Todd’s Oscar picks
Note: although I am a member of the Writer’s Guild, I am not a member of the Academy. I’m just a guesser like anybody.
Further, note that I have never won an Oscar pool in my life. If you want to know who is going to win at the Oscars, ask Mrs. James urbaniak. She has won every Oscar pool I’ve ever entered.
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Leonardo DiCaprio – BLOOD DIAMOND
Ryan Gosling – HALF NELSON
Peter O’Toole – VENUS
Will Smith – THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Forest Whitaker – THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
I actually haven’t seen any of these movies. I’m going to say Forest Whitaker, because the trailer for Venus set my teeth on edge.
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley – LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou – BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy – DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg – THE DEPARTED
A strong field, but Eddie Murphy is due. He is one of our greatest actors and a national treasure. I am astonished he was not nominated for The Nutty Professor.
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Penélope Cruz – VOLVER
Judi Dench – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren – THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep – THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Kate Winslet – LITTLE CHILDREN
These are all extraordinary performances. I wish Cate Blanchett was in this category so we could have three Queen Elizabeths fighting against each other.
Everyone is saying Helen Mirren is going to win it, but I preferred Meryl Streep’s performance. She was astonishing in that movie.
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Adriana Barraza – BABEL
Cate Blanchett – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Abigail Breslin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jennifer Hudson – DREAMGIRLS
Rinko Kikuchi – BABEL
I’m baffled by Cate Blanchett in this category — she’s easily the co-lead in Notes, and extraordinary as always, easily the most gifted actress of her generation. Abigail Breslin gives one of several excellent kid performances of the year. But Jennifer Hudson is the walk-away favorite here.
Best animated feature film of the year
CARS
HAPPY FEET
MONSTER HOUSE
Happy Feet, although it gets weighted down with a “message” in Act III, is by far the best animated film of the year. Utterly original in a year of achingly similar talking-animal movies, character design that is authentic and subtle without sacrificing kid appeal, an organic, felt storyline instead of a forced, programmatic formula, and living, breathing characters.
Achievement in art direction
DREAMGIRLS
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
PAN’S LABYRINTH
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
THE PRESTIGE
Dreamgirls.
Achievement in cinematography
THE BLACK DAHLIA
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE ILLUSIONIST
PAN’S LABYRINTH
THE PRESTIGE
All of these movies are really well shot. Children of Men has two sequences which count as two of the most jaw-dropping action sequences ever shot, but I’ll say Pan’s Labyrinth.
Achievement in costume design
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
DREAMGIRLS
MARIE ANTOINETTE
THE QUEEN
Dreamgirls.
Achievement in directing
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
THE QUEEN
UNITED 93
Has to be Scorsese. Has to be. Babel and Iwo Jima feel like homework, The Queen feels too performance driven, United 93, while amazingly directed, far too painful to sit through. Has to be Scorsese.
Best documentary feature
DELIVER US FROM EVIL
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
JESUS CAMP
MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY
Inconvenient Truth. They can’t pass it up. Plus I don’t think any of the others are about the Holocaust.
Best documentary short subject
THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT
RECYCLED LIFE
REHEARSING A DREAM
TWO HANDS
No idea.
Achievement in film editing
BABEL
BLOOD DIAMOND
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
UNITED 93
I’m going to say United 93.
Best foreign language film of the year
AFTER THE WEDDING
DAYS OF GLORY (INDIGÈNES)
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
PAN’S LABYRINTH
WATER
Oh, Pan’s Labyrinth. Definitely.
Achievement in makeup
APOCALYPTO
CLICK
PAN’S LABYRINTH
The makeup in Apocalypto is quite an achievement, but I don’t think the Academy can give it an award. And if they can’t give it to Apocalypto, they can’t give it to an Adam Sandler movie. A lot of the makeup effects in Pan’s Labyrinth are computer generated, but I still say it will win.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
BABEL
THE GOOD GERMAN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
PAN’S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN
I’m going to say Notes on a Scandal, only because it’s by my favorite living composer, Philip Glass, and I want to see him win.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“I Need to Wake Up” – AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
“Listen” – DREAMGIRLS
“Love You I Do” – DREAMGIRLS
“Our Town” – CARS
“Patience” – DREAMGIRLS
I’m going to say one of the songs from Dreamgirls. But I could be wrong.
Best motion picture of the year
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE QUEEN
Has to be The Departed. The other ones on this list don’t even come close.
Best animated short film
THE DANISH POET
LIFTED
THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL
MAESTRO
NO TIME FOR NUTS
Not a clue.
Best live action short film
BINTA AND THE GREAT IDEA (BINTA Y LA GRAN IDEA)
ÉRAMOS POCOS (ONE TOO MANY)
HELMER & SON
THE SAVIOUR
WEST BANK STORY
West Bank Story. (It’s about Israel, right?)
Achievement in sound editing
APOCALYPTO
BLOOD DIAMOND
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
Hmmm — a toss up. I’m going to say Flags, just because that’s the only one where I remember being impressed by the sound effects editing. (Last time I used this logic was for Dances With Wolves, and I was right then too.)
Achievement in sound mixing
APOCALYPTO
BLOOD DIAMOND
DREAMGIRLS
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
Dreamgirls.
Achievement in visual effects
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
POSEIDON
SUPERMAN RETURNS
Pirates. Bill Nighy with an octopus on his face is, hands down, the greatest, most sophisticated, most successful, most daring visual effect of the year.
Adapted screenplay
BORAT CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
LITTLE CHILDREN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Not sure what makes Borat an “adapted screenplay,” but whatever. Little Children is the best screenplay of the year.
