The Oscars: Who Will Be Nominated?

Early tomorrow morning Hollywood time, the nominations for the 85th Academy Awards will be announced.

Many of you may know that I've been fairly obsessed with the Oscars for years now. When the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations are announced a few weeks prior to the Oscars, we make an effort to see as many films and performances nominated, and if at all possible, we try to see everything nominated in the major Oscar categories (picture, actor, actress, supporting actor/actress, director) prior to the Oscar ceremonies.

Since I track a lot of the precursor film critics awards and other recognitions, I always make my predictions of who and what will be nominated, and then compare how I did the following day. Of course, I always love a surprise nomination or two—as long as they don't occur at the expense of someone I'm rooting for.

So, here are my predictions for the names which will be announced tomorrow morning. Let's see how far off I am!

Best Picture
Amour
Argo
Django Unchained
Les Miserables
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Moonrise Kingdom
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Analysis: Again this year, the Academy isn't announcing how many movies it will nominate for Best Picture; the number will range between 5 and 10. I went with nine again this year, although there are some possibilities for that 10th spot, including Beasts of the Southern Wild and box-office champs The Dark Knight Rises and Skyfall. (My vote would go to The Dark Knight Rises, as I thought it was a better movie, but who knows?)


Best Actor
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
John Hawkes, The Sessions
Hugh Jackman, Les Miserables
Denzel Washington, Flight

Analysis: I feel fairly confident that Cooper, Day-Lewis, Hawkes, and Jackman will be nominated, but the fifth slot is up for grabs. I'd love to see Richard Gere get his first nomination for his marvelous performance in Arbitrage, and while Joaquin Phoenix was superb in The Master, I believe his quirky off-camera personality and dissing of the Oscars will work against him, leaving that fifth slot for two-time winner Washington, who was excellent in Flight.


Best Actress
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Marion Cotillard, Rust and Bone
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Emanuelle Riva, Amour
Naomi Watts, The Impossible

Analysis: I feel confident that Chastain, Cotillard, and Lawrence will be nominated tomorrow, but there are five possibilities for the remaining two slots. Eighty-five-year-old Riva could be the oldest woman ever nominated, for her critically acclaimed performance in the tearjerker Amour, while eight-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis could be the youngest performer nominated, for her quirky film debut in Beasts of the Southern Wild. Perennial Academy favorite (and 2006 Best Actress) Helen Mirren could sneak in for Hitchock, as could New York Film Critics winner Rachel Weisz for Deep Blue Sea, but I think the fifth slot will go to Watts, for her tough, tender portrayal of a mother fighting for survival in the 2004 Asian tsunami.


Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Argo
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, The Master
Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln
Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained

Analysis: No one has ever been nominated for a role in a James Bond movie, but I really think Javier Bardem could be the first. I'm most hoping that Matthew McConaughey, who has won a number of film critics awards for Magic Mike (although he missed both SAG and Golden Globe nods), will get a nomination. Other possibilities include Leonardo DiCaprio and/or Samuel L. Jackson for Django Unchained, and Robert DeNiro for Silver Linings Playbook.


Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams, The Master
Sally Field, Lincoln
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables
Helen Hunt, The Sessions
Maggie Smith, Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Analysis: I have a feeling Maggie Smith, who is becoming the Betty White of British actresses, may well sneak in for her scene-stealing role in Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and although I was underwhelmed by Amy Adams in The Master, she has received a great deal of critical acclaim for her small role. However, other possibilities include Nicole Kidman, who received both Golden Globe and SAG nominations for the quirky The Paperboy, critical darling Ann Dowd in the little-seen (or even heard of) Compliance, and Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook. (Heck, if Skyfall gets a Best Picture nod, Judi Dench could sneak in, too.)


Best Director
Ben Affleck, Argo
Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty
Michael Haneke, Amour
Ang Lee, Life of Pi
Steven Spielberg, Lincoln

Analysis: If Ben Affleck doesn't get nominated tomorrow, you'll hear my angry scream wherever you are. Haneke is my one wild guess. Other possibilities include 2010 winner Tom Hooper for Les Miserables, Quentin Tarantino for Django Unchained, even David O. Russell has an outside chance if the Academy goes gaga for Silver Linings Playbook.


