The big players- Lincoln, Argo, Zero Dark Thirty, Les Miserables, have all gotten multiple nominations, but I wouldn't be surprised to see major letdowns when the winners will be announced, especially in categories like Director or Picture.
Let's get down to business
Best Picture- nominations
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty
Lincoln
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Amour
Django Unchained
Argo
Who will probably win? Lincoln or Zero Dark Thirty
Who I want to win? I haven't seen all of them, but I am rooting for either Django Unchained or Argo
Surprises? For me, Beasts, I wasn't expecting to see it here
Best Actor- nominations
Daniel Day Lewis- "Lincoln"
Denzel Washington- "Flight"
Hugh Jackman- "Les Miserables"
Bradley Cooper- "Silver Linings Playbook"
Joaquin Phoenix- "The Master"
Who will probably win? Daniel Day Lewis is the almost sure winner
Who I want to win? Call me crazy, but I am rooting for Bradley Cooper, although I know he won't get it. So let's go to choice nr.2, which is Hugh Jackman, and nr.3 is Denzel Washington
Surprises? None too big, but I was happy when I saw Cooper's name there, I wasn't sure he will make it
Best Actress- nominations
Naomi Watts- "The Impossible"
Jessica Chastain- "Zero Dark Thirty"
Jennifer Lawrence- "Silver Linings Playbook"
Emmanuele Riva- "Amour"
Q. Wallis- "Beasts of the Southern Wild"
Who will probably win? Chastain or Lawrence...or maybe a surprise win by Riva
Who I want to win? Hmm...I don't really care for this category, no female really impressed me this year. Mabe Lawrence, she would be nice- young, beautiful, quirky, talented. Yeah, my pick is for Lawrence
Surprises? Q.Wallis, no doubt. The rest were seen in the other award nominations lists, too.
Best Supporting Actor- nominations
Alan Arkin- "Argo"
Robert De Niro- "Silver Linings Playbook"
Philip Seymour Hoffman- "The Master"
Tommy Lee Jones- "Lincoln"
Christoph Waltz- "Django Unchained"
Who will probably win? I think the battle is between DeNiro and Tommy Lee Jones
Who I want to win? Hoffman, because I have a soft spot for him, or De Niro
Surprises? Uh...Alan Arkin. Don't get me wrong, he is a wonderful actor, but he just didn't impress me in Argo, his part was not awards worthy, I really don't get it. I would have easily put Ezra Miller or Dwight Henry or Garrett Hedlund there instead of him. Oh, and where is poor Leonardo DiCaprio? poor man, what does he have to do to get an Oscar?
Best Supporting Actress-nominations
Amy Adams- "The Master"
Sally Field- "Lincoln"
Anne Hathaway- "Les Misérables"
Helen Hunt- "The Sessions"
Jacki Weaver- "Silver Linings Playbook"
Who will probably win? Again, I think it's between Sally Field and Anne Hathaway
Who I want to win? Amy Adams is such a wonderful, talented actress, I would love for her to win. But I would be fine with Hathaway, too, she is equally amazing.
Surprises? Jacki Weaver- a nice surprise, I liked her more in SLP than DeNiro
Best Director- nominations
Amour: Michael Haneke
Beasts of the Southern Wild: Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi: Ang Lee
Lincoln: Steven Spielberg
Silver Linings Playbook: David O. Russell
Who will probably win? Very hard to say, considering the surprises, but I'll go for Spielberg or Lee
Who I want to win? Please, please, just don't make Bigelow win again- oh wait, she is not on the list.Yey! Actually, you can scratch Spielberg from my list, too, I wasn't impressed. Anyone else is perfect. Maybe Ang Lee? or Behn Zeitlin? that would be shocking
Surprises? Zeitlin, Haneke and even Russell- this was by far the most shocking category reveal for me, and probably for most. No Tarantino? No Paul Thomas Anderson? No Wes Anderson? No Ben Affleck?
Best Original Screenplay- nominations
Amour: Written by Michael Haneke
Django Unchained: Written by Quentin Tarantino
Flight: Written by John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom: Written by Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty: Written by Mark Boal
Who will probably win? A three-way between Django, Zero Dark Thirty and Moonrise Kingdom. Wes Anderson might bag it
Who I want to win? I'm rooting for Tarantino or Wes Anderson, I loved Moonrise Kingdom
Surprises? Amour, I didn't imagine there would be so much love for it
Best Adapted Screenplay- nominations
Argo: Screenplay by Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild: Screenplay by Lucy Alibar & Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi: Screenplay by David Magee
Lincoln: Screenplay by Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook: Screenplay by David O. Russell
Who will probably win? Again, I don't know for sure, it could be Argo or SLP, maybe even Lincoln
Who I want to win? SLP- a great film and the script was definitely one of its high points.
Surprises? Life of Pi?
Best Cinematography- nominations
Anna Karenina: Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained: Robert Richardson
Life of Pi: Claudio Miranda
Lincoln: Janusz Kaminski
Skyfall: Roger Deakins
Who will probably win? Life of Pi or Lincoln, they will go for the big guns
Who I want to win? Anna Karenina- I have a soft spot for this film and I want it to have some recognition
Surprises? Skyfall? I mean I get why they nominated it, but I wasn't expecting it
Best Score- nominations
Anna Karenina: Dario Marianelli
Argo: Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi: Mychael Danna
Lincoln: John Williams
Skyfall: Thomas Newman
Who will probably win? Argo or Lincoln
Who I want to win? Again, Anna Karenina or Skyfall, I want some surprises in there, too
Surprises? Skyfall?
Best Foreign Film- nominations
Amour: Austria
Kon-Tiki: Norway
No: Chile
A Royal Affair: Denmark
War Witch: Canada
Who will probably win? Amour
Who I want to win? In absence of Beyond the Hills, Untouchables, or Rust&Bone, I am going with Amour
Surprises? Totally disappointed Beyond the Hills, the Romanian entry, didn't get it. Where in the hell did Kon-Tiki come from?
Best Documentary- nominations
5 Broken Cameras
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man
Who will probably win? I don't know...maybe Searching for Sugar Man or How to Survive a Plague
Who I want to win? Searching for Sugarman, I really liked it
Surprises? No The Imposter? No Queen of Versailles?
Best Animated Feature- nominations
Brave: Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
Frankenweenie: Tim Burton
ParaNorman: Sam Fell and Chris Butler
The Pirates! Band of Misfits: Peter Lord
Wreck-It Ralph: Rich Moore
Who will probably win? Uh, Frankenweenie....or maybe Brave. Surprise win: Wreck-it Ralph
Who I want to win? ParaNorman- my favorite animation this year, very funny and well made, but probably doesn't stand a chance
Surprises? The Pirates
One month and a half to go- I can't wait: the red carpet filled with beautiful men and some nice dressed women, the dreaded speeches, the "OMG- he/she/it did not just win!", the opening monolog and much more- 24th of February cannot come sooner!
Who are you rooting for?