Oscar picks for 2013

My choices for the best in 2013 film.

Top picks denoted with a (*).

Best Picture of the Year
“American Hustle”
“Frances Ha”
“Her”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Nebraska”
“Short Term 12”
“The Spectacular Now”
“Stories We Tell”
*“12 Years a Slave”
“The Wind Rises”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
*Chiwetel Ejiofor in “12 Years a Slave”
Tom Hanks in “Captain Phillips”
Matthew McConaughey in “Dallas Buyers Club”
Joaquin Phoenix in “Her”
Miles Teller in “The Spectacular Now”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
*Greta Gerwig in “Frances Ha”
Brie Larson in “Short Term 12”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus in “Enough Said”
Emma Thompson in “Saving Mr. Banks”
Shailene Woodley in “The Spectacular Now”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Bradley Cooper in “American Hustle”
*Bruce Dern in “Nebraska”
Michael Fassbender in “12 Years a Slave”
James Gandolfini in “Enough Said”
Jared Leto in “Dallas Buyers Club”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Lawrence in “American Hustle”
*Lupita N’yongo in “12 Years a Slave”
Lea Seydoux in “Blue is the Warmest Color”
June Squibb in “Nebraska”
Oprah Winfrey in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”

Best Achievement in Directing
*“12 Years a Slave”  Steve McQueen
“American Hustle”  David O. Russell
“Frances Ha”  Noah Baumbach
“Her”  Spike Jonze
“Nebraska”  Alexander Payne

Best Screenplay Based On Material Previously Produced or Published
“The Broken Circle Breakdown”  screenplay by Carl Joos and Felix Van Groeningen
“Short Term 12”  screenplay by Destin Daniel Cretton
“The Spectacular Now”  screenplay by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
*“12 Years a Slave”  screenplay by John Ridley
“The Wind Rises”  screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki

Best Screenplay Written Directly For the Screen
“American Hustle”  written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell
“Enough Said”  written by Nicole Holofcener
“Frances Ha”  written by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach
*“Her”  written by Spike Jonze
“Nebraska”  written by Bob Nelson

Best Achievement In Art Direction
“Gravity”  Andy Nicholson, production design; Rosie Goodwin, Joanne Woollard, set decoration
*“Her”  K.K. Barrett, production design; Gene Serdena, set decoration
“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”  Philip Messina, production design; Larry Dias, set decoration
“Inside Llewyn Davis”  Jess Gonchor, production design; Susan Bode Tyson, set decoration
“12 Years a Slave”  Adam Stockhausen, production design; Alice Baker, set decoration

Best Achievement In Cinematography
“Gravity”  Emmanuel Lubezki
“Her”  Hoyte Van Hoytema
“Inside Llewyn Davis”  Bruno Delbonnel
“Nebraska”  Phedon Papamichael
*“12 Years a Slave”  Sean Bobbitt

Best Achievement In Costume Design
*“American Hustle”  Michael Wilkinson
“The Great Gatsby”  Catherine Martin
“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”  Trish Summerville
“The Invisible Woman”  Michael O'Connor
“12 Years a Slave”  Patricia Norris

Best Achievement In Film Editing
“American Hustle”  Alan Baumgarten, Jay Cassidy, Crispin Struthers
“Gravity”  Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger
“Her”  Jeff Buchanan, Eric Zumbrunnen
*“12 Years a Slave”  Joe Walker
“Upstream Color”  Shane Carruth, David Lowery

Best Achievement In Makeup
*“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
“Lee Daniels’ The Butler”
“Rush”

Best Achievement In Music (Original Score)
*“Her”  Will Butler, Owen Pallett
“Oblivion”  Anthony Gonzalez, Joseph Trapanese
“12 Years a Slave”  Hans Zimmer
“Upstream Color”  Shane Carruth
“The Wind Rises”  Joe Hisaishi

Best Achievement In Music (Original Song)
*“Happy” from “Despicable Me 2”
“In the Middle of the Night” from “Lee Daniels’ The Butler”
“The Moon Song” from “Her”
“Oblivion” from “Oblivion”
“So You Know What It's Like” from “Short Term 12”

Best Achievement In Sound
“Captain Phillips”
*“Gravity”
“Inside Llewyn Davis”
“Star Trek Into Darkness”
“12 Years a Slave”

Best Achievement In Sound Editing
“All is Lost” 
*“Gravity”
“Pacific Rim”
“12 Years a Slave”
“Upstream Color”

Best Achievement In Visual Effects 
*“Gravity”
“Oblivion”
“Pacific Rim”
“Star Trek Into Darkness”
“Thor: The Dark World”

Best Feature Length Animated Film
*“The Wind Rises”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Blue is the Warmest Color”  France
“The Broken Circle Breakdown”  Belgium
“The Hunt”  Denmark
“Something in the Air”  France
*“The Wind Rises”  Japan

Best Documentary Film
“After Tiller”
“American Promise”
“The Square”
*“Stories We Tell”
“20 Feet From Stardom”

Special Awards:

Ensemble Cast: “12 Years a Slave”

Music Supervision: “Inside Llewyn Davis”

Voice Over Performance:  Scarlett Johansson in “Her”

And because limiting nominees isn't enough for acting categories, honorable mentions to the following performances...

Best actor: Robert Redford (“All is Lost”); Isaiah Washington (“Blue Caprice”); Oscar Isaac (“Inside Llewyn Davis”); Christian Bale (“American Hustle”); Ralph Fiennes (“The Invisible Woman”)

Best actress: Sandra Bullock (“Gravity”); Felicity Jones (“The Invisible Woman”); Amy Adams (“American Hustle”); Cate Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine”); Veerle Baetens (“The Broken Circle Breakdown”)

Best supporting actor: Danny McBride (“This is the End”); John Gallagher Jr. (“Short Term 12”); Daniel Bruhl (“Rush”); Tom Hanks (“Saving Mr. Banks”)

Best supporting actress: Mickey Sumner (“Frances Ha”); Sarah Paulson (“12 Years a Slave”); Julianne Moore (“Don Jon”); Adepero Oduye (“12 Years a Slave”)

Oscar picks for 2011

My choices for the best in 2011 film.

Top picks denoted with a (*).