I know I won't be perfect, but let's see how close I am! I'll be back tomorrow with a report!

Cool cover song of the week...

I posted this video a few years ago, but I still love it, and since it fits the category, why not share it again?

I've been a big fan of Chris Daughtry's since he appeared on the fifth season of American Idol (where he inexplicably finished fourth). There's just something about the tone of his voice that has always resonated with me.

In 2009, he performed a live acoustic version of Lady Gaga's Poker Face for a radio station in Germany. I thought the combination of the acoustic guitar and his vocal delivery really brought a different dimension to the usually frenetic song.

So, if you've not seen this before (or even if you have), enjoy!



Check out my previous Cool Cover Songs of the Week:

Borderline by The Counting Crows

How Deep Is Your Love by The Bird and The Bee

Life in a Northern Town by Sugarland, Little Big Town, and Jake Owen

I Don't Want to Talk About It by The Indigo Girls

Only You by Joshua Radin

Pure Imagination by Maroon 5

I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) by Blake Stratton

What a Fool Believes by Neri Per Caso

Book Review: "A Familiar Beast" by Panio Gianopoulos

In the wake of an affair gone wrong, Marcus has destroyed both his marriage and his career. Unsure of what he wants in his future, and paralyzed by feelings of loss, guilt, and loneliness, he winds up agreeing to visit Edgar, a former classmate, in North Carolina. He and Edgar haven't kept in touch over the years, but thanks to the wonders of social media, they were able to reconnect, and even though he isn't particularly enthusiastic about traveling across the country, Marcus makes the trip.

He finds that Edgar's life isn't much different than his own, although Edgar avoids talking about his problems in the typically stoic way men do. Left on his own in Edgar's big, lonely house, Marcus has far too much time to brood over the wreck of his life and his marriage, and confronting how far off course his life has gone. An encounter with a woman at a bar in North Carolina leaves him feeling more bewildered, guilty, and angry about all that has happened.

When Edgar proposes taking Marcus on a deer hunt, he agrees, despite his revulsion for killing anything, which has been an effective enough buffer to help him avoid hunting to this point. As he ponders a way to disentangle himself from yet another situation he has found himself in, he confronts an even greater challenge.

Panio Gianopoulos' A Familiar Beast is billed as a novella, and from what I've read on Amazon about the actual physical book, it's apparently a beautifully printed, 72-page long text. However, on my Kindle, it feels more like a slightly longer short story. But whatever you call it, Gianpoulos does a phenomenal job creating a memorable character in a familiar but complicated situation. He is a terrific writer and his use of language to convey emotions and events we've seen before is tremendously effective, and his storytelling really packs a punch in a short number of pages.

I've always said that the mark of a terrific short story is when you're left thinking about the character(s) and wondering what happened once the story ended, plus you're invested enough to want to read more. This was definitely the case with A Familiar Beast, and I look forward to seeing what else Gianopoulos writes in what I believe is a tremendously promising career.

Book Review: "Me Before You" by Jojo Moyes

Sobbing. This book turned me into an emotional mess, and even though I knew it probably would before I started reading it, I'm tremendously glad I did.

Louisa Clark has led a fairly uneventful life. She lives with her parents, grandfather, sister, and nephew in the English town where she grew up, enjoys her job as a waitress at a local cafe, and has been dating Patrick, a personal trainer, for a number of years. She's never considered herself the "kind of person" who would enjoy movies with subtitles, classical music concerts, or really going beyond her comfort zone.

When the cafe closes suddenly, Louisa finds herself in a state of flux. Her family is dependent upon her income, and with the world in an economic crisis, jobs are hard to come by, especially for someone with virtually no experience doing anything else. After a number of unsuccessful tries in unappealing jobs, she is hired to be an assistant to a recently paralyzed man, at a higher salary than she has made previously, despite the fact she has never done anything of the sort.

Will Traynor was a ruthless businessman at the top of his game. He bought and sold companies, making tons of money, traveled the world to visit all of the exotic places he had always dreamed of, pushed his limits with extreme sports and challenges, and dated the most beautiful women. And then a motorcycle accident leaves him a quadriplegic, angry at the world for all he can no longer do, and having no desire to continue living.

