Final Predictions

So I sort of fell off the map recently with some school stuff piling up, but I couldn't possibly miss out on making my final predictions. So here goes...

Best Picture: No Country For Old Men
Best Director: The Coens
Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis
Best Actress: Julie Christie
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem
Best Supporting Actress: Amy Ryan
Best Original Screenplay: Juno
Best Adapted Screenplay: No Country For Old Men
Best Animated Feature: Ratatouille
Best Foreign Film: The Counterfeiters
Best Documentary Feature: Sicko
Best Documentary Short: Sari's Mother
Best Short Animation: Madame Tutlie-Putli
Best Short Live Action: At Night
Best Art Direction: There Will Be Blood
Best Cinematography: The Assassination Of Jesse James...
Best Costume Design: Atonement
Best Editing: No Country For Old Men
Best Makeup: La Vie En Rose
Best Original Score: Atonement
Best Original Song: "Falling Slowly" - Once
Best Sound Editing: Transformers
Best Sound Mixing: Transformers
Best Visual Effects: Transformers

There Will Be Blood

So I just screened There Will Be Blood, and that film is simply amazing. There is a level of significance and sophistication that is so clear and powerful that its almost hard to watch. I found myself literally gasping at seemingly unimportant moments that were just immaculately created. The oil-lined grave would be one of them. God that was a creepy image.

The score was particularly incredible and the AMPAS' disqualification of it is an absolute tragedy. Johnny Greenwood's score expresses chaotic melancholy and sense of crumbling reality that is present in the protagonist's world view. Incredible work.

And to say that Daniel Day Lewis deserves an Oscar is an understatement. This performance is so good he should get an automatic Oscar next year too. It doesn't seem like one award really does this work justice. DDL gives one of the best performances I have ever seen, and he is truly mesmerizing.

A Masterpiece.

FYC Ad Of The Day

Stunning.

2008 Anticipated List

Not the MOST anticipated because I haven't gone through everything, but these few seem to have a lot of potential. Some are total popcorn movies, while others have some serious Oscar likability.

BURN AFTER READING - Coen Brothers, Pitt, Clooney, Malkovich, Swinton, and Frances McDormand.....are you serious?

CHOKE - Really baity character descriptions and a character with Alzheimer's...works almost every time if done well.

CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - David Fincher, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Mini-Fanning, and Tilda Swinton...are you serious part 2?

TRANSIBERIAN - Woody Harrelson bouts with Ben Kingsley (playing a Russian villian)...on a train. Need I say more?

THE CHANGELING - Clint Eastwood...nuff said.

ROCKNROLLA - If the writer and director of Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels decides to give the world another London crime dramedy...who am I not to love it?

MAMMOTH - Michelle Williams and Gael Garcia Bernal. Hot Like Fire.

THE DARK KNIGHT - Been wanting this since Batman Begins came out.

IRON MAN - Love me some comic books, and I love me some Robert Downey Jr.

CHARLIE BARTLETT - Just looks like fun. And I loved Anton Yelchin in Alpha Dog

LEATHERHEADS - George Clooney can do anything. And he does it in such a cool way!

It's a fun crowd.

Winners

I posted my predicted winners on the right in asterisks.

We have a Brokeback Mountain/Crash Remix on our hands. Except No Country For Old Men would lose to a good movie like Juno and There Will Be Blood, while Brokeback lost to a stupid one.

That's just how I feel.

Later Platers.

Diablo Cody on Letterman

Got this from AwardsDaily.

I just fell in love...as much as one can with an on camera persona one has never met....ya. I love her.

She is what she is, and that says A LOT in Hollywood. Also, she is genuinely funny...not just "toil over a script to make it funny" but actually funny. You can see Juno radiating from her and that is what makes her writing natural and just plain brilliant. So many writers are afraid to put themselves in their work because if no one likes my psuedo-autobiographical then that means that they don't like me! (Insert Self Esteem issue here) As a result, most writers end up writing superficial surface level screenplays that lack heart and soul.

I think we will see amazing things from her. Can't wait!





Watch out for Juno to upset for a Best Picture win. No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood could split votes and Juno could go home with a statue...let's hope! Juno has a disturbingly impressive box office showing, with no signs of stopping, and Juno could win 3 of its 4 nods. Sorry Mr. Reitman, it's not happening.

You guys think Juno has a chance?

Later Players.

Heath Ledger Dead

This is so sad.

There aren't really any words here. He was an incredibly talented actor who had just begun to show what he had to offer.

Condolences.

FROM THE AP:

NEW YORK (AP) — Heath Ledger was found dead Tuesday at a downtown Manhattan residence, and police said drugs may have been a factor. He was 28.

NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said Ledger had an appointment for a massage at the Manhattan apartment believed to be his home. The housekeeper who went to let him know the masseuse had arrived found him dead at 3:26 p.m.

The Australian-born actor was nominated for an Oscar for "Brokeback Mountain," where he met his wife, actress Michelle Williams, in 2005. Ledger and Williams had lived in Brooklyn and had a daughter, Matilda, until they split up last year.

Ledger was to appear as the Joker this year in "The Dark Night," a sequel to 2005's "Batman Begins." He's had starring roles in "A Knight's Tale" and "The Patriot," and played the suicidal son of Billy Bob Thornton in "Monster's Ball."