Best Picture of the Year
“The Descendants”
*“Drive”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Hugo”
“Martha Marcy May Marlene”
“Midnight in Paris”
“Project Nim”
“Rebirth”
“The Skin I Live In”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
*George Clooney in “The Descendants”
Jean Dujardin in “The Artist”
Michael Fassbender in “A Dangerous Method”
Ryan Gosling in “Drive”
Owen Wilson in “Midnight in Paris”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Juliette Binoche in “Certified Copy”
Catherine Deneuve in “Potiche”
Keira Knightley in “A Dangerous Method”
Elizabeth Olsen in “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
*Tilda Swinton in “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Albert Brooks in “Drive”
John Hawkes in “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
Ben Kingsley in “Hugo”
Viggo Mortensen in “A Dangerous Method”
*John C. Reilly in “Terri”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Elena Anaya in “The Skin I Live In”
Bérénice Bejo in “The Artist”
Jessica Chastain in “The Help”
Sarah Paulson in “Martha Marcy May Marlene”
*Shailene Woodley in “The Descendants”

Best Achievement in Directing
“The Descendants” Alexander Payne
*“Drive” Nicolas Winding Refn
“Hugo” Martin Scorsese
“Martha Marcy May Marlene” Sean Durkin
“The Skin I Live In” Pedro Almodóvar

Best Screenplay Based On Material Previously Produced or Published
“A Dangerous Method” screenplay by Christopher Hampton
*“The Descendants” screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
“Drive” screenplay by Hossein Amini
“Hugo” screenplay by John Logan
“The Skin I Live In” screenplay by Pedro Almodóvar

Best Screenplay Written Directly For the Screen
“The Artist” written by Michel Hazanavicius
*“Martha Marcy May Marlene” written by Sean Durkin
“Midnight in Paris” written by Woody Allen
“Take Shelter” written by Jeff Nichols
“The Tree of Life” written by Terrence Malick

Best Achievement In Art Direction
“The Artist” Laurence Bennett, production designer; Robert Gould, set decorator
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” Stuart Craig, production designer; Stephenie McMillan, set decorator
*“Hugo” Dante Ferretti, production designer; Francesca Lo Schiavo, set decorator
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes” Claude Paré, production designer; Elizabeth Wilcox, set decorator
“The Skin I Live In” Antxón Gómez, production designer; Carlos Bodelón, art director

Best Achievement In Cinematography
“Drive” Newton Thomas Sigel
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” Eduardo Serra
“Hugo” Robert Richardson
“The Skin I Live In” José Luis Alcaine
*“The Tree of Life” Emmanuel Lubezki

Best Achievement In Costume Design
*“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” Jany Temime
“Hugo” Sandy Powell
“Midnight in Paris” Sonia Grande
“Potiche” Pascaline Chavanne
“Water for Elephants” Jacqueline West

Best Achievement In Film Editing
“The Descendants” Kevin Tent
*“Drive” Mat Newman
“Hugo” Thelma Schoonmaker
“Martha Marcy May Marlene” Zachary Stuart-Pontier
“The Skin I Live In” José Salcedo

Best Achievement In Makeup
*“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Insidious”
“Thor”

Best Achievement In Music (Original Score)
“The Artist” Ludovic Bource
“Drive” Cliff Martinez
*“Hugo” Howard Shore
“The Skin I Live In” Alberto Iglesias
“War Horse” John Williams

Best Achievement In Music (Original Song)
“Coeur Volant” from “Hugo”
“Lay Your Head Down” from “Albert Nobbs”
*“Life’s a Happy Song” from “The Muppets”
“Shelter” from “Take Shelter”
“So Long” from “Winnie the Pooh”

Best Achievement In Sound
“Drive”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
*“Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“Super 8”

Best Achievement In Sound Editing
*“Drive”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol”
“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“We Need to Talk About Kevin”

Best Achievement In Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”
“Hugo”
“Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol”
*“Rise of the Planet of the Apes”
“The Tree of Life”

Best Feature Length Animated Film
*“Arthur Christmas”
“Puss in Boots”
“Winnie the Pooh”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Certified Copy” France
“Pina” Germany
“A Separation” Iran
*“The Skin I Live In” Spain
“Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” Thailand

Best Documentary Film
“The Interrupters”
“Pina”
“Project Nim”
*“Rebirth”
“Tabloid”

Special Awards:
Consistency in Performance: Jessica Chastain in “The Debt,” “The Help,” “Take Shelter” and “The Tree of Life”

Ensemble Cast: “Midnight in Paris”

Music Supervision: “Drive”

Stuntwork: “Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol”

Voice Over Performance: Antonio Banderas in “Puss in Boots”

Special Achievement: Andy Serkis and WETA Digital for motion capture performance breakthroughs in “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

And because limiting nominees isn't enough for acting categories, honorable mentions to the following performances...

Best actor: Michael Shannon (“Take Shelter); Brad Pitt (“Moneyball”); Gary Oldman (“Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”); Mel Gibson (“The Beaver”)

Best actress: Rooney Mara (“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”); Michelle Williams (“My Week with Marilyn”); Jessica Chastain (“Take Shelter”); Kirsten Dunst (“Melancholia”)

Best supporting actor: Ezra Miller (“We Need to Talk About Kevin”); Jeremy Irons (“Margin Call”); Christopher Plummer (“Beginners”)

Best supporting actress: Octavia Spencer (“The Help”); Elle Fanning (“Super 8”); Robin Wright (“The Conspirator”); Helen McCrory (“Hugo”)

Oscar picks for 2010

My choices for the best in 2010 film.

Top picks denoted with a (*).

Best Picture of the Year
“Black Swan”
“Blue Valentine”
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”
*“127 Hours”
“Shutter Island”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3”
“Waiting for ‘Superman’”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Leonardo DiCaprio in “Shutter Island”
Michael Douglas in “Solitary Man”
Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech”
*James Franco in “127 Hours”
Ryan Gosling in “Blue Valentine”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in “Mother and Child”
Julianne Moore in “The Kids Are All Right”
*Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
Emma Stone in “Easy A”
Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
Andrew Garfield in “The Social Network”
Kevin Kline in “The Extra Man”
*Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
Geoffrey Rush in “The King’s Speech”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
Helena Bonham Carter in “The King’s Speech”
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
*Kerry Washington in “Mother and Child”
Olivia Williams in “The Ghost Writer”

Best Achievement in Directing
“Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
“Inception” Christopher Nolan
*“127 Hours” Danny Boyle
“Shutter Island” Martin Scorsese
“The Social Network” David Fincher

Best Screenplay Based On Material Previously Produced or Published
“How to Train Your Dragon” screenplay by William Davies, Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
“127 Hours” screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
“Shutter Island” screenplay by Laeta Kalogridis
*“The Social Network” screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
“Toy Story 3” screenplay by Michael Arndt; story by John Lasseter and Andrew Staton & Lee Unkrich

Best Screenplay Written Directly For the Screen
“Black Swan” written by Mark Heyman and Andrés Heinz and John McLaughlin
“Blue Valentine” written by Derek Cianfrance & Cami Delavigne and Joey Curtis
“Inception” written by Christopher Nolan
*“The Kids Are All Right” written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
“Please Give” written by Nicole Holofcener

Best Achievement In Art Direction
“Black Swan” Thérèse DePrez, production designer; Tora Peterson, set decorator
*“Inception” Guy Hendrix Dyas, production designer; Larry Dias, Doug Mowat, set decorators
“The King’s Speech” Eve Stewart, production designer; Judy Farr, set decorator
“Shutter Island” Dante Ferretti, production designer; Francesca Lo Schiavo, set decorator
“TRON: Legacy” Darren Gilford, production designer; Lin MacDonald, set decorator

Best Achievement In Cinematography
*“Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
“Inception” Wally Pfister
“127 Hours” Enrique Chediak, Anthony Dod Mantle
“Shutter Island” Robert Richardson
“The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth

Best Achievement In Costume Design
“Alice in Wonderland” Colleen Atwood
*“Black Swan” Amy Westcott
“Burlesque” Michael Kaplan
“Inception” Jeffrey Kurland
“The King’s Speech” Jenny Beavan

