook
- Zero Dark Thirty
- Life of Pi
- Beasts of the Southern Wild
- Moonrise Kingdom
- The Master
