2007 oscars

Actor:
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."

of this cateogry, i've only seen "last king of scotland", so my grasp on this category is bad. however, everyone else seems to think forest whitaker did a great job, and i think he's an amazing actor and gave a hell of a performance, so let's go with him.

prediction: forest
preference: forest

Actress:
Penelope Cruz, "Volver";
Judi Dench, "Notes on a Scandal";
Helen Mirren, "The Queen";
Meryl Streep, "The Devil Wears Prada";
Kate Winslet, "Little Children."

of these, i've only seen "volver", in which penelope gave a fine performance in what i thought was a pretty silly film. for whatever reason, everyone seems to think helen mirren is a lock. ok.

prediction: helen
preference: don't care

Supporting Actor:
Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine";
Jackie Earle Haley, "Little Children";
Djimon Hounsou, "Blood Diamond";
Eddie Murphy, "Dreamgirls";
Mark Wahlberg, "The Departed."

this is a pretty rich category, and i like how it turned out. mark wahlberg was good, but i thought alec baldwin was just even better in a somewhat similar role in the same movie. eddie murphy was the best of all these, though, and the academy loves a comeback story (although they might not like "norbit").

prediction: eddie
preference: eddie

Supporting Actress:
Adriana Barraza, "Babel";
Cate Blanchett, "Notes on a Scandal";
Abigail Breslin, "Little Miss Sunshine";
Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls";
Rinko Kikuchi, "Babel."

jennifer hudson has a lock on this, and that's because her performance is so good that people clapped and cheered more than once during her songs. plus she's got a good story going and its her debut and all that. she's a lock.

prediction: jennifer
preference: jennifer

Directing:
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, "Babel";
Martin Scorsese, "The Departed";
Clint Eastwood, "Letters From Iwo Jima";
Stephen Frears, "The Queen";
Paul Greengrass, "United 93."

as i've written here before, i think "the departed" will, in the future, be considered one of scorsese's more minor works. that said, he comes back to the gangster movie and finally gets the oscar. they aren't going to give it to clint again and they aren't going to give it to some brits or a mexican dude -- their nominations were enough.

predictions: scorsese
preference: don't care. it will be good that he finally gets it.

Foreign Language Film:
"After the Wedding," Denmark;
"Days of Glory (Indigenes)," Algeria;
"The Lives of Others," Germany;
"Pan's Labyrinth," Mexico;
"Water," Canada.

i only saw "pan's labyrinth" out of these, and i didn't much care for it. that said, it will win to acknowledge all the good cinema coming out of mexico these days.

prediction: pan's
preference: don't care.

Adapted Screenplay:
Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, "Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan";
Alfonso Cuaron and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, "Children of Men";
William Monahan, "The Departed";
Todd Field and Tom Perrotta, "Little Children";
Patrick Marber, "Notes on a Scandal."

love that "borat" got a nomination here, and if it wins, todd phillips will be an oscar winner! that said, "children of men" was amazing and will hold up to time and should have had more nominations. i think "the departed" will win, though.

prediction: departed
preference: children of men

Original Screenplay:
Guillermo Arriaga, "Babel";
Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, "Letters From Iwo Jima";
Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine";
Guillermo del Toro, "Pan's Labyrinth";
Peter Morgan, "The Queen."

paul haggis is such a sack of shit.

prediction: queen
preference: little miss sunshine

Animated Feature Film:
"Cars,"
"Happy Feet,"
"Monster House."

i'm not a kid anymore, so i have no real idea.

prediction: cars (sucking pixar dick still)
preference: don't care.

Art Direction:
"Dreamgirls,"
"The Good Shepherd,"
"Pan's Labyrinth,"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest,"
"The Prestige."

this could go any which way, but i think it will go to dreamgirls as part of a consolation prize package (for no director and no picture nods) and because academy voters love the glitz of hollywood.

prediction: dreamgirls
preference: pan's

Cinematography:
"The Black Dahlia,"
"Children of Men,"
"The Illusionist,"
"Pan's Labyrinth,"
"The Prestige."

who the fuck knows how this is going to go? lubezki and tim orr are the best cinematographers working, so i'm for "children".

prediction: ?
preference: emmanual lubezki, "children of men"

Documentary Feature:
"Deliver Us From Evil,"
"An Inconvenient Truth,"
"Iraq in Fragments,"
"Jesus Camp,"
"My Country, My Country."

prediction: al gore
preference: al gore

Documentary (short subject):
"The Blood of Yingzhou District,"
"Recycled Life,"
"Rehearsing a Dream,"
"Two Hands."

prediction: whichever one is about the holocaust.
preference: whichever one isn't about the holocaust.

Film Editing:
"Babel,"
"Blood Diamond,"
"Children of Men,"
"The Departed,"
"United 93."

prediction: thelma schoonmaker gets it, even though the editing was retarded.
preference: "children of men"

HONORARY AWARD (Oscar statuette): Ennio Morricone

I really like this choice, since music is so often overlooked (even by me! i didn't choose any this year...). i like this choice even more considering ennio said in an interview that he didn't even want it.

Best Picture:
"Babel,"
"The Departed,"
"Letters From Iwo Jima,"
"Little Miss Sunshine,"
"The Queen."

this one is weirdly wide open, but i actually think they are going to surprise us...

prediction: "little miss sunshine"
preference: children of men.