Now when the Oscar nominations have been announced, I will officially kick off my second annual Oscar Race. I managed to see quite a few of the ‘important’ nominees before last year’s ceremony, but I’m still hoping to beat that number this year. Considering the fact that some films (e.g. Blood Diamond) won’t reach Sweden until soon after the ceremony, I won’t be able to see all the films I want to see, nor will I have the time, but I’ll do my best. Since I’m planning to make a trip soon - not sure where yet - I just might be able to see one or two of those not-yet-arrived-here films then. I know I probably shouldn’t even bother, and I normally hate awards shows (except for the MTV ones, which used to be kinda fun, but lately they’ve all sucked, which makes perfect sense since MTV itself sucks), but I’ve always liked the Oscars for some reason. It’s a fun show, and it’s even more fun when you’ve seen most of the big films and get all those puns. By the way, I have no idea who’s the host this year. Someone new again?
Here are this year’s nominees, listed in alphabetical order. The ones I’ve already seen have titles in bold and are followed by my rating. As for the rest, I’m going to prioritise watching films with nominations in the heavier categories first. This post will remain my one Oscar Race entry, so the list below will be updated as I see more films. I will also comment on the films in separate entries though.
After the Wedding (3)
Apocalypto
Babel (4)
The Black Dahlia
Blood Diamond (3 ½)
Borat
Cars (3)
Children of Men (4)
Click (2)
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Departed (2 ½)
The Devil Wears Prada (2 ½)
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
The Good German
The Good Shepherd
Half Nelson (4)
Happy Feet (2)
The Illusionist
Indigènes (Days of Glory) (4)
The Last King of Scotland (3 ½)
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Children (2 ½)
Little Miss Sunshine (4)
The Lives of Others (4 ½)
Marie Antoinette
Monster House (3 ½)
Notes on a Scandal
Pan’s Labyrinth (5)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (3)
Poseidon (1)
The Prestige (3)
The Pursuit of Happyness (3)
The Queen (4)
Superman Returns (2)
United 93
Venus (1)
Volver (3)
Water
Documentaries:
Deliver Us From Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country
Last updated: 25 Feb 2007
Well, no big surprises this year. I was right in 10 out of 13 predictions, and I didn’t make any very bold picks. I didn’t expect Clooney to win the supporting actor award, but it did make sense when he got up there. I should have expected that they wouldn’t let him leave empty-handed after being nominated in several categories, and that was the one he was most likely to win. I know, I’m being somewhat cynical, but I was right about Ang Lee and Crash, wasn’t I?
Jon Stewart was a good host. As a fan of The Daily Show I had no doubts about his ability, but I didn’t trust the audience to respond that well to his comedy. Sure, he may have been a little too ‘nice’ and he could probably have challenged them (and us) a little more, but I still think he was as funny as one could expect from an Oscar host.
Kudos to Kanal 5 for realising that most Swedes have no idea who Jon Stewart is. The decision to air an episode of The Daily Show (the one from Feb 23 with Roger Ebert; a good choice in itself) right before the awards show was a smart one. The channel deserves credit just for picking up the Oscars in a year when the public service network decided they couldn’t afford it because “this is such a big sports year”.
Robert Altman received some special honours, and deservedly so, but when did the Lifetime Achievement Award become “Honorary Oscar”? Or is that something else entirely?
All in all, it was quite an entertaining show. Probably the best one in years. I especially enjoyed the fact that no film got to dominate by winning several big awards. Four acting awards spread out over four films, and the best picture didn’t also win best directing. Now, we can only hope that this year’s unusual lot of low-grossing winners and nominees will inspire the big Hollywood studios to make more quality films in the future.
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Tonight’s Academy Awards show is special for two reasons. First, it is being hosted by Jon Stewart, who I’m sure will do a terrific job but may not be appreciated by everyone at an event such as this (just look at David Letterman; I thought he was fine, but it seems that most people thought he sucked). The other reason is that this year, for the first time, I’ve actually made an effort to see as many of the nominated films as possible before the awards are given out. I got nowhere close to seeing all of them of course, but at least I got to see plenty more than I usually do. Many of the films haven’t even reached Sweden yet, and some of them probably won’t ever get a theatrical release here unless they win something big tonight.
Anyway, here are my predictions. The films I’ve seen are written in bold letters.
BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE:
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Terrence Howard - Hustle and Flow
Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix - Walk the Line
David Strathairn - Good Night and Good Luck
As much as I’d love Joaquin Phoenix to win, I can’t see this Oscar going to anybody but Philip Seymour Hoffman. He’s the one everybody’s talking about. Heath Ledger might have a chance, but only if Brokeback Mountain is having one of those nights.
BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:
Judi Dench - Mrs Henderson Presents
Felicity Huffman - Transamerica
Keira Knightley - Pride and Prejudice
Charlize Theron - North Country
Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line
Reese Witherspoon really nailed her role as June Carter, and she’s riding on a wave of success right now. Charlize Theron was good in the otherwise quite lame and occasionally pathetic North Country, but the only real competition to Reese should be Felicity Huffman.
BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
George Clooney - Syriana
Matt Dillon - Crash
Paul Giamatti - Cinderella Man
Jake Gyllenhaal - Brokeback Mountain
William Hurt - A History of Violence
Jake Gyllenhaal can win only if Heath Ledger wins also. William Hurt’s performance cannot have been longer than ten minutes and left no impression on me whatsoever, so I’m going with Matt Dillon. He made an excellent racist asshole. Paul Giamatti is the outsider here, since he was overlooked for Sideways last year, but I’ve never even heard of Cinderella Man.
BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:
Amy Adams - Junebug
Cathrine Keener - Capote
Frances McDormand - North Country
Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener
Michelle Williams - Brokeback Mountain
Again, Michelle Williams could win if the academy has decided for Brokeback Mountain to have one of those nights. I’m rooting for Rachel Weisz, who finally took a role in a decent film and proved she’s a good actress. Frances McDormand obviously got nominated on old merits, as she was hardly noticeable in North Country.
BEST DIRECTING:
Brokeback Mountain - Ang Lee
Capote - Bennett Miller
Crash - Paul Haggis
Good Night and Good Luck - George Clooney
Munich - Steven Spielberg
Ang Lee should win this one. Paul Haggis would definitely be a worthy winner, but he’s a newcomer (and old TV writer) not many people have heard of before. Clooney is an outsider. Spielberg has made a Scorsese and has no chance of winning. I’m sure that doesn’t make any sense to anybody but myself, but nevermind.
BEST PICTURE:
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
Crash
Good Night and Good Luck
Munich
This is definitely a battle between Brokeback Mountain and Crash. The latter really deserves some recognition, so I’m hoping that Ang Lee’s directing Oscar (assuming my prediction holds) will open up for Crash to win this one.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY:
Brokeback Mountain - Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana
Capote - Dan Futterman
The Constant Gardener - Jeffrey Caine
A History of Violence - Josh Olson
Munich - Tony Kushner and Eric Roth
Brokeback Mountain, hands down.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY:
Crash - Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco
Good Night and Good Luck - George Clooney and Grant Heslov
Match Point - Woody Allen
The squid and the Whale - Noah Baumbach
Syriana - Stephen Gaghan
Tough call as I’ve only seen two, but no matter what a great comeback they say Woody Allen has made, I think Crash just has to win this.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE:
Howl’s Moving Castle
Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride
Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Wallace & Gromit should be a sure bet here. I have yet to see it, but everybody else loved it. Hayao Miyazaki was awarded for Spirited Away a couple of years ago, but Howl’s Moving Castle is said to not be as good. The Corpse Bride was a charming little film, but little more than that.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:
Darwin’s Nightmare
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
March of the Penguins
Murderball
A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin
The penguin film seems to be loved by the public, but Murderball has received rave reviews. Since I haven’t seen any of these, I couldn’t care less who wins this one.
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM:
Don’t Tell (Italy)
Joyeux Noel (France)
Paradise Now (Palestina)
Sophie Scholl - The Final Days (Germany)
Tsotsi (South Africa)
Paradise Now could win because of the controversy it has caused, but if the voters have actually bothered to see any of these films, I think the Oscar will go to Tsotsi. It’s a great film deserving of a bigger audience, and an Oscar would help it get a wider distribution.
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY:
Batman Begins - Wally Pfister
Brokeback Mountain - Rodrigo Prieto
Good Night and Good Luck - Robert Elswit
Memoirs of a Geisha - Dion Beebe
The New World - Emmanuel Lubezki
Probably Brokeback Mountain, but I wouldn’t mind seeing Good Night and Good Luck getting its only Oscar in this category. The photography was probably what I enjoyed the most in that film.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS:
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
King Kong
War of the Worlds
This is one of those categories where it really doesn’t matter. The effects look great in all of them. So I’ll ‘vote’ with my heart and go with King Kong, since that’s the best film of the bunch.
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