Okay, I've put this off far too long, and I'm going out in about a half hour to see "The Lives of Others" and "Volver", the last two nominated films I haven't seen that still in theaters. This'll be as quick as I can make it. In past years (pre-bloggery) I've made detailed arguments for why I think which movie should win and what movies should've been nominated instead. Now that the Oscars were moved up and are now tucked in between Indiefest and Cinequest, I just don't have time. I'm also not making a distinction between what I think will win and what I think should win. I've done that in the past and I've found my choices actually correspond better to the winners than my predictions of what the Academy will choose. So sometimes I'm going with my gut and who I'd vote for, and sometimes I'm double-guessing my gut. I'll try (and probably fail) to specify when.
Actor in a Leading Role:
Forest Whitaker will win, then celebrate by eating the losers. I know there's a lot of sympathy for Peter O'toole, but screw him. He's a fine actor, but as I said earlier, he's not even my favorite cinematic geezer of the year. Donald Sutherland could geeze circles around him.
Actor in a Supporting Role:
I still can't believe Eddie Murphy got nominated. By the way, isn't the whole premise of "Norbit" watching Eddie Murphy make love to himself in a fat suit? Isn't that kind of sick? But I digress. I'm torn between Alan Arkin and Mark Wahlberg. But I think I'm only considering Mark Wahlberg because he's the one major role in "The Departed" that wasn't in "Infernal Affairs", and so he was the one role that had any surprises for me. So screw him, I'm going with Alan Arkin, because the line he delivers to his granddaughter, "I'm madly in love with you, and it's not because of your brains or personality" was one of my favorite things in any movie this past year.
I'll do the actresses later tonight, after I've seen "Volver"
Tee hee, I just said "I'll do the actresses"
Animated Film:
Okay, seriously they should've put the category on hiatus for this year, if these were the top three. I would've said "Happy Feet" if the last 10 minutes made any freakin' sense! Spoiler Alert! Highlight text to read: 'Oh look the penguins are dancing, maybe we should stop fishing Antarctic waters!'End Spoiler Alert. Okay, now that I got that out of my system, I guess I'll go with "Cars", just because as silly and hypocritical it is to preach about a simpler bygone time while using the most advanced storytelling technology out there, it was the best made movie.
Art Direction:
Better freakin' go to "Pan's Labyrinth"!
Cinematography:
Better freakin' be "Children of Men"! Actually, let me elaborate. While not the most beautiful of the nominees, it's incredibly long single takes, including during intense action scenes like car chases and shootouts, were beyond anything I've ever seen, and have broken the limits on what can be done. Freakin' amazing! Even if I know some people who didn't like it and possibly few other movies will copy it, it's still freakin' amazing!
Costume Design:
Shoot, I don't know, how about "Curse of the Golden Flower" because it was the most visually striking of the nominees.
Okay, I've gotta go now, I'll finish my picks tonight.
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