Moving behind the screen, could this be Martin Scorsese's year? Or is he always destined to be a bridesmaid and never a bride? I am leaning toward his finally bringing home the gold. However, I would not count out any of the other nominees, as they all produced fine work for our enjoyment. Looking at the scripts they had to work with, a couple of my favorites are in there on both sides of the border (adapted vs. original) including The Departed, Children of Men, and Pan's Labyrinth. The surprise entrant is Borat, I never would have thought that it would have even crossed the voters' minds, and the overlooked would have to be the tightly plotted thriller, The Prestige.
In the animated feature category I cannot tell you how happy I am to see Monster House among the nominees. I am not deluded into thinking that it will win, although I would be ecstatic, it is just nice to see such a great film recognized. Over in the foreign language category I was somewhat surprised not to see Volver included, yet the presence of Pan's Labyrinth gives me hope that Guillermo del Toro's dark fairy tale for adults will win the gold.
One final disappointment before I turn it over to the list. I was disappointed to not see my favorite score of the year among the nominees. That would be The Fountain from Clint Mansell. I may still be confused by the audaciously experimental film, but the music has drawn me in to its wondrous beauty.
Okay, enough of me, let the handicapping begin. Be on the lookout for my predictions to come close to the February 25 broadcast.
Best Motion Picture of the Year
- Babel
- The Departed
- Letters from Iwo Jima
- Little Miss Sunshine
- The Queen
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
Best Actress
- Penelope Cruz, Volver
- Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
- Helen Mirren, The Queen
- Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
- Kate Winslet, Little Children
Best Supporting Actor
- Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
- Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
- Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
- Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
- Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
Best Supporting Actress
- Adrianna Barraza, Babel
- Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
- Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
- Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
- Rinko Kikuchi, Babel
Best Director
- Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
- Stephen Frears, The Queen
- Paul Greengrass, United 93
- Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
- Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Article comments
1 - SolShine7
It looks like Kate Winslet is going to get snubbed again. One day...
2 - Jane
If you had seen Ryan Gosling's performance in Half Nelson, then you would not have been surprised this morning. He has been getting buzz since September when the film was released in selected cities. He received a Spirit Award Nod, a Sag Nod and Critics Nod. Where have you been? The only reason why he did not get a Golden Globe is because the Foriegn Press is able to nominate the same actor for two different roles (Leo). Don't mean to be smart, but you need to see the movie and read up before you comment. I say the biggest surprise is Brad Pitt not getting a nod.
3 - Chris Beaumont
I do not think my comment was all that mean, I didn't imply his performance was bad or completely unworthy. But he didn't strike me as one of the more obvious choices. Besides, I am just a little disappointed over Owen's snub, and the Children of Men snub for Best Picture. Quite frankly, I could have been much "meaner" in my comment, but why should I? If you get nominated you must have had a good performance. Everyone has their favorites. This will hopefully lead to bigger and better for Ryan.
4 - Ty
"Half Nelson didn't have much of a stay in the theater, and is one of the ones that I missed."
Once again the fact you are in the middle of nowhere rears its ugly head in your opinions.
Nice...
5 - Chris Beaumont
Nice to see you haven't abandoned me, Ty. Also, the comment is rather baseless as I did not say it did not come to my area, but I missed it. It is impossible for me to see everything that I want to, whether it comes to my area or not. I keep myself quite busy doing what I do in addition to my fulltime job. I have seen enough to have an opinion of who I would like to see nominated, and I was in no way belittling Gosling's performance.
6 - Chris Earp
I very much agree with your comments about Children of Men. That was my favorite film of the year, with Pan's Labyrinth a close second, and I was also appalled at the snub. After just watching the Oscars, I am even more disheartened with the Academy for the fact that it didn't win any of the three it was nominated for, especially cinematography, which I thought it was meant to win well before the nominees were announced. I may be a little bias because it is my favorite film genre (sci-fi noir) and the kind of film I hope to make in the future, but looking back at the past Oscars, I can tell the Academy has a problem with Sci-Fi in general. Many of the greats have been snubbed big time, and this particular situation is reminiscent of how it was with my favorite film of all time, Minority Report, which was praised by critics (and even gained the top spot on Roger Ebert's best of 2002 list), but was almost ignored by the Academy. Spielberg is a good example for the Academy's refusal of Sci-Fi because he about half of his films are Sci-Fi, but only his non-Sci-Fi films have ever won. If I do every make the great Sci-Fi noir films I hope to make, I will not expect any recognition from the Academy. Critical and viewer acclaim should be enough for any filmmaker.