Whoo, boy. These are fun.
Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
My final predictions: Babel, The Departed, Dreamgirls, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen (4/5)
Personal ballot: The Departed, The Fountain, Children of Men, Inside Man, Dreamgirls (1/5 agreement)
Ranking the nominees: The Departed, Letters from Iwo Jima, Little Miss Sunshine, Babel, The Queen
Comments: Wow. Remember when Dreamgirls was the lockiest lock that was ever locked? And then it got snubbed??!?! Please kill anyone that complains about how "boring" the Oscar nominees are because of this.
Will win: Oh God! It's so hard to call! Can I go with The Queen because I really don't want that to happen?
Best Director
Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93
Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
My final predictions: Condon, Eastwood, Frears, Iñárritu, Scorsese (4/5)
Personal ballot: Aronofsky (The Fountain), Scorsese (The Departed), Cuaron (Children of Men), Coppola (Marie-Antoinette), Greengrass (United 93) (2/5)
Comments: I knew the LMS duo wasn't gonna make it, but I thought United 93's hype was pretty much d-e-a-d. This is a pretty good lineup, save Frears who just...zzz.
Will win: Is it finally Marty's year?? Can I say that without jinxing it???
Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
Forrest Whittaker, Last King of Scotland
My final predictions: Baron Cohen, DiCaprio (for The Departed though...), O'Toole, Smith, Whittaker (3/5)
Personal ballot: Jackman (The Fountain), Gosling (Half Nelson), Whittaker (Last King), Owen (Children of Men), Baron Cohen (Borat) (2/5)
Comments: Cannot believe Leo got in for Blood Diamond and not The Departed. Ew. Still, it's not an embarassing performance, and this category is quite strong.
Will win: Ooh this is tough, but I think DiCaprio, Gosling, and Smith are basically out of the race...it's between Whittaker and O'Toole. I'm pretty sure O'Toole can take it, based on the past (think 1986...sorry Paul, you know I utterly adore you, but you really didn't deserve it much then).
Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children
My final predictions: Cruz, Dench, Mirren, Streep, Winslet (5/5, but who didn't get this?)
Personal ballot: Streep, Dench, Winslet, Cruz, Dern (Inland Empire) (4/5)
Comments: Locked up since forever, but...this is an AMAZING lineup, even if I don't go 5/5 with it in my personal ballot. It's the best lineup I can think of since...like...1975's Best Picture nominees (One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Jaws, Nashville, Dog Day Afternoon, Barry Lyndon). Wow. I wish they could all get the Oscar.
Will win: Mirren much?
Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
My final predictions: Murphy, Nicholson, Hounsou, Pitt, Wahlberg (3/5)
Personal ballot: Sheen (The Queen), Murphy, Nicholson, Haley, Owen (Inside Man) (2/5)
Comments: Err. Mark over Jack? I still don't see what was so great about Mark in The Departed. Hell, I'd rather have Alec Baldwin. And Alan Arkin? Eh. He was the second-worst in that film and only bested Paul Dano. Oh well. I do love Grandpa.
Will win: Though Murphy's film is deader than most thought, I still think he can win this pretty easily.
Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
My final predictions: Barraza, Blanchett, Breslin, Hudson, Kikuchi (5/5 go me...but this one wasn't hard to call either)
Personal ballot: Hudson, Kirshner (Black Dahlia), Epps (Half Nelson...gooo category fraud!), Kikuchi, Collette (Little Miss Sunshine) (2/5)
Comments: ...Oh? What's that, bitches?! NO EMILY BLUNT!!!!!!!!! I don't even care that Blandshitt got in as long as she didn't. party time!
Will win: Jennifer Hudson is still locked. Even though Dreamgirls didn't fare as well as many thought, it still has a pretty big group of supporters.
Best Original Screenplay
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen
My final predictions: Um...
Personal ballot: Volver, Little Miss Sunshine, Stranger than Fiction, Half Nelson, Pan's Labyrinth (2/5)
Comments: Uh, I dunno. Not much to complain about. Hahaha Haggis again.
Will win: The Queen zzz
Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat
Children of Men
The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal
My final predictions: Uh yeah.
Personal ballot: The Departed, Little Children, Children of Men, The Painted Veil, The Prestige (3/5)
Comments: OMG THIS IS AN AMAZING LIST! Except I didn't think Borat really had a script but still OMG THIS IS AMAZING.
Will win: Um, The Departed? Please?
Other comments:
- the Cinematography nominees are pretty cool (actually they are awesome), except The Prestige. It's cool that Oscar spread the love, and a lot, this year (especially because The Prestige has been ignored all season long), but what did The Prestige do? Make Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, and Scarlett Johansson look good. That's really hard!!!!!
- Best Costume Design is making me come hard. Err...
- So, based on last year and that whole Best Editing thing, I guess it's The Departed versus Babel for Best Picture? I'm kidding, sort of
- how long until people start going "not only is the Academy HOMOPHOBIC, they are RACIST"????
- um so. Volver got ripped off much??!?!
- ...Click for Best Makeup? I didn't see the movie but was it really better than, you know, Pirates 2?
- I don't know which song from Dreamgirls is "Patience" but GOD I hope it's not that one about they all being a family and, like, a tree, at the same time. That song was awful.
- Best Score? Eh. The Painted Veil and not The Queen you fools!!!
Overall? Pretty good nominees, as a lot of the stuff I really loved I knew had no chance at Oscar love (The Fountain, Inside Man, Marie-Antoinette, and I guess Volver, heh). And it's really nice to see Oscar nominating stuff like Pan's Labyrinth so much. Yay!
