85th Academy Awards

The 85^th Academy Awards were like old home week for many of the nominees.  All of the winners in major categories have crossed the Academy Awards stage in the past, or at the very least, been nominated for an award.  Not surprisingly, a handful of films accounted for most of the wins.

The Best Picture award went to Argo.  Ben Affleck wore many hats for Argo, taking on the starring role, directing the film, and producing it.  This is the second Oscar® for Affleck who picked up his first award along with Matt Damon in 1997 for Good Will Hunting (Best Original Screenplay).

Quentin Tarantino knows a few things about writing screenplays.  He won his second Best Original Screenplay award this year for Django Unchained.  He received his first Oscar® back in 1994 for Pulp Fiction. 

Actors nominated with Daniel Day-Lewis for the Best Actor award probably keep their fingers crossed because he is formidable in this category.  Day-Lewis has been nominated five times for this award and his current win for the movie Lincoln marks his third victory.  He won his first Oscar® for My Left Foot back in 1989 and picked up his second for There Will Be Blood in 2007.

Speaking of formidable opponents, Christoph Waltz is making his presence felt in the Best Supporting Actor category.  In Quentin Tarantino films, Waltz is two-for-two.  His performance in Django Unchained gives him a matching pair of statuettes.  He won his first in 2009 for Inglourious Basterds.

Jennifer Lawrence and Anne Hathaway were both first-time Oscar® winners.  Lawrence won the Best Actress award for her performance in Silver Linings Playbook, based on the novel by Matthew Quick.  Hathaway took home the award in the Best Supporting Actress category for Les Misérables.  Lawrence was first nominated for Best Actress in 2010 for Winter’s Bone.  Anne Hathaway was nominated for Best Actress for her 2008 performance in Rachel Getting Married. 

Director Ang Lee is no stranger to the Academy Awards.  Like Daniel Day-Lewis, he has been nominated five times (three Best Director nominations, two Best Picture nominations).  In fact, he was nominated in both the Best Picture and Best Director categories this year for Life of Pi, taking home the Oscar® for Best Director.  He was also nominated for both categories in 2000 for the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  His first Oscar® win came in 2005 for directing the movie Brokeback Mountain.

It’s exciting that so many talented people are working in Hollywood and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for them.  I only saw three of the nine movies nominated for Best Picture this year, but I plan to watch several more.  I was thrilled that Daniel Day-Lewis and Christoph Waltz won because they were both excellent in their respective films.  I hope your nominees won, but if not, there is always next year.  See you at the movies.  Did I just steal someone’s line?