oscar predictions

[verbicide]

My official Oscar predictions.

Note, I am usually WILDLY off-base on this stuff. I'm bolding who I think will win, and italicizing who I think should win if they differ. (And really, only if I have a strong opinion.)



ACTOR, LEADING
Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”
Frank Langella in “Frost/Nixon”
Sean Penn in “Milk”
Brad Pitt in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”

This was a tough call. They were all solid performances, but Penn and Rourke were my two favorites.

ACTOR, SUPPORTING
Josh Brolin in “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
Michael Shannon in “Revolutionary Road”

ACTRESS, LEADING
Anne Hathaway in “Rachel Getting Married”
Angelina Jolie in “Changeling”
Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
Kate Winslet in “The Reader”

She was incredible. I didn't see Jolie or Leo, but both Hathaway and Streep did great jobs, too but nothing compared to the range Winslet had to display.

ACTRESS, SUPPORTING
Amy Adams in “Doubt”
Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis in “Doubt”
Taraji P. Henson in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”

All of the performances were terrific here, but I think Tomei's role had the most meat and again the most range.

ANIMATED FEATURE
“Bolt”
“Kung-Fu Panda”
“WALL-E”

ART DIRECTION
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Duchess”
“Revolutionary Road”

Well earned, too. Post on this coming soon.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“Changeling”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

COSTUME DESIGN
“Australia”
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Duchess”
“Milk”
“Revolutionary Road”

I didn't see The Duchess, but that type of costuming just seems harder to execute.

DIRECTING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
“The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)”
“Encounters at the End of the World”
“The Garden”
“Man on Wire”
“Trouble the Water”

Of course I only saw two of these.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
“The Conscience of Nhem En”
“The Final Inch”
“Smile Pinki”
“The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306”

And none of these.

FILM EDITING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
“The Baader Meinhof Complex”
“The Class”
“Departures”
“Revanche”
“Waltz with Bashir”

And none of these, either.

MAKEUP
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Hellboy II: The Golden Army”

ORIGINAL SCORE
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Defiance”
“Milk”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”

ORIGINAL SONG
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”
“O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”


BEST PICTURE
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Frost/Nixon”
“Milk”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

As much as I thought The Reader was well done, my choice still would be to see Milk win.

SHORT FILM, ANIMATED
“La Maison en Petits Cubes”
“Lavatory - Lovestory”
“Oktapodi”
“Presto”
“This Way Up”

And just randomly choosing, since I didn't see this. Or the next one.

SHORT FILM, LIVE ACTION
“Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
“Manon on the Asphalt”
“New Boy”
“The Pig”
“Spielzeugland (Toyland)”

SOUND EDITING
“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
“Wanted”

SOUND MIXING
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
“Wanted”

VISUAL EFFECTS
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”

SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“Doubt”
“Frost/Nixon”
“The Reader”
“Slumdog Millionaire”

SCREENPLAY, ORIGINAL
“Frozen River”
“Happy-Go-Lucky”
“In Bruges”
“Milk”
“WALL-E”

Comments

[trailer-spot.livejournal.com]

I don't really care this year who will win in any of the major categories. The category I'm at least somewhat curious about is the Foreign Language category, if it will be "Waltz with Bashir" or "The Class" (without having a personal favourite, I've seen none of them). There are also two German language movies nominated (let's pretend for a moment that they talk German in the Austrian one :D) but I would be surprised if one of them won.

And since you say you've seen "Wall-E" I was wondering if you haven't also seen "Presto" since I think at least at the theatre it was shown as a short before the movie.

Enjoy the show! :)

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen those films either, but I'd like to.

And actually, yes--I did see Presto. But I so hated Wall-E that I forgot about having seen the short before it.

And thanks! :)

[artemis77.livejournal.com]

I agree with you on Rourke and Tomei. (I didn't see a lot of the other films this year, so I'm not really invested in the outcome - but I thought The Wrestler had some excellent performances.

I so hope freaking Penelope Cruz doesn't win. I'm probably in the minority of people who didn't think it was a great film or a great performance. Either the part was overwritten, or she overperformed - or the character annoyed the snot out of me. I hated the way the other characters put up with her. It was just a drama queen role. No meat.

[verbicide.livejournal.com]

I have to say I agree. I have no idea why she was nominated. I mean, she played a narcissistic diva just fine, but it didn't seem like a challenging role and I agree--her character was totally annoying!!

[artemis77.livejournal.com]

YES!