The following statement may be sacrilege to any of my golf buddies: I enjoy the Oscars more than the Superbowl. I'm not not talking about the Red Carpet parade and all the celebrity gossip, etc. What I love is that it's a celebration of an art form; one that's truly popular.
During the 20th century, film replaced books as the most popular form of story telling. Now, we can argue whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it is reality. The people dedicated to making a truly good film, take just as much care and exhibit as much passion as any author.
I think it's fun to watch people who've worked a lifetime with that sort of vision and passion have that moment of ultimate achievement in front of an audience of over a billion people worldwide. My pet peeve with the Oscars is when the winning director for best documentary has their speech cut off by the orchestra. This person probably started making films when they were a kid. They worked hard to achieve this moment and then the orchestra cuts them off before can thank mom and dad? It's really quite rude. Get rid of some of the production numbers and the bantering that takes place between the presenters. It's not about them. It's about the artists and celebrating their achievements.
OK, now that I've got that off my chest, here are my predictions:
ACTOR, LEADING- Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”
ACTOR, SUPPORTING- Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
ACTRESS, LEADING- Kate Winslet in “The Reader”
ACTRESS, SUPPORTING- Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
ANIMATED FEATURE- “WALL-E”
ART DIRECTION- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
CINEMATOGRAPHY- “Slumdog Millionaire”
COSTUME DESIGN- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
DIRECTING- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE- “Man on Wire”
DOCUMENTARY SHORT- “The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306”
FILM EDITING- “Slumdog Millionaire”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM- “Waltz with Bashir”
MAKEUP- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
ORIGINAL SCORE- “Slumdog Millionaire”
ORIGINAL SONG- “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”
SHORT FILM, ANIMATED- “Presto”
SHORT FILM, LIVE ACTION- “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
SOUND EDITING- “WALL-E”
SOUND MIXING- “WALL-E”
VISUAL EFFECTS- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED- “Doubt”
SCREENPLAY, ORIGINAL- “Frozen River”
And finally,
BEST PICTURE- “Slumdog Millionaire”
Just a note, "Slumdog" is a tremendous movie but was my second favorite this year behind "Doubt". I loved the dialogue in that movie, but it shows what I know.
You can download your own ballot here
Tune in and see how wrong I am.
During the 20th century, film replaced books as the most popular form of story telling. Now, we can argue whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, but it is reality. The people dedicated to making a truly good film, take just as much care and exhibit as much passion as any author.
I think it's fun to watch people who've worked a lifetime with that sort of vision and passion have that moment of ultimate achievement in front of an audience of over a billion people worldwide. My pet peeve with the Oscars is when the winning director for best documentary has their speech cut off by the orchestra. This person probably started making films when they were a kid. They worked hard to achieve this moment and then the orchestra cuts them off before can thank mom and dad? It's really quite rude. Get rid of some of the production numbers and the bantering that takes place between the presenters. It's not about them. It's about the artists and celebrating their achievements.
OK, now that I've got that off my chest, here are my predictions:
ACTOR, LEADING- Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”
ACTOR, SUPPORTING- Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
ACTRESS, LEADING- Kate Winslet in “The Reader”
ACTRESS, SUPPORTING- Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
ANIMATED FEATURE- “WALL-E”
ART DIRECTION- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
CINEMATOGRAPHY- “Slumdog Millionaire”
COSTUME DESIGN- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
DIRECTING- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE- “Man on Wire”
DOCUMENTARY SHORT- “The Witness - From the Balcony of Room 306”
FILM EDITING- “Slumdog Millionaire”
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM- “Waltz with Bashir”
MAKEUP- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
ORIGINAL SCORE- “Slumdog Millionaire”
ORIGINAL SONG- “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”
SHORT FILM, ANIMATED- “Presto”
SHORT FILM, LIVE ACTION- “Auf der Strecke (On the Line)”
SOUND EDITING- “WALL-E”
SOUND MIXING- “WALL-E”
VISUAL EFFECTS- “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
SCREENPLAY, ADAPTED- “Doubt”
SCREENPLAY, ORIGINAL- “Frozen River”
And finally,
BEST PICTURE- “Slumdog Millionaire”
Just a note, "Slumdog" is a tremendous movie but was my second favorite this year behind "Doubt". I loved the dialogue in that movie, but it shows what I know.
You can download your own ballot here
Tune in and see how wrong I am.
Powered by ScribeFire.
Posts
11:44 AM
Yeah, OK, 12 right is not a good score. Just goes to show that even if you watch all of the shorts, you still can't predict the winner. I also got the right movie on the Song category, just the wrong song. I guess I really overestimated the sound editing/effects of a movie like Wall-E where there is almost no dialog to tell the story.