Shane Life

I have the right to change these at any time, but I thought I’d throw out all my predictions for the major awards today…

Best Picture

Nominated: Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood

Winner: No Country for Old Men

I have only seen Atonement and Juno (the latter of which was my favorite of the two), but it seems to be a Very Coen Christmas this year.

Best Director

Nominated: Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Jason Reitman for Juno, Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton, The Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men, Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood

Winner: The Coen Brothers.

If there’s anywhere that there might be a minor snag in the Coen’s night, it’s here. I think it’s a toss-up between The Coens and Anderson, whose oil movie was lauded (but I also did not see).

Best Actor

Nominated: George Clooney for Michael Clayton, Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood, Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd, Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elah, Viggo Mortenson for Eastern Promises

Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis

There’s no way that DDL doesn’t take the prize here. By most accounts, he’s the most talented actor of our era (followed closely by Mr. Depp). He makes one movie every 2 years and is usually nominated. His turn as Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York was inspired. Johnny Depp is probably the second place winner here…he should have won an Oscar by now.

Best Actress

Nominated: Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age, Julie Christie for Away From Her, Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose, Laura Linney for The Savages, Ellen Page for Juno

Winner: Julie Christie

I’m only predicting Julie Christie because she won the Golden Globe. (So did Marion Cotillard, but she’s French.) I really want Ellen Page to win this one, but she’s in the “it’s an honor to just be nominated” category. She carries Juno, but won’t win. Laura Linney is someone who should also have an Oscar by now. She just continually puts out fantastic work. It’s a travesty that Amy Adams did not get nominated for Enchanted.

Best Supporting Actor

Nominated: Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men, Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson’s War, Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild, Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton

Winner: Javier Bardem

If this is any other year, I think that Ben’s little brother, Casey Affleck, pulls this one out. He turned in two critically-acclaimed roles this year (the other being his work in his brother’s directorial debut Gone Baby Gone), but from everything I’ve heard…there’s no stopping Javier Bardem this year. I don’t know because I’ve seen none of these movies, but I love all of their work.

Best Supporting Actress

Nominated: Cate Blanchett for I’m Not There, Ruby Dee for American Gangster, Saoirse Ronan for Atonement, Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone, Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton

Winner: Cate Blanchett

I think that the sentimental choice here is Ruby Dee, but Blanchett played freaking Bob Dylan. I think that the “body of work” argument that Affleck cannot overcome above is not true here. I think Cate wins it.

The Rest

There are several other awards, but I don’t want to go over all of them in detail. If Ratatouille does not win Animated Feature, the Academy members should be forced to eat rat soup. I think Juno picks up the award for original screenplay and that Atonement will manage to eke out its only win (they might also get a cinematography one, if only for the 5 minute tracking shot) for adapted screenplay. Tune in on Sunday. I like Jon Stewart, but I liked Ellen last year more than his previous hosting stint. I’m expecting a HUGE over-the-top show to celebrate the return from the writers’ strike.

So last night, Alli and I held the 2nd Annual Olathe Community of Christ Young Adult Oscar Party. It’s a great time watching the show with a bunch of friends and competing over who wins the awesome prizes provided by Brad and June.

Alli successfully defended her title as Best Prognosticator of Awards and unsurprisingly, I came in second once again. There were several great moments, some confusing moments, and some downright surprising moments.

My favorite moments:

• Forrest Whitaker’s speech
• Scorsese finally wins Best Director (and receives it from Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg)
• The cool dance troupe segues that formed the interpretations of the Best Picture nominees.
• Ellen’s opening monologue - totally spot-on, perfectly self-deprecating and not insulting to the nominees at all (do you hear me, Chris Rock and Whoopi Goldberg?)
• In fact, the Errol Morris opening nominees montage was really cool too.
• Ellen overall - she did a great job hosting, in my opinion. The part with her dropping off the script to Scorsese was priceless.
• Will Ferrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly’s song - awesome.
  