Best Achievement In Film Editing
“Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
“Blue Valentine” Jim Helton, Ron Patane
*“Inception” Lee Smith
“127 Hours” Jon Harris
“Shutter Island” Thelma Schoonmaker

Best Achievement In Makeup
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Black Swan”
*“Shutter Island”

Best Achievement In Music (Original Score)
“How to Train Your Dragon” John Powell
“Inception” Hans Zimmer
“Let Me In” Michael Giacchino
“127 Hours” A.R. Rahman
*“The Social Network” Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross

Best Achievement In Music (Original Song)
“Black Sheep” from “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World”
“If I Rise” from “127 Hours”
*“Shine” from “Waiting for Superman”
“Sticks & Stones” from “How to Train Your Dragon”
“You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” from “Burlesque”

Best Achievement In Sound
“Black Swan”
*“Inception”
“127 Hours”
“Shutter Island”
“TRON: Legacy”

Best Achievement In Sound Editing
“Black Swan”
*“Inception”
“127 Hours”
“Toy Story 3”
“TRON: Legacy”

Best Achievement In Visual Effects
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1”
*“Inception”
“TRON: Legacy”

Best Feature Length Animated Film
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Tangled”
*“Toy Story 3”

Best Foreign Language Film
*“Dogtooth” Greece
“Lebanon” Israel
“A Prophet” France
“7 Days” Canada
“Vincere” Italy

Best Documentary Film
“Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer”
“Exit Through the Gift Shop”
“Inside Job”
“The Tillman Story”
*“Waiting for Superman”

Special Awards
Ensemble Cast: “Mother and Child”

Stuntwork: “Inception”

Voice Over Performance
Jay Baruchel in “How to Train Your Dragon”
Ned Beatty in “Toy Story 3”
*Steve Carell in “Despicable Me”
Mandy Moore in “Tangled”
Donna Murphy in “Tangled”

Youth Performance: Kodi Smit-McPhee in “Let Me In”

And because limiting nominees isn't enough for acting categories, honorable mentions to the following performances...

Best actor: Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network); Ryan Reynolds (Buried); Kodi Smit-McPhee (Let Me In); Stephen Dorff (Somewhere)

Best actress: Giovanna Mezzogiorno (Vincere); Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone); Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole); Hye-ja Kim (Mother)

Best supporting actor: John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone); Zach Galifianakis (It’s Kind of a Funny Story); Vincent Cassel (Black Swan); Matt Damon (True Grit)

Best supporting actress: Amanda Peet (Please Give); Elle Fanning (Somewhere); Vanessa Redgrave (Letters to Juliet); Rebecca Hall (Please Give)

Oscar picks for 2009

My choices for the best in 2009 film.

Top picks denoted with a (*).

Best Picture of the Year:
“Funny People”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Moon”
“Ponyo”
*“Precious”
“A Single Man”
“Sugar”
“Summer Hours”
“Up in the Air”
“Where the Wild Things Are”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:
*Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
Matt Damon in “The Informant!”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
Sam Rockwell in “Moon”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:
Abbie Cornish in “Bright Star”
Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
Catalina Saavedra in “The Maid”
*Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious”
Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:
Zach Galifianakis in “The Hangover”
Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
Christian McKay in “Me and Orson Welles”
Brad Pitt in “Inglourious Basterds”
*Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:
Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
Melanie Laurent in “Inglourious Basterds”
*Mo’Nique in “Precious”
Paula Patton in “Precious”

Best Achievement in Directing:
“Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
*“Precious” Lee Daniels
“Summer Hours” Olivier Assayas
“Up in the Air” Jason Reitman
“Where the Wild Things Are” Spike Jonze

Best Screenplay Based On Material Previously Produced or Published:
“Coraline” screenplay by Henry Selick
*“Precious” screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
“A Single Man” screenplay by Tom Ford, David Scearce
“Up in the Air” screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner
“Where the Wild Things Are” screenplay by Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers

Best Screenplay Written Directly For the Screen:
“Funny People” written by Judd Apatow
*“Inglourious Basterds” written by Quentin Tarantino
“Moon” written by Nathan Parker, story by Duncan Jones
“Sugar” written by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck
“Summer Hours” written by Olivier Assayas

Best Achievement In Art Direction:
“Avatar” Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, production designers; Kim Sinclair, set decorator
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Stuart Craig, production designer; Stephanie McMillan, set decorator
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” David Warren, Anastasia Masaro, production designers; Caroline Smith, set decorator
*“Inglourious Basterds” David Wasco, production designer; Sandy Reynolds Wasco, set decorator
“Where the Wild Things Are” K.K. Barrett, production designer; Simon McCutcheon, set decorator

Best Achievement In Cinematography:
*“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
“Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
“Precious” Andrew Dunn
“A Single Man” Eduard Grau
“Where the Wild Things Are” Lance Acord

Best Achievement In Costume Design:
“Bright Star” Janet Patterson
“Chéri” Consolata Boyle
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
*“Inglourious Basterds” Anna B. Sheppard
“The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Best Achievement In Film Editing:
“Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
“Moon” Nicolas Gaster
*“Precious” Joe Klotz
“A Single Man” Joan Sobel
“Up in the Air” Dana E. Glauberman

Best Achievement In Makeup:
“District 9”
“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”
*“Star Trek”

Best Achievement In Music (Original Score):
“Moon” Clint Mansell
“Ponyo” Joe Hisaishi
“Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
“A Single Man” Abel Korzeniowski
*“Up” Michael Giacchino

Best Achievement In Music (Original Song):
“All is Love” from “Where the Wild Things Are”
“Hideaway” from “Where the Wild Things Are”
“Only You” from “The Young Victoria”
“Somebody Else” from “Crazy Heart”
*“The Weary Kind” from “Crazy Heart”

Best Achievement In Sound:
*“Avatar”
“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”
“The Hurt Locker”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”

Best Achievement In Sound Editing:
“2012”
*“Avatar”
“District 9”
“Inglourious Basterds”
“Star Trek”

Best Achievement In Visual Effects:
“2012”
*“Avatar”
“District 9”

Best Feature Length Animated Film: “Ponyo”
(Honorable mention: “Coraline”)

Best Foriegn Language Film:
“Afghan Star” U.K.
“The Headless Woman” Argentina
“The Maid” Chile
*“Summer Hours” France
“Thirst” South Korea

Best Documentary Film:
*“Afghan Star”
“Collapse”
“Food, Inc.”
“The Garden”
“More Than a Game”

Special Awards:
Ensemble Cast: “Precious”

Music Supervision: “Crazy Heart” / “Inglourious Basterds”

Voice Over Performance: James Gandolfini in “Where the Wild Things Are”

Youth Performance: Max Records in “Where the Wild Things Are”

Oscar picks for 2008

My choices for the best in 2008 film.

Top picks denoted with a (*).

