BackWho do you think should take home the Best Picture Oscar?
Our snappy and essential guide to this year’s Academy Awards
Premium(There’s a comforting predictability to the Oscars ceremony, but there’s also some degree of suspense about who will win.)
Hollywood’s annual ritual of patting itself on the back will take place on 24 February. There’s a comforting predictability to the Oscars ceremony, but there’s also some degree of suspense about who will win, and in which category. Academy Awards members have been known to deny favourites their anticipated glory as well as shower several golden statuettes on a single production. We cast our eyes on this year’s Best Picture nominations, and place our bets on their chances. The Oscars will be telecast live on Star Movies on Monday 25 February from 6am onwards. Cast your own vote and tell us what you think.
Life Of Pi
Chances are: Despite its bravura cinematography and visual effects, Life of Pi doesn’t stand much of a chance against all-American stories like Lincoln and Argo. We predict a sweep in the technical awards categories.
You decide: If you think Life of Pi should win the Best Picture Oscar, vote here.
Silver Linings Playbook
Chances are: The movie has been nominated in seven other categories, including four acting nods, so we are betting that it will score better for its histrionics.
You decide: If you think Silver Linings Playbook should win the Best Picture Oscar, vote here.
Lincoln
Chances are: Lincoln will pick up Best Picture, unless Argo spoils its moment.
You decide: If you think Lincoln should win the Best Picture Oscar, vote here.
Argo
Chances are: If there is any movie that can upset Steven Spielberg’s latest bid for glory, it is this one. Affleck’s crowd-pleasing political thriller has been vowing several film award juries. He looks all set to cast the same spell on the Academy, unless it has been infiltrated by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
You decide: If you think Argo should win the Best Picture Oscar, vote here.
Zero Dark Thirty
Kathryn Bigelow’s procedural is about the manhunt for the Al Qaeda chief, which ended on May 2, 2011, in Abbottabad in Pakistan. Bigelow’s previous nail-biting military-themed thriller, The Hurt Locker, won her six Oscars. Will the Academy show the filmmaker her place this time and let somebody else take home the goodies? She has been dropped from the Best Director nomination for some reason.
Chances are: The Academy’s members, who are liberal to a fault, are likely to take into account the controversies around the movie’s depiction of custodial torture and give Bigelow the cold shoulder.
You decide: If you think Zero Dark Thirty should win the Best Picture Oscar, vote here.
Les Miserables
Chances are: We’re guessing a blank for Best Picture, but most definitely gongs for music, costume and production design.
You decide: If you think Les Miserables should win the Best Picture Oscar, vote here.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Chances are: Slim – the movie is too indie and out there, not to mention dark and often despondent.
You decide: If you think Beasts of the Southern Wild should win the Best Picture Oscar, vote here.
Amour
Chances are: Amour has some chances of being the invisible force that moves the hand wiping away tears towards the box that says yes, yes (sob), yes, for Best Picture.
You decide: If you think Amour should win the Best Picture Oscar, vote here.
Django Unchained
Chances are: QT will have to wait for another day.
You decide: If you think Django Unchained should win the Best Picture Oscar, vote here.
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