It’s that time again – time to pretend you don’t care about the Oscars and then sit for hours glued to your screen.

Who can resist the fawning hypola of the Red Carpet? Stars dressed to the nines in borrowed gowns, borrowed jewels, and borrowed hair extensions. Gushing reporters, screaming fans, wardrobe malfunctions, enough toupées to pave Hollywood Boulevard, yes, it is great to be an American during this four-hour metaphor for everything we have come to stand for. Excess, superficial eye candy, plastic surgery, make-up, and occasionally…..talent.

So who do I think will win?

All the snubbing by other awards processes can’t stop Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln from racking up much deserved Oscars, including Rick Carter (UCSC alum) for Set Design, and Sally Field for Best Supporting Actress.

Best Picture? Ack—that’s a tough one. I’m convinced there was no “best picture this year. There were brilliant small ensembles, such as Argo, or Exotic Marigold Hotel, or Silver Linings Playbook. But not one “big statement” movie. And I have to include Lincoln in this list of almost successes, given the woeful and patronizing opening scene and the multiple, embarrassing endings of the otherwise stupendous film.
If the sum of the great parts were up for the award, I would still have to pick Lincoln, given the outstanding ensemble work of Sally Field —pulverizing and raw as the neurotic Mary Todd Lincoln—David Straithhern as Lincoln’s “conscience,” and the curmudgeony Tommy Lee Jones, among others.

Best Picture  -  Lincoln, even though it was flawed by heavy-handed, political correctitude in the beginning, this was one of the triumphs of Spielberg’s career in which he teased out enough brilliant ensemble work by one of the finest casts ever assembled to balance the understated (and hence unforgettable) work of the never-better Daniel Day Lewis,…..which brings me to,

Best Actor – Daniel Day Lewis – the best performance yet  by arguably the finest living actor.

Best Supporting Actor  -  Philip Seymour Hoffman – Although it was often hard to take my eyes off the inspired performance by Joachin Phoenix, a man possessed who simply did not hold back in his mesmerizing creation—part con man, part savant—nonetheless, when the dust had settled Hoffman was right there, not only dancing to Phoenix’ music, but inventing variations on every theme Phoenix came up with.

I have absolutely no idea what that character was intended to mean, or how it was that such acting brilliance could have blossomed in such a wayward film vehicle, but Hoffman made something like magic out of his every gesture, song, and rolled eye.

Btw – I would not mind one bit if Hoffman were aced out by the enduring style of Alan Arkin, or the angry nuances of Tommy Lee Jones, or even the born-again tenacity of Robeert De Niro. (I didn’t see Django Unchained, so I can’t vouch for Waltz.)

Best Supporting Actress – Sally Field Whether she is still living under the cloud of her last Oscar acceptance speech, or not, Field proved that she has courage and fierce intelligence enough for a dozen actresses. Her Mary Todd Lincoln is a tissue of wit, grief, neurosis, and political camaraderie. Astonishing in every respect.

Best Director – Steven Spielberg (See comments above.)  Finally Spielberg, who wrought such masterworks as E.T. and Jaws not to mention the Indiana Jones trilogy, has grown up.

Best Actress – Emmanuelle Riva for Amour, a film I have not seen. Even so, by simply eliminating the other nominees, I arrive at what must have been a delicate and heartbreaking portrayal by this French cinema legend.

Best Cinematography – It will go to  Life of Pi – but my fave is Skyfall, for the first half hour of utterly seamless, excruciatingly tense and exciting, vintage James Bond visual action.

Best Costume Design – Lincoln Short of reading Dickens, one could get no more intimate with the look and feel of the 19th century than in this uncanny cinematic time trip.

Best Film Editing:  Zero Dark Thirty – For obvious reasons.