Confusing:

• Jack Nicholson’s bald head
• Jaden Smith and Abigail Breslin’s presentation
• Dreamgirls getting all but shut out (2 wins in 8 nominations)
• Chris Connelly. I can’t stand this guy and I can’t figure out why they had him backstage if he was just going to pass by the stars. Pointless.

Surprises:

• Eddie Murphy loses Best Supporting Actor. Not a bigger meltdown since Russell Crowe’s for A Beautiful Mind. Guess releasing Norbit when you did wasn’t such a great idea, huh Eddie? I was very happy for Alan Arkin though.
• The Departed wins Best Picture. I had it 3rd on my big board, behind Babel and Little Miss Sunshine.

Overall, it was a decent night. I was glad to see Scorsese win, but I think that it showed that the level of films this year was just average. The Departed certainly is not Scorsese’s best film to date, but for some reason, he wins for it. That seems to happen a lot (see: Denzel Washington).

I’m hoping that the next year brings some better movies and a more competitive race. As good as Jennifer Hudson was in Dreamgirls, I doubt we’ll hear much more from her ever again.

In an essay published by British newspaper The Guardian, Brokeback Mountain author, Annie Proulx describes voters as “out of touch” and “segregated” from current issues, and insists they were easily influenced by Crash’s production company Lions Gate Entertainment. She writes, “Roughly 6,000 film industry voters, most in the Los Angeles area, many living cloistered lives behind wrought-iron gates or in deluxe rest homes, out of touch not only with the shifting larger culture and the yeasty ferment that is America these days, but also out of touch with their own segregated city, decide which films are good. And rumor has it that Lions Gate inundated the academy voters with DVD copies of ‘Trash’ - excuse me, Crash - a few weeks before the ballot deadline. Next year we can look to the awards for controversial themes on the punishment of adulterers with a branding iron in the shape of the letter A, runaway slaves, and the debate over free silver.”

Wow.

Sour grapes anyone?

Proulx isn’t the only one to complain about the loss. Whatever happened to Oscar non-winners being graceful about not being chosen? You don’t see Joaquin Phoenix out there complaining because Philip Seymour Hoffman won the Best Actor Oscar, do you? You know why? BECAUSE HE HAS CLASS.

I saw Brokeback Mountain and I saw Crash. I have to go with the Academy on this one. I thought that Crash was a far better movie as a whole. That’s not to take away from the acting put forth by Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, but I just found the story kind of blah. Not only that, but what is interesting about Proulx’s comments is that they claim that Crash didn’t really tackle tough issues. I guess racism isn’t a touchy subject.

Here’s a tip to Ms. Proulx and anyone else who thinks their movie or their actor got the shaft at the Oscars: Quit crying. Get over it. Go write something new.

To me and Alli, the Academy Awards are like the Super Bowl. We count down the days and look forward to the awards show in anticipation. The day of, we are giddy with excitement and we start watching the pre-show as early as 1 or 2 in the afternoon for the show that starts at 7.

This year was no exception. Now, I’ll be one of the first people to say that this was a pretty down year for movies. I had a couple of favorites for the year…Crash, in my opinion, was the best movie out this year. It was an extremely powerful ensemble movie in which the script, the performances, and the directing all complemented each other perfectly. I was so glad that it won the award for Best Picture.
Rounding out my top five (in no particular order) for the year would be The Chronicles of Narnia, King Kong, Rent, and Wedding Crashers. I also thought that the performances in Walk the Line were incredible.

Overall, I was pretty happy with the awards last night. I was not a big fan of Brokeback Mountain and was actually pretty glad that Ang Lee won. I really didn’t want Spielberg to win because as much as I disliked Brokeback, I disliked Munich even more. I thought that if he won, it would only be because he was Steven Spielberg, not because of the movie.

I thought that Philip Seymour Hoffman should have won an award a long time ago, but I also thought Joaquin Phoenix was deserving of the award. (An impressive side note about Hoffman…I heard that he would stay in character and voice between takes as well as on screen at all times…that’s crazy…have you heard that voice?) Reece Witherspoon was great in Walk the Line and I thought her speech was one of the best of the night.

