Final Predictions

Best Picture: The Departed

Best Director: Martin Scorsese

Best Actor: Forest Whitaker

Best Actress: Helen Mirren

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson

Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Departed

Best Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine

Best Animated Feature: Cars

Best Oringinal Score: The Queen

Best Documentary Feauture: An Inconvienant Truth

Best Foreign Film: Pan's Labyrinth

Best Editing: The Departed

Best Art Direction: Dreamgirls

Best Original Song: Listen, Dreamgirls

Best Sound Editing: POTC: Dead Man's Chest

Best Sound Mixing: Dreamgirls

Best Costume Design: Dreamgirls

Best Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth

Best Visual Effects: POTC: Dead Man's Chest

Best Cinematography: Children Of Men

Best Documentary Short: The Blood of Yingzhou District

Best Live Action Short Film: West Bank Story

Best Animated Short Film: The Little Match Girl

Time To Break The Silence...

So, its pretty boring right now, the race I mean. The acting categories are pretty tied up and the only major category that is truly open is Best Picture. I change my mind depending on what day it is. I don't want to do a piece drawing out and talking about each and every nominee in the major categories because really, if you are reading this, you have read it before.

So I'll do some quick breakdowns rather than a category by category analysis that ends up the same as everything else you have read.

Best Director: It's Marty, not even Clint can upset this year.

Best Actor: Nothing has the power Forest Whitaker portrayed, but watch out for a Peter O'Toole steal for simply being overdue. Would LOVE a Ryan Gosling shock, but it's not possible.

Best Actress: You know already. Mirren trounces all.

Best Supporting Actress: J-Hud wins it despite being the fourth or fifth best performance in the category. Rinko or Cate should win, but watch for an Abigail Breslin shocker.

Best Supporting Actor: More open than people think. Eddie Murphy wins it barely. Stealing it from the hands of Jackie Earle Haley and veteran Alan Arkin. All good stories though.

Best Picture: Babel v. The Departed v. LMS v. Letters v. The Queen. Column later. Too open to quick-ify.


So there it is ladies and gents. However, I have been writing an Oscar series for The Daily Texan which I will post here as well. This series seeks to bring some awareness to the GOOD categories that are not hyped enough. Tech categories are Oscars too people.

From The Daily Texan:

Seeing that it's Oscar week, papers should be littered with articles breaking down the regular races of Best Picture, Best Director and the major acting categories. In an effort to recognize the under-appreciated, this week the Daily Texan will break down some of the best categories that no one talks about. We start with Cinematography, the process of lighting scenes and making specific camera choices to create an overall look for a motion picture, as part one in our series.

And the nominees for Best Cinematography are...

"The Black Dahlia," Vilmos Zsigmond - Three-time nominee and 1977 winner for his work on "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind," Zsigmond should be recognized; he is nominated for his work on the less-than-critically-acclaimed "The Black Dahlia." Zsigmond's work, which seemed to be the only worthwhile aspect of the film in the eyes of critics, is a standout. His expertly crafted Hollywood filmnoir throwback is gorgeous and is worthy of nomination, but the film's poor reputation will keep it at just that: a nomination.

"The Prestige," Wally Pfister - With beautiful lighting and expertly conceived angles, this year's first foray into the realm of magic is a sight to see. For his second nomination - the first for last year's "Batman Begins" -Pfister frames a field of light bulbs, reveals the dark realms of a magician's back stage and executes a steady decline of light as the film gets progressively more morose in such a precise manner that audiences can't help but be caught up in the magic.

"The Illusionist," Dick Pope - First-time nominee Dick Pope is responsible for the cinematography of the second magical film of the year, and the film certainly is majestic. Where "The Prestige" focuses on the glitz and glamour of magic, "The Illusionist" is all about the environment. Pope creates a brilliant landscape by displaying forests in lonely glum shades and casting characters in a light that reflects their hope and despair.

"Pan's Labyrinth," Guillermo Navarro - Also a first-timer at the Academy Awards, Navarro is responsible for one of the most visually stunning movies of the year. "Pan's Labyrinth" poses an interesting problem: how does a film combine the real and the imaginative without separating them to
the point at which significance is lost? Navarro provides a perfect answer, a gloomy fantasy world that differs in no way from the violence of the real world portrayed in the film. And for such a perfect answer, Navarro has been rewarded.

"Children Of Men," Emmanuel Lubezki - Garnering his fourth nomination for his astonishing work on "Children Of Men," Lubezki should expect to take home the gold for the first time. Lubeski not only matches war-torn London's tone of sadness and chaos, he embraces it. Creating a mood that is powerful, disturbing, glum and, in the end, enlightening,Lubeski exceeds expectations. It is both bleak and brilliant.

Who will win: Emmanuel Lubezki, "Children of Men."

That is all.

Let The Fun Begin

The time has come for a category-by-category breakdown of how things should go come Oscar night. I will write by first one starting with the supporting categories tonight and continue to follow those up throughout the next week.

Expect a column about potential upsets in each category because, while we all like to be right in our predictions, it is more fun if we can get one of those Adrien Brody-like shocks. And this year is not nearly as locked down as people think it is. Trust Me.

Check back tonight for more.