The 86th Academy Awards Winners
An Oscar is undoubtedly the biggest honor any filmmaker could receive for their hard work in creating a cinematic work. While I may hear amongst many of the people in my life just how much they don't care about the evening's victors, I treat my viewing of the Academy Awards almost like the average American treats the Super Bowl. Growing up in an extremely small town, a lot of the nominated films weren't accessible to me and my predictions really reflected my sheltered viewings. Now that I'm in actual civilization, I've been able to catch a lot of the films, and I must say that I have become quite a professional at guessing who will be taking home the big prize of the evening. Last Friday I wrote a post on my predictions for the major categories of the evening, and I am proud to say I was pretty much eight for eight with my guesses. Perhaps I should say 7.5 for reasons of my Best Picture award, but I highly doubt anyone cares too much about that. With that said, here are this year's winners...
The 86th Academy Awards Winners Predictions
The early months of any year are full of awards and recognitions for all of those filmmakers who worked hard in the previous year to produce a form of entertainment that will have the capability to transcend the decades. While a variety of these award nights seem to take precedence throughout these first few weeks of the year, they all seem to merely be leading up to the largest of filmmaking honor ceremonies: The Academy Awards. The night on which the golden Oscar is distributed seems to always be the hype, and these smaller ceremonies just add to the predictions that film fanatics everywhere are making for the late winter celebration. 2013 brought a lot of excitement for filmgoers around the world, and this Sunday could be the test of whether a viewer's favorite film executed just the right amount of excellence for the Academy to spread cheer. So, without further blabber on my part, here is what I think will be receiving each honor this weekend.
[Trailer 2] Her
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A new trailer for Spike Jonze's Her was released yesterday. While the debut trailer that released in August was cut like a short film illustrating a full arc, this new trailer is cut more traditionally. Her is Jonze's ode to love and technology starring Joaquin Phoenix as a lovelorn romantic falling for his OS system, Sam (played by Scarlett Johansson). It's a play on the romance genre with a sci-fi twist that is driven more so on the performance of its leads rather than the central "gimmick" of the film.
Recently, Her made headlines when the Golden Globes announced that Johansson's performance would not be eligible for Best Supporting Actress consideration due to her not physically appearing in the film. However, the Academy Awards and Screen Actors Guild approved of her performance for award eligibility. From what I've heard out of previous screenings of the film, Her has been captivating and considered one of the best films of the year, already finding placement on most critics' end of the year lists.
We'll find out how good Her is when it's released in more theaters on December 18th.
[Trailer] Her
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As both technology and what's deemed "acceptable" in society grow and evolve, how and who we fall in love with adapts with all of the changes. Just 10 years ago, online dating was frowned upon; however, dating sites like OKCupid have become a bit of a norm for those looking to meet significant others that might not be able to do such under normal situations. Especially considering how large of a role social media has become in our lives, it's easy to make emotional connections with people that we possibly have never actually met in person.
Writer/director Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are) is returning from a short break from feature films to explore and analyze the changes and relationship between love and technology with his next film, Her. Joaquin Phoenix (The Master) stars as Theodore Twombly, a classic romantic introvert making his way through a recent breakup. When he hears about an advanced operating system that advertises a personalized guide, Theodore purchases one and is introduced to Stephanie (Scarlett Johansson). Before long, the connection between the two grows, and they both find themselves falling in love, the man to the machine, the machine to the man.
Her is an interesting exploration of what "love" really means with a light sci-fi element added to it. Phoenix looks to be back to top form (as if he wasn't already in The Master) following his performance episode a few years back. Johansson, too, despite only appearing in a voice role, is ever-enticing, despite not physically appearing in the film. We can all discover what Jonze has to say about love when Her hits theaters on November 20th.