Let the gloating commence...

In the most wide open race in years, guess who gets the last laugh?

MEEEE!! hahahahahaha! Woo hoo! yesyesyes! And how perfect is it that I changed my mind a few hours before the show? very very perfect. Yes, I missed, um, ten, but I'm still celebrating. I also want to point out I picked "I Need To Wake Up" over a Dreamgirls song. That's two years in a row I picked the "upset" best original song.

The categories I'm sad I missed are Supporting Actor (although I said there could be an upset), Animated Feature, and Foreign Film. Oh well.

Why didn't I read more buzz?!

The Oscars are tonight, it's time to bite the bullet and make my official-all-category-predictions. *Gulp*

Picture: Umm, uh, I'm really regretting my LMS pick. I might hate myself later, but I think I'm changing my mind to The Departed.
DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese
ACTOR: Forest Whitaker
ACTRESS: Helen Mirren. Yay! A lock!
SUPPORTING ACTOR: Eddie Murphy, but I wouldn't be surprised if Alan Arkin won.
SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jennifer Hudson
ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Little Miss Sunshine
ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Departed
ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: Cars
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Pan's Labyrinth
ART DIRECTION: Pan's Labyrinth
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Pan's Labyrinth
COSTUME DESIGN: Dreamgirls
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: An Inconvenient Truth
DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Two Hands
FILM EDITING: The Departed
MAKEUP: Pan's Labyrinth
VISUAL EFFECTS: POTC Dead Man's Chest
ORIGINAL SCORE: The Queen
ORIGINAL SONG: I Need To Wake Up
ANIMATED SHORT: The Little Match Girl
LIVE-ACTION SHORT: Eramos Pocas
SOUND EDITING: POTC Dead Man's Chest
SOUND MIXING: POTC Dead Man's Chest

Even more words of wisdom

This is a little something I wrote for a newsletter. I'm beggining to regret my LMS choice, but hey, it could happen.

It is time once again to ponder the question that plagues mankind every
February. Who will the win Best Picture at the Academy Awards? Usually
everyone has a pretty good idea, whether they're right or not. (See last
year's "Crash" and "Brokeback Mountain," or 1998's "Shakespeare in Love" and
"Saving Private Ryan"). This year that's not the case; it's one of the most
wide-open races since "Gladiator" won. The nominees are "Babel," "The
Departed," "Letters From Iwo Jima," "Little Miss Sunshine," and "The Queen."

I think it's safe to rule out "Letters" because it isn't American enough,
and no one's seen it. Although "The Queen" won the BAFTA I don't think it
will find much love outside the UK. I was going to rule out "Babel" because
it hasn't won any awards since the Golden Globe in January, and voters might
feel it's too much like "Crash." What worries me is Ebert predicts it will
win, and he's not to be taken lightly. I, however, think it's between "The
Departed," a violent good cop/bad cop Scorsese film, and "Sunshine," a
comedy about a dysfunctional family and a beauty pageant. A lot of bloggers
are predicting "The Departed" to win, but I think it's really a toss up and
they're just uncomfortable with picking a comedy--which is perfectly valid
as the last comedy to win was "Annie Hall." But in the interest of being
bold, I formally predict "Little Miss Sunshine" to be the winner.

The other races are a little easier, though. Helen Mirren and Forest
Whitaker should win in the lead acting categories, and Jennifer Hudson and
Eddie Murphy in the supporting. Martin Scorsese will win Best Director, and
"Sunshine" and "Departed" for the screenplays. It's interesting that this
summer all the Oscar buzz was around "Dreamgirls," which did get the most
nominations, but none for Best Picture. I personally think it was robbed,
but it will win some awards with Hudson and Murphy. That's my Oscar
cheatsheet, so pop some popcorn, sharpen the pencils, print the ballots
(imdb.com), and enjoy the show.