Best Picture of the Year:
*“The Dark Knight”
“Pineapple Express”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“The Visitor”
“WALL-E”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role:
Clint Eastwood in “Gran Torino”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Synecdoche, New York”
*Richard Jenkins in “The Visitor”
Sean Penn in “Milk”
Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role:
Juliette Binoche in “Flight of the Red Balloon”
*Melissa Leo in “Frozen River”
Meryl Streep in “Doubt”
Michelle Williams in “Wendy and Lucy”
Kate Winslet in “The Reader”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role:
Aaron Eckhart in “The Dark Knight”
James Franco in “Pineapple Express”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
*Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
Haaz Sleiman in “The Visitor”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role:
Hiam Abbass in “The Visitor”
*Penélope Cruz in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
Viola Davis in “Doubt”
Rosario Dawson in “Seven Pounds”
Marisa Tomei in “The Wrestler”

Best Achievement in Directing:
*“The Dark Knight” Christopher Nolan
“Pineapple Express” David Gordon Green
“Slumdog Millionaire” Danny Boyle
“The Visitor” Thomas McCarthy
“WALL-E” Andrew Stanton

Best Screenplay Based On Material Previously Produced or Published:
“The Class” screenplay by François Bégaudeau
“The Dark Knight” screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David Goyer
“Let the Right One In” screenplay by John Ajvide Lindqvist
*“Slumdog Millionaire” screenplay by Simon Beaufoy
“Tell No One” screenplay by Guillaume Canet

Best Screenplay Written Directly For the Screen:
“Pineapple Express” written by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg, story by Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
“Synecdoche, New York” written by Charlie Kaufman
“Vicky Cristina Barcelona” written by Woody Allen
“The Visitor” written by Thomas McCarthy
*“WALL-E” written by Andrew Stanton & Jim Reardon, story by Andrew Stanton & Pete Docter

Best Achievement In Art Direction:
*“The Dark Knight” Nathan Crowley, production designer; Peter Lando, set decorator
“The Fall” Ged Clarke, production designer; Riccardo Pugliese, Cynthia Sleiter, set decorators
“Slumdog Millionaire” Mark Digby, production designer; Michelle Day, set decorator
“Synecdoche, New York” Mark Friedberg, production designer; Lydia Marks, set decorator
“WALL-E” Ralph Eggleston, production designer

Best Achievement In Cinematography:
“Changeling” Tom Stern
“Che” Peter Andrews
“The Dark Knight” Wally Pfister
“Let the Right One In” Hoyte Van Hoytema
*“Slumdog Millionaire” Anthony Dod Mantle

Best Achievement In Costume Design:
“Changeling” Deborah Hopper
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Jacqueline West
“The Dark Knight” Lindy Hemming
“The Duchess” Michael O’Connor
*“The Fall” Eiko Ishioka

Best Achievement In Film Editing:
*“The Dark Knight” Lee Smith
“Let the Right One In” Tomas Alfredson, Dino Jonsäter
“Pineapple Express” Craig Alpert
“Slumdog Millionaire” Chris Dickens
“WALL-E” Stephen Schaffer

Best Achievement In Makeup:
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
*“The Dark Knight”
“Synecdoche, New York”

Best Achievement In Music (Original Score):
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” Alexandre Desplat
“The Dark Knight” Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard
“The Reader” Nico Muhly
“Slumdog Millionaire” A.R. Rahman
*“WALL-E” Thomas Newman

Best Achievement In Music (Original Song):
“Down to Earth” from “WALL-E”
“Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire”
“Little Person” from “Synecdoche, New York”
“O…Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire”
*“The Wrestler” from “The Wrestler”

Best Achievement In Sound:
*“The Dark Knight”
“Quantum of Solace”
“Slumdog Millionaire”
“WALL-E”
“Wanted”

Best Achievement In Sound Editing:
“Cloverfield”
*“The Dark Knight”
“Iron Man”
“WALL-E”
“Wanted”

Best Achievement In Visual Effects:
*“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
“The Dark Knight”
“The Incredible Hulk”

Best Feature Length Animated Film: “WALL-E”
(Honorable mention: "$9.99")

Best Foriegn Language Film:
“The Class” France
“The Counterfeiters” Austria
*“Let the Right One In” Sweden
“Reprise” Norway
“Tell No One” France

Best Documentary Film:
“Bigger, Stronger, Faster*”
“Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father”
“Man on Wire”
“Religulous”
*“The Unforeseen”

Special Awards:
Ensemble Cast: “The Dark Knight”

Voice Over Performance: Dustin Hoffman in “Kung Fu Panda”

Youth Performance: David Kross in “The Reader”

Oscar picks

The Academy had their say last weekend, but here's what I'd select for the top film achievements of 2006.

With the caveat that I have yet to see: Running with Scissors, The Good German, The Illusionist, Sweet Land, Old Joy, Factotum, Fast Food Nation, Find Me Guilty, Kinky Boots, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, Infamous, Miami Vice and some significant foreign films including Curse of the Golden Flower, Clean, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Water, Duck Season, Three Times and Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles.

I also haven't seen enough of the contenders to properly consider a feature length documentary or animated film category (though right now I'd go along with Oscar's choices in each—An Inconvenient Truth and Happy Feet).

Ensemble Cast
The Dead Girl
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Friends with Money
The Good Shepherd

A category Oscar doesn't have, but might as well. There were several high quality ensemble-driven films released last year and all of my choices were brimming with talent, even in small roles.

Winner: Dreamgirls

Foreign Language Film
Letters From Iwo Jima
The Lives of Others
Pan's Labyrinth
Tsotsi
Volver

It's impossible to consider this category the same way Oscar does, with one submission each from countries worldwide. I'll just stick to films in a foreign language released during 2006. That gives me two films nominated in Oscar's corresponding category (Lives and Pan's), one that should've been (Volver), last year's Oscar winner (Tsotsi) and a Best Picture nominee (Letters).

Winner: Pan's Labyrinth

Adapted Screenplay
Casino Royale
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Little Children

Not exactly the strongest year on record in this category, nothing against my top choice or runner-up Little Children.

Winner: The Departed

Original Screenplay
The Lives of Others
Pan’s Labyrinth
The Queen
Stranger Than Fiction
Volver

Only one American screenplay in this mix, it was a year for foreign product to shine.

Winner: Pan's Labyrinth

Best Supporting Actor
Sergi López (Pan’s Labyrinth)
Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
Jack Nicholson (The Departed)
Michael Sheen (The Queen)
Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)

Yes, I do consider Oscar's Best Actor a supporting player, but a worthy nominee in any case. There were a few other strong contenders for this list but that only includes Little Children's Jackie Earle Haley from Oscar's selections.

Winner: Michael Sheen (The Queen)

Best Supporting Actress
Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Vera Farmiga (The Departed)
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
Emma Thompson (Stranger Than Fiction)
Kerry Washington (The Dead Girl)

The year's most competitive category, in addition to two other actresses from The Dead Girl—Marcia Gay Harden and Mary Beth Hurt—performances I'm forced to omit, despite their worthiness, are Maribel Verdú (Pan’s Labyrinth), Carmen Maura (Volver), Juliette Binoche (Breaking and Entering), Adrianna Barazza (Babel), Frances de la Tour (The History Boys), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Stranger Than Fiction and World Trade Center), Eva Green (Casino Royale) and Frances McDormand (Friends with Money).

