So, this years Oscar nominations were revealed today. Here's my thoughts:

Best Supporting Actor:

Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Master

Robert De Niro, Silver Linings Playbook

Alan Arkin, Argo

Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln.

Who do I think should win? Well in all honesty I've only seen one film out of that list, Silver Linings Playbook. Robert De Niro was brilliant in that film, don't get me wrong. But there's something telling me that Christoph Waltz will win because 1) He is amazing 2) Django Unchained will be brilliant 3) It's Quentin Tarantino. Tommy Lee Jones, for me, always pulls through with a brilliant performance in everything he does. Argo, I haven't heard enough about. I don't think I've even seen any other Alan Arkin films to judge his performance skills on.

My prediction: Robert De Niro. 

Best Director:

David O'Russell, Silver Linings Playbook

Ang Lee, Life of Pi

Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

Michael Haneke, Amour

Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

I think from my previous reviews it's quite obvious who I think should win this. Although Silver Linings Playbook was amazing, from a directors point of view everything was perfect. However, just because of how beautiful Life of Pi is...it has to be Ang Lee. I'll be very surprised if Life of Pi doesn't win. However, having Steven Spielberg as a nominee, it's going to be hard for anyone else to win. Let's hope we can pull away from the obvious choice.

My prediction: Ang Lee

Best Actor:

Daniel Day Lewis, Lincoln

Denzel Washington, Flight

Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables

Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook

Joaquin Phoenix, The Master

I think we're seeing a trend already aren't we? It seems that there are two films that are ruling the Oscars so far; Silver Linings Playbook and Lincoln. In my opinion, Les Miserables should be nominated for so many more Oscars than they are. I haven't seen it yet, nor do I plan to see it for another couple of weeks but I already know that I'll come out like a crying wreck. Hugh Jackman is one of the best actors for this role and I know he'll play it perfectly. For that reason I think he deserves to win Best Actor.

My prediction: Hugh Jackman

Best Actress

Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty

Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Once again, Silver Linings! I honestly think Jennifer Lawrence deserves this. She manages to break out of her role from The Hunger Games and turn herself in to a completely different character, completely unique. Which, as far as I know she sticks strictly to the book character, which is amazing. She totally deserves this Oscar. But then I go back to thinking about The Impossible, Naomi Watts I know plays a VERY strong role in that. I think I'm going to stick with my first decision here. 

My prediction: Jennifer Lawrence

Best Picture

Beats of the Southern Wild

Silver Linings Playbook

Zero Dark Thirty

Lincoln

Les Miserables

Life of Pi

Amour

Django Unchained

Argo

This year at the Oscars, I think the judges choices have been pretty broad. For Best Picture there is a film from every genre. It's hard for me to pick a favourite here, I think Les Miserables deserves the Oscar because everyone has worked so hard to keep to the original screenplay, but then again with Life of Pi's cinematography, I think it deserves the Oscar too. Django Unchained is just a brilliant piece of work and Silver Linings Playbook is a great film to tug at your heart strings and makes you feel good about yourself. I feel like I am a bit biased here because I haven't seen the rest of the films that are up for nominations. I guess this can be my task, to watch them all before the Oscars. But I think this time I'll have to go for 

My prediction: Life of Pi.

From here, I will just give my predictions because I do not know enough of the films to give an extended opinion.

Best Foreign Film

Amour

No

War Witch

A Royal Affair

Kon-Tikki

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to see any of the foreign films that are nominated for Oscars this year so cannot give an opinion.

Best Animated Film

Brave

Frankenweenie

Paranorman

Pirates! Band of Misfits (UK title: Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists)

Wreck-it Ralph

My prediction: Frankenweenie

Best documentary film 

5 Broken Cameras

The Gatekeepers

How To Survive A Plague

The Invisible War

Searching For Sugarman

My prediction: The Invisible War

Music (original score)

Anna Karenina, Dario Marianelli

Argo, Alexandre Desplat

Life of Pi, Mychael Danna

Lincoln, John Williams

Skyfall, Thomas Newman 

My prediction: Argo, Alexandre Desplat

Adapted Screenplay

Argo, Chris Terrio

Beasts Of The Southern Wild, Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin

