CALL IT, FRIEND-O
Here come the 2007 Oscar picks. I shall assume you know the nominees. This is officially the first year that I will have seen every nominee for everything! Almost! Except for the Foreign Language category...mostly because none of them are available in the US yet...and I’ve only seen two of the documentaries (including the shorts), which’ll probably only go up by one in the future anyway. I also haven’t seen August Rush, but it’s hard to fault me for that. I didn’t get to see The Savages yet, which is the one major thing, but have plans to. I’ve actually SEEN the short films! This will be the first year I can actually judge those prior to the awards. Alright, here they are.
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day Lewis
EXPLANATION: Tommy Lee Jones shouldn’t have been nominated for THAT movie, and while the rest are good in their roles, Lewis is the only one that truly lost himself in it. As he normally does, though.
BEST ACTRESS
Julie Christie
EXPLANATION: I won’t be surprised if it’s Ellen Page. Away From Her is remarkable and so is Christie.
BEST DIRECTOR
Joel and Ethan Coen
EXPLANATION: Julian Schnabel’s direction is phenomenal, but it’s the Coen brothers return to Fargo form that will win it.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem
EXPLANATION: Come on! The only shot at beating him is Holbrook, because they may think he’s dying.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett
EXPLANATION: The toughest of the major categories. I’d much rather see Tilda Swinton win, but everyone seems to love Cate as Bob Dylan. Ruby Dee looks to steal both of their souls when she takes the surprise win for being old.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, Juno
EXPLANATION: Michael Clayton certainly deserves it, but there’s no question this is going to win.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
EXPLANATION: Because it’s brilliant.
BEST ART DIRECTION
Sweeney Todd
EXPLANATION: Tim Burton = Duh. There Will be Blood and Atonement have a nice shot too.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Robert Elswit, There Will Be Blood
EXPLANATION: Tough one. The two Roger Deakins nods likely means he’ll cancel himself out. Shame, really, because his work on Assassination is amazing material. Same with Janusz Kaminski, who’s done so much phenomenal work in his career, and may have found his best work with Diving Bell. Still, I think it’s falling on Elswit. Blood is one dark, controlled, beautifully shot piece of work no matter what you think of the actual film.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
12
EXPLANATION: Who the fuck knows. This category got so fucked this year, and two of the best films of 2007 period were French (Persepolis and Diving Bell), and neither of them are here. So, I decided that a Russian remake of 12 Angry Men fits that Academy vote well. I won’t be surprised if I’m wrong and The Counterfeiters gets it. If it deals with the Holcaust, it wins.
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Atonement
EXPLANATION: Those typewriters are awesome. This was my favorite thing about the movie, actually.
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Ratatouille
EXPLANATION: Persepolis, ideally, would be seen by every academy voter, and they would be outraged that Persepolis wasn’t "eligable" for the foreign language category. Therefore, it would take this instead. Unfortunately, this isn’t dream-land. Ratatouille’s great.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Sweeney Todd
EXPLANATION:
Again, it’s Tim Burton. His art direction and costumes are half of the film.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Transformers
EXPLANATION: Did they actually SEE The Golden Compass? It was like someone animated stuff for a separate movie and then put it in this one. NONE of the effects fit in with real people. Also, it fucking sucked. Big robots kicked ass.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard and Market Irglova
EXPLANATION: Enchanted was not a success based on its songs. Once was. That should be enough. And please, can we stop saying Eddie Vedder should have been nominated? I agree that there shouldn’t be three songs from ANY one movie nominated, but let Hansard win! Once is awesome, The Frames are awesome, and Vedder’s band has been sucking for about 8 years now!
BEST EDITING
Roderick Jaynes, No Country For Old Men
EXPLANATION:
Roderick IS the Coen brothers, and the way the film is cut together is more than marginally responsible for its success.
BEST MAKEUP
La Vie En Rose
EXPLANATION: Though wouldn’t it be great to see Norbit win an Oscar AND a bunch of Razzies?
BEST SOUND EDITING
Transformers
EXPLANATION: It’s noisy!
BEST SOUND MIXING
Transformers
EXPLANATION: It’s loud!
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
No End In Sight
EXPLANATION: Arresting film making, fictional or otherwise.
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Sari’s Mother
EXPLANATION: I think that title has Oscar written on it. I know nothing about any of these.
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
I Met the Walrus
EXPLANATION: The shortest of the bunch, and the most visually striking too. Done with a style that is unlike anything else nominated. Quite enjoyed Madame Tutli-Putli and Peter and the Wolf, too.
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
Tanghi Argentini
EXPLANATION: I was big on Les Mozart des Pickpockets, but I’m going with that cute tango instead. At Night is kinda boring, so it could easily win.
We’ll see how wrong I am tonight. And I’ll see you in a few with another Dare-Aoke.
