The Nightbird Awards – 2012

Daniel Day-Lewis, Hal Holbrook, and David Strathairn in one of Lincoln’s many brilliant scenes.

The Top 20:

1. Lincoln
2. Argo
3. Les Miserables
4. Amour
5. Silver Linings Playbook
6. Life of Pi
7. Zero Dark Thirty
8. Beasts of the Southern Wild
9. Django Unchained
10. Skyfall
11. Anna Karenina
12. Moonrise Kingdom
13. The Dark Knight Rises
14. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
15. The Master
16. The Impossible
17. Brave
18. Cloud Atlas
19. The Sessions
20. The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Nightbird Golden Globes:

It is very fortunate for us that Sally Field fought in the way that she did in order to play Mary Todd Lincoln – her performance is easily one of the year’s best.

Drama:

• Best Picture: Lincoln
• Best Director: Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Lincoln
• Best Original Screenplay: Amour
• Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
• Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
• Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)
• Best Supporting Actress: Sally Field (Lincoln)

Such a believable couple: Robert De Niro and Jacki Weaver’s performances are just two of the factors that come together to make Silver Linings Playbook such a wonderful film.

Comedy/Musical:

• Best Picture: Les Miserables
• Best Director: Tom Hooper (Les Miserables)
• Best Adapted Screenplay: Silver Linings Playbook
• Best Original Screenplay: Moonrise Kingdom
• Best Actor: Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables)
• Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
• Best Supporting Actor: Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)
• Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)

One of Life of Pi’s many gorgeous shots.

The Nightbird Awards:

• Best Picture: Lincoln
  • Argo
  • Les Miserables
  • Amour
  • Silver Linings Playbook
    • Analysis: A very diverse group of nominees; they include a historical drama, a political thriller, a celebrated musical, a French drama, and a romantic comedy. Amour is the first foreign Best Picture nominee since Pan’s Labyrinth in 2006. Les Miserables, Tom Hooper’s third eligible film, is his second Best Picture nominee. Kathleen Kennedy finally wins Best Picture, while partner Steven Spielberg wins his second. Lincoln is overall Spielberg’s fourth Best Picture winner.

• Best Director: Steven Spielberg (Lincoln)
  • Ang Lee (Life of Pi)
  • Ben Affleck (Argo)
  • Tom Hooper (Les Miserables)
  • Michael Haneke (Amour)
    • Analysis: Of these five directors, all have won at least one award: Spielberg seven times for directing and twice for producing; Lee has won twice for directing and once for producing; Affleck won Original Screenplay with Matt Damon for Good Will Hunting; Hooper won for his direction of The King’s Speech; and Haneke previously received Best Foreign Film twice, and can now add a third Foreign Film prize as well as Original Screenplay to his haul. Lee and Affleck have consistently alternated between #2 and #3.

• Best Adapted Screenplay: Lincoln
  • Silver Linings Playbook
  • Argo
  • Beasts of the Southern Wild
  • Anna Karenina
    • Analysis: Tony Kushner wins his first screenplay award on his second nomination for his second film. He also won a Nightbird Emmy for his adaptation of his masterpiece, Angels in America. Tom Stoppard, nominee for Anna Karenina, previously won Original Screenplay for Shakespeare in Love, while David O. Russell is the only other previous nominee. I keep alternating between Argo and Silver Linings for #2 and 3, but for the moment, the latter’s heart and intelligence wins out over the former’s swift exactitude. It also helps that I’m still a bit miffed at Argo’s Oscar win over Lincoln.

• Best Original Screenplay: Amour
  • Django Unchained
  • Zero Dark Thirty
  • Moonrise Kingdom
  • The Master
    • Analysis: Amour is the only Best Picture nominee nominated for Original Screenplay. This is so far Michael Haneke’s only win outside of Foreign Film. Quentin Tarantino receives his fifth screenplay nomination, while the two Andersons receive their fourth, and Mark Boal his second. Despite this being more of a traditionally comedy-friendly category, only Moonrise Kingdom could be classified as such, making it the odd man out with such depressing company. That Tarantino’s brilliant script for Django fails to win over Amour should show you just how good Haneke is as a writer.

• Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (Lincoln)
  • Joaquin Phoenix (The Master)
  • Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables)
  • Jean-Louis Trintignant (Amour)
  • John Hawkes (The Sessions)
    • Analysis: Daniel Day-Lewis wins for the fourth time on his eighth nomination, the fewest number of nominations for an actor with as many wins. Joaquin Phoenix and John Hawkes receive their second nominations, and Hugh Jackman his first. Jean-Louis Trintignant, at eighty-two, is the oldest Best Actor nominee in history. Of the acting categories, this was by far the easiest to rank, but very difficult to narrow down to a top five. More on that later on in the Best Actor breakdown.

• Best Actress: Emmanuelle Riva (Amour)
  • Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)
  • Jennifer Lawrence (Silver Linings Playbook)
  • Quvenzhane Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild)
  • Naomi Watts (The Impossible)
    • Analysis: The only acting category in which none of the nominees have already won. Emmanuelle Riva, at eighty-five, is the oldest Best Actress nominee and the oldest winner in history, bypassing previous record-holder Christopher Plummer by three years. Hers is the first foreign language performance to win since Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose in 2007. Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Lawrence each receive their second nominations, while Naomi Watts is now on her third. Nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis, in contrast to Miss Riva, is the youngest nominee in history. By far the easiest category to narrow down to a top five, this is the only one in which I and the Academy agree 5/5. Of course, we differ on our choice for the win.

• Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz (Django Unchained)
  • Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)
  • Tommy Lee Jones (Lincoln)
  • Leonardo DiCaprio (Django Unchained)
  • Robert De Niro (Silver Linings Playbook)
    • Analysis: Christoph Waltz becomes the sixth person (after Vivien Leigh, Helen Hayes, Kevin Spacey, Michael Douglas, and Tom Wilkinson) to win twice for acting from two nominations. Leonardo DiCaprio is the only Supporting Actor nominee to not have previously won, and is now on his fourth nomination, as are both Hoffman and Jones. Robert De Niro receives his first nomination in twenty-one years, his ninth overall. This is the strongest Supporting Actor field in a decade, and was the most difficult category to rank, with each and every one of them taking the top spot at one point or another.

• Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)
  • Sally Field (Lincoln)
  • Amy Adams (The Master)
  • Judi Dench (Skyfall)
  • Helen Hunt (The Sessions)
    • Analysis: Anne Hathaway is the first to win for a performance in a musical since Jennifer Hudson in 2006’s Dreamgirls. Judi Dench (six nominations) and Helen Hunt (two) are both previous winners, while Anne Hathaway wins on her second nomination. Four-time nominee Amy Adams and three-time nominee Sally Field continue their losing streaks. Because of the unusual strength of this field, it was the most difficult of the acting categories to narrow down to a top five, with Adams, Dench, and Hunt failing to receive nominations in favor of other performances at various times.

• Best Editing: Argo
  • Skyfall
  • Zero Dark Thirty
  • Lincoln
  • Les Miserables
    • Analysis: William Goldenberg wins for his solo editing work on Argo, while also receiving a nomination with Dylan Tichenor for Zero Dark Thirty. Argo is the only nominee that does not surpass a two-hour running time, and it also happens to be the winner. Coincidence? I think not.

• Best Cinematography: Lincoln
  • Life of Pi
  • Skyfall
  • Les Miserables
  • Anna Karenina

• Best Original Score: Lincoln
  • Anna Karenina
  • Life of Pi
  • Cloud Atlas
  • Skyfall

• Best Sound: Les Miserables
  • Life of Pi
  • Skyfall
  • The Dark Knight Rises
  • Zero Dark Thirty

• Best Art Direction: Lincoln
  • Anna Karenina
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
  • Les Miserables
  • Django Unchained

• Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi
  • The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
  • Prometheus
  • The Dark Knight Rises
  • Skyfall
    • Analysis: Marks the first time that one of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings-related films has lost in this category.

• Best Sound Editing: Zero Dark Thirty
  • Skyfall
  • The Dark Knight Rises
  • Life of Pi
  • Django Unchained

• Best Costume Design: Anna Karenina
  • Lincoln
  • Les Miserables
  • Django Unchained
  • Moonrise Kingdom

• Best Makeup: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
  • Les Miserables
  • Lincoln
    • Analysis: So far, all of Peter Jackson’s Tolkien adaptations have walked away with an award for Makeup. I used to have Cloud Atlas in third place, but upon second viewing I realized that while much of the character makeup is extraordinary, a good deal of it just does not work.