Ledger grew up in Perth, and began doing amateur theater at age 10. At 16, he moved to Sydney to pursue an acting career, quickly landing TV movie roles and guest spots on Australian television.

After several independent films and a starring role in the short-lived Fox TV series "Roar," Ledger moved to Los Angeles and costarred in "10 Things I Hate About You," a teen comedy reworking of "The Taming of the Shrew."

Offers for other teen flicks came his way, but Ledger turned them down, preferring to remain idle than sign on for projects he didn't like.

"It wasn't a hard decision for me," Ledger told the Associated Press in 2001. "It was hard for everyone else around me to understand. Agents were like, `You're crazy,' my parents were like, `Come on, you have to eat.'"

His latest role was in "I'm Not There," in which he played one of the many incarnations of Bob Dylan — as did Cate Blanchett, whose performance in that film earned an Oscar nomination Tuesday for best supporting actress.

Thoughts and Prayers.

How Did I Do?

BIG EIGHT: 33/40 - 82.5%
TECHS AND OTHERS: 39/63 - 61%
ALL TOGETHER: 70%

Not a bad year! Got all the Best Picture, Original Screenplay, and Cinematography correct, but those sound and music nominees killed me. Who thought Enchanted would grab 3 songs. I mean really!

Apparently Into The Wild did not hold the power that many thought it would only scoring 2 nods. Not even Sean Penn could pull out a directing nod (YAY JASON REITMAN!!!).

There is quite the brawl for the most nominations though:

Atonement - 7
Michael Clayton - 7
No Country For Old Men - 8
There Will Be Blood - 8

So......exciting


Best Picture: 5/5
Atonement
There Will Be Blood
No Country For Old Men
Juno
Michael Clayton

Best Director: 4/5
Joel and Ethan Coen - No Country For Old Men
Julian Schnabel - The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Sean Penn - Into The Wild - Jason Reitman - Juno
Paul Thomas Anderson - There Will Be Blood
Tony Gilroy - Michael Clayton

Best Actor: 4/5
Daniel Day Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp - Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
George Clooney - Michael Clayton
Emile Hirsch - Into The Wild - Tommy Lee Jones - In The Valley Of Elah
Viggo Mortensen - Eastern Promises

Best Actress: 4/5
Julie Christie - Away From Her
Marion Cotillard - La Vie En Rose
Ellen Page - Juno
Cate Blanchett - Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Angelina Jolie - A Mighty Heart - Laura Linney - The Savages

Best Supporting Actor: 4/5
Javier Bardem - No Country For Old Men
Tom Wilkinson - Michael Clayton
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Hal Holbrook - Into The Wild
Tommy Lee Jones - No Country For Old Men - Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Charlie Wilson's War

Best Supporting Actress: 3/5
Amy Ryan - Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton - Michael Clayton
Cate Blanchett - I'm Not There
Catherine Keener - Into The Wild - Ruby Dee - American Gangster
Vanessa Redgrave - Atonement - Saoirse Ronan - Atonement

Best Adapted Screenplay: 4/5
No Country For Old Men
Atonement
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
There Will Be Blood
Into The Wild - Away From Her

Best Original Screenplay: 5/5
Juno
Michael Clayton
Lars And The Real Girl
The Savages
Ratatouille

Animated Feature: 2/3
Ratatouille
Persepolis
The Simpsons Movie - Surf's Up

Documentary: 3/5
Lake Of Fire - Operation Homecoming: Writing The Wartime Experience
No End In Sight
Sicko
Autism: The Musical - War/Dance
Taxi To The Dark Side

Documentary Short: 2/4
Salim Baba
Ochberg's Orphans - Sari's Mother
La Corona (The Crown)
Freeheld

Foreign Film: 3/5
12 (Russia)
The Counterfeiters (Austria)
Beaufort (Israel)
The Unknown (Italy) - Katyn
The Year My Parents Went On Vacation (Brazil) - Mongol

Art Direction: 3/5
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age - American Gangster
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End - The Golden Compass

Editing: 4/5
Michael Clayton - The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
There Will Be Blood
Into The Wild
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country For Old Men

Cinematography: 5/5
There Will Be Blood
Atonement
No Country For Old Men
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Costume Design: 3/5
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Atonement
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
3:10 to Yuma - La Vie En Rose
Hairspray - Across The Universe

Makeup: 1/3
300 - Pirates 3
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Norbit
La Vie En Rose

Original Score: 3/5
Eastern Promises - Michael Clayton
Atonement
The Kite Runner
Lust, Caution - 3:10 to Yuma
Ratatouille

Original Song: 2/5
Come So Far (Got So Far to Go), Hairspray - August Rush
Guarunteed, Into The Wild - Enchanted
Falling Slowly, Once
Do You Feel Me, American Gangster - Enchanted
That's How You Know, Enchanted

Sound Editing: 2/5
300 - The Bourne Ultimatum
Transformers
3:10 to Yuma - There Will Be Blood
Ratatouille
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End - No Country For Old Men

Sound Mixing: 3/5
Transformers
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End - Ratatouille
300 - 3:10 to Yuma
No Country For Old Men
The Bourne Ultimatum

Visual Effects: 3/3
Transformers
Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End
The Golden Compass