# Oscar season 2012 has begun! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118 "2012-12-05T20:38:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2013, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118/101 "2013-01-11T22:33:48Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Do you have a Google alert set up for Kings Speech or something? Thanks for pointing that out before I responded. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![resting](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@resting](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/resting)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118/102 "2013-01-12T02:13:09Z")
No, I just think the social network is over rated. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118/103 "2013-01-12T04:45:52Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > _The Hobbit_ relies on a lot of old-school techniques and not 100% CGI. Really? I thought **The Hobbit** was far, far more reliant on CGI than the original LOTR trilogy, which was one reason I was disappointed with it. Dodgy CGI and green-screen digital sets replaced a lot of the elaborate makeup, models, and practical effects used in the first trilogy, and a lot of the orcs and goblins and the like that were previously played by actors are now entirely digital. The only place where the effects were improved were for Gollum. I’ll be very disappointed if **The Hobbit** wins that category. But I think **Life of Pi** is a shoo-in anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2013, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118/104 "2013-01-12T07:50:37Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > Sorry, that should’ve been 2002 for GONY (I use the year of the performance being honored, not the date of the ceremony) :smack: You are absolutely right; thanks for the correction. Obviously I’m way past the edit window, but I corrected the list on “The W” message board, where I also posted it. (DDR was the first one I researched, and I was still ironing out the bugs in the system at the time.) (And by “researched”, I mean, “looked up on Wikipedia.”) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118/105 "2013-01-14T15:38:26Z")
Just a shout-out for the [SDMB Oscar Picking](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=678883) contest over in the Game Room. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118/106 "2013-01-14T18:06:31Z")
Well, the Golden Globes did very little to clarify matters last night. Of the nine Best Picture nominees, 8 of them won something last night (_Beasts of the Southern Wild_ wasn’t in competition at all) **Lincoln** - Best Actor, Drama **Zero Dark Thirty** - Best Actress, Drama **Silver Linings Playbook** - Best Actress, Musical/Comedy **Life of Pi** - Best Original Score **Amour** - Best Foreign Language Film **Django Unchained** - Best Supporting Actor (Waltz) and Screenplay **Les Miserables** - Best Supporting Actress, Actor (M/C) and Film (M/C) **Argo** - Best Director and Film, Drama This last one is very interesting, since Affleck was quite famously passed over by the Directors branch of the Academy (2 other directors nominated last night, Bigelow & Tarantino, were also). There are no write-ins for Oscar, so while he cannot possibly win, _Argo_ still might have some clear momentum (he and the film also won the Critics Choice award last week, too) _Lincoln_ was also nominated for more GG than any other film ever (7) so only pulling away with one (the one everybody expected) might make it appear that it is not quite a foregone conclusion that its 12 Oscar nominations and pedigree suggest. Plus, given that Best Picture is selected by preferential balloting in the Oscars (because of the large number of nominees), the film that has the broadest sense of good feeling has the distinct advantage, and there’s clearly a lot of love toward Affleck and the film right now. _Les Miz_ won the most last night, but without either a Director, Writing, or Editing nomination (no film has ever won the Oscar in the past 75 years without at least one of those), it is still a long shot. But at this point, there are so many things up in the air, it’s hard to tell much of anything. Will the Directors and Screen Actors Guild clarify things? Maybe, but the DGA has awarded its prize to non-nominees before (Ron Howard for _Apollo 13_, Spielberg for _The Color Purple_) that Affleck is far from out of the picture. And how will the actors fare when they’re not divided into subcategories but have to square off head-to-head? Supporting Actor is still anyone’s guess, and Actress has no clear frontrunner either. Impressions? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118/107 "2013-01-29T20:54:28Z")
Well, the **Argo** sweep continues, with (a) Winning the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) ensemble award, and (b) Winning the Producers Guild of America (PGA) award The latter is particularly interesting because not only were all the Oscar Best Picture nominees up for the PGA award, too, but it’s also the only other award that works off an identical preferential balloting system (ranking) that is used to determine the Best Picture Oscar winner. While _Lincoln_ has the most nominations, it continues to look vulnerable. Yes, it did win two SAG’s, but DDL is a foregone conclusion and TLJ far from a sure thing (this remains the most wide-open race). _Silver Linings Playbook_ has a ton of support from the acting branch (hence the first time since 1981 that one film had nominees in all four acting Oscar categories) but all it could score is a Best Actress win. Does this put Jennifer Lawrence in the lead? Still very tough to tell. But despite both these films having more nominations overall as well as more individual acting nominations, it couldn’t beat Affleck’s film last Sunday. _Argo_ still has a tough road to climb (only one film in the last 75 years has won Best Picture without a directing nomination–_Driving Miss Daisy_), but the planets appear to be lining up: a measure of snub-sympathy, an affection for the film with few detractors, and a historical topic conveyed in safe, non-controversial terms. It was still nice for DDL to give acknowledgement to Joaquin Phoenix (overlooked by SAG) as well as Hathaway (the other likely acting Oscar lock) give a shout-out to the most recent Batman movie. Next? The Directors Guild (where Affleck _is_ nominated) and Writers Guild (which, given the category split, may yield some further fun options). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118/108 "2013-02-03T20:05:20Z")
This is starting to get embarrassing for the Academy. [Affleck won the top prize at the Director’s Guild Awards last night](http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/02/03/16828380-ben-affleck-wins-directors-guild-award-as-argo-hurtles-to-oscars?lite), continuing Argo’s momentum. Only six times since 1948 has the DGA winner not gone on to win Best Director at the Oscars. Argo has to be the strong favorite for Best Picture at this point. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2013, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118/109 "2013-02-03T21:18:27Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > This is starting to get embarrassing for the Academy. [Affleck won the top prize at the Director’s Guild Awards last night](http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/02/03/16828380-ben-affleck-wins-directors-guild-award-as-argo-hurtles-to-oscars?lite), continuing Argo’s momentum. Only six times since 1948 has the DGA winner not gone on to win Best Director at the Oscars. Argo has to be the strong favorite for Best Picture at this point. This will be the seventh time, then, since he is not nominated for Best Director. Argo will likely win, though. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118/110 "2013-02-04T00:02:52Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > This will be the seventh time, then, since he is not nominated for Best Director. Argo will likely win, though. Yep, thats why I said its embarrassing for the Academy. They really missed the boat with their nominations. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118/111 "2013-02-04T16:15:38Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > Yep, thats why I said its embarrassing for the Academy. They really missed the boat with their nominations. Actually, I feel just the opposite–the Academy went out on a limb with some daring, provocative choices instead of the more safe, middle-of-the-road _cough **Argo** cough_ predictable choices. Ben Affleck seems like a very nice, smart, talented guy, and _Argo_ isn’t a bad film at all. But I can’t think of a single film nominated for Best Director that isn’t better and more creative. Period. Keep in mind, the last two times the DGA awarded a film for Best Director that didn’t have a matching Oscar nomination was for _The Color Purple_ and _Apollo 13_, two more films that I think had no place in the Oscar roster, though they both have their defenders. I still think _Argo_ will win, because it’s devoid of controversy, an interesting point-of-view, or anything that can be considered special or innovative. It’s sweet, safe, and right down the Academy’s alley. But who will win Best Director? One of the two past multiple winners (Spielberg & Lee)? Or one of the two people who, while incredibly deserving, are lucky for even being there (Zeitlin & Haneke)? Maybe Russell, who the acting branch clearly loves (between the 4 acting nominees from this year and the two Oscar winners from _The Fighter_)? Seems quite a coin toss. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oscar-season-2012-has-begun/643118.md?page=5)