Jon Stewart did a great job as the host of the show. He wasn’t very offensive and he was still really funny. The whole opening with all the old hosts was hilarious. Ben Stiller’s presentation of the Visual Effects award was awesome too. So funny.

What bugged me the most was that when I checked CNN after the show was over, the headline read ‘Crash’ is upset Best Picture winner. What bothered me the most about that is that I don’t think that there should be front-runners and such for movies because all those front-runners are is the Hollywood hype machine doing its magic. I was glad that the Academy members managed to see through the hype machine and award the Best picture to a truly great film…one that I thought was extremely deserving of the award. Paul Haggis (who wrote and directed the movie) is an impressive filmmaker, following up his controversial Million Dollar Baby with Crash, a film about race relations, personal relationships, and stereotypes on a hot day in Los Angeles.

It was awesome to see this movie rewarded over a movie that was really nothing more than a depressing flick about gay cowboys. Don’t get me wrong, I thought the acting in Brokeback was really good, but as a whole, that movie couldn’t hold a candle to Crash.

This year, Alli and I hosted an Academy Awards party for the Young Adults at our church. We tend to get into stuff pretty heavily and we weren’t sure that people would be into it like we were, but I think that everyone ended up having a terrific time. We had about 20 people over and we all filled out ballots, had prizes (Alli won…I got 3rd), and had a TON of food. It was a great night and one that I am hoping will spur more and more interest in our Young Adult program at church. I’m hoping that we can make it an annual thing.

Now that awards season is over, I don’t know what I’m going to talk about…any suggestions?

Alli’s review over at The Shane Fan Club is much better. Much shorter, too.

Best Picture:

• Brokeback Mountain
• Capote
• Crash
• Good Night, and Good Luck
• Munich

I can’t say I’m terribly surprised about any of these. These have been lauded by the critics for months now. I’ve seen 3 out of the 5 and hope to catch Capote and Good Night, and Good Luck before the actual show.

I really wished that King Kong would have gotten a little more recognition. That movie was absolutely fantastic and I think that the academy widely ignored it because Peter Jackson had just recently had his day in the limelight with the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It was a much better movie than Munich, which I thought dragged on way too long and was only acclaimed because it was Spielberg’s latest (although Eric Bana was very good.

And don’t let the SAG Award for Crash fool you. The Academy will go with the cowboys.

My prediction: Brokeback Mountain (although I really really REALLY want Crash to win)

Best Actor:

• Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Capote”
• Terrence Howard, “Hustle & Flow”
• Heath Ledger, “Brokeback Mountain”
• Joaquin Phoenix, “Walk the Line”
• David Strathairn, “Good Night, and Good Luck”

This was a year of some strong performances by men in movies. I’ve only seend 2 of these performances (Walk the Line and Brokeback Mountain), BUT from what I’ve seen of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s performance in Capote, I have a strong feeling that he is going to win. While he may not be the most deserving this year (Joaquin Phoenix became Johnny Cash and, to borrow a quote from my boy Silent Bob, Heath Ledger’s Ennis Delmar existed), but I really think that he is going to take home the Oscar this year because he is pretty much ALWAYS good.

I think that it is really cool that they recognized Terence Howard’s performance in Hustle & Flow, but I don’t think he’ll win. I haven’t seen the flick, but he is an up-and-coming star who was terrific in MY favorite movie of the year, Crash. David Straithairn…be happy with the nomination, sir…this isn’t your year.

My prediction: Philip Seymour Hoffman (definitely wouldn’t mind if Joaquin won, though)

Best Actress:

• Judi Dench, “Mrs. Henderson Presents”
• Felicity Huffman, “Transamerica”
• Keira Knightley, “Pride & Prejudice”
• Charlize Theron, “North Country”
• Reese Witherspoon, “Walk the Line”

I have a feeling that the Academy is going to go against the grain on this one. Common sense would say, “pick Reese Witherspoon…she won the Globe and the SAG” and while Reese was excellent in Walk the Line, I really think that Felicity Huffman is going to win for Transamerica. I don’t know why. I haven’t seen it (have only seen two of these performances, the other being Charlize in North Country), but I have this feeling that this is the type of role that usually gets noticed by the Academy.