Winner: Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)

Best Actress
Penélope Cruz (Volver)
Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)
Helen Mirren (The Queen)
Gretchen Mol (The Notorious Bettie Page)
Kate Winslet (Little Children)

Oscar got this one just about right, it was pretty difficult to ignore the incredible work of Cruz, Dench, Mirren and Winslet. Mol was the one who slipped through the cracks in a low-grossing indie released early in the year, but her performance was charming and touching, every bit the equal of those other four leading ladies. Still, Oscar got the winner right too.

Winner: Helen Mirren (The Queen)

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)
Will Ferrell (Stranger Than Fiction)
Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
Ulrich Mühe (The Lives of Others)
Patrick Wilson (Little Children)

Oh the pain, the unfortunate blunder, of DiCaprio's Oscar nomination for the wrong film. That goof cost the Academy the opportunity to recognize the performance of the year. And so Gosling became the most deserving nominee while Wilson remained Little Children's most undervalued player, Mühe languished in foreign language obscurity and Ferrell found little respect for his dialed-down delivery of the year's best comedic performance.

Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)

Best Director
Bill Condon (Dreamgirls)
Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth)
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others)
George Miller (Happy Feet)
Martin Scorsese (The Departed)

As much as I'd like to throw a curveball in here, I can't omit any of the directors of my five favorite films. Each demonstrated an equally strong command of actors, craft and storytelling. If I could consider two films in one then Clint Eastwood would have to make the cut for the combination of Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima.

Winner: Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth)

Best Picture
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Happy Feet
The Lives of Others
Pan's Labyrinth

Yep, they're still my favorites.

Winner: Pan's Labyrinth

And technical categories...

Art Direction/Production Design
Children of Men
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
Pan’s Labyrinth
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Winner: Pan's Labyrinth

Cinematography
Children of Men
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters From Iwo Jima
Pan’s Labyrinth

Winner: Children of Men

Costume Design
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Marie Antoinette
The Notorious Bettie Page
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Winner: Dreamgirls

Editing
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Inside Man
Little Children

Winner: The Departed

Make-Up
The Hills Have Eyes
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Winner: Pan's Labyrinth

Original Score
The Lives of Others
The Painted Veil
Pan’s Labyrinth
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Volver

Winner: The Painted Veil

Original Song
The Book I Write (Stranger Than Fiction)
Call the Law (Idlewild)
I Need To Wake Up (An Inconvenient Truth)
Listen (Dreamgirls)
Song of the Heart (Happy Feet)

I scrapped this category last year due to a lack of worthy contenders (or at least my inability to find them) but it's dramatically different this year. I even had to leave things off this list. Not just the other Oscar nominated Dreamgirls songs (which are solid in the film but a bit thin outside of it), but even better tracks like: Sheryl Crow's Cars contribution "Real Gone"; "In the End," the rousing closing number from indie Shortbus; and Ben Folds' gentle lullaby "Still" from Over the Hedge (a film I've yet to see).

Winner: Listen (Dreamgirls)

Visual Effects
Charlotte’s Web
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
Superman Returns

Winner: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

Good show

So, Martin Scorsese and Helen Mirren finally win and it's now officially easier to win an Oscar if you were on American Idol than it is if you were on Saturday Night Live.

I don't have a whole lot to say, I sort of caught the show in bits and pieces between working on a couple of show photo galleries for work. I did catch Ellen's opening monologue and the presentations for most of the major awards. Any time an interpretive dance number started I immediately went back to work (is the show's producer Laura Ziskin responsible for that dumb decision?).

No major complaints on the winners. I was 15 out of 21 with my predictions (missing supporting actor, animated film, foreign language film, cinematography, costume design and original score) and none of the predicted winners really bothered me, nor do any of my non-predicted winners.

Pan's Labyrinth's loss to The Lives of Others for foreign film is ok considering Pan's won three awards overall and this gives some attention to the worthy German film. And although I wish I had stuck with my gut and predicted Happy Feet for its eventual animated film win I'm much happier predicting it wouldn't win only to see it win rather than vice versa.

I liked Jennifer Hudson's emotional speech the best but Helen Mirren and Martin Scorsese (and his longtime editor Thelma Schoonmaker) also chose their words wisely.

Al Gore and Melissa Etheridge were in a league of their own, reminding viewers of something considerably more meaningful than a silly awards show. To paraphrase both: they weren't making political statements, they were making moral statements.

Ellen seemed to do a nice job, the original song performances didn't sound too dull and there were classy presentations for several categories (the models for costume design; the screenplay excerpts; etc.).

And, in a nice change of pace from last year, this time the best picture actually won. I can't ask for much more than that.

Oscar predictions 2007

I feel a little tapped out on Oscar writing after this piece, which includes predictions on who/what will win and thoughts on who/what I think should win in the categories of Best Picture, Actor, Supporting Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography and Foreign Language Film. I tried to be fair to a variety of viewpoints in what "should" have been nominated for Best Picture, otherwise the commentary represents how I feel.

But anyway here's a quick rundown of all the categories (except the short films):

Best Picture
Babel; The Departed; Letters From Iwo Jima; Little Miss Sunshine; The Queen

It really is a wide open race this year. But Sunshine seems too small, too minor to be widely considered a "Best Picture." Letters From Iwo Jima simply hasn't made enough money. Babel hasn't made much more than Iwo Jima. The Queen is a darkhorse but a victory would still seem like an upset. The Departed is the only choice that really makes sense. But without a frontrunner it's logical to believe that the votes will be spread out among all five contenders and the winner could have less total votes than any other Best Picture in years.

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio; Ryan Gosling; Peter O'Toole; Will Smith; Forest Whitaker

I think respect for Whitaker's performance among the people who vote on these things has only increased with each award he's won. He's never exactly felt like the sure thing he's turned out to be every step of the way, and that's prevented any feeling that he peaked too soon.

Best Actress
Penélope Cruz; Judi Dench; Helen Mirren; Meryl Streep; Kate Winslet

Mirren has never won an Oscar and she's only been nominated twice before. So even if it feels like she's always winning awards this has been a long time coming. And it's well deserved.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin; Jackie Earle Haley; Djimon Hounsou; Eddie Murphy; Mark Wahlberg

A real toss-up, even though it shouldn't be. Murphy is the true standout. Is it really possible voters won't take him seriously to such a degree they'd consider voting for Mark Wahlberg?? Arkin seems the likely victor in case of a Murphy loss. Haley and Hounsou, the two actors besides Murphy to actually have roles of substance in their films, seem to be out of the running.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza; Cate Blanchett; Abigail Breslin; Jennifer Hudson; Rinko Kikuchi

Still Hudson's to lose. But if enough voters don't like the thought of a reality show contestant winning an Oscar (for a role where she sings more than she acts, the nerve!!) maybe Barraza will pull an upset. Thankfully she'll probably lose a lot of votes to her co-star. The real question: will we ever see any of the nominees not named Cate Blanchett in an award worthy role again?

Best Director
Clint Eastwood; Stephen Frears; Paul Greengrass; Alejandro González Iñárritu; Martin Scorsese

Scorsese. Yes, it will finally happen. Winning is about timing and luck more than talent, but it's nice to know he's also the most worthy of this group.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat; Children of Men; The Departed; Little Children; Notes On a Scandal

It's not even a fair fight for The Departed here.