• Best Original Song: “Skyfall” from Skyfall
  • “Song of the Lonely Mountain” from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
  • “Suddenly” from Les Miserables
  • “Learn Me Right” from Brave
  • “Touch the Sky” from Brave

• Best Animated Film: Brave
  • Frankenweenie
  • Wreck-It Ralph
  • The Pirates! Band of Misfits
    • Analysis: After breaking their unbeatable track record by not receiving a nomination last year for Cars 2, Pixar bounces back and wins for the eleventh time in this category. Tim Burton receives his first nomination since 2005’s Corpse Bride. I used to count this as a “special” category, one in which there would be a winner but no other nominees. Because Frankenweenie is one of the best films of the year, and Wreck-It Ralph and Pirates are both utterly delightful, I have decided to make this category function differently from the others: the number of nominees will be determined by the number of worthy films, with no more than five nominees allowed in a given year. Best Visual Effects will also have the same rule attached to it.

• Best Foreign Film: Amour
  • Analysis: Michael Haneke wins for the third time in this category. Because I have not yet seen very many eligible films, this will remain a “special” category until I am able to adequately determine the runners-up for this award.

• Honorary Award: Barbara Harris

Barbara Harris, 2012’s Honorary Nightbird recipient.

Notes:

• Most Nightbird Nominations: Lincoln (12)
• Most Nightbird Awards: Lincoln (7)
• Most Nightbird Points: Lincoln (590)
• Best Film Not Nominated for a Nightbird Award: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
• Worst Film Nominated for a Nightbird Award: The Pirates! Band of Misfits
• Worst Film of the Year: Rock of Ages

Steven Spielberg directs a scene in Lincoln.
I wonder if those guys knew that they were watching a masterpiece in the making.

Best Director: This category was a doozy. While Kathryn Bigelow would win the BSFC, CFC, NBR, and NYFC (and receive BAFTA, Globe, DGA, BFCA, LAFC, and NSFC nominations) and Ben Affleck would rule the second half of the season (with BAFTA, Globe, DGA, BFCA wins, CFC, NYFC noms), neither of them would receive Oscar nominations. Because of this, the Oscar went to Ang Lee for Life of Pi, who despite BAFTA, Globe, DGA, and BFCA nominations, failed to win anything else. Amid all of this confusion, my own winner, Steven Spielberg for Lincoln, was nominated for everything but won nothing (Oscar, BAFTA, Globe, DGA, BFCA, CFC noms). In second place I have Lee, followed by Affleck for Argo (one of the most egregious snubs in Oscar history), Tom Hooper for Les Miserables (DGA, BFCA noms), and Michael Haneke for Amour (NSFC win, Oscar, BAFTA noms). In sixth I have Bigelow for Zero Dark Thirty, followed by the ignored Joe Wright for Anna Karenina, Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained (BAFTA, Globe noms), Sam Mendes for Skyfall, and Peter Jackson for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The final two Oscar nominees, Benh Zeitlin for Beasts of the Southern Wild (Oscar, CFC noms) and David O. Russell for Silver Linings Playbook (Oscar, BFCA noms), are my #11 and 12, respectively.

Ben Affleck impressed with Gone Baby Gone and The Town,
but with Argo the former Gigli star’s level of talent now seems almost ridiculously high.

Best Adapted Screenplay: 2012’s Adapted Screenplay race was one of those where there is a contender that is obviously the best, and then there is another nominee that is the clear-cut winner. Argo’s status as the Best Picture frontrunner meant that it had to take Adapted Screenplay as well in order to avoid being looked upon as a weak choice for Picture. Lincoln, on the other hand, was almost unanimously regarded as the best script of the year, regardless of how badly Argo needed to win, and (with BFCA, BSFC, CFC, NSFC, NYFC wins, Oscar, BAFTA, Globe, WGA noms) takes the Nightbird by a long way, while Argo (Oscar, WGA, LAFC wins, BAFTA, Globe, BFCA, CFC noms) comes in third place. My runner-up (with BAFTA, NBR wins, Oscar, Globe, WGA, BFCA, CFC, LAFC, NSFC noms) is Silver Linings Playbook, while Beasts of the Southern Wild (Oscar, BAFTA, CFC noms) and Anna Karenina round out my list of nominees. My 6-10, none of them traditional awards fodder, are The Perks of Being a Wallflower (WGA, BFCA, CFC noms), Skyfall, The Dark Knight Rises, The Sessions, and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

“Her confidence” is not, if you ask me, a good reason to charge headlong into a lion’s den.