Pondering the great mysteries of life

Ah! I don't like it! Usually everyone has a pretty good guess at who's going to win the OSCAR, but this year all I can say is, uh, not Letters from Iwo Jima? Here's how the awards tally up:

Babel: GG
The Departed: DGA, WGA
Letters From Iwo Jima:
Little Miss Sunshine: SAG, WGA, PGA,
The Queen: BAFTA

The best picture winner usually wins most of these awards, which would put Little Miss Sunshine up front with The Departed. A month ago I would have sworn that Babel would win, but it was nominated in most of those categories and only won the GG in January. Letters can pretty well be ruled out, and I still doubt The Queen will have any luck outside the UK. I have a hard time believing the Academy would pick a comedy, since the last one was Annie Hall in 78. But who knows, maybe they think they're due. Or they could be tired from last year's heavy duty dramas.

Crash II: Racism is Still Bad

Think about it: What was the last Best Picture winner to spawn a sequel? Hmm, no Casablanca 2, no Schindler's List 2, you could call The Return of the King a sequel, but I wouldn't because it runs more like one big nine hour movie. The point is, I have very little respect for sequels. They belittle movies, making them more like TV shows because the plot is reopened and characters stay forever. Anyway, there's going to be a Departed 2. And 3.
Noooooo! Whywhywhy?!? And in any case, how can you have a sequel if all the main characters die? I wouldn't pay to watch Dignam and Colin Jr. duke it out. (Hope I didn't reveal too much there.) Alright, alright, The Godfather IS a crime movie and it IS the first in a *cringe* trilogy, and Godfather II DID win, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

My favorite is Chocolate Cherry Garcia... except technically I think it's a frozen yogurt.

I just saw Babel. Fun stuff, people. What was it about? A bunch of bad things happen to a bunch of people in different countries in the space of a few days. I'm trying to think. Did ANYTHING good happen? Not that there has to be good things, but it makes the 2 1/2 hours more bearable. I still liked it though, it was kind of like Crash, only with less profanity and more subtitles.

Having seen four of the five films nominated for best picture, I decided I'm not too crazy about any of them. Which sad, because last year I was insanely oscar-slap-happy. I'm still having a party though, and I have a food list made up.
Sprite, KFC, and ice cream for Little Miss Sunshine
Chips and guacamole, for Babel
Tea and scones for The Queen
Rice for Letters From Iwo Jima
Cranberry juice for The Departed.

Koo.

Hmm... Maybe there really is something to this nine step program...

Congratulations to Marty and The Departed for winning at the directors guild, jolly good for Little Miss Sunshine at the SAG and producers awards, and kudos for Babel and Dreamgirls at the golden globes, but there's one thing that bothers me. Who is going to win the OSCAR?! I guess you could say Sunshine because they have two major awards, but it still seems wide open to me.

I'm going to rule out Letters from Iwo Jima because it's too Japanese, and The Queen because it just isn't sexy enough. But Babel, Departed, and Sunshine stand a fair chance. If pressed to choose between the three, I would rule out Departed because it's too violent. Babel seems pretty classic, but why didn't it win more awards? I never thought I would say this, but Little Miss Funny-Dance-Comedy could be our winner. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I think it's good the academy isn't picking another twisted little Paul Haggis concoction.

On the subject of twisted, I saw The Departed yesterday. Wow. It made Pulp Fiction look like child's play. It took a few minutes to get used to all the language, (which usually doesn't bother me at all) before I was faced with disembodied hands and teeth being knocked out. Yup, good times. I have only one complaint: Why is Mark Wahlberg nominated for Supporting Actor?!? I hated his character! If that SOB was on my police force I would fire him so fast he wouldn't have time to comment on pubescent male genitalia. It wasn't believable at all. On the other hand, now I know all I have to do to get nominated is talk trash in a Scorsese movie. Brilliant!
Ugg. Anyway, he won't be getting my vote. (If I had one.)


Now I only have to see Babel and Letters From Iwo Jima, and I'll be set!