Best Original Screenplay
Babel; Letters From Iwo Jima; Little Miss Sunshine; Pan's Labyrinth; The Queen

Little Miss Sunshine. This should be more competitive than it probably will be.

Best Animated Film
Cars; Happy Feet; Monster House

Do I go with my head or my heart? Since Oscar voters aren't known for valuing quality above all else I'll say Cars, the least worthy of the nominees, with its Pixar cred. But I hope I'm wrong.

Best Documentary
Deliver Us From Evil; An Inconvenient Truth; Iraq in Fragments; Jesus Camp; My Country, My Country

An Inconvenient Truth losing would be one of the biggest upsets possible.

Best Foreign Language Film
After the Wedding (Denmark); Days of Glory (Algeria); The Lives of Others (Germany); Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico); Water (Canada)

As great as The Lives of Others is, I really hope Pan's Labyrinth isn't snubbed here.

Best Original Song
"I Need to Wake Up" (An Inconvenient Truth); "Listen" (Dreamgirls); "Love You I Do" (Dreamgirls); "Our Town" (Cars); "Patience" (Dreamgirls)

The trio of Dreamgirls performances should be fun to watch, but even though Listen is critical to the movie's creative success there is stiff competition from I Need to Wake Up, and that one isn't competing with two other songs from the same movie.

Best Art Direction
Dreamgirls; The Good Shepherd; Pan's Labyrinth; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest; The Prestige

The imagination of Pan's Labyrinth should pay off.

Best Cinematography
The Black Dahlia; Children of Men; The Illusionist; Pan's Labyrinth; The Prestige

Boy, is it still hard to swallow The Black Dahlia as an Oscar nominee, no matter what illustrious credits the cinematographer has in his distant past. Luckily Children of Men should have no trouble taking this home.

Best Costume Design
Curse of the Golden Flower; The Devil Wears Prada; Dreamgirls; Marie Antoinette; The Queen

Marie Antoinette is lavish and Prada's contemporary clothes help drive the "plot" but Dreamgirls has the style and the substance.

Best Editing
Babel; Blood Diamond; Children of Men; The Departed; United 93

Babel is this year's Crash, which won the category last year. And United 93 is pretty showy in editing as well. But The Departed should win, especially if it's on its way to Best Picture.

Best Original Score
Babel; The Good German; Notes On a Scandal; Pan's Labyrinth; The Queen

Having not seen The Good German yet (or heard its score) I'm not quite sure what I'm missing. Babel and The Queen would seem to have a leg up as Best Picture nominees but I'll stand by the haunting music of Pan's Labyrinth.

Best Visual Effects
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest; Poseidon; Superman Returns

Pirates of the Caribbean. The year's biggest movie wins an Oscar.

Best Makeup
Apocalypto; Click; Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth. The year's best movie shouldn't have any trouble winning this Oscar.

Best Sound
Apocalypto; Blood Diamond; Dreamgirls; Flags of Our Fathers; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Dreamgirls

Best Sound Editing
Apocalypto; Blood Diamond; Flags of Our Fathers; Letters From Iwo Jima; Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Letters From Iwo Jima

If you're keeping track, that's four for The Departed, Dreamgirls and Pan's Labyrinth. Two for An Inconvenient Truth. And no more than one for anything else.

How I Did

Best Picture
Four out of five (Babel, The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen)

Dreamgirls obviously missed out and Letters From Iwo Jima, which I had as an alternate, got in.

Best Director
Four out of five (Clint Eastwood, Stephen Frears, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Martin Scorsese)

I thought Bill Condon might be vulnerable but I never would’ve predicted Dreamgirls missing Best Picture, which makes his absence here more understandable. My alternate pick Paul Greengrass (United 93) was the token nominee of a film not up for Best Picture.

Best Actor
Three and a half out of five (Peter O’Toole, Will Smith, Forest Whitaker…Leonardo DiCaprio)

Both of my alternates scored instead. Thankfully Ryan Gosling got in but Sacha Baron Cohen did not. And I had the right actor but wrong film (just like Oscar) for DiCaprio’s nomination.

Best Actress
Five for five (Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet)

Best Supporting Actor
Three out of five (Alan Arkin, Jackie Earle Haley, Eddie Murphy)

I had Departed’s Jack Nicholson and Queen’s Michael Sheen but Blood Diamond’s Djimon Hounsou, an alternate pick, and Departed’s Mark Whalberg, who I mentioned but didn’t believe in, made the cut.

Best Supporting Actress
Four out of five (Adriana Barraza, Cate Blanchett, Jennifer Hudson, Rinko Kikuchi)

Alternate pick Abigail Breslin happily made it in instead of Prada’s Emily Blunt.

Best Original Screenplay
Four out of five (Babel, Little Miss Sunshine, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Queen)

Alternate pick Letters From Iwo Jima (stronger than I expected overall) was nominated, United 93 was not.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Four out of five (Children of Men, The Departed, Little Children, Notes on a Scandal)

Common sense prevailed and The Devil Wears Prada’s script is not nominated. I predicted the wrong token nomination for Borat, which turned up here instead of Best Actor.

Best Animated Film
Three for three (Cars, Happy Feet, Monster House)

Thankfully. Now let’s see the penguins take down Pixar!

Best Documentary (Feature Length)
Three for five (Deliver Us From Evil, An Inconvenient Truth, Iraq in Fragments)

I had Jesus Camp as an alternate. My Country, My Country is the fifth nominee.

Best Foreign Language Film
Four for five (Days of Glory, The Lives of Others, Pan’s Labyrinth, Water)

Denmark’s After the Wedding made it in but Spain’s Volver, ludicrously, did not.

Best Art Direction/Production Design
Three for five (Dreamgirls, Pan’s Labyrinth, Pirates of the Caribbean)

I thought Children of Men and Marie Antoinette would pop up here but instead nominations went to The Good Shepherd (the only nom for a very solid film) and The Prestige.

Best Cinematography
Three for five (Children of Men, The Illusionist, Pan’s Labyrinth)

Not a single Best Picture in the running in this category. I thought Babel and Dreamgirls would crack the list but instead: Cinematographers’ Guild nominee The Black Dahlia and relative surprise The Prestige.

Best Costume Design
Four out of five (Curse of the Golden Flower, The Devil Wears Prada, Dreamgirls, Marie Antoinette)

I had The Queen as an alternate, which made the list over my prediction Pan’s Labyrinth.

Best Editing
Three out of five (Babel, The Departed, United 93)

Surprisingly light on Best Picture nominees. I thought Dreamgirls and Little Miss Sunshine would make it in but nominations instead went to “thoughtful” action films Blood Diamond and Children of Men.

Best Makeup
Two out of three (Apocalypto, Pan’s Labyrinth)

Ok so maybe the makeup in Click is really good, because it landed a nomination over the showy Pirates of the Caribbean. I don’t really want to find out.

Best Score
Two out of five (Babel, The Good German)

I had the right composers but the wrong films for two of the nominations: Philip Glass was nominated for Notes on a Scandal not The Illusionist, and Alexandre Desplat for The Queen and not his superior work on The Painted Veil. Both were my alternates. I really can’t say what possessed me to predict The Da Vinci Code over actual nominee Pan’s Labyrinth (easily one of the year’s great scores).

