It's that glorious time of year once again, the time when I throw my Heineken bottle at the television whilst cursing/crying and questioning the existence of a higher power. Yup, Oscar nominations come out tomorrow. When I was a wee lad, I spent one Colorado winter up in a hotel where the chef confided to me that I have a certain "shine" about predicting the Academy Awards. Strangely, I never heard from him again after that.
Anyway, I figure it's only right to share this gift with you, dear readers. Not only shall I tell you what's going to be nominated, I'm going to tell you what's going to win. And lest you think I'm joking...I'm the one who predicted that New Coke would fail. Yup, I really went out on a limb with that one, too. So when I do well, feel free to sit your grandchildren on your knee and impress them with tales of my power of second sight. And if I do poorly, then feel free to mock me mercilessly whilst poking me with a branch of some sort. And here we go:
Best Picture
Brokeback Mountain
Crash
Good Night And Good Luck
Munich
Walk The Line
If I had more brains, I would have predicted: Capote.
If I had more cojones, I would have predicted:The Constant Gardener.
If the Academy had taste, they would have nominated: Squid And The Whale.
Should win: Munich. Please don't hurt me.
Will win: Brokeback Mountain. May lightning strike me dead if I'm wrong.
Best Director
Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
George Clooney - Good Night And Good Luck
Fernando Meirelles - Constant Gardener
Paul Haggis - Crash
Steven Spielberg - Munich
If I had more brains, I would have predicted: Bennett Miller (Capote).
If I had more cojones, I would have predicted:David Cronenberg (History Of Violence).
If the Academy had taste, they would have nominated: Chan-wook Park (Oldboy).
Should win: Steven Spielberg.
Will win: Ang Lee. Signed. Sealed. Delivered.
Best Actor
David Strathairn - Good Night and Good Luck
Heath Ledger - Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix - Walk The Line
Phillip Seymour Hoffman - Capote
Russell Crowe - Cinderella Man
If I had more brains, I would have predicted: Terrence Howard (Hustle And Flow).
If I had more cojones, I would have predicted: Jeff Daniels (Squid And The Whale).
If the Academy had taste, they would have nominated: Eric Bana(Munich).
Should win: Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
Will win: Phillip Seymour Hoffman. And many years of Oscar wrongs will be righted.
Article comments
1 - Ty
Best Foreign Film: AMong others, Paheli, India's official entry into the oscars.
Here is the link for it"> to amazon.com: It's based on a Rajastani folk tale from way back when, and is an absolute delight.
These days many foreign film nominees are dark films (I expect Der Untergang (Downfall) to be a shoo-in for a nomination), so why not a light-hearted one with a great story, romance, comedy, and great songs (As opposed to typical bollywood crap).
I am hoping and expecting to see Paheli get a nod from the Academy, even if it won't win.
2 - Roger
I think Paheli should get a "nod" too, but too bad the Academy is biased towards European and Far Eastern films.
I also agree that the Academy tends to drool over dark films coming from foreign countries. Apparently if it's not in english, it'd better be sinister.
WAR Paheli for an Oscar nom (and I'm not Indian by the way)...