Best Original Screenplay: And here we have a three-horse race. There was no way that Amour, Django Unchained, or Zero Dark Thirty weren’t getting nominated. The only question that remained, once the dust (and the final two slots) had settled, was which of them would win. The only one of those three contenders that didn’t seem to have too much going against it (politics and a language barrier could very well have cost Zero Dark Thirty and Amour votes) was Django Unchained, and with Tarantino (snubbed three years previously for his superior work on Inglourious Basterds) behind it, it looked like it could pull ahead of the competition and take the Oscar, which it ended up doing with ease. But, just like with Adapted Screenplay, the Oscar winner (Django also won the BAFTA, Globe, and BFCA, in addition to a CFC nomination) fails to win the Nightbird. That honor goes to Amour (Oscar, BAFTA noms), with Django and Tarantino having to settle for a close second place finish. They are followed by Zero Dark Thirty (WGA, CFC wins, Oscar, BAFTA, Globe, BFCA, NYFC noms), Moonrise Kingdom (Oscar, BAFTA, WGA, BFCA, BSFC, CFC, NYFC noms), and The Master (BAFTA, WGA, BFCA, CFC, NSFC noms). My rather weak 6-10 includes Brave, Looper (NBR win, WGA, BFCA, CFC noms), The Impossible, Arbitrage, and Flight (Oscar, WGA, BFCA noms).

Either Abraham Lincoln came back from the dead in order to play himself,
or Daniel Day-Lewis is the greatest living actor.

Best Actor: From the moment that Daniel Day-Lewis committed to starring as the titular character in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, it was clear that the great actor would end up walking away with his third Oscar. His performance in the finished film only confirmed this, and he ended up deservedly winning every award that he was nominated for, including the Oscar, BAFTA, Globe, SAG, BSFC, BFCA, CFC, NSFC, and NYFC. My nominees who never stood a chance at getting noticed when under Day-Lewis’ shadow are Joaquin Phoenix for his pained performance in The Master (LAFC win, Oscar, BAFTA, Globe, BFCA, CFC, NYFC noms), Hugh Jackman, delivering the performance of a lifetime in Les Miserables (Globe – Comedy win, Oscar, BAFTA, SAG, BFCA noms), the overlooked Jean-Louis Trintignant for Amour, and surprising Oscar no-show John Hawkes for The Sessions (Globe, SAG, BFCA, CFC noms). My 6-10, a brilliant list of non-nominees, are Denzel Washington for Flight (Oscar, Globe, SAG, BFCA, CFC noms), Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook (NBR win, Oscar, BAFTA, Globe – Comedy, SAG, BFCA noms), the underrated Richard Gere in Arbitrage (Globe nom), Globe – Comedy nominee Bill Murray in Hyde Park on Hudson, and Anthony Hopkins as Hitchcock.

Acting in the purest sense of the word: Emmanuelle Riva in Amour.

Best Actress: For the second year in a row, the Best Actress category suffered from an identity crisis. To begin with, Jessica Chastain, sight unseen, was the frontrunner for her sure-to-be searing performance in Zero Dark Thirty (the perception that she had appeared in 87 films in the preceding eighteen months certainly helped to put her at the top).  Then Jennifer Lawrence made everyone fall in love with her (while failing to convince no one that her star-making turn in Winter’s Bone was anything but a fluke) with her captivating work in Silver Linings Playbook. This was followed by Thirty’s rather late screenings for critics, the reviews from which only confirmed Chastain’s status as a force to be reckoned with. But she was “reckoned with,” by the United States Senate, who raised questions regarding the film’s authenticity. Because of the Academy’s history of making safe choices, Chastain’s chances were now up in the air, with Lawrence swiftly taking the lead position on many Oscar prognosticators’ prediction charts. Meanwhile, Emmanuelle Riva was staking out her claim as the Oscar season’s true dark horse, with many having difficulty with viewing her as a contender despite winning prizes from the BSFC, LAFC, and NSFC, as well as nominations from the BFCA, CFC, and NYFC. Although she would receive an Oscar nod and a surprising win at the BAFTAs, the frail eighty-five-year-old icon of French cinema was unable to steal away any of Lawrence’s momentum, with the young starlet taking home the Oscar.

