Rodney's 2012 Oscar Wishlist (Part IV) -Music & All The Rest...

     Attentive blog-readers may have noticed a difference in blog-output between this February and last. Where last year's Oscar Wishlist was paced out through the whole month and culminated in my final post for Best Picture on the day of the Oscars, this year's list has been back-loaded and slower to role out for one primary reason: The Oscar Nominated Shorts. After seeing them, I knew I wanted to review them and include them in the Wishlist. And although I'm proud of my comprehensive reviews for each short... they took too much time away from the rest of the Wishlist. So what now?

     Not to worry blog-readers! Though I don't and won't have time for my usual commentary and spattering of photos for each of my Wishlist nominees, today I'll post my Oscar Wishlists for all of the remaining categories. Just as I posted last year, remember "The appropriate amount of nominees will not necessarily be listed for each category. This post isn't my way of filling out my own awards ballot, but rather my way of listing what each category is incomplete without.". Also, there are a multitude of awards-worthy potential nominees that didn't make Oscar's list and I won't include on mine as "must-haves", but that doesn't negate their quality. So just because something doesn't make the list does not necessarily mean that I didn't see it as "awards-worthy" or "quality". And with all that said, here is the remainder of Rodney's 2012 Oscar Wishlist and happy Oscar-watching everyone (ABC at 7:00 PM EST)!

ORIGINAL SONG:

   *Each song's title is linked to its YouTube Video.

       Freedom -Django Unchained
       Who Did That To You -Django Unchained
       Suddenly -Les Miserables
       Pi's Lullaby -Life of Pi
       Skyfall -Skyfall

 

WINNER: Skyfall -Skyfall

Rodney's 2012 Oscar Wishlist (Part III) -The Tech. & Other Miscellaneous Categories

     It was recently mentioned to me by a blog-reader that last year's Oscar Wishlist, although it included all of the major categories, was not comprehensive in that it left out my picks for the technical awards and a few of the miscellaneous categories. So this year I will make my list exhaustive and give my choices for the winners (commentary-free and sans a full nominee list) in ALL categories. And so I give you all my picks (not influenced by and untethered from the constraints of any of the actual nominees) before I post my full nominee wishlists in the writing, music, acting, directing, and finally the Best Picture categories!:

Rodney's 2012 Oscar Wishlist (Part II) -The Oscar Nominated Shorts (Live Action)

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT:

     Asad

     Children made to work, fight, or commit atrocities have been the topic of multiple films of late(Blood Diamond for example). Somalian pirates have been the stuff of recent headlines and news stories around the world. Asad capitalizes on these news and film trends with its story of Asad, a young Somalian boy who lacks no interest in the sea, but rather skill for fishing its depths.

Rodney's 2012 Oscar Wishlist (Part I) -The Oscar Nominated Shorts (Animation)

     Good day faithful blog-readers, you are reading Post #1 of my Second Annual Oscar Wishlist. As those of you who read last year’s list know: most individuals have some sort of Christmas Wishlist (of what they would get in an ideal world where they could have anything they wanted) or even a Fantasy Football Wishlist (made up of all their favorite players regardless of team affiliation), but not I; I have an Oscar Wishlist –a list of who and what should be nominated based solely on the truth  and caliber of the work, a list uninterested in Hollywood’s awards' season politics, a list of the lineup of nominees that Seth McFarlane and Emma Stone should have announced that early Thursday morning, and a list of the names and films that should be called the night of the 24th (Oscar night) in the Kodak theater. This year has marked a return to epic, brave, and daring (albeit not always 100% successful) studio film-making, and thus this year’s list includes a greater number of studio-generated films than last year’s indie-heavy selection. Also this year’s Wishlist includes a higher percentage of actual nominees than it did last year (the Academy got a lot more right in 2013 than in 2012).