The great/awful democratizing element of the internet is that anyone can express an opinion. Declare yourself a political pundit, slap some words together and poof, punditry. With that being said, this person is poof, an movie reviewer. So, here are a few thoughts on the Oscar nominations. From someone that saw less than ten movies in the past year. Poof.
Performance by an actor in a leading role
- Leonardo DiCaprio in “Blood Diamond”
- Ryan Gosling in “Half Nelson”
- Peter O’Toole in “Venus”
- Will Smith in “The Pursuit of Happyness”
- Forest Whitaker in “The Last King of Scotland”
- Wow, not only have I not seen these, the only one that I want to see is "The Last King of Scotland"
Performance by an actor in a supporting role
- Alan Arkin in “Little Miss Sunshine”
- Jackie Earle Haley in “Little Children”
- Djimon Hounsou in “Blood Diamond”
- Eddie Murphy in “Dreamgirls”
- Mark Wahlberg in “The Departed”
- Although I've not seen it, there is just a lot of love in my heart for Alan Arkin.
Performance by an actress in a leading role
- Penélope Cruz in “Volver”
- Judi Dench in “Notes on a Scandal”
- Helen Mirren in “The Queen”
- Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada”
- Kate Winslet in “Little Children”
- When you break up with Tom Cruise, you almost always get an Oscar. Why is that? I have to see "The Queen" before I decide between the Dames. (Is Helen Mirren a Dame? Or just a Queen? Not that anyone could be just a queen.)
Performance by an actress in a supporting role
- Adriana Barraza in “Babel”
- Cate Blanchett in “Notes on a Scandal”
- Abigail Breslin in “Little Miss Sunshine”
- Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls”
- Rinko Kikuchi in “Babel”
- The split on Babel is unfortunate but I'm all about Rinko Kikuchi. She was the soul of this film for me. Blanchett was excellent, yet not stunning. Jennifer Hudson, as said before, was doing that thing she'll be doing for the next ten years or so.
Achievement in art direction
- “Dreamgirls”
- “The Good Shepherd”
- “Pan’s Labyrinth”
- “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
- “The Prestige” (Buena Vista)
- Everyone is so torn on Pan's Labyrinth that it hasn't been seen, but might be this weekend. Dreamgirls was well executed, but seemed a bit derivative.
Achievement in cinematography
- “The Black Dahlia”
- “Children of Men”
- “The Illusionist”
- “Pan’s Labyrinth”
- “The Prestige”
- Every review read by non-professional reviewers eviscerates Children of Men.
Achievement in costume design
- “Curse of the Golden Flower”
- “The Devil Wears Prada”
- “Dreamgirls”
- “Marie Antoinette”
- “The Queen”
- Marie Antoinette should run away with this. The Devil was rather unsurprising. The Queen, although timewise accurate is rather recent of a period piece.
Achievement in directing
- “Babel” Alejandro González Iñárritu
- "The Departed” Martin Scorsese
- “Letters from Iwo Jima” Clint Eastwood
- “The Queen” Stephen Frears
- “United 93” Paul Greengrass
- My gut says Babel, but there are inconsistencies that should have been caught by the director. Key among them, when Blanchett's character is shot the window by which she is seated faces away from the shooters.
Best documentary feature
- “Deliver Us from Evil”
- “An Inconvenient Truth”
- “Iraq in Fragments”
- “Jesus Camp”
- “My Country, My Country”
- The story of that fag-hating fag Ted Haggard cannot die, so Jesus Camp with the confession of political/religious motivation.
Achievement in film editing
- “Babel”
- “Blood Diamond”
- “Children of Men”
- “The Departed”
- “United 93”
- Babel by a mile.
Achievement in makeup
- “Apocalypto”
- “Click”
- “Pan’s Labyrinth”
- Apocalypto only because of the irony of a Sugartits film winning for makeup.
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
- “Babel”
- “The Good German”
- “Notes on a Scandal”
- “Pan’s Labyrinth”
- “The Queen”
- Although I despise his music outside of a theatre, Philip Glass' work on Notes added to the overall tightness of this thriller. And why no Superman?
Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
- “I Need to Wake Up” from “An Inconvenient Truth” Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge
- “Listen” from “Dreamgirls” Music by Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler Lyric by Anne Preven
- “Love You I Do” from “Dreamgirls” Music by Henry Krieger Lyric by Siedah Garrett
- “Our Town” from “Cars” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
- “Patience” from “Dreamgirls”
Music by Henry Krieger
Lyric by Willie Reale
- Anybody but Randy Newman. Anybody.
Best motion picture of the year
- “Babel”
- “The Departed”
- “Letters from Iwo Jima”
- “Little Miss Sunshine”
- “The Queen”
- My heart says Babel, but my mind reminds me that it's the only one on the list seen.
Achievement in sound editing
- “Apocalypto”
- “Blood Diamond”
- “Flags of Our Fathers”
- “Letters from Iwo Jima”
- “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
- The order on these is wierd and anti-climatic.
Achievement in sound mixing
- “Apocalypto”
- “Blood Diamond”
- “Dreamgirls”
- “Flags of Our Fathers”
- “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
- Dreamgirls?
Achievement in visual effects
- “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
- “Poseidon”
- “Superman Returns”
- Superman. You will believe a man can fly. That says it all.
Adapted screenplay
- “Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
- “Children of Men”
- “The Departed”
- “Little Children”
- “Notes on a Scandal”
- Notes.
Original screenplay
- “Babel”
- “Letters from Iwo Jima”
- “Little Miss Sunshine”
- “Pan’s Labyrinth”
- “The Queen”
- Again, Babel.
