Sunday, February 11, 2007
Steve's 2007 Oscar Picks

I guess one thing that I didn't include about me in my 5 things post is that I get obsessed with watching all the nominated Oscars movies.

It all started a couple of years ago when my uncle who is a local actor here in Edmonton had an Oscars pool, ever since then I try and see all of the movies and predict the winners. So here are my picks for this year along with some movie recommendations:

Recommendations

If you are only going to see 5 of the movies that are nominated this year see these 5:

  1. Pan's Labyrinth
  2. Children of Men
  3. The Last King of Scotland
  4. Little Miss Sunshine
  5. Half Nelson

Oscar Picks

ACTOR -- LEADING
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

Hands down this is going to Forest Whitaker. He is great playing Idi Amin. My dark horse pick is Ryan Gosling, his performance in the underrated movie Half Nelson is awesome.


ACTOR -- SUPPORTING
Alan Arkin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley – LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou – BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy – DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg – THE DEPARTED

I would like to see this go to Djimon Hounsou but I think Blood Diamond was a weak movie, his performance was the only reason it was watchable.


ACTRESS -- LEADING
Penélope Cruz – VOLVER
Judi Dench – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren – THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep – THE DEVIL WEARS
PRADA
Kate Winslet – LITTLE CHILDREN

Not sure why this category has turned into the who can play the bitchiest woman category over the years. Helen Miren will win for playing a really convincing portrayal of the Queen but Penelope Cruz in Volver is worth seeing.

ACTRESS -- SUPPORTING
Adriana Barraza – BABEL
Cate Blanchett – NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Abigail Breslin – LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jennifer Hudson – DREAMGIRLS
Rinko Kikuchi – BABEL

If you look at all of the awards shows leading up to the Oscars Jennifer Hudson will win but Rinko Kikuchi's performance as a deaf girl trying to be normal in Babel was really powerful.  

ANIMATED FEATURE
CARS
HAPPY FEET
MONSTER HOUSE

Monster House had better win over Cars!


CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE BLACK DAHLIA
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE ILLUSIONIST
PAN’S LABYRINTH
THE PRESTIGE

I have a soft spot for Pan's Labyrinth but the cinematography in Children of Men was the best of the year. There is an excellent scene in Children of Men where the camera follows Clive Owen through a war zone that looks like it is straight out of a first person shooter.

DIRECTING
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
THE QUEEN
UNITED 93

This year either Scorsese finally wins the Oscar or the Academy/Clint Eastwood lovefest continues.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
AFTER THE WEDDING
DAYS OF GLORY (INDIGÈNES)
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
PAN’S LABYRINTH
WATER

Pan's Labyrinth deserves to be in the best picture category and should win this award. If it doesn't I hope Deepa Mehta wins for Water.

MAKEUP
APOCALYPTO
CLICK
PAN’S LABYRINTH

The pale man is one scary dude.


ORIGINAL SCORE
BABEL
THE GOOD GERMAN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
PAN’S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN

The nursery rhyme from the score plays such an important role in the film that it will be in your head after the film is over.

 

ORIGINAL SONG
“I Need to Wake Up”
– AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
“Listen” – DREAMGIRLS
“Love You I Do” – DREAMGIRLS
“Our Town” – CARS
“Patience” – DREAMGIRLS

This song was the best part of the film and the reason that Jennifer Hudson will win best supporting actress.

 

BEST PICTURE
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE QUEEN

This is going to be the surprise of the Oscars, all of the actors in this film gave their  best  performances.

VISUAL EFFECTS
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:
DEAD MAN’S CHEST
POSEIDON
SUPERMAN RETURNS

The visual effects were the only good thing about Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest the rest of the movie seemed like a 2 hour long version of the Benny Hill show. 

SCREENPLAY -- ADAPTED
BORAT CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF
AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT
GLORIOUS NATION OF
KAZAKHSTAN
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
LITTLE CHILDREN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL

SCREENPLAY -- ORIGINAL
BABEL
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
PAN’S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN

Fun
Sunday, February 11, 2007 7:48:57 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [4]  | 
Monday, February 12, 2007 3:59:17 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
I've been running an Oscar pool online for a few years for a movie discussion board I frequent (www.darkquarter.com). Haven't managed to get it up and running for this season yet but hopefully will do so before the big day. We have our own "awards", too if you want to check it out. I used to try to catch at least the Best Picture nominees but have fallen by the wayside mostly because the Bahamas shows crap in the theatres here.

I think you're dreaming about Little Miss Sunshine getting Best Picture though. The Academy saves its dark horses for the screenplay and supporting actress categories (last year's awards notwithstanding). Plus how many times has a movie won Best Picture when the director wasn't even nominated?

Pan's Labyrinth and Children of Men were both on my most-anticipated list at the end of last year. Neither was in Calgary when I was there but I did manage to catch Children of Men in Utah. Pan wasn't playing though.
The Coding Hillbilly
Monday, February 12, 2007 7:34:59 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
"I think you're dreaming about Little Miss Sunshine getting Best Picture though. Plus how many times has a movie won Best Picture when the director wasn't even nominated?"

But it did win best performance by a cast at SAG, something that Crash also did last year. My only other guess would be The Departed. I choose LMS because it kept me entertained the whole way through, no one seemed to drag it down.

The Academy saves its dark horses for the screenplay and supporting actress categories (last year's awards notwithstanding).

So that means Borat and Rinko might win? ;)
Steven R
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 5:55:56 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
I'm guessing this will be Scorsese's year. Departed will win Best Picture and Best Director as the Academy overcompensates for years of shutting him out. His main advantage this year is that it's actually a damn good movie.

Note that this is what I *think* will happen, not what I want to happen. But as it happens, that's what I want to happen, too. I loved Little Miss Sunshine but it deserves kudos for its writing and ensemble cast, not as Best Picture. It's essentially Vacation for the 21st century.
The Coding Hillbilly
Tuesday, February 13, 2007 6:43:03 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)
And if I had my way, The Queen would get Best Screenplay. It downright rocked.
The Coding Hillbilly
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