My reactions to the 2013 Academy Award Nominations (and my predicted winners)

In the end, I got 67 nominations correct out of 103 predicted--better than average, for me.  Here's the rundown, with those correct predictions noted by asterisks.  My predictions for the winners are highlighted in boldface:

Best Picture
AMOUR
*ARGO
*BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
*DJANGO UNCHAINED
*LES MISERABLES
*LIFE OF PI
*LINCOLN
*SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK 
*ZERO DARK THIRTY
Predictions that didn't get in: 
>THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (It was a long shot, of course, based on the SAG Ensemble award nomination, so no surprise that it didn't get any Oscar love this morning)
>THE MASTER (which, despite getting three acting noms, got no recognition for P.T. Anderson's screenplay OR the film's magnificent photography; I still am not surprised it didn't get in, though, because it's a strangely divisive film). 
SURPRISES: AMOUR!  Wow.  It happened!  Well, this must be the TREE OF LIFE slot.  Totally deserved.  This is going back to CRIES AND WHISPERS territory.   Also surprised that this year, again, wielded only NINE Picture nominations.  I was sure there was going to be an even ten.  I guess the genre films--SKYFALL, THE HOBBIT, THE AVENGERS, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES--never had a chance. 

Best Director:
Michael Haneke for AMOUR
Ang Lee for LIFE OF PI
*David O. Russell for SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
*Steven Spielberg for LINCOLN
Behn Zeitlin for BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Predictions that didn't get in:
>Ben Affleck for ARGO (I'm glad this didn't happen; I thought his direction was one of the things holding the film back from greatness.  Still, a big surprise...)
>Kathryn Bigelow for ZERO DARK THIRTY (Maybe the biggest omission of the year.   How did this not happen?   Is it the old sexism charge once again?  Seems like a possibility...especially since it's perfectly directed.   Or maybe the controversy hurt the film (which walked away with fewer nominations than I was expecting).  Whatever the reason, it's totally erroneous leaving her name out of the mix.)
>Quentin Tarantino for DJANGO UNCHAINED (Spotty direction.  Glad this didn't make it.  In the end, DJANGO was nominated for all the right things (though I would have left it off the Picture roll call.)
SURPRISES: Lee made it in, huh?   Well, his film got the second highest tally of nominations so this now makes sense.   Haneke totally deserves to be here.   And it's nice to see newcomer Zeitlin...but at the expense of Bigelow???   Uhh...no.  No way.  Finally...THANK YOU, ACADEMY, for NOT nominating Tom Hooper for LES MISERABLES.

Best Actor:
*Bradley Cooper for SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
*Daniel Day-Lewis for LINCOLN
Hugh Jackman for LES MISERABLES
*Joachin Phoenix for THE MASTER
*Denzel Washington for FLIGHT
Prediction that didn't get in: John Hawkes for THE SESSIONS (Hugh Jackman took his place, which is a travesty of justice.   Then again, I would have voted for Jean-Louis Trintignant in AMOUR over Hawkes...)
SURPRISES: I still think it's weird that Cooper is now an Oscar nominee.   Also, SILVER LININGS is the first film to be nommed in all four acting categories since 1981's REDS. 

Best Actress:
*Jessica Chastain for ZERO DARK THIRTY
*Jennifer Lawrence for SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Emmanuelle Riva for AMOUR 
*Quavenzene Wallis for BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
*Naomi Watts for THE IMPOSSIBLE
Prediction that didn't get in: Marion Cotillard for RUST AND BONE (Thank heavens cooler heads prevailed here.   No one likes that movie.)
SURPRISES: That both the oldest acting nominee ever (Riva at 85) and the youngest acting nominee ever (Wallis, 6 years old at the time of the performance) are contained in this one category. 

Best Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin for ARGO
*Robert De Niro for SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
*Philip Seymour Hoffman for THE MASTER
*Tommy Lee Jones for LINCOLN
Christoph Waltz for DJANGO UNCHAINED
Predictions that didn't get in: 
>Leonardo Di Caprio for DJANGO UNCHAINED (Good for them. Christoph Waltz was OBVIOUSLY the draw in DJANGO (though I would have loved to see Samuel L. Jackson in there, too!))
>Matthew McConaughey for MAGIC MIKE (I guess a lot of Academy members felt TOO WEIRD watching a male stripper movie.  Still, this is a disappointment, as it's my fave supporting performance of the year, from an actor who's had a stellar 12 months. My guess is he gets a sympathy nomination next year...)
SURPRISES: That Arkin got in, despite the sort of performance he can do in his sleep.  Also, that all the nominees have won before; this is a rare event that will make handicapping the winner VERY difficult for all. 