I thought that there were a lot of really good performances from the year that got left off this list. Surprisingly absent is Claire Danes, who (if you asked anyone 3 months ago) was a shoo-in for Shopgirl, but really fell off the radar. Whoever was the publicist behind Mrs. Henderson Presents should get a huge raise. I hadn’t even heard of that movie a month ago and it is up for all sorts of stuff. Keira Knightly…see note to David Straithairn. I guess since no one saw Proof besides me and Alli, the Academy can’t prove it existed and thus cannot nominate Gwyneth Paltrow for this award.

My prediction: Felicity Huffman

Best Supporting Actor:

• George Clooney, “Syriana”
• Matt Dillon, “Crash”
• Paul Giamatti, “Cinderella Man”
• Jake Gyllenhaal, “Brokeback Mountain”
• William Hurt, “A History of Violence”

This is really a tough category. Much tougher than the Best Actor category, which really has only 2 contenders. I have not seen A History of Violence, but the other 4 performances are all deserving of recognition. My wonder is whether the Academy might give this one to George Clooney because he will not win the Directing (nor will he even come close). However, out of the 3 other performances I saw, Jake Gyllenhaal’s really was the best, I thought. Paul Giamatti is a great actor, but this role isn’t a lot different than some of his others…he’s just the “aw shucks” guy who is desperately unattractive, but you can’t help but like him. Matt Dillon, I’m sorry, but you weren’t even the Best Supporting Actor in your own movie (*cough cough* Terence Howard *cough* Don Cheadle).

While I would have liked to see someone from Crash win this one, I don’t think they picked the right person.

My prediction: Jake Gyllenhaal (who will share it with Heath Ledger)

Best Supporting Actress:

• Amy Adams, “Junebug”
• Catherine Keener, “Capote”
• Frances McDormand, “North Country”
• Rachel Weisz, “The Constant Gardener”
• Michelle Williams, “Brokeback Mountain”

Now I can’t really speak from any sort of authority on this one. I’m just going to go with my gut. I agree with Alli. Michelle Williams does NOT deserve to be up. Her acting was mediocre at best. Catherine Keener, you are always very good. Amy Adams, to me, you’ll always be the “purse lady” (and, subsequently, Jim’s girlfriend) from The Office. Didn’t see your movie, so that’s all I’ve got for you. I really really would like to see Frances McDormand win, but I think this is Rachel’s year.

My prediction: Rachel Weisz (outside chance of Amy Adams in an upset)

Best Director:

• Ang Lee, “Brokeback Mountain”
• Bennett Miller, “Capote”
• Paul Haggis, “Crash”
• George Clooney, “Good Night, and Good Luck”
• Steven Spielberg, “Munich”

Honestly, I think it’s garbage that Spielberg is up for this award. Munich was, in my opinion, one of his worst efforts as a director. I was bored and I thought that it was just not that good of a movie. I would love for Paul Haggis to win this one, but he won’t. The cowboys win again.

My prediction: Ang Lee

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, “Brokeback Mountain”
• Dan Futterman, “Capote”
• Jeffrey Caine, “The Constant Gardener”
• Josh Olson, “A History of Violence”
• Tony Kushner and Eric Roth, “Munich”

This discussion is really an exercise in futility. If anyone in their right mind thinks that Brokeback Mountain will NOT win this award, I would think seriously about banning you from my blog forever. Fortunately, no one reads (or if you do, there’s NO WAY you’ve read this far), so I’ll give you a pass.

My prediction: Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana

Best Original Screenplay:

• Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, “Crash”
• George Clooney and Grant Heslov, “Good Night, and Good Luck”
• Woody Allen, “Match Point”
• Noah Baumbach, “The Squid and the Whale”
• Stephen Gaghan, “Syriana”

I think that Stephen Gaghan is extremely talented. I thought that Syriana was thought-provoking and interesting. BUT, no one else I saw it with liked it very much. I’ve heard Woody Allen is at the top of his game in Match Point, but to me, that’s not saying much because I can’t stand his movies.

