So what is wrong with Hollywood and the Academy?
Some of their decisions are great. Argo was a fantastic film and deserved to win best picture. The costumes in Anna Karenina were incredible. The costume designer for that deserved the praise she was given. The effects in The Life of Pi were mind blowing. I haven't actually seen Lincoln but from what I have heard the movie was average but the performance by Daniel Day-Lewis was amazing. But Best Actress going to Jennifer Lawrence? I mean....What the what?
Fair enough she is a good actress and she played her part in Silver Linings Playbook pretty well. But what was that role if it wasn't just a rom-com type role? There was nothing special about it. Nothing that made me jump out of my seat, or cry because there was too much emotion, or shock me or anything along those lines really. It was a fairly solid performance but did she deserve to win Best Actress for it. No. I'm not thinking so.
Lets go through the list of other (much more deserving) nominees shall we.
Amour is truly an incredible movie. I cried the whole way through it. And then I cried for ages afterwards and I could not function like a proper human being for the rest of the day (and or week). This film deserves all the praise that it has received and more. Emmanuelle Riva is beautiful and her performance in Amour is both riveting and devastating. I don't think I had prepared myself emotionally for the impact this film would have on me. Riva's performance is burned into my memory. It is not a movie that I will not forget easily as it touched me so deeply.
But, alas, no win for Riva.
Beasts of the Southern Wild is my pick for 2012 and has probably taken the trophy of my favourite film (for now). And what a beautiful film it was. It blew me away. I was lost for words. Crying because I was happy but crying because I was filled with sadness. The beauty of the story and the beauty of the characters was all a bit much for me. Ben Zeitlin is a bit of a genius and now Quenzhané Wallis is queen of independent film. And rightfully so. She is so great she is only 9 years old. How a 9 year old can affect me so much I don't know. She is just brilliant.
But she didn't win.
Zero Dark Thirty was one of the more controversial films of the past year. Jessica Chastain plays the woman that finally ended the 11 year man hunt by locating America's most wanted. The crap that this woman had to deal with and the situations she was in everyday were insane. She was recruited straight out of school and this was her whole life. Considering that no one knows the exact biography of this lady, Chastain does a g reat job and I really felt her hopelessness and loneliness. Her performance wasn't as astounding as the two previously mentioned but it was still a really great performance.
Then there is Noami Watts. If yo have read my review on The Impossible then you will already know how I feel about this lady and this performance. I didn't like it is enough said.
Silver Linings Playbook is basically a rom-com. It doesn't offer much more than the same boy meets girl and after a few complications and confusions, gets with said girl. These movies are a dime a dozen and just because somebody changes the context slightly, doesn't make it a great film. I don't know who Jennifer Lawrence paid for her o win this award bu there was something seriously wrong with her winning it. There was nothing special about that performance, nothing that really took me by surprise. So she would occasionally scare a guy when he was on a run and stalk him. Maybe yell a little. Why hand someone an Oscar for this. I am sure we all do this at least once a day.
And I don't know if this was just in Australia, but during the ad breaks for the Oscars they would say who this particular show was brought to you by; "This program is proudly brought to you by...Silver Linings Plaaybook." I kid you not. Someone was seriously plugging that movie and through the movie all that people that were nominated for it.
Contrary to what I have been writing, I did enjoy this movie. I didn't love it but I thought it was a lot of fun. I also didn't hate Jennifer Lawrence's performance. Although it does make me super angry now that she has won.
Also on a little side note, posing with your award giving the finger? I mean maybe some people like Meryl Streep who own at life (acting) could get away with this because she is so ridiculously amazing in everything she does (including getting the flu- Poehler and Fey 2012) but not when you are so new to the game and don't deserve the award you have "won".
I thought this was judged on acting.
