Best Original Screenplay: I am really hoping it is In Bruges. This film deserves all the kudos and praise it gets. Hopefully a win will expose it to more people. I wouldn't mind if Milk won, even though I have some problems with how they're selling the screenwriter. I'm all for hot shirtless men, almost any time. But I don't think it fits with this film and what this film is about.
Best Adapted Screenplay: Looking over the list of Ben Button, The Reader, Slumdog, Frost/Nixon, and Doubt I really don't care if any of these win or don't win.
Best Visual Effects: You've got to give something to The Dark Knight. I think the problem here though is that a lot of the effects so seamlessly blended into the movie you don't know they were there. Which is what you want. It'll probably go to Ben Button.
Best Original Song: It'll probably be 'Jai Ho' from Slumdog. Not a great song, but catchy.
Best Original Score: The one thing I really love about Danny Boyle is his music choices. The man knows how to pick music for his movies. I wasn't enamored with Slumdog Millionaire but the music was fantastic and it fit just right in most places. Boyle always chooses great music and has produced some of my favorite soundtracks ever. From Sunshine, to The Beach, to the great Trainspotting.
Best Makeup: Probably be Ben Button.
Best Foreign Language Film: I haven't seen any of these but I will tell you which one I don't want to win: The Class. I'm so sick of seeing the trailer for that film in front of every damn movie that plays at the Fox Tower. If I see it one more time I'm going to scream. Seriously.
Best Film Editing: The rule of thumb is the movie with the most cuts wins. So gonna be Slumdog and I'm okay with that.
Best Documentary: I've only seen Man on Wire and really, can anything be better than that? I don't think so. Lets hope this wins.
Best Costume Design: I can see this going to The Duchess just because it has extravagant costumes but I'm actually hoping for Milk. It captured that 70's look without be way over the top as is often tempting to do.
Best Cinematography: Again this will probably go to Slumdog even though the cinematography wasn't all that special. I'm pulling for The Dark Knight because what they did with the IMAX camera is amazing. Especially considering how awkward it is to film with such a huge camera.
Best Art Direction: Likely be Ben Button and rightly so.
Best Animated Feature: How could this be anything but WALL*E?
Best Supporting Actor: It's going to be Heath and totally justified. And not just because he's dead, but because he should have won for Brokeback. That was an amazing performance. Just as his Joker was. Sorry Mr. Hoffman, your Capote was good, but it was a mimic piece. And I don't get why Josh Brolin was nominated for Milk. I didn't think he did anything special in that. James Franco was the real heart of that movie and the nomination should have gone to him. Maybe people picked up that it wasn't all that much of an act.
Best Supporting Actress: I'd bet money on Penelope Cruz and not just because I love the Woody. She's way past due. Her work in the past, especially Volver, was fantastic and she really has grown as an actress in english. There was a disconnect between her Spanish work and stuff done in Hollywood. Not anymore. Though I could see Marisa Tomei squeaking in a win too. Partly because she's had a comeback of late and it'll finally quash those stupid rumors that she didn't really win for My Cousin Vinny. Oh and she showed her ta-tas.
Best Actor: It's not going to be Pitt because his character is so damn passive. One of my complaints of the movie. Langella & Jenkins have both been around forever and seem really liked by everybody. I think the nomination is the reward for them. Right now the forecasters are saying it's down to Sean Penn vs. Mickey Rourke. Both gave great performances in good films. I liked Milk a lot more than The Wrestler but their performances were both pretty amazing. I think I'm leaning towards Rourke winning though. Mostly because Penn already has one and who doesn't want to see what Rourke will say up there? Everybody loves a huge comeback. That way we can watch them crash and burn all over again.
Best Actress: All the money is on Kate Winslet. And yes she's way, way overdue. And while I'm one of the few people who enjoyed The Reader her performance here wasn't as strong as the one in Revolutionary Road. So while I'm happy she's probably going to win, my idealistic side hopes she doesn't and wins later for a really fantastic performance. But this is probably her time. A lot of times people win for a body of work rather than a single performance. Look at Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. He didn't win for that movie, he won for his career. I've read about how Meryl could pull a surprise because she hasn't won in forever even though she's been nominated more times than I've had orgasms. *zing* Plus she's become a really bankable full fledge movie star in her later years which really is all kinds of awesome if you ask me. If there is going be a surprise upset in this category I really hope it's Anne Hathaway. I only saw Rachel Getting Married two weeks ago and I was ready to hate. A lot of people I read online seem to freak about about Jonathan Demme and I don't really get it. He's made some good stuff, but they talk about him like he's a revolution. I really think it's probably that he's such a nice guy in person, that the enthusiasm carries over to whatever he makes. I sense that a lot of times in reviews and such. But I was surprised by the movie. I had a few quibbles with it, but I really connected with it. Which was something I didn't do with a lot of films this year. And Hathaway's performance was pretty damn great. So give it to Kate, but if not, give it to Anne. Please.