Riva is, of course, my own winner for Amour, with Chastain (Globe, BFCA, CFC, NBR wins, Oscar, BAFTA, SAG, NSFC, NYFC noms) and Lawrence (Oscar, Globe – Comedy, SAG, LAFC wins, BAFTA, BFCA, CFC, NSFC, NYFC noms) joining together in a relative tie for second place. My #4 is nine-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis (Oscar, BFCA, CFC noms), who magnificently carries Beasts of the Southern Wild, followed by Naomi Watts for The Impossible (Oscar, Globe, SAG, BFCA noms). My very solid 6-10 is filled with past winners and nominees, none of whom got much serious awards attention this year: Keira Knightley as Anna Karenina, Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone (BAFTA, Globe, SAG, BFCA noms), Rachel Weisz (who won the NYFC and received a Globe nomination for The Deep Blue Sea), the wonderful Helen Mirren in Hitchcock (BAFTA, Globe, SAG noms), and Globe – Comedy nominee Judi Dench for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Incidentally, this happens to be the first year since 2007 in which Meryl Streep fails to receive a nomination in this category, despite being eligible. She comes in at #11 for her Globe – Comedy-nominated performance in Hope Springs.

Five years ago, Christoph Waltz was a complete unknown; today, he has two Oscars to his credit. The man deserves to be toasted.

Best Supporting Actor: If Best Actress had an identity crisis, then Supporting Actor was positively certifiable. It was the one category that was seemingly unpredictable, and it provided us with one of Oscar night’s biggest surprises. This confusion stemmed from a lack of a clear favorite in terms of precursor awards, as well as the overall strength of the category. Because all of the Oscar nominees were previous winners, all that was certain was that one of them would win either his second or, in Robert De Niro’s case, third award. But what no one expected was for the newly-christened two-time winner to be Christoph Waltz, who in Django Unchained played what basically amounted to a heroic version of his Oscar-winning Col. Hans Landa from Inglourious Basterds (it also didn’t help that he was snubbed by SAG, making him only the second actor to win the Oscar without a nomination from that other all-important group). But no matter the nature of his role, the Academy acquitted themselves well by rewarding Waltz, who was the best of a strong and eclectic group (in addition to his Oscar, he also picked up BAFTA and Globe wins, as well as BSFC, LAFC, and NYFC noms). Following close on Waltz’ heels are Philip Seymour Hoffman for The Master (BFCA, CFC wins, Oscar, BAFTA, Globe, SAG noms) and Tommy Lee Jones, giving what is to me the epitome of a classic scene-stealing performance in Lincoln, both of whom claimed the top spot instead of Waltz at one point or another. Then in fourth place, I have Leonardo DiCaprio, giving his best performance in years in Django Unchained, but still failing to receive an Oscar nomination despite an NBR win, and Globe, CFC, and NYFC nominations. My final slot goes to Robert De Niro for his subtle portrayal of a loving father in Silver Linings Playbook (Oscar, SAG, BFCA noms). My 6-10, most of them ignored with the category’s sense of confusion and the strength of the previously mentioned performances, are Javier Bardem for Skyfall (BAFTA, SAG, BFCA noms), another Django Unchained cast member (this time Samuel L. Jackson), the previously-untried Dwight Henry for Beasts of the Southern Wild (LAFC win, CFC nom), the fantastic young Ezra Miller for The Perks of Being a Wallflower (BSFC win), and Jim Broadbent in Cloud Atlas.

Anne Hathaway deeply annoys me.
Still, she was incredible in Les Miserables and fully deserved her Oscar.