Best Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams for THE MASTER
*Sally Field for LINCOLN
*Anne Hathaway for LES MISERABLES
*Helen Hunt for THE SESSIONS
Jacki Weaver for SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
Predictions that didn't get in: 
>Ann Dowd for COMPLIANCE (I feel so sorry for this actress.   I suppose her efforts were too little, too late.   It's a real shame, because she REALLY deserved the nod.  The saddest omission of the morning.)
>Maggie Smith for THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (somewhat unexpected, but if it means Amy Adams got in instead, then I'm happy about it.)
SURPRISES: That Amy Adams gets her fourth nomination in this category, despite the film not being loved quite that much (but she deserves to be here) and Weaver getting her second (she was very good in the film...but over Ann Dowd?   Uh-uh...) 

Best Original Screenplay:
*Michael Haneke for AMOUR
*Quentin Tarantino for DJANGO UNCHAINED
John Gatins for FLIGHT
Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola for MOONRISE KINGDOM
 *Mark Boal for ZERO DARK THIRTY
Predictions that didn't get in: 
>Paul Thomas Anderson for THE MASTER (I feel extremely sad, too, for Anderson, who for some reason really pissed people off with this movie.   Remember when people were saying he was a lock to win?   That was a long time ago...)
>Rian Johnson for LOOPER (not a movie I think highly of, so I'm relieved, though a lot of genre fans are piping mad about its exclusion)
SURPRISES: Roman Coppola becomes the seventh member of the Coppola dynasty to receive an Oscar nomination (after Francis Ford Coppola, Carmine Coppola, Talia Shire, Sofia Coppola, Nicholas Cage, John Schwartzman (Shire's husband)).   The FLIGHT screenplay getting nommed is obviously something no one was predicting, but it does make sense; that film had a very unusual structure and theme. 

Best Adapted Screenplay:
*Tony Kuschner for LINCOLN
*David Magee for LIFE OF PI
*David O. Russell for SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
*Chris Terio for ARGO
*Benh Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar for BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Predictions that didn't get in: My one perfect score!   
SURPRISES: No love for THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER (though this did not surprise me, personally; they rarely nominate movies about teenagers...) 

For Best Cinematography:
Seamus McGarvey, ANNA KARININA
*Claudio Miranda, LIFE OF PI
Janusz Kaminski, LINCOLN
Robert Richardson, DJANGO UNCHAINED
*Roger Deakins, SKYFALL
Predictions that didn't get in: 
>Danny Cohen, LES MISERABLES (more snubbing for LES MISERABLES; all those close-ups really hurt the film)
>Grieg Frasier, ZERO DARK THIRTY (I can understand this, I suppose)
>Mihai Malaimmare Jr., THE MASTER (But this???? No way.  This was the cinematography of the year!  A crime!)
SURPRISES: That Deakins will probably lose for the tenth time...and that ANNA KARININA got in here as well, completing its craft category hat trick.  Nice to see Richardson in here, too--I wasn't sure they'd go for his superlative DJANGO work, but he's obviously well-loved by this branch! 

Best Production Design: 
*ANNA KARININA
*THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
*LES MISERABLES
LIFE OF PI
*LINCOLN
Prediction that didn't get in: CLOUD ATLAS (I let my adoration for this movie obscure the fact that it was inevitably going to be shut out.  Too bad.  A movie that successfully portrays five or six time periods should have made the grade!)
SURPRISES:  None, really...
 
 Best Costume Design:
*ANNA KARININA
*LES MISERABLES
*LINCOLN
MIRROR MIRROR
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
Predictions that didn't get in: 
>ARGO (Accurate costuming, but I guess not enough ruffles and frills for this crowd)
>CLOUD ATLAS (See above...)
SURPRISES:  Double Snow White nominations.  Though I should have seen MIRROR MIRROR coming a mile away...

Best Original Score: 
Dario Marinelli, ANNA KARININA
Alexandre Desplat, ARGO
*Mychael Danna, LIFE OF PI
*John Williams, LINCOLN
Thomas Newman, SKYFALL
Predictions that didn't get in: 
>Behn Zeitlin and Dan Rohmer, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (A real surprise omission, but this proves this branch doesn't like collaborations all that much; obviously one of the bets scores of the year) 
>Reinhold Heil and Johnny Klimek (and Tom Tykwer), CLOUD ATLAS (Another lost dream for this film, even though the score is CENTRAL to the story)
>Johnny Greenwood, THE MASTER (Is it because he's from Radiohead that he's getting constantly overlooked?   Except for Randy Newman and Trent Reznor, they definitely don't like rock stars in this category.)
SURPRISES: The love for ANNA KARININA continues...seems like this should have led to maybe a 10th pic nomination.   Thomas Newman joins Roger Deakins as yet another SKYFALL contender set up for, like, his tenth loss.  Also mildly surprised that Desplat gets in for ARGO rather than MOONRISE KINGDOM (but I suppose the latter may have had too much pre-existing music in the score). 