Best Song
Three out of five (Cars, Dreamgirls, An Inconvenient Truth)

All three Dreamgirls songs made it in but only one was an alternate pick for me. It might be a bad omen that Happy Feet missed out here, but it’s a good thing that Bobby couldn’t get a single nomination.

Best Sound
Four out of five (Blood Diamond, Dreamgirls, Flags of Our Fathers, Pirates of the Caribbean)

I predicted Babel but Apocalypto made it in.

Best Sound Editing
Three out of five (Apocalypto, Flags of Our Fathers, Pirates of the Caribbean)

Blood Diamond and Letters From Iwo Jima are also nominated in the other hotly contested sound category. (Not having a clue what I was doing, I predicted Cars and The Departed.)

Best Visual Effects
Two out of three (Pirates of the Caribbean, Superman Returns)

I thought Poseidon would be too clunky and trashy to nominate. I was wrong. And Casino Royale, which I incorrectly predicted, was completely shut out today.


Overall: 70 out of 99, or 71%. Counting the alternates: 83 out of 99, 84%.

Just watch the SAGs instead...

Today's Oscar acting nominees match the Screen Actors Guild nominations EXACTLY with the lone exception of Leonardo DiCaprio's "supporting" nomination for The Departed, replaced at the Oscars with his co-star Mark Wahlberg. zzzz...

I'm torn...

The Good:
Abigail Breslin nominated for Best Supporting Actress
Ryan Gosling nominated for Best Actor
Letters From Iwo Jima (a deserving film) nominated for Best Picture and Director
The Devil Wears Prada NOT nominated for Screenplay (or anything besides Streep and costumes)
Six nominations for Pan's Labyrinth
Dreamgirls getting the most nominations overall
Expected nominations for The Departed, Martin Scorsese, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy, Penelope Cruz, Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Judi Dench, Forest Whitaker, Jackie Earl Haley, Happy Feet, The Lives of Others

The Bad:
Leonardo DiCaprio nominated for Blood Diamond instead of The Departed
Dreamgirls' exclusion from the top categories (Picture & Director)
Volver not nominated for anything besides Penelope Cruz (including foreign film)
Mark Wahlberg as The Departed's ONLY acting nominee
Michael Sheen failing to be recognized for The Queen
The Black Dahlia is an Oscar nominee (for cinematography)
Poseidon is an Oscar nominee (for visual effects)

Those are pretty bad, especially the first four.

I still believe this is The Departed's Best Picture to lose. But Babel is now the most nominated Best Picture (7 nominations vs Departed's 5...The Queen has 6, Sunshine and Iwo Jima have 4). Only Babel and The Departed are nominated in the "key" Best Editing category. The dynamic has really changed. And sadly I think the race is a lot less interesting without Dreamgirls.

Oscar nominee predictions 2006

Oscar nominations are due out Tuesday morning, so it's annual prediction time.

It's really difficult to predict how Clint Eastwood's one-two punch of Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima will factor in to this year's race. Will the films cancel each other out, since neither one really took off on their own at the box office?

Other wildcards include the 9/11 films (can Oliver Stone really make a Sept. 11 movie that gets zero nominations?) and box office underperformers like Blood Diamond, Bobby, The Good German and The Painted Veil. They should be shut out of major categories but are they doomed to go unrecognized entirely?

For "historical" context: last year's predictions, and how I did.

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

Alternates: Letters From Iwo Jima, United 93

There's not much guessing involved here. The Producers Guild and Directors Guild both selected these five nominees. Anything else would be a big upset. (Incidentally Little Miss Sunshine won the top prize from the Producers Guild this weekend. Not a bad sign but not a major harbinger of things to come either: six out of the last ten winners went on to win Best Picture but the last two winners, Brokeback Mountain and The Aviator, did not.)

Best Director
Bill Condon (Dreamgirls)
Clint Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima)
Stephen Frears (The Queen)
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel)
Martin Scorsese (The Departed)

Alternates: Jonathan Dayton & Valerie Faris (Little Miss Sunshine), Paul Greengrass (United 93)

The Sunshine team managed a nomination from the Directors Guild and that's impressive but I don't think Picture and Director will match 5/5 this year. Bill Condon also, unfortunately, feels vulnerable. Children of Men's Alfonso Cuaron is a hotly championed contender, but this is a year overflowing with possibilities.

Best Actor
Sacha Baron Cohen (Borat)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Departed)
Peter O'Toole (Venus)
Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)
Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)

Alternates: Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond), Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)

Is Borat too big a sensation to ignore? And Half Nelson too small a movie to make an impact? That's what I'm thinking right now. But I'm most anxious over what voters decided to do about DiCaprio's double duty.

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)

I'm not even going to bother with alternates. Maybe in another year Annette Bening (Running with Scissors), Maggie Gyllenhaal (Sherrybaby) and even Beyonce (Dreamgirls) would've had a shot. But this year anyone other than these five would be a big surprise.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Jackie Earl Haley (Little Children)
Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
Jack Nicholson (The Departed)
Michael Sheen (The Queen)

Alternates: Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond), Brad Pitt (Babel)

The most frustrating category to predict. Only Eddie Murphy was on both the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild lists. I'm going on a limb by predicting Sheen, who has been ignored so far. I'm not sold on Arkin but I'm not sure who else to turn to. Pitt's star power, and the relative popularity of his film, could serve him well but I still believe the performance is underwhelming. And Golden Globe nominee Mark Wahlberg (The Departed) is a popular contender, but his part is so small...not that that hurt William Hurt last year.

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza (Babel)
Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal)
Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada)
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)

Alternates: Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine), Toni Collette (Little Miss Sunshine)

Everyone here seems like a lock except Blunt, who I'm predicting will upset the Sunshine contenders (though I'd much prefer a nom for Breslin). Shoulda-beens like Emma Thompson (Stranger Than Fiction), Vera Farmiga (The Departed) and Maggie Gyllenhaal (World Trade Center) have been ignored in awards leading up to this. And Catherine O'Hara (For Your Consideration) got some critical support but her movie is weak, and forgotten at this point.

Best Original Screenplay
Babel
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen
United 93

Alternates: Letters From Iwo Jima, Volver

I want to work in Volver, Almodovar could develop into a perennial Oscar pick the way Woody Allen was for awhile, but I'm not sure what to drop. Stranger Than Fiction got a Writers Guild nom but I'm afraid it will have to make due with just that.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Children of Men
The Departed
The Devil Wears Prada
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal

Alternates: Dreamgirls, Thank You For Smoking

A tough, strange category. The Departed is clearly a lock but beyond that...Little Children isn't a very popular film and the other three scripts, frankly, aren't that great. But genre will probably hold back Dreamgirls. I'm skeptical of Smoking but it earned a Writers Guild nom. So did Borat, in this category, so I assume Oscar voters will have to consider it here. There's also The Last King of Scotland, co-scripted by a hot writer of the moment (Peter Morgan, who also wrote The Queen).