I think that this might be one of the only categories where the person that I think will win and the person I want to win will converge on the podium to give their speech.

My prediction: Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco

OK, so I could go through all the rest of the awards, but that would be a really REALLY long post. And since we’re having a party for the Young Adults here at the house, I won’t get to live-blog like I did with the Golden Globes, but I will leave you with this. Batman Begins is up (deservedly) for Best Cinematography. And while it won’t win, I’m just glad it got recognized. Same with The Chronicles of Narnia. Both were excellent movies.

I finally got around to seeing Crash last night. My brother bought it and after So You Think You Can Dance, we watched Paul Haggis’s masterpiece film about a crazy night in Los Angeles. The film deals with relationships between black and white and latino and asian, between man and woman, between mother and son, between employer and employee, and between protector and protected.

What a powerful film.

Haggis, who was responsible for penning last year’s Best Picture winner, Million Dollar Baby, writes and directs this incredible movie which features one of the largest ensemble casts in recent history. Not only does he direct them with skill, he manages to get lifetime best performances out of actors and actresses who I wasn’t sure had much skill.

Don Cheadle (who is ALWAYS brilliant) provides a somewhat common thread through the movie as an LAPD detective. His quote at the beginning of the movie provides a strong statement and serves as the basis for the rest of the feature:

“It’s the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In LA, nobody touches you. We’re always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something.”

The supporting cast is terrific and Terence Howard, who finally got a starring shot in this summer’s Hustle and Flow is powerful in his role as a television producer who struggles with his own rights and self-image as an African-American man. Sandra Bullock puts out her best performance of a lifetime (WAY better than her turn in 28 Days) and Ryan Phillippe and Matt Dillon are terrific as two sides to the Good Cop - Bad Cop.

What impressed me most was that with the multiple story lines that were going on during this movie, I never once got confused with what was going on. Haggis truly is a great screenwriter.

This movie really reminded me a lot of another movie last year that came out extremely early last year and was my clear choice for movie of the year last year, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. My fear is that because of its early release, Crash may suffer some of the same fate come Oscar time (Eternal Sunshine was largely ignored, despite being a brilliant, original, incredibly-acted film). And the question remains, who would you nominate. Almost all of the actors represent supporting roles (Cheadle really being the only one who could be justified as a lead actor), but I think that almost all of them should be nominated.

Truthfully, if Crash isn’t nominated come Oscar time in some way or another, I’ll be really surprised. I just hope that it doesn’t get punished for being released early in May.

My IMDb rating: 9 out of 10.

I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical when we went to this movie on Saturday night. Not only had I been ruined of the big climactic twist by a CNN.com story, but it just didn’t seem like a great movie. It seemed a little boring.

Man, WAS I WRONG.

Million Dollar Baby ranked up there with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as one of the best films of 2004. I’m not just saying this because everyone else in the world is saying it. I would be the last person to do that…to AGREE with critics, BUT…I can’t help it.

I’ve never been a huge Clint Eastwood fan. I never really understood what the big deal was about him. I think it all started back when Unforgiven won all those Oscars. I just couldn’t figure it out. How could a western movie be that good?

Million Dollar Baby is carried by Hilary Swank’s unbelievable portrayal of Maggie Fitzgerald, a white trash, down-on-her-luck, cliche who wants to box for Clint Eastwood’s Frankie. Frankie sees her as an annoyance. I don’t want to say too much about the movie because I think that it is a story that is better told on the screen than having someone relay a summation to you. I said before that I thought that she would win and she probably should, but that doesn’t mean I still won’t be pulling for Kate Winslet. Swank already has one!

I think that I might want to revise my previous Oscar nominations. I still don’t think that Clint Eastwood should win. Hilary Swank was right when she said that he put out the best acting of his career. Unfortunately, his career is marked with spaghetti westerns and movies like Dirty Harry and Every Which Way But Loose (in which his co-star was an orangutan), so I still don’t think he deserves it here. BUT, I would probably revise my Best Supporting Actor pick to be Morgan Freeman. Freeman provides a similar voice as he did in Shawshank Redemption as Red, but I think that he stretches himself a little further here and it’s time for him to be recognized and I expect him to as well.