Best Original Song: 
"Before My Time" from CHASING ICE 
*"Suddenly" from LES MISERABLES
"Pi's Lullaby" from LIFE OF PI 
*"Skyfall" from SKYFALL
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend" from TED 
Predictions that didn't get in: 
>"Still Alive" from PAUL WILLIAMS STILL ALIVE (lovely song but maybe a little aimless; still, I thought that since he was a music branch veteran, he'd get the sympathy vote)
>"Song of the Lonely Mountain" from THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY (I guess I was really just taking a stab in the dark with this prediction; no surprise it was left out)
>"From Here to the Moon and Back" from JOYFUL NOISE (Maybe this wasn't seen enough?  Too schmaltzy?  I didn't think that was possible for this group.)
SURPRISES:  Very happy for the CHASING ICE song; hopefully we get to see Scarlett Johansson singing it at the show (I guess we'll be having Norah Jones, Adele, Hugh Jackman and an Indian chorus as more performers on the show).   Also nice to see McFarlane and Walter Murphy nommed for that TED song.   But I could do without "Pi's Lullaby."  

Best Editing: 
*ARGO
LIFE OF PI
*LINCOLN
*SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK
*ZERO DARK THIRTY
Prediction that didn't get in: CLOUD ATLAS (I knew I was making a mistake including it so much in my predictions, but I just could not let the film go)
SURPRISES: None, I suppose...

Best Sound (Mixing):
ARGO
*LES MISERABLES
LIFE OF PI
LINCOLN
SKYFALL
Predictions that didn't get in: 
>THE AVENGERS (Maybe I went to heavy on the genre movies in this category, which is historically my worst category)
>THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (Should have predicted a Batman shut-out!)
>LOOPER (I thought this might take the DRIVE spot...)
>ZERO DARK THIRTY (Now THIS was a surprise; I still don't get it)
SURPRISES: LINCOLN and ARGO just in there as part of a sweep... 

Best Sound Effects (Editing)
ARGO
DJANGO UNCHAINED 
*LIFE OF PI
*SKYFALL
*ZERO DARK THIRTY
Predictions that didn't get in: 
>THE AVENGERS (I guess the movie with the MOST sound effects doesn't always get a nom...)
>THE DARK KNIGHT RISES (First time that the series has been left out of the running here...)
SURPRISES:   ARGO again?   I dunno about that.   But glad to see DJANGO in here; spectacular sound effects in that film.  

Best Visual Effects: 
*THE AVENGERS
*THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
*LIFE OF PI
*PROMETHEUS
SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN
Prediction that didn't get in: JOHN CARTER (I was just trying to be surprising...but it DID make the short list)
SURPRISES: SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, eh?   I guess I have to see this now... 

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:
HITCHCOCK
*THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY
*LES MISERABLES
Prediction that didn't get in: LINCOLN (How did this NOT get nominated?  I mean...really....)
SURPRISES: HITCHCOCK.  I thought the makeup on Hopkins was a bit of a fail.   But I did like what they subtly did to make Johansson look like Janet Leigh.   Also...I'm mad that CLOUD ATLAS couldn't even get on the short list here.   Gosh, that movie got shafted...

Best Animated Feature: 
*BRAVE
*FRANKENWEENIE
*PARANORMAN
THE PIRATES: BAND OF MISFITS
*WRECK-IT RALPH
Prediction that didn't get in: THE RABBI'S CAT (I was thinking there might be one under-the-radar surprise...)
SURPRISES: THE PIRATES: BAND OF MISFITS made it in.  I guess this was the "under the radar" choice I was searching for.   I began to hear great things about this movie at the end of the season, though...
  
Best Documentary Feature:
*5 BROKEN CAMERAS
THE GATEKEEPERS
*HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE
*THE INVISIBLE WAR
*SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN
Predictions that didn't get in: AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY (I can be forgiven for this; it really looked like a sure thing)
SURPRISES: None, really...THE GATEKEEPERS is highly acclaimed.   Two films about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict on the list.   But I'm pulling for SUGAR MAN! 

Best Foreign Language Film (NO PREDICTIONS):
AMOUR (Austria)
KON-TIKI (Norway)
NO (Chile)
A ROYAL AFFAIR (Denmark)
WAR WITCH (Canada)

Best Documentary Short Film (NO PREDICTIONS): 
INNOCENTE
KINGS POINT
MONDAYS AT RACINE
OPEN HEART
REDEMPTION

Best Live Action Short Film (NO PREDICTIONS):
ASAD
BUZKASHI BOYS
CURFEW
DEATH OF A SHADOW
HENRY 

Best Animated Short Film (NO PREDICTIONS):
ADAM AND DOG
FRESH GUACAMOLE
HEAD OVER HEELS
MAGGIE SIMPSON IN "THE LONGEST DAYCARE"
PAPERMAN