Oscar picks 2005

The Oscar nominations for 2005 will be announced on Tuesday but if I got to fill out a ballot (or ran the whole damn show) here's a look at what the selections would be.

[These are NOT my predictions, they're what I would WANT to be nominated. Predictions will be up by Monday.]

First of all I'd add the following category:

Ensemble Cast:
Brokeback Mountain
The 40 Year Old Virgin
Junebug
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Syriana

SAG is one of the few major groups that gives out this prize. But they rarely recognize truly impressive casts, generally preferring to recognize casts from movies that will probably be nominated for Oscar's Best Picture. Each of these ensembles is unique, none have a weak link but one of them towered over everything else this year.

Winner: Syriana

Now on to some actual Oscar categories...

Animated Film:
Howl's Moving Castle
Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Picking the year's three best is easy, picking the very best is even easier.

Winner: Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Adapted Screenplay:
Brokeback Mountain
Capote
A History of Violence
Munich
Mysterious Skin

A highly competitive category this year.

Winner: Brokeback Mountain

Original Screenplay:
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Junebug
Millions
Syriana
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Syriana could be considered adapted, but Oscar classified it as original and that works for me. There's a wide range of material here and I wish the actual Oscars would pay attention to some of these, including my favorite.

Winner: Junebug

Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams (Junebug)
Maria Bello (A History of Violence)
Catherine Keener (The 40 Year-Old Virgin)
Shirley MacLaine (In Her Shoes)
Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain)

An excellent category and I think the final Oscar list will actually look a little like this. It also has my favorite performance of the year, in any category.

Winner: Amy Adams (Junebug)

Supporting Actor:
Gerard Butler (Dear Frankie)
Kevin Costner (The Upside of Anger)
Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain)
Ed Harris (A History of Violence)
Jeffrey Wright (Broken Flowers)

An odd year in this category. I'd seriously consider Syriana's George Clooney and/or Alexander Siddig but to me that movie is an ensemble effort start to finish. I still can hardly believe the actor I'd endorse to win this award this year. But yes, he's that good.

Winner: Kevin Costner (The Upside of Anger)

Actress:
Toni Collette (In Her Shoes)
Emmanuelle Devos (Kings and Queen)
Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know)
Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice)
Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)

Not a spectacular year for leading ladies but not as bad as it will look in the Oscar history books. Some of the best work just isn't on Oscar's radar. I wish I had room for North Country's Charlize Theron and Junebug's Embeth Davidtz as well (and I wish I'd seen the L.A. critics' pick: Vera Farmiga in Down to the Bone).

Winner: Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line)

Actor:
Romain Duris (The Beat That My Heart Skipped)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Mysterious Skin)
Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain)
Viggo Mortensen (A History of Violence)

Last year was a very good year for lead actors, this year was a great one. My five favorites could easily be joined by seven more: Eric Bana (Munich), Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin), Daniel Day-Lewis (The Ballad of Jack and Rose), Robert Downey Jr. (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang), Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow), Jonathan Rhys-Meyers (Match Point) and David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck.). Yet one performance still stands out among them all.

Winner: Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain)

Director:
David Cronenberg (A History of Violence)
Stephen Gaghan (Syriana)
Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)
Phil Morrison (Junebug)
Nick Park (Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit)

My director picks don't always match up with my favorite films of the year but in this case they do. Even the animated film and the intimate indie drama are so distinctive it's impossible to overlook the men at the helm.

Winner: Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain)

Best Picture:
Brokeback Mountain
A History of Violence
Junebug
Syriana
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

No surprises here.

Winner: Brokeback Mountain

And the boring technical categories...

Art Direction/Production Design:
Brokeback Mountain
Memoirs of a Geisha
Sin City
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
War of the Worlds

Winner: Sin City

Cinematography:
Brokeback Mountain
A History of Violence
March of the Penguins
Munich
Syriana

Winner: Brokeback Mountain

Costume Design:
Memoirs of a Geisha
The New World
Pride & Prejudice
Sin City
2046

Winner: Memoirs of a Geisha

Editing:
Brokeback Mountain
Good Night, and Good Luck.
A History of Violence
Munich
Syriana

Winner: Syriana

Original Score:
Brokeback Mountain
A History of Violence
Howl’s Moving Castle
Memoirs of a Geisha
Syriana

Winner: Brokeback Mountain

Visual Effects:
King Kong
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
War of the Worlds

Winner: King Kong

Even I can't work up enthusiasm for the sound categories or make-up. I'm still working on seeing a few more of the year's major documentaries and foreign films (although I know my choices would bear little resemblance to the nominees that emerge from Oscar's arcane selection process) and I haven't heard enough contenders to properly do an Original Song category, though Dolly Parton's Travelin' Thru from Transamerica is a standout even without serious competition.