Oscar picks

When the stars of Hollywood gather tonight for the 85th annual Academy Awards, the only thing brighter than the glamorous nominees will be Oscar, the gold-plated statue they hope to take home.

The celebration of moviemaking always contains a few surprises, and the film that moved you to tears or held your imagination for days could easily be overlooked. Nothing is ever a sure thing when it comes to the Oscars. But isn’t that half the fun of watching?

As in years past, we asked four local film industry figures to cast their ballots for the six top prizes: best picture, director, actor, actress and supporting actor and actress. This year’s Oscar pickers are Pete Britos, director of media and cinematic arts at Hawaii Pacific University; Walea Constantinau, Honolulu film commissioner; Rachel Sutton, casting director for the CBS series "Hawaii Five-0"; and Wainani Young Tomich, an assistant director for film and television who just finished working on ABC’s "Last Resort."

BEST PICTURE

Pete Britos: "Argo"
"I thought (Ben) Affleck did a compelling and convincing job. It was a pretty true-to-form historical re-creation and a difficult subject matter."

Walea Constantinau: "Argo"
"It is very difficult to take a story that you already know how it is going to end and build all that humor and intensity and pace and come out at the end with something that still captivates people."

Rachel Sutton: "Zero Dark Thirty"
"It was a riveting film, start to finish. It was edge-of-your-seat the whole time. I forgot I was watching a movie. I know military people will say it’s contrived, but from a pure film standpoint, it felt like a documentary and I thought it was excellent."

Wainani Young Tomich: "Argo"
"I loved this movie. It was good storytelling all the way around. And what a great cast."

BEST DIRECTOR

Britos: Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"
"I appreciated the complexity of the shoot and still being able to get mesmerizing performances from both the humans and the animal and the use of CGI (computer-generated imagery). The scope of it was tremendous, technically and emotionally."

Constantinau: Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln"
"I think it is similar to ‘Argo.’ Here is a story where you know the end, and it takes a very tough director to do that well."

Sutton: David O. Russell, "Silver Linings Playbook"
"I thought it was an amazingly human story. I think it is rare that you have real human struggles that are not embellished, that are just real."

Young Tomich: Ang Lee, "Life of Pi"
"I love Ang Lee’s movies. The visuals here had me spellbound."

BEST ACTOR

Britos: Bradley Cooper, "Silver Linings Playbook"
"I thought he had a nuanced performance. Tragic and humorous at the same time."

Constantinau: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
"He is channeling Lincoln. He brought him to life and made him accessible to people. You feel like you met the man. How much better can that be for an actor?"

Sutton: Daniel Day-Lewis, "Lincoln"
"He just lived and breathed that role. His posture and his speech. It was a spectacular portrayal of a real-life person, which is so hard to do as an actor."

Young Tomich: Joaquin Phoenix, "The Master"
"He was amazing!"

BEST ACTRESS

Britos: Emmanuelle Riva, "Amour"
"I thought she had a stunning performance. The subtlety of her performance, the strength of it. It’s very quiet. It was deep, affecting and incredibly physical."

Constantinau: Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
"It was such a powerful, visceral performance, you just couldn’t take your eyes off the screen or the story that she was at the heart of driving."

Sutton: Jessica Chastain, "Zero Dark Thirty"
"She not only held her own in this character, you saw what that woman went through. I believed every moment of her portrayal."

Young Tomich: Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
"Funny, heartbreaking, soul-searching. She was magnificent."

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Britos: Philip Seymour Hoffman, "The Master"
"A lot revolves around him and his ability to draw people in. He has to be this likable character, and there are these dark and somewhat sinister qualities that he has to pull off to play both sides."

Constantinau: Christoph Waltz, "Django Unchained"
"When you look at other things Christoph has done, he is so completely different. You completely believe he is this other person. He just transforms himself. It’s high praise when you forget who the actor is."

Sutton: Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln"
"I felt the humanity that he brought to that role was just compelling. I felt like you really saw the struggles that these men had to overcome to get their point across."

Young Tomich: Alan Arkin, "Argo"
"He cracks me up."

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Britos: Amy Adams, "The Master"
"I liked how she supported her character and had to play off these really strong male characters and keep everything together."

Constantinau: Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"
"I think it is such an outstanding effort by Anne Hathaway. She deserves to be recognized. It is so tough to act and sing with all that going on."

Sutton: Anne Hathaway, "Les Miserables"
"I think she really captured the vulnerability of Fantine."

Young Tomich: Jacki Weaver, "Silver Linings Playbook"
"Wow, she was so great."