Life of Pi, David Magee

Lincoln, Tony Kushner

Silver Linings Playbook, David O Russell

My prediction: Silver Linings Playbook

Original Screenplay

Amour, Michael Haneke

Django Unchained, Quentin Tarantino 

Flight, John Gatins

Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola

Zero Dark Thirty, Mark Boal

My prediction: Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola

Cinematography

Anna Karenina, Seamus McGarvey

Django Unchained, Robert Richardson

Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda

Lincoln, Janusz Kaminski

Skyfall, Roger Deakins 

My prediction: Life of Pi, Claudio Miranda

Costume Design

Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran

Les Miserables, Paco Delgado

Lincoln, Joanna Johnston

Mirror Mirror, Eiko Ishioka

Snow White and the Huntsman, Colleen Atwood

My prediction: Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran

There are a couple of surprises however, I'm EXTREMELY surprised that Leonardo DiCaprio isn't up for an Oscar AGAIN! If anyone deserves one this year, it's him. He's really put himself out this year to get into as many films as he possibly can: The Great Gatsby, Django Unchained and The Wolf of Wall street. I'm not really sure how the Oscars work, if there's a cut off point or not? Because I'm also really surprised that The Hunger Games isn't up for any Oscars either? What's going on?! 

Okay, it's been a while but I bought myself these really cute notebooks the other day for film and music reviews, they were on sale but they're really handy! So I thought I would try my hand at a film review, so here goes. My review for Life Of Pi.

The Life of Pi, 2012
Directed by - Ang Lee
Starring - Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu and Adil Hussain
The Life of Pi is an astonishing story which started as a novel by Yann Martel. Before the film I believe it wasn't exactly the most popular book, however after watching the film I can't wait to go out and buy the book and compare it to the the film (like most book adaptations). The film is about a 16 year old boy named Piscine Patel, who was named after a beautiful swimming pool in Paris "Piscine Molitor"; he changes his name to Pi whilst still in school as he got teased by his classmates. Pi is Hindu, Muslim and Catholic; claiming he just wants to "love god", religion is a huge part of this film and Pi is heavily influenced by religion. His family run a zoo in Pondicherry, the French part of India. After living there for 16 years, Pi's family decide to immigrate as they cannot afford to live there any longer. After his family die in a shipwreck, Pi finds himself alone and stranded on a lifeboat, only to discover the Bengal tiger from the zoo (Richard Parker) is on the boat with him. This film is about the struggle of Pi and Richard Parker as they are alone in the pacific ocean and are trying to find reality, together. It is a story of friendship, coming of age and life.
 There isn't anything bad to say about this film; it's absolutely stunning and the acting is tremendous. Whilst watching I felt as though I were in a dream or watching someone else's dream. It has the best cinematography I have ever seen, wonderfully colourful and teeming with life. For me, this film was life changing, not so much the story but the way it was shot. Each scene had been carefully planned out, each more stunning than the last. The use of colour grading, flawless special effects and every colour you can imagine, The Life of Pi is certainly a once in a lifetime film. I don't think anything will ever top itself in the fact of a nature/wildlife/friendship story. If you thought Free Willy had you tearing up, just wait until you've seen Pi's brave journey with a wild, hungry tiger. It's one of the only films I can truly say I'm glad I saw in 3D; it wasn't one of these "try hard" 3D films where everything is jumping out at you, but it just made it even more perfect and believable. To be honest, I was so engrossed in the film that I didn't have time to remember it was in 3D, after about fifteen minutes I didn't even notice. While watching it, I felt every emotion inside of me light up, I was up and down more than a six month pregnant woman. Every emotion was real, which I can't say is true for a lot of films, I came out of the cinema feeling physically drained I was so engrossed. The characters were so real too. I feel that Pi's character was very relate-able, in that he was trying to grow up on his own, trying to find his own path. Which, in ways is very similar to most teenagers of that age, but they are fortunate enough not to be in the unique situation he's found himself in.
"I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what always hurts most is not taking a moment to say goodbye" - Pi Patel.