You know what I really remember about Revenge of the Sith...
Makeup
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Cinderella Man
Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith
Will Win: Chroni-What-Cles
Should Win: Fantastic Four, Transamerica, take your pick...
As usual, with last year being a rare exception, the Academy chose to ignore some of the more obvious achievements in make-up. Well, I guess they managed to make that guy who used to play Jack Dalton look pretty old in Cinderella Man.
Anyhow, as often as not, this award goes to the next most obvious achievement, which in this case I suppose would be a tie between Chronicles and Sith, although the whole deal with Sith is that just about everything is computer generated anyway, so maybe this is for how old they made the Emperor look?
Seriously, though, do you think there was some conversation among the nominating committees for all the technical awards that went something like this:
"Hey, don't vote for Star Wars. Pass it on!"
...later...
"Done."
"Great. Did you tell make-up?"
"What? Oh, shit!"
And this is why I don't think you'll see a sympathy vote for Sith. At least, not one large enough to beat Narnia.
Fantastic Four was not a great film. It was not even a good film. It was...a film. However, the make-up on Thing was flawless.
Transamerica was a good film and Felicity Huffman gave an outstanding performance that was enhanced by fantastic makeup.
Just saying.
Costume Design
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Memoirs of a Geisha
Mrs. Henderson Presents
Pride & Prejudice
Walk the Line
Will Win: Memoirs of a Geisha
Should Win: Walk the Line
The Costume Design Award was practically invented for a film like Pride & Prejudice. However, the Costume Designer's guild didn't even nominate it for their awards and, for what it's worth, Memoirs won the same award at the BAFTAs with near identical competition.
Walk the Line manages to make country singers look cool in the age of hip hop. That's as much of an accomplishment as the lavish designs of Charlie, my second pick, because, well, Johnny Depp already looks cool.
Art Direction
Good Night, and Good Luck
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
King Kong
Memoirs of a Geisha
Pride & Prejudice
Will Win: Memoirs of a Geisha
Should Win: King Kong
As goes Costume, so goes Art. It also helps that the Art Director's Guild (Local 800, if you're keeping score) agreed with their Period or Fantasy Award (Contemporary went to Walk the Line, and I'll let you do the math on that later).
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