Best Director: It was a weak year for movies in my opinion. I really wanted to emotionally connect with lots of films but it just didn't happen. That was my biggest complaint with Benjamin Button. There was a lot of, "That was pretty good". Not a lot of, "OMG that was fucking great!" With the exception of Ron Howard and Stephen Daldry all of these directors have had past movies that I absolutely loved. Gus Van Sant gave us My Own Private Idaho and I've really enjoyed his last few years of experimental cinema. Plus having a local boy win would be nice, even though the vapid local news would lose its shit and it would drive me nuts. I just don't think I can give it to him because of the Psycho remake. He's been doing penance for that for years now, I'm just not sure he's out of cinema jail for that yet. Not in my book at least. But I wouldn't mind if he won.
Danny Boyle too gave us Trainspotting and that will always get my good will. Plus recently Sunshine didn't get the love it deserved. I wasn't a huge fan of Slumdog. A lot of that has to do with Dev Patel's mouth breathing performance and his inability to do anything proactive. And I'm going to assume those were not accidents. Especially the performance. Patel is good on Skins. So sorry Boyle, I can't give it to you here.
So my choice would be Fincher. Partly because I think Zodiac is his masterpiece it was criminal the way that movie was overlooked. Also partly because I don't think Fincher will ever make a movie like this again and this probably is his only chance to win. So give it to him now. Or don't and he'll be in good company like Hitchcock and Kubrick. Oh and if for some reason he does win, look for Portland news stations to work themselves into a tizzy since he grew up in Ashland. But everybody says Danny Boyle will win. So be it. I won't be disappointed in that outcome either. Again because of his past films. Not this one.
Best Picture: Ben Button. The Reader. Frost/Nixon. Slumdog. Milk.
First a note on The Dark Knight not being nominated. I'm not all up in arms that it wasn't nominated. But I don't think that it would have been such a bad thing if it had been. It would have been a nice reward for the film. I think it can stand up there with those five films and is at least on the same quality level, if not better. And the Academy has nominated films in the past such as The Fugitive, Working Girl (?!), Fatal Attraction, Juno, and Ghost. And while I enjoy those films on different levels I can at least honestly say The Dark Knight could go toe to toe with any of those and come out on top. And I freakin love The Fugitive. But at the end of the day, it doesn't break my heart or make me angry. It is what it is. And on the plus side I think not getting nominated dials down the hype for it and takes some pressure off Nolan. How would he follow up and even top a film that's the second highest grossing movie ever plus it was nominated for tons of Oscars? The answer is you don't. And I can see Nolan not even trying to make another one and leaving the series to someone else. Most likely Brett Ratner or the like. Ugh. Nolan's already talked about how the third movie in a series almost always sucks. No matter how good the first two are. Look at Spiderman 3. So why put yourself through that? This way there's less pressure and I really hope Nolan can break the third movie curse, if you will. It'll be at least 2011 before we know. Good. Give it plenty of time.
So who than am I pulling for? Everyone says it's going to be Slumdog. Again fine. I think if The Reader or Frost/Nixon won it's be a big WTF moment. A Ben Button win would be fine as well. But I'm going to have to pull for the one of the three that I most emotionally connected with and that is Milk. If you have to ask why you either don't know me or you don't know what the movie is about. It's timely and yet shows us an important part of history. And it's about politics and how to work the system. It's about how we need leaders to stand up. Leaders to believe in. It's about how you have to stand up for your rights. You have to fight for them. And don't stop until you win. It's about how it's never too late to change your life. Harvey didn't change his tune until he was 40. And it's about love. Always about love. So I'd love Milk to win. I know it'll be Slumdog and that's okay, but I hope Milk surprises. Even though Portland media would flip out, as if they'd done something, and it would drive me nuts to no end. Portland is like the really short guy in Wranglers who drives the big jacked up pick up truck. The little man who desperately wants to be big.
And really, you can never go wrong with James Franco's naked ass. Never.
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