Foolishly bold -- my picks for who will win at the 79th Oscars.
Best Picture: The Departed
Best Director: Martin Scorsese for The Departed
Best Actor: Peter O'Toole in Venus
Best Actress: Helen Mirren in The Queen
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett in Notes on a Scandal
Best Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
Cinematography: Pan's Labyrinth
Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth
Costume Design: Dreamgirls
Original Song: "Listen" — Dreamgirls
Best Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Best Animated Feature Film: Monster House
Best Foreign Language Film: Pan's Labyrinth — Mexico
Best Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth
UPDATE: It's about the halfway mark, and I have pegged a few winners but I have some thoughts on those I missed ...
- Best Costume - forgot all about that Coppola Magic Touch, which led to a win for Sofia's "Marie Antoinette.
- Best Foreign Film - no matter what, Pan's Labyrinth is best and Guillermo del Toro is brilliant.
- Best Supporting Actress - I blame my error on my anti-American Idol bias. I still do not like it, but at least Jen Hudson did not win that show and she sure can belt out a tune.
- Best Animated Feature - who knew the director of "Mad Max" and "Road Warrior" would cop an Oscar for animation? His script for the movie "Babe" should have clued me in.
UPDATE 2: Long overdue was a celebration of the work of composer Ennio Morricone. His work is as vital as any character in the movies he scored. But two notes about tonight -- the Academy ignored mention of his work on "Once Upon A Time In The West," where he scored musical themes for each of the characters and captured so much with simple sounds. Always innovative and experimental, his work (full credits here) is among the best in cinema. The other major mistake is to let Celine Dion sing one of his songs - that's like asking Eminem to sing all the parts in "Carmen."
UPDATE 3: My correct picks so far --
Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
Cinematography: Pan's Labyrinth
Best Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Best Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine
Best Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth
UPDATE 4: Well, duh. I was paying attention to which song of those nominated was best. I forgot to consider that the Academy had a chance to give two awards to Al Gore's documentary. Duh.
LAST UPDATE: I confess my selection of Peter O'Toole was purely out of my deep appreciation for his incredible career. Forest Whitaker is another incredible performer - and no, I haven't seen Last King of Scotland yet. But there are three of his performances worth seeking out - "Bird", "Color of Money" (a great Scorsese movie where he has a small scene scamming the hell out of Paul Newman at pool), and Ghost Dog, as a modern day samurai, is one of my favorite movies ever.
And after years of denial, Marty gets a much deserved accolade. All movie fans have known for years he is an American Master. From his early work as cinematographer and editor on "Woodstock" to his vast career with "Taxi Driver", "Mean Streets," "The Last Waltz," "Raging Bull", "King of Comedy" and so many more. Congrats, Marty, at long last.
The ones I picked correctly - ten of 16:
Best Picture: The Departed
Best Director: Martin Scorsese for The Departed
Best Actress: Helen Mirren in The Queen
Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
Cinematography: Pan's Labyrinth
Best Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Best Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine
Best Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth
Smarty pants, you did good.
ReplyDeleteI wanted Little Miss Sunshine to win it all..
Funny, you couldn't 'give' tickets away when The Departed was 1st in theaters.. now it'll sell like hotcakes.
Was it just me or did Ellen seem very flat & boring last night?
have to disagree Sande -- the movie pulled in $131 million in theatres in the U.S. and more overseas. i knew it would be a likely winner for an Oscar when my sister-in-law, who really does not like movies with a lot of violence, said it greatly impressed her.
ReplyDeleteand Ellen's jokes are often pretty dry ... but handing off her new script to Scorsese and making Spielberg take a picture of her and Eastwood ... kinda funny I thought .... i thought the whole show moved pretty fast compared to recent years. still, awards shows are kinda dull affairs by nature. i just love them movies, i guess.
You and I tied for second in my Oscar pool, Joe. Damn it! We were so close!
ReplyDeleteAs for Ellen, I thought she did fine, and I agree that things seemed to move along at a good pace compared to recent years - fewer montages, and production numbers, maybe?