Oscar Nominations!
You knew I was gonna talk about this. Let’s get started:
Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Well, I called four out of five. Unfortunately, the inclusion of “Letters” means I now have to see both parts of Clint’s Iwo Jima saga and I’m really not looking forward to it. Also, “Babel”? Would the members of award committees kindly pull their heads out of their collective asses? The only film I can honestly root for out of this entire bunch is The Departed. Not that I was expecting what I considered to be the best films of the year to make the cut, but still.
Oh, and no nomination for Dreamgirls? Guess that can only mean one thing: The Academy does not care about black people. Thank you.
Best Director
Alejandro González Iñárritu - “Babel”
Martin Scorsese - “The Departed”
Clint Eastwood - “Letters From Iwo Jima”
Stephen Frears - “The Queen”
Paul Greengrass - “United 93″
I’m really happy about the nomination for Greengrass seeing as he’s one of today’s best directors and the direction for Little Miss Sunshine wasn’t anything special. But I really think this is Scorsese’s year. Still, the recent Best Drama globe for Babel and now the nomination for Eastwood makes me uneasy. Personally, I think if they don’t give Scorsese the award this year, they’ll never give it to him and every nomination from here on will just be a cruel practical joke.
Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio -“Blood Diamond”
Ryan Gosling - “Half Nelson”
Peter O’Toole - “Venus”
Will Smith - “The Pursuit of Happyness”
Forest Whitaker - “The Last King of Scotland”
Ugh. Now I have to see Blood Diamond as well. This category went as I expected (I actually made my predictions yesterday at the best site for Oscar info, Oscarwatch.com). But Whitaker should take this one in a walk, especially since O’Toole got that lifetime achievement award last year. Biggest shock and biggest disappointment: no nomination for Sasha Baron Cohen for Borat.
Best Actress
Penélope Cruz - “Volver”
Judi Dench - “Notes on a Scandal”
Helen Mirren - “The Queen”
Meryl Streep - “The Devil Wears Prada”
Kate Winslet - “Little Children”
Again, no alarms and no surprises here. Mirren will win this easily and I find none of these nominees objectionable. Moving on.
Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin - “Little Miss Sunshine”
Jackie Earle Haley - “Little Children”
Djimon Hounsou - “Blood Diamond”
Eddie Murphy - “Dreamgirls”
Mark Wahlberg - “The Departed”
I’m a little bummed that Steve Carell didn’t get nominated for Little Miss Sunshine, I’m pretty damn surprised that Jack Nicholson wasn’t nominated for The Departed, and I’m pretty damned pissed that Matt Damon wasn’t nominated for his stellar work in The Good Shepherd or The Departed. This award will probably go to Murphy but Arkin could steal it because this category could easily be called, “let’s just give this to a Hollywood veteran”-award. Not as catchy, but look at the past five winners: George Clooney, Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins, Chris Cooper, and Jim Broadbent. Sure, Clooney and Robbins may not be that old, but this ain’t exactly going to spring chickens. I’d say you can basically count out Hounsou and Wahlberg and leave the very deserving Haley as the dark horse (he’d be a shoe-in if New Line had promoted the damn film).
Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza - “Babel”
Cate Blanchett - “Notes on a Scandal”
Abigail Breslin - “Little Miss Sunshine”
Jennifer Hudson - “Dreamgirls”
Rinko Kikuchi - “Babel”
Adriana Barraza for playing the World’s Dumbest Nanny in “Babel”! Abigail Breslin for being so durn cute in “Little Miss Sunshine”! Rink Kikuchi for playing a deaf, horny, Japanese girl in “Babel”!
It doesn’t really matter because this is Hudson’s award. They might as well just give the other nomination slots to some extras.
Best Animated Film
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House
Dreamworks Animation is writhing in pain right now. But a heavy dose of Shrek the Third this May should ease the pain. While I love Pixar for most of their work, this time they don’t deserve the award they’re going to receive for Cars.
Best Documentary
An Inconvenient Truth
Deliver Us From Evil
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country
I hope “Truth” wins and then there’s a recount and he loses to Jesus Camp.
Best Foreign Film
After the Wedding
Days of Glory
The Lives of Others
Pan’s Labyrinth
Water
I’m really hoping that come Awards night, I’m gonna see the big smiling face of Guillermo Del Toro holding a statue for this award.
Best Art Direction
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
The Prestige
No problems here. By the way, for all those wondering what “Art Direction” is, it’s set design. Cue the “More You Know” banner.
Best Costumes
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
The Queen
Again, no alarms and no surprises, although I’m a little bummed there was no love for Pirates in this category.
Best Cinematography
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Prestige
The nomination for Children of Men shows that the Academy isn’t completely blind but to ignore a film as beautifully shot as The Fountain is just insane.
Best Film Editing
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed
United 93
Any love for United 93 and Children of Men is good love in my book. It’s just a shame that they will both probably lose to the shite that is Babel.
Best Sound Editing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
These films got the sound edited like crazy! But then there’s this category:
Best Sound Mixing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
What’s the difference? I don’t know! Cue the “Less You Know” banner.
Best Make-Up
Apocalypto
Pan’s Labyrinth
Click
Yeah, you read that third one right. The Make-Up category yet again proves that the members of the Academy who work in make-up are the dumbest fucking members of the academy and should stay in their trailers and just continue to gossip. The only defense for not nominating Dead Man’s Chest is that the make-up is a visual effect and not real. But that’s only for Davy Jones’ crew. Considering the cannibals and the general aesthetic, it certainly deserves the award more than fucking Click. Oh well, at least it’s clear who to root for: PAN’S LABYRINTH.
Best Score
Babel
The Good German
Notes on a Scandal
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen
No nomination for The Fountain. This category is dead to me. But seriously, let’s nominate Phil Glass for Notes on a Scandal because that score didn’t sound exactly the same as all his others. Go Pan’s!
Best Song
An Inconvenient Truth - “I Need to Wake Up”
Dreamgirls - “Listen”
Dreamgirls - “Love You I Do”
Dreamgirls - “Patience”
Cars - “Our Town”
Academy to Dreamgirls: “You’re not good enough for Best Picture or Best Director, but we love your music! Sing us another song, bitch!”
Best Visual Effects
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns
Poseidon will now have to be referred to as “The Oscar-nominated Poseidon.” Thankfully, “Pirates” should take this in a walk.
Best 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
I’d be happy with any of these films winning but an award for Borat would be a little strange seeing as it’s more of an outline than a screenplay.
Best Original Screenplay
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen
I don’t know if Babel’s that original a screenplay seeing as he’s basically made that film twice before. Letters and The Queen are based on actual events (not that it’s a huge strike against, but still), so I’m rooting for Little Miss and Pan’s. However, The Queen will probably take home the award.
And that’s my long-winded bullshit about this year’s Oscar nominations! I didn’t include Documentary: Short Subject, Live-Action Short and Animated Short film because I don’t care and neither does anyone but the people who made them on their mothers.
