Award season has begun in Hollywood, and this year Hollywood’s biggest night will take place on Feb. 24 when the 85th annual Academy Awards will air on ABC.
The award’s biggest honor will going to one of these movies, all nominated for Best Picture: “Amour,” “Argo,” “Life of Pi,” “Lincoln,” “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Django Unchained,” “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” or “Les Miserables.”
“Lincoln” leads the pack of these movies at the box office grossing over $160 million, followed by “Django Unchained” with $140 million, and then “Les Miserables” with a little over $130 million made at t he box office.
The leading actor role seems to be favorited by “Lincoln”’s Daniel Day-Lewis, who received rave reviews for his transformation as the nation’s 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. Bradley Cooper, Hugh Jackman, Joaquin Phoenix and Denzel Washington are also nominated in the category.
The breakout star of this year’s Oscar nominees comes in the form a nine-year-old first time actress, Quvenzhane Wallis. The youngster was six years old when she filmed “Beasts of Southern of Wild.”
Wallis is the youngest person to ever score a nomination for an actress in a leading role. The movie was well received by many critics and movie watchers alike, including President Obama, whom Oprah Winfrey says introduced her to the film when she had the cast on her show “Super Soul Sunday.”
The director, Benh Zeitlin, who is also nominated for best director, and the two leading characters Wallis and her on screen father, actor Dwight Henry were all first timers in the movie business.
Some other notable actresses nominated in this category are Jennifer Lawrence for “Silver Linings Playbook” and Jessica Chastain for “Zero Dark Thirty.”
While being the most prestigious award that anyone in the film industry can obtain, each year the academy seems to snub someone for their outstanding work. This year Ben Affleck who won this year’s Golden Globe for best director for “Argo” was not even nominated for best director by the Academy.
Quentin Tarentiono was also looked over for a best director nomination, while his movie, “Django Unchained” is up for best picture. Notably, “Skyfall” and “The Dark Knight Rises” were left off the list of best pictures, both proving to be very popular and high grossing films of the year.
But one of the most consistent but still surprising snubs went to Leonardo Dicarprio for his role in “Django Unchained,” which is nominated for best picture. Dicaprio who has had a consistent acting career since he was teen has only been nominated for three Oscars and never taken home the grand prize.
CNU seems to have its own favorites of the year. Brittany Evans, a junior, really enjoyed “The Hobbit,” which is up for three nominations including best production design, best visual effects and best makeup and hairstyling.
Senior Brittany Heller is rooting for “Les Miserables,” saying, “I haven’t seen it yet, but I heard it was pretty good.” The Oscars will air on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m.ν
