Archive for February 23rd, 2007

If you’ve been reading my blog here for at least a year, you probably know that I get into the Oscars. I love movies anyhow, and the Oscars are like my Super Bowl. In recent years, it’s been hard since I’ve been mostly unable to see a lot of the films that are nominated. This year is no different, but I have been able to see most of the Best Picture nominated films. All but one. I haven’t seen “Letters from Iwo Jima”. I haven’t seen a lot of the films that were nominated in the acting categories, such as “Blood Diamond” or “Dreamgirls” or “The Last King of Scotland”. I never did get to see “Pan’s Labyrinth”, cool as it seems. That said, I’m still making some predictions. I’m not going to go into all the technical/artsy nominations because a) no one really cares and b) I don’t really care. But I’ll hit the high notes. And we’ll see, come Sunday night, if I was right or not. I’m thinking of live blogging the awards, because I want to incorporate more live blogging around here. So if you’re hanging out online during the awards, come by and see me bitch about acceptance speech length, fashion and the injustices that I’m sure will occur.

Oscar Watch 2007: My Predictions

• Best Picture - “Babel” - Wow, I’ve hemmed and hawed about this one. I figured that “The Departed” was a shoe-in to win, but I hear the buzz over that is diminishing. I’d rather see “Babel” win than “The Departed.” Actually, if you wanna get technical, I would rather see “Little Miss Sunshine” or “The Queen” win more than “The Departed”. I think “Babel” stands a good chance because it was just one of “those movies” if you know what I mean. Chilling. Evocative. Amazing.
• Best Director - Martin Scorcese for “The Departed” - I may complain about “The Departed” (President Bartlett was wronged, man!), but Martin deserves this one. Poor guy has been nominated SO many times and never has won and it’s just not right. He’s really a fantastic director and has such an amazing vision. This one is pretty much in the bag, I think.
• Best Actor - Forrest Whitaker for “The Last King of Scotland” - Even though I haven’t seen the movie, I’ve seen clips of it and see Forrest on talk shows and know enough about it that his performance was haunting. And spot on. And while I think Peter O’Toole would be an awesome choice simply because he’s never won a “proper” Oscar, I don’t think we can deny Forrest here.
• Best Actress - Helen Mirren for “The Queen” - In the BAG, baby. The girl rocked. I forgot multiple times during the film that she wasn’t the queen of England. The movie itself was just fantastic, but she was a huge part of what made it fantastic. I found myself on an emotional journey through the film with her and it was marvelous. If she doesn’t win, we’ll know the apocalypse is nigh, because such an occurrance would surely tip the earth of it’s axis. It’s THAT sewn up.
• Best Supporting Actor - Eddie Murphy for “Dreamgirls” - Huh. Yeah, haven’t seen it, and I’m not entirely sure I want to encourage him too much in the light of “Norbit”. But I’ve heard his performance was amazing and he should be credited for that. I’d even go so far as to say we want to encourage him to be in good movies like “Dreamgirls”. Maybe if he gets the Oscar, there’ll be far less “Norbit”’s in our future. One can hope.
• Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson for “Dreamgirls” - I don’t know, everyone says she was marvelous and how awesome she is. I didn’t see it, so maybe I don’t get it. But I’m sorta feeling over the whole Jennifer Hudson thing. I’d actually kinda like to see Abigail Breslin win or that awesome woman who played the nanny in “Babel” (can’t think of her name off the top of my head). But I’m pretty sure it’ll be Jennifer.
• Best Original Screenplay - “Little Miss Sunshine” - Come on, this movie has to win something. It was just so good. The movie itself was so simple and that was the beauty of it. It’s simplicity is what made it phenomenal.
• Best Adapted Screenplay - “The Departed” - Yeah, okay. This is what the buzz says so I’m gonna go with that. And it was an amazing movie, that kept me guessing and had some shocking things that happened. The suspense was palpable and the characters were amazingly multi-faceted. So I can go with this with a clear conscience.
• Best Animated Feature - “Cars” - Obviously. I really liked “Monster House”, and didn’t see “Happy Feet”, but “Cars” was a great movie and I’ve seen it about a bazillion times. It’s got some great voice talents and the animation is fun to watch and the story was cute (if a little long-winded). My son is really excited that “Cars” is nominated.
• Best Documentary Feature - “An Inconvenient Truth” - OMG, as if there’s any contest. This movie scared me, but in a good way. It was well done, well shot, well scored and (dare I say it) interesting. Yes, even though Al Gore is in it. It was interesting. And a wake up call. It’s an important movie and if you haven’t seen it, what are you waiting for?

Okay, that’s all I’m going to predict. On here, at least. My husband and I will do our usual contest to see who can get the most correct. I don’t know what we’ll wager this year, if anything. And maybe next year, just maybe, we’ll get to see more movies.

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