Best Supporting Actress: I have previously stated that Anne Hathaway had this category locked from the moment that she was cast in Les Mis. I was not joking. She won the Oscar, BAFTA, Globe, SAG, and BFCA, and also captured CFC, LAFC, and NYFC nominations just for good measure, and completes her sweep by taking the Nightbird. My very close runner-up, with BSFC and NYFC wins, and Oscar, BAFTA, Globe, SAG, BFCA, and CFC nominations, is Sally Field for Lincoln. My #3 is Amy Adams, who leaped out of her comfort zone for her small but powerful performance in The Master (CFC, LAFC, NSFC wins, Oscar, BAFTA, Globe, BFCA noms), while my last two slots go to Judi Dench for Skyfall (BAFTA, BFCA, CFC noms), and Helen Hunt for The Sessions (Oscar, BAFTA, Globe, SAG, BFCA, CFC (Lead) noms). My 6-10, quite possibly the best group of non-nominees I can ever remember having, begins with Ann Dowd for Compliance (NBR win, BFCA nom), and ends with Samantha Barks for Les Miserables, two performances that would have been nominated in nearly any other year. Between them I have Maggie Smith for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (SAG nom), surprise Oscar-nominee Jacki Weaver for her wonderful performance in Silver Linings Playbook, and Jennifer Ehle in Zero Dark Thirty, ignored by all awards groups but still making my top ten for the second consecutive year.

The Nightbird Awards by Film:

Lincoln

• Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Actor (Day-Lewis), Supporting Actor (Jones), Supporting Actress (Field), Editing, Cinematography, Original Score, Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup

Argo

• Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay, Editing

Les Miserables

• Picture, Director, Actor (Jackman), Supporting Actress (Hathaway), Editing, Cinematography, Sound, Art Direction, Costume Design, Makeup, Original Song (“Suddenly”)

Silver Linings Playbook

• Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Actress (Lawrence), Supporting Actor (De Niro)

Life of Pi

• Director, Cinematography, Original Score, Sound, Visual Effects, Sound Editing

Zero Dark Thirty

• Original Screenplay, Actress (Chastain), Editing, Sound, Sound Editing

Beasts of the Southern Wild

• Adapted Screenplay, Actress (Wallis)

Django Unchained

• Original Screenplay, Supporting Actor (Waltz), Supporting Actor (DiCaprio), Art Direction, Sound Editing, Costume Design

Skyfall

• Supporting Actress (Dench), Editing, Cinematography, Original Score, Sound, Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Original Song (“Skyfall”)

Anna Karenina

• Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Original Score, Art Direction, Costume Design

Moonrise Kingdom

• Original Screenplay, Costume Design

The Dark Knight Rises

• Sound, Visual Effects, Sound Editing

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

• Art Direction, Visual Effects, Makeup, Original Song (“Song of the Lonely Mountain”)

The Master

• Original Screenplay, Actor (Phoenix), Supporting Actor (Hoffman), Supporting Actress (Adams)

The Impossible

• Actress (Watts)

Brave

• Original Song (“Learn Me Right”), Original Song (“Touch the Sky”), Animated Film

Cloud Atlas

• Original Score

The Sessions

• Actor (Hawkes), Supporting Actress (Hunt)

Frankenweenie

• Animated Film

The Pirates! Band of Misfits

• Animated Film

The calm before the storm in Skyfall, quite simply the best Bond film ever made.

List of Eligible Films I Have Seen:

1. Lincoln (****)
2. Argo (****)
3. Les Miserables (****)
4. Amour
5. Silver Linings Playbook (****)
6. Life of Pi (****)
7. Zero Dark Thirty (****)
8. Beasts of the Southern Wild (****)
9. Django Unchained (****)
10. Skyfall (****)
11. Anna Karenina (****)
12. Moonrise Kingdom (****)
13. The Dark Knight Rises (****)
14. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (****)
15. The Master (****)
16. The Impossible (****)
17. Brave (****)
18. Cloud Atlas (****)
19. The Sessions (****)
20. The Perks of Being a Wallflower (****)
21. Frankenweenie (***.5)
22. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (***.5)
23. Flight (***.5)
24. The Pirates! Band of Misfits (***.5)
25. Compliance (***)
26. Lawless (***)
27. Snow White and the Huntsman (***)
28. Hitchcock (***)
29. Hyde Park on Hudson (***)
30. The Woman in Black (***)
31. Hotel Transylvania (***)
32. Trouble with the Curve (***)
33. 21 Jump Street (***)
34. Quartet (***)
35. To Rome with Love (***)
36. Promised Land (**.5)
37. Dark Shadows (**.5)
38. Magic Mike (**.5)
39. Rock of Ages (**)