Between a young man stuck on a boat with a tiger, a neurotic couple falling in love, a CIA operative rescuing hostages in Iran and the new Tarantino Western flick, this year’s best picture nominees provided truly diverse genres of entertainment.

Life of Pi: The movie was the evening’s big winner, going home with four academy awards: best cinematography, best visual effects, best original score and finally best direction received by Hollywood director Ang Lee. Life of Pi, a brilliant adaptation of a novel by Canadian author Yann Martel, is an inspiring story of a young man stranded in the ocean with a Bengal tiger, meanwhile exploring things like spirituality and belief. Throughout the movie, the audience is awed by the scenery and visual effects. It’s definitely a must see this year.

 

Argo: The second winner of the night was Argo. Argo is a dramatization of two books, The Master of Disguise by Antonnio J. Mendez and The Great Escape by Joshuah Bearman. The movie is based on a true story of a CIA operative helping six hostages from the US embassy staff escape Iran, faking identities as Canadian filmmakers. Argo won three academy awards: best film editing, best writing-adapted screenplay, and, most importantly, best picture of the year. For the first time in the Oscars’ history the best picture category was presented live from the White House by America’s First Lady, Michelle Obama.

Lincoln:

The 85^th academy awards marked history for actor Daniel Day Lewis.  Lewis won the best actor category for his remarkable performance of president Abraham Lincoln in Steven Speilberg’s Lincoln. Lewis became the first male actor in history to win three academy awards, joining the ranks of fellow actress Meryl Streep who became the first actress to win three academy awards last year for her role in The Iron Lady. Lincoln was the most nominated picture this year at the Oscars, with a total of 12 nominations; yet it went home with only two awards: next to the best actor category Lincoln won best production design. But the detailed and accurate account of Speilberg, marking the end of slavery and giving credit and awe to a great iconic figure in history.

Les Miserables: Another book adaptation this year is based on one of the strongest historical novels of all times; Les Miserables. With a rich cast including Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Russell Crowe, Amanda Sieyfried and Helena Bohnam Carter, the movie was a genius dramatization of Victor Hugo’s classic. The story had the spirit of the French revolution although it describes the popular June rebellion of 1832 in France. Yet the story is still mistaken for the real revolution, which took place in 1789 — a note worth sharing. The movie won best hair and makeup styling, besides giving Anne Hathaway her first Oscar in the supporting actress category — an award Hathaway deserved after her tough performance as Fontine. The movie is a musical that has been, oddly enough , negatively rated by many critics, given the scope of work done on the set of this picture.

Silver Linings Playbook: With a mix of romance, comedy and drama comes the Silver Linings Playbook. Based on a novel with the same name by Mathew Quick, Silver Linings is a very different novel genre that caught a number of critics’ and filmmakers’ attention since its release. The story tells the story of a couple who develop an odd relationship through their shared psychological problems, which gives the movie its unique mix of genres. So novel was the idea, that it won Jennifer Lawrence the best actress category, beating names like Jessica Chastain and Naomi Watts. The main cast of this movie was all nominated; Bradley cooper for best actor, Robert de Niro for best supporting actor and Jacki Weaver for best supporting actress, with luck gone only to Jennifer Lawrence’s remarkable performance.

Django Unchained: Quentin Tarantino, a director known for his bloody and aggressive type of movies, brought his most recent flick to the red carpet this year, Django Unchained. The cast included Leonardi DiCaprio, Jamie Foxx, Christophe Waltz and even Tarantino himself. Django is an American epic Western film, which Tarantino had longed to try for some time. However, the movie only won the best supporting actor category, received by Austrian German Christophe Waltz for his role as a bounty hunter in the American South.

Zero Dark Thirty: In 2008 Director Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to win the academy award for best director for the movie The Hurt Locker.

In 2010 she was named one of the 100 most influential people of the world. This year Bigelow brings us a powerful dramatization of the American efforts to track down Bin Laden in the movie Zero Dark Thirty. There has been some controversy regarding the torture scenes used in this movie and quite a few criticisms, yet she was able to deliver a very real feel to the story. There were several other nominations, including best actress to Jessica Chastain, but the movie only won best sound editing and that was a tie with James Bond’s Skyfall.

Amour: Last on the best picture nominees’ list was Amour, this time a French movie. It won the best foreign language film award for this year yet was nominated for four others, including best actress category for 85 year old Emmanuelle Riva, making her the oldest nominee in a leading role. The movie tells the story of an elderly couple, who are both music teachers, and an account of their life together with its joys and pains, well, mostly pain of the old age. It shows how the husband takes care of his sick dying wife until she rests in peace; quite a distressing, graphic and sad movie, yet very touching and real. It’s a realistic kind of love story, so real perhaps some older people will refuse to watch.