Thanks for pointing that out before I responded. 
No, I just think the social network is over rated.
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.
: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.”)
Just a shout-out for the SDMB Oscar Picking contest over in the Game Room.
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?
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). 
This is starting to get embarrassing for the Academy. Affleck won the top prize at the Director’s Guild Awards last night, 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.
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 coughArgocough 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.