-M
Here come the 2007 Oscar picks. I shall assume you know the nominees. This is officially the first year that I will have seen every nominee for everything! Almost! Except for the Foreign Language category...mostly because none of them are available in the US yet...and I’ve only seen two of the documentaries (including the shorts), which’ll probably only go up by one in the future anyway. I also haven’t seen August Rush, but it’s hard to fault me for that. I didn’t get to see The Savages yet, which is the one major thing, but have plans to. I’ve actually SEEN the short films! This will be the first year I can actually judge those prior to the awards. Alright, here they are.
BEST PICTURE
No Country For Old Men
EXPLANATION: Anything else would be an upset.
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day Lewis
EXPLANATION: Tommy Lee Jones shouldn’t have been nominated for THAT movie, and while the rest are good in their roles, Lewis is the only one that truly lost himself in it. As he normally does, though.
BEST ACTRESS
Julie Christie
EXPLANATION: I won’t be surprised if it’s Ellen Page. Away From Her is remarkable and so is Christie.
BEST DIRECTOR
Joel and Ethan Coen
EXPLANATION: Julian Schnabel’s direction is phenomenal, but it’s the Coen brothers return to Fargo form that will win it.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem
EXPLANATION: Come on! The only shot at beating him is Holbrook, because they may think he’s dying.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett
EXPLANATION: The toughest of the major categories. I’d much rather see Tilda Swinton win, but everyone seems to love Cate as Bob Dylan. Ruby Dee looks to steal both of their souls when she takes the surprise win for being old.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, Juno
EXPLANATION: Michael Clayton certainly deserves it, but there’s no question this is going to win.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country For Old Men
EXPLANATION: Because it’s brilliant.
BEST ART DIRECTION
Sweeney Todd
EXPLANATION: Tim Burton = Duh. There Will be Blood and Atonement have a nice shot too.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Robert Elswit, There Will Be Blood
EXPLANATION: Tough one. The two Roger Deakins nods likely means he’ll cancel himself out. Shame, really, because his work on Assassination is amazing material. Same with Janusz Kaminski, who’s done so much phenomenal work in his career, and may have found his best work with Diving Bell. Still, I think it’s falling on Elswit. Blood is one dark, controlled, beautifully shot piece of work no matter what you think of the actual film.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
12
EXPLANATION: Who the fuck knows. This category got so fucked this year, and two of the best films of 2007 period were French (Persepolis and Diving Bell), and neither of them are here. So, I decided that a Russian remake of 12 Angry Men fits that Academy vote well. I won’t be surprised if I’m wrong and The Counterfeiters gets it. If it deals with the Holcaust, it wins.
BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Atonement
EXPLANATION: Those typewriters are awesome. This was my favorite thing about the movie, actually.
BEST ANIMATED FILM
Ratatouille
EXPLANATION: Persepolis, ideally, would be seen by every academy voter, and they would be outraged that Persepolis wasn’t "eligable" for the foreign language category. Therefore, it would take this instead. Unfortunately, this isn’t dream-land. Ratatouille’s great.
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Sweeney Todd
EXPLANATION:
Again, it’s Tim Burton. His art direction and costumes are half of the film.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Transformers
EXPLANATION: Did they actually SEE The Golden Compass? It was like someone animated stuff for a separate movie and then put it in this one. NONE of the effects fit in with real people. Also, it fucking sucked. Big robots kicked ass.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard and Market Irglova
EXPLANATION: Enchanted was not a success based on its songs. Once was. That should be enough. And please, can we stop saying Eddie Vedder should have been nominated? I agree that there shouldn’t be three songs from ANY one movie nominated, but let Hansard win! Once is awesome, The Frames are awesome, and Vedder’s band has been sucking for about 8 years now!
BEST EDITING
Roderick Jaynes, No Country For Old Men
EXPLANATION:
Roderick IS the Coen brothers, and the way the film is cut together is more than marginally responsible for its success.
BEST MAKEUP
La Vie En Rose
EXPLANATION: Though wouldn’t it be great to see Norbit win an Oscar AND a bunch of Razzies?
BEST SOUND EDITING
Transformers
EXPLANATION: It’s noisy!
BEST SOUND MIXING
Transformers
EXPLANATION: It’s loud!
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
No End In Sight
EXPLANATION: Arresting film making, fictional or otherwise.
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Sari’s Mother
EXPLANATION: I think that title has Oscar written on it. I know nothing about any of these.
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
I Met the Walrus
EXPLANATION: The shortest of the bunch, and the most visually striking too. Done with a style that is unlike anything else nominated. Quite enjoyed Madame Tutli-Putli and Peter and the Wolf, too.
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
Tanghi Argentini
EXPLANATION: I was big on Les Mozart des Pickpockets, but I’m going with that cute tango instead. At Night is kinda boring, so it could easily win.
We’ll see how wrong I am tonight. And I’ll see you in a few with another Dare-Aoke.
-M
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