Amidst the bitter cold of these winter evenings, not much is bringing me comfort except my hot water bottle. Writing that sentence was genuinely the first time in my life I have ever felt really old, but anyway.
The point is; it’s dark, it’s cold and getting out of bed becomes increasingly more difficult with every passing day. What I needed was the pre-massive award ceremony nominations list to be released to drag me away from the winter-blues. And, joy of joys, it arrived last week!
The announcement of Oscar Nominations list 2013 was just what I needed to lift my spirits. And did it feel as wonderful as I’d anticipated? Unfortunately not. Though Les Misérables is an absolute revelation, Argo is mind-blowing and Tarantino’s return with Django Unchained had me more excited than a kiddie on Christmas Eve, I still feel like some people were seriously overlooked. So here I have compiled a list of ‘the ones that got away’; those that were unfortunately not nominated for Oscars this time round, but flippin’ well should have been!
First off, a man whose name brings a smile to the lips of every lady in the world (don’t quote me on that), Mr Leonardo DiCaprio. For some reason the Oscars just don’t like our boy Leo. Looking at his extensive repertoire (Romeo & Juliet, Shutter Island, The Beach, Catch Me If You Can, Revolutionary Road and Inception, to name a few), you’d think that he’d have a designated Oscars cabinet in his front room. However, poor DiCaprio doesn’t have a single one to his name! With a lead role in Django, and the film scooping up an impressive four nominations, there was unfortunately no ‘best actor’ nod for Leonardo as he missed out yet again. Even Tarantino knows it’s an outrage, telling the Daily Express – “I’m sorry Leo didn’t get nominated”.
One of the most prestigious categories of the Oscars is the award for ‘best director’. This is also, I would say, the category which has the most shocks in this year. Ben Affleck with Argo,Kathryn Bigelow and Zero Dark Thirty and Tom Hooper for Les Misérables were all snubbed for this category. Humble Quentin Tarantino mentioned how disappointed he was for Affleck, but for me the real shock here is Tom Hooper. To even begin the mammoth project of tackling Les Misérables is Oscar-worthy in itself, in my opinion, but to create a visual masterpiece and break the mould by recording his cast singing live rather than ‘pre-recorded’ as well? This innovative and quite frankly brilliant director was seriously overlooked.
Affleck was left out yet again, love him, in the ‘best actor’category for Argo. This particular act of snubbery was picked up by nominee and permanent hunk Bradley Cooper who commented he felt Affleck was “robbed” a nomination in that category.
Last but not least, the actual films I felt should have been included in nominations were, firstly, the impeccable conclusion to the Batman trilogy The Dark Knight Rises. An all-star cast, the best action scenes of the year, an incredible plot which did not flop despite the enormous shoes left to fill by Mr Heath Ledger. Why no nomination? Your guess is as good as mine! Secondly, the Perks of Being a Wallflower, reviewed by Source last year, should have definitely been included in the ‘adapted screenplay’ category as a really ground-breaking cinematic adaptation of an equally groundbreaking book.
If I made the nominations list for the Oscars, everything would just be better. However, I will remain a geeky student writer for Source magazine who despite having a good moan, can’t wait for the Oscars this year. Bring on 24 February…