After watching Million Dollar Baby, I’m really pulling for it to beat out Sideways (which I think is still the front runner, despite being a complete travesty as a movie) for Best Adapted Screenplay. Million Dollar Baby was much more uplifting than I expected and it even had comedic moments, which were well-timed and extremely appropriate.

Now, the question: should Clint Eastwood beat out Martin Scorsese for Best Director? That’s a tough one. The Aviator is a movie in scope that Oscar appreciates, but it would be hard to ignore just the almost perfect filmmaking that Eastwood achieved with Million Dollar Baby. This one is a coin flip.

In additon, I also think that Million Dollar Baby is probably the strongest Best Picture contender out of the group. I’ve seen 4 of the 5 now (with only Ray left to see) and Million Dollar Baby was, in my opinion, the best (although I wouldn’t be upset if the Oscar went to Finding Neverland or The Aviator). Both had their merits, I just thought that Million Dollar Baby was spectacular.

IMDb rating: 9 out of 10.

So the Oscar nominations came out this morning. They were good and bad. The Academy continues its love affair with all things that Clint Eastwood touches (yeah, that’s right, the “Dirty Harry” guy) and Million Dollar Baby came up with six major nominations (Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay). The Aviator suprisingly came up with six major ones as well (Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Director, Original Screenplay). I haven’t seen either of these movies (nor many of the others that were nominated…I live in the Midwest…some of this stuff isn’t even out yet), but below is a list of all the nominations and my opinion on who will win and who should win.

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Alan Alda - THE AVIATOR

Thomas Haden Church - SIDEWAYS

Jamie Foxx - COLLATERAL

Morgan Freeman - MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Clive Owen - CLOSER

I’ve only seen two of these movies (Collateral, Sideways). Alli saw another one of them (Closer). We are going to see the Aviator before the Oscars and I would like to see Million Dollar Baby too. Nobody really impressed me all that much, although Alli said that Clive Owen was good and I like him so we’ll say that he should win it, but my guess is that Thomas Haden Church will win it…I can’t understand all the buzz about Sideways…it was terrible in my opinion, but my opinion doesn’t really matter.
WILL WIN: Thomas Haden Church
SHOULD WIN: Clive Owen
SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: James Garner, The Notebook

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Cate Blanchett - THE AVIATOR

Laura Linney - KINSEY

Virginia Madsen - SIDEWAYS

Sophie Okonedo - HOTEL RWANDA

Natalie Portman - CLOSER

I’ve only seen Sideways, so I can’t really judge this flick. I thought Natalie Portman had a great year though. Would have liked to see her nominated for Garden State, but alas, Garden State was pretty much ignored, unfortunately.
WILL WIN: Natalie Portman
SHOULD WIN: Natalie Portman

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

THE INCREDIBLES

SHARK TALE

SHREK 2

This one is easy. Shark Tale was overrated and Shrek 2 takes multiple viewings to appreciate. The Incredibles stands above the other two and could have contended for Best Picture this year. Pixar continues to dominate everything else.
WILL WIN: The Incredibles
SHOULD WIN: The Incredibles
WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)BEFORE SUNSET

FINDING NEVERLAND

MILLION DOLLAR BABY

THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

SIDEWAYS

This is an extremely interesting category. I really really want Before Sunset to win this category. I haven’t seen a movie with better dialogue this year. Finding Neverland would be another good choice, and then you have both Million Dollar Baby and Sideways in the category.
WILL WIN: Sideways (unfortunately)
SHOULD WIN: Before Sunset

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)

THE AVIATOR

ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

HOTEL RWANDA

THE INCREDIBLES

VERA DRAKE

I really want Eternal Sunshine to win this. It was, in my opinion, the best movie of the year, certainly worthy of more accolades than it got. I wonder if people are just sick of Charlie Kauffman’s craziness (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation), but to ignore this movie is a shame. I also think it was a travesty that Garden State was completely overlooked.
WILL WIN: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
SHOULD WIN: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Zach Braff, Garden State