Will intimidates Louisa, even in his current state. He doesn't want yet another caregiver telling him what would be good for him to do, especially one with no experience or self-esteem. Yet the two begin a relationship of mutual respect and friendship, albeit slowly and sometimes grudgingly. When Louisa realizes that she could be the catalyst to changing Will's outlook on life and his desire to keep on living, she does everything in her power to make that happen, not understanding the toll it will take on her life and her relationships—not to mention how it will affect Will.

This is a tremendously moving story, even if it follows a somewhat traditional path. You know that Will and Louisa will dislike each other at first, that she'll consider quitting her job, and that ultimately, she'll break through his shell. But even as things you anticipate will happen actually do, the characters Jojo Moyes created, and the emotions she has imbued them with, will find their way into your heart. The book is funny at times, frustrating at times, but really fulfilling, and there are certainly some surprises in store.

I have said many times before that I'm a total emotional sap when it comes to books like this, but even as it left me with tears dripping down my face, it's a story I can't stop thinking about. And it's one I wholeheartedly recommend, and would love to hear what others think. Read it!

Book Review: "The Woman Who Died a Lot" by Jasper Fforde

Jasper Fforde is one of those authors whose creativity never ceases to amaze me. In his seven books featuring literary detective Thursday Next, and two books in his Nursery Crimes series, the scenarios and characters he creates are at times farcical, at times satirical, and often his references to certain things or interpretations leave me chuckling or shaking my head in wonder.

In The Woman Who Died a Lot, Thursday has returned home to Swindon, forced into semi-retirement after an assassination attempt. But although everyone wants her to recuperate from her injuries, the world slows down for no one. Both of her children's lives are in chaos—her genius daughter, Tuesday, is at work on a major Anti-Smite Shield, to protect Swindon from a smiting that God promised to hit the city with, and her son, Friday, is in the doldrums after his job as a time-traveling enforcer in the Chronoguard is eliminated, and he finds out his destiny is now not as promising as he had hoped. And of course, there's Thursday's third child, Jenny, who doesn't actually exist but everyone in the family has memories of her.

Hoping to get her old job back running the Literary Detectives, she instead becomes the new chief of The Swindon All-You-Can-Eat-at-Fatso's Drink Not Included Library (the library's survival depends on a somewhat aggressive corporate sponsor), where she has to deal with budget cuts, protestors who want certain books modified to fit their special interests, and an overzealous staff member who wants Thursday to sanction dawn raids to retrieve overdue library books.

Then she realizes that the nefarious Goliath Company starts substituting synthetic Thursdays for the real one in order to tap into her vast knowledge and take over the world, and these synthetic doubles are stronger, faster, sexier, and healthier than she is. Thursday must battle her old nemeses, Jack Schitt and Aornis Hades, on various fronts, in order to save Swindon, the book world, and those she loves.

I've been a big fan of Fforde's books, particularly the Thursday Next series. The characters and their foibles have become so familiar to me that whenever I read another book I feel like I'm visiting with old friends. Fforde has a tremendous ability to tell a story, and even as he is creating outrageous characters and situations, he imbues them with personality and warmth.

For some reason, however, this book just didn't resonate with me as its predecessors have. The humor seemed too obvious and often unfunny, as if random sarcastic jokes were being sprinkled throughout the narrative without any thought of how they would blend. And while Aornis Hades, who can manipulate memories, is a fascinating character, her whole plot thread grew very tiresome in this book and dragged on for far too long.

If you like unusual and creative stories that combine literary-loving characters with a farcical and futuristic plot, I'd recommend you check out this series, but your best bet is to start with an earlier novel in the series, as I don't think this one is as worthy of Thursday.

Recalculating, bright eyes...

Saw this on Facebook and couldn't resist sharing. You know that getting lost is like living in a powder keg and giving off sparks...

My favorite books of 2012...

So, you might have noticed once or twice that I read a lot. (I can't tell you how many emails and Facebook comments I get from people asking how it is I read so much.) Reading is honestly one of my most favorite things in the world, and I'm tremendously thankful that I've been able to have the opportunity to share my thoughts via this blog and websites like Goodreads and Amazon about the books I've read. In fact, I've even heard from some of the authors whose books I've reviewed, which is tremendously gratifying.

Last year, I read 109 books. (I read a mere 84 books last year.) Yeah, I can't believe it either.