Original screenplay
BABEL
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
PAN’S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN
Gosh. I’m actually going to say Little Miss Sunshine, only because I don’t think they’ll give it to Pan’s Labyrinth. Plus, Little Miss Sunshine was, you know, this year’s “little movie that could,” and otherwise won’t win anything.
There you go. And remember, I’m always wrong about these things.
Doesn’t Helen Mirren count as two Queen Elizabeths?
Elizabeth I was a TV movie.
Still counts. I say so.
It probably should, especially given the quality of HBO’s stuff. There isn’t much that separates it from theatrical releases besides the fact that it was on TV because of length.
This is why Mirren will win; she’s played two different Queen Elizabeths.
Costumes has got to go to Curse of the Golden Flower. GOT TO!
Typically, the only awards I really care about are the writing ones and the ones I’m rooting for this year are Children of Men and Pan’s Labyrinth. As for how Borat is an adapted screenplay, remember when O Brother, Where Art Thou? was nominated in that category because the Coen Brothers had cheekily suggested it was based on The Odyssey?
Additionally, I’m pulling for Vilmos Zsigmond to win for The Black Dahlia‘s lucious cinematography, I’m hoping Children of Men wins for film editing, and I’m sure you’re absolutely right about this being Scorsese’s year for directing.
Also, I can’t believe the Academy passed up the opportunity to nominate A Scanner Darkly in the animated feature category. I guess no one told them they were allowed to vote for animated films that were made for adults.
>>>Bill Nighy with an octopus on his face is, hands down, the greatest, most sophisticated, most successful, most daring visual effect of the year.
You know, I watched that and assumed the face was mostly CGI and the rest was real, then read Cinefex and come to find out he was ENTIRELY CGI, clothes and eyes and everything, and Nighy was only there as a dude in a mocap suit. I’m usually not fooled like that, so that’s pretty damn impressive.
The greatest thing about the effect is that Nighy’s performance still comes through, he registers as a living, breathing, thinking entity. I’ve never seen anything like it and it was one of the only things that kept me watching that turgid, over-long movie.
That movie was kind of a slog, which is a shame. The first one was surprisingly entertaining. In the second movie, the only thing that really entertained me were the amazing designs of the half human, half sea critter crew. I really liked the mantis shrimp guy.
It just made no SENSE. I get the feeling I could watch it 10 times and forget whatever plot there was as soon as the credits rolled (kind of like Full Throttle).
But yah, that’s probably the reason Davy Jones didn’t register as a fully-CGI critter, because of Nighy’s performance. It makes me eager to see what the fully CGI actors in the upcoming Beowulf will be like.
You may be wrong about everything, but I see you also subscrbe to my “Holocaust wins” theory in the smaller categories. In that, my friend, you are right right right.
U just hope Clint doesn’t win. Please don’t let Clint win. I love Clint but he’s already won for a mediocre movie.
Maybe Holocaust films win because they’re deeply personal to the creator of said movies; a deep personal parable as one could be and always the best of efforts and poetic styles are put on them? Maybe possibly? Mmmm?
And why is an Isreali movie more likely to win?
For best short animated movie put down Maestro. Pixar is always bankable for a best picture win, but thier last couple seemed hokey, which caused them to lose [despite thier quality] to more experimental fare like Harvey Krumpet. Maestro is destined to win. Most of these can be found on YouTube.
Borat clarified
The character of Borat was first seen in segments on Baron Cohen’s Da Ali G Show, the HBO version of which in under WGA territory.
Re: Borat clarified
Yeah, I figured that out finally. Still seems weird somehow. I wonder if Monty Python and the Holy Grail would have been considered an adapted screenplay, since it’s based on characters from another medium?
here are my pics, just because of politics and the people I know who are in the academy…
Performance by an actor in a leading role
Forest Whitaker – THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Mark Wahlberg – THE DEPARTED
Performance by an actress in a leading role
Judi Dench – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Abigail Breslin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Best animated feature film of the year
HAPPY FEET(everyone love penguins)
Achievement in art direction
DREAMGIRLS
(who should win -PAN’S LABYRINTH)
Dreamgirls.
Achievement in cinematography
THE BLACK DAHLIA
(who should win-PAN’S LABYRINTH)
Achievement in costume design
MARIE ANTOINETTE
Achievement in directing
THE DEPARTED
Best documentary feature
JESUS CAMP
Best documentary short subject
THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT
Achievement in film editing
BABEL
Best foreign language film of the year
PAN’S LABYRINTH
Achievement in makeup
APOCALYPTO
(who should – PAN’S LABYRINTH)
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
BABEL
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Love You I Do” – DREAMGIRLS
Best motion picture of the year
THE DEPARTED
(my personal favorite was PAN’S LABYRINTH)
Best animated short film
THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL
Best live action short film
WEST BANK STORY (it’s about palestine)
Achievement in sound editing
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
Achievement in sound mixing
DREAMGIRLS
Achievement in visual effects
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
Adapted screenplay
BORAT CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN (they’ll do it for the laugh cohen will get you when he is up there)
Original screenplay
BABEL
(it seems like what they will do)
Only in comic-book world do disfiguring accidents also “turn you evil.” Isn’t that kind of kicking these poor people while they’re down?
I just discovered that Jackie Early Haley played Kelly Leak in the original Bad News Bears, which is one of my top 5 favorite movies. I recently watched the Linklater remake and I was lamenting that the kid playing Kelly Leak had nowhere near enough cocky menace to pull off the role. I guess now I need to see Little Children (and All the King’s Men—I just saw the original of that one last year).
Well, Haley certainly is wonderful in both movies. Bad News Bears is one of the greatest movies from the 70s.