DIRECTING

Martin Scorsese - THE AVIATOR

Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Taylor Hackford - RAY

Alexander Payne - SIDEWAYS

Mike Leigh - VERA DRAKE

Another interesting category. Scorsese certainly has the sentimental vote considering he got shut out for Gangs of New York by convicted felon Roman Polanski. I would think that this is his year if Clint Eastwood were not in the category. I think that they are the top 2 choices with Payne being the dark horse.
WILL WIN: Clint Eastwood
SHOULD WIN: Martin Scorsese

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Don Cheadle - HOTEL RWANDA

Johnny Depp - FINDING NEVERLAND

Leonardo DiCaprio - THE AVIATOR

Clint Eastwood - MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Jamie Foxx - RAY

I really think this category is Jamie Foxx’s to lose. Johnny Depp was terrific in Finding Neverland, but he is always terrific. Look for him to get nominated next year for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Don Cheadle is a dark horse in this category. Such a terrific actor and it’s good to see him finally getting some recognition. Leo, better luck next time…
WILL WIN: Jamie Foxx
SHOULD WIN: Jamie Foxx

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Annette Bening - BEING JULIA

Catalina Sandino Moreno - MARIA FULL OF GRACE

Imelda Staunton - VERA DRAKE

Hilary Swank - MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Kate Winslet - ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

My favorite, Kate Winslet, doesn’t have a chance. Hilary Swank is going to win, but with all of the nominations that Vera Drake received, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Imelda Staunton win. She’s my dark horse.
WILL WIN: Hilary Swank
SHOULD WIN: Kate Winslet

BEST PICTURE

THE AVIATOR

FINDING NEVERLAND

MILLION DOLLAR BABY

RAY
SIDEWAYS

I’m so unbelievably irritated that Eternal Sunshine didn’t get nominated that I want to puke. There has not been a more original movie in 5 years (and probably won’t be for another 5). This is a hard category to pick. I am really crossing my fingers that Sideways walks away with nothing and I really think it won’t win this one. However, out of these movies, I’ve actually only seen one. I have no idea how to judge this, but I’ll do my best.
WILL WIN: The Aviator
SHOULD WIN: Finding Neverland
SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOMINATED: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Overall, it was a pretty good year for movies. I don’t think we’ll see the utter domination like last year’s Lord of the Rings, but if it will come from anyone, it will likely come from The Aviator. I really think this is Martin Scorsese’s year and everyone knows how hard he worked on it. But no one really knows. This is just knee-jerk reaction right now. We’ll see come February 27th.

Sidenote: The Razzie nominations are out too. Sucks to be Halle Berry…

Since most studios save their best movies for the end of the year (so they can stay fresh in the minds of the Academy voters), oftentimes good movies from earlier in the year get forgotten. The following movies are my thoughts on the five major categories of movies that (as of November 12) had been in theaters thus far this year (and I have seen):

BEST PICTURE:
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Honorable Mention: The Notebook, The Incredibles

BEST ACTOR:
Johnny Depp, Finding Neverland
Honorable Mention: Brad Pitt, Troy; James Caviezel, The Passion of the Christ; Jim Carrey, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
BEST ACTRESS:
Uma Thurman, Kill Bill: Vol. 2
Honorable Mention: Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

BEST DIRECTOR:
Mel Gibson, The Passion of the Christ

BEST SCREENPLAY:
Jared and Jerusha Hess, Napolean Dynamite
Honorable Mentions: Before Sunset, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Saved!

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR:
James Garner, The Notebook
Honorable Mention: Jamie Foxx, Collateral

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
Dakota Fanning, Man on Fire
Honorable Mention: Raquel Castro, Jersey Girl

BEST ANIMATED MOVIE:
The Incredibles

There are a bunch of movies that are either out now, or coming out that I really want to see and that I think can be really good. I’m really psyched to see Alexander. Ocean’s Twelve looks good. I still really want to see Ray. I heard that Jamie Foxx’s performance is spectacular.

Past that…I can’t really think of anything…