When I started making this list, I came up with 32 books that I still think about, some months after I read them. But a list that size seemed a little unwieldy, so I narrowed it to 20 books, with five additional books that are equally worthy, but I classified them as "too good not to mention."

So, in no particular order, here are my favorite books from 2012. For each, I excerpted my original review, but you can still access the full review I originally wrote. As always, I'd welcome your comments, and here's to another year of exceptional reading!

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green:I curse John Green for writing a book that hooked me so hard I stayed up until nearly 2:00 a.m. to finish it. And I curse him for writing a book so emotionally gripping that I was sobbing on my couch in the middle of the night. (By curse, of course, I mean thank.) When teenagers Hazel Grace Lancaster and Augustus "Gus" Waters meet in a support group for kids with cancer, they are drawn to each other immediately. The two are snarky, sarcastic, sensitive, and wise beyond their years, and begin an intense friendship that brings them both joy. Clearly, a book about teenagers who meet in a cancer support group is headed in a direction you don't want it to, but even the journey Green takes you on is worth the sadness. Read my original review.

The Absolutist by John Boyne: Tristan Sadler, newly 21, travels to Norwich from his London home to take care of an errand he is dreading. He has promised to deliver a sheaf of letters his friend Will Bancroft received while they fought together during World War I to Will's sister. To say that this book devastated me is an understatement. It was easily one of the most beautifully written, emotionally gripping books I read this year, and perhaps in some time. Read my original review.

Creole Belle by James Lee Burke: In 1990, I read my first James Lee Burke book, one of the early novels in his Dave Robicheaux series. Twenty-two years later, I've read 27 of his books—the entirety of three series (Robicheaux, Billy Bob Holland, and Hackberry Holland)—as well as several older stand-alone novels. I can honestly say that Creole Belle not only was one of Burke's best, but it was an absolutely phenomenal book, poetic, dark, elegiacal, and full of evocative imagery and complex, well-drawn characters. Read my original review.

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan: "The books I love most are like open cities, with all sorts of ways to wander in." So says Clay Jannon, the narrator of Robin Sloan's marvelously magical book, Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. Honestly, any novel that combines a celebration of a lifetime in the literary world, a lifetime of reading, along with a rollicking, mysterious adventure, is one I could imagine myself living inside of. I'm a big fan of books that take you on an adventure, and even if I wasn't always completely sure what was going on, this book hooked me from start to finish. Read my original review.

The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey: Jack and Mabel left behind their comfortable lives for the adventure and excitement of settling their own homestead in 1920s Alaska. But after a few brutal winters, the reality of their decision is crippling them both. One night the couple makes a snow child. The next morning, it is gone—as are the mittens and hat they gave it—but they start glimpsing a young, blonde-haired girl running through the snowy woods, a red fox at her side. At first they both believe the girl is a figment of their imaginations, but she begins showing up at their cabin with gifts of berries and freshly killed game. Yet each night she disappears as mysteriously as she arrives, and when the weather turns warmer each year, she disappears for good. Read my original review.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter: One day in 1962, a speedboat approaches a small Italian village hidden in the cracks of the mountains. The boat bears a young American actress who has been sent from the set of Cleopatra because she is terminally ill (not to mention having an affair with one of the married actors). The actress stays at the small Hotel Adequate View, run by young Pasquale Tursi, and his relationship with her and the events that unfold following her arrival change the course of his life in many ways. Jess Walter's poetic Beautiful Ruins switches between 1960s Italy and the present day, as well as times and locations in between. It is a story of love and loss, of realizing your destiny and shouldering your responsibilities, and how you never quite lose the dreams you have. Read my original review.

Every Day by David Levithan: Reading this book requires you to suspend your disbelief, but it will be well worth it. It is the story of A. Every day A wakes up in the body of another teenager. There is no rhyme or reason to whose body A wakes up in on a given day—male, female, straight, gay, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, fat, thin, well-adjusted, or mentally ill. For one day, A becomes that person, accesses their memories, speaks in their voice, follows their daily routine, and interacts with their friends. And at the end of 24 hours, A leaves that person with some memories of what happened the previous day, but because A does very little to disrupt the lives of those A inhabits, they're generally none the worse for wear. It's a lonely life. Read my original review.