Best Animated Film
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

Alternates: Flushed Away, Over the Hedge

DreamWorks muscle might be enough to push in Hedge. Fondness for Aardman could do the trick with Flushed.

Best Documentary (Feature Length)
Deliver Us From Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq in Fragments
Jonestown: The Life and Death of People's Temple
The War Tapes

Alternates: Jesus Camp, Shut Up & Sing

Beyond Inconvenient Truth, the likely winner, I'm just guessing really, but I'd like to see Shut Up & Sing actually make the cut.

Best Foreign Language Film
Days of Glory (Algeria)
The Lives of Others (Germany)
Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico)
Volver (Spain)
Water (Canada)

Alternates: Avenue Montaigne (France), Black Book (Netherlands)

This category had a "semi-final" round this year and only nine films made it in. Denmark's After the Wedding and Switzerland's Vitus (the only one I'd never heard of) are also in the running. There are only 30 people total voting on this category...that could be dangerous.

Best Art Direction/Production Design
Children of Men
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Alternates: Babel, Curse of the Golden Flower

I also buy into predictions for Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima, The Good German, Apocalypto and The Queen.

Best Cinematography
Babel
Children of Men
Dreamgirls
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth

Alternates: The Departed, The Good Shepherd

It'd be nice to see one of Eastwood's films represented here but this category had the strangest corresponding Guild nominations of the year. I don't believe the Oscar list will be so removed from the Best Picture contenders.

Best Costume Design
Curse of the Golden Flower
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
Pan's Labyrinth

Alternates: The Illusionist, The Queen

Can Prada buck the preference for period work by using clothes to drive the story? Who cares really? A nomination for Little Miss Sunshine would be a lot more fun. Other period contenders include Bobby, The Good German, Miss Potter, The Painted Veil, The Prestige and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

Best Editing
Babel
The Departed
Dreamgirls
Little Miss Sunshine
United 93

Alternates: Letters From Iwo Jima, The Queen

Brokeback Mountain's failure to land a nomination here last year turned out to be a warning sign of the foul play yet to come. So watch this one closely.

Best Makeup
Apocalypto
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Alternates: The Prestige, X-Men: The Last Stand

The only other films qualified are Click and The Santa Clause 3. I feel pretty confident in my three choices.

Best Score
Babel
The Da Vinci Code
The Good German
The Illusionist
The Painted Veil

Alternates: Notes on a Scandal, The Queen

Philip Glass is responsible for Notes and Illusionist and Alexandre Desplat is behind Painted and Queen. So either, or both, could easily be double nominees. I was also thinking of Apocalyto and Volver here.

Best Song
I Need to Wake Up (An Inconvenient Truth)
Listen (Dreamgirls)
Never Gonna Break My Faith (Bobby)
Our Town (Cars)
Song of the Heart (Happy Feet)

Alternates: Patience (Dreamgirls), Til the End of Time (Little Miss Sunshine)

Ugh, this category is always frustrating. It could wind up with less than five nominees, like last year. Voters could show an unexpected fondness for indie rock and go for the Sunshine song, especially since it's a Picture contender. Dreamgirls has one other original song: Love You I Do. Sheryl Crow has songs from both Cars (Real Gone) and the instant-disaster Home of the Brave (Try Not to Remember). I also feel like mentioning Ordinary Miracle from Charlotte's Web and O Kazakhstan from Borat as potential spoilers.

Best Sound
Babel
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Alternates: Casino Royale, The Departed

Best Sound Editing
Apocalypto
Cars
The Departed
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Alternates: Casino Royale, Superman Returns

Best Visual Effects
Casino Royale
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Superman Returns

Alternates: Night at the Museum, Poseidon

The only other possibilities are Eragon and X-Men: The Last Stand, both frightening. I wouldn't be surprised if Pirates and Superman were the only nominees.

Aftermath

The reactions to Oscar's folly keep pouring in.

Be sure to check out this amazing commentary by Steve Lopez from the LA Times, which directly challenges the Worst Best Picture Ever from a Los Angeles perspective and Dateline Hollywood's very amusing explanation of why this happened (third graph from the end is comedy gold, and Haggis was asking for it on the Brecht reference in his speech).

Then, if you must, check out the commentary of a pompous jackass in the Chicago Sun Times.

Roger Ebert has been extremely annoying this entire award season but he reached a new low with this, and I had to respond. So posted below is the e-mail I sent him in response to his column:

Re: The Fury of the 'Crash'-lash

Roger,

Your insistence on spinning information in order to justify the Oscar debacle is as shameful as it is embarrassing.

In your article, which primarily attacks Kenneth Turan and Nikki Finke, you state that "What is intriguing about these writers is that they never mention the other three best picture nominees: "Capote," "Good Night, and Good Luck" and "Munich.""

Did you even read Turan's article? If so you must have missed this:
" "Brokeback," it is worth noting, was in some ways the tamest of the discomforting films available to Oscar voters in various categories. Steven Spielberg's "Munich"; the Palestinian Territories' "Paradise Now," one of the best foreign language nominees; and the documentary nominee "Darwin's Nightmare" offered scenarios that truly shook up people's normal ways of seeing the world. None of them won a thing."

And Finke's article, which was published before the Oscar travesty and seems especially prescient now, includes this passage:
"It’s not that Crash isn’t Oscar-worthy and Brokeback is. Both are good, if flawed, movies."

Acknowledging Finke's personal opinion would have given your readers a better idea of where she was actually coming from in this debate, but unfortunately it doesn't support your viewpoint that critics and entertainment media just won't leave poor Crash alone. Or recognize it for the genius, Dickensian work that it apparently is.

As a critic you are, of course, entitled to your opinion and the general public is entitled to agree or disagree. But if you're really trying to figure out why so many Brokeback Mountain fans are so upset with the Crash victory maybe you should consider, and maybe even inform your readers, of the amount of "Best Picture" awards that Brokeback Mountain won prior to Oscar night:

BAFTA
Golden Globes
Independent Spirit Awards
Venice Film Festival
Los Angeles Film Critics Association
New York Film Critics Circle
Broadcast Film Critics Association
Golden Satellite
Critics groups from: Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Florida, Iowa, Las Vegas, London, St. Louis, San Francisco, Southeastern U.S., Utah and Vancouver

Brokeback also won "Best Picture" equivalents from the Directors Guild and Producers Guild and won Best Adapted Screenplay from the Writers Guild. It also received the highest ranking of any Best Picture nominees on both the Village Voice and Film Comment critics polls AND made more money at the U.S. box office than any other nominee.

In comparison Crash won top awards from the Actors and Editors Guilds. It won the original screenplay prize from the Writers Guild. It was voted Best Picture by the Chicago Film Critics and won the NAACP Image Award. Not a bad showing but not even in the same universe as Brokeback when it comes to awards and acclaim.

Crash also failed to receive a Golden Globe nomination as Best Drama (nominations went to far more artistically successful films like A History of Violence and The Constant Gardener) and it was nominated as "Best First Feature," rather than "Best Feature," by the Independent Spirit Awards (even though Tommy Lee Jones' debut film, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, was nominated as "Best Feature").

I admire you for standing up for the minority opinion on this sad and shocking moment in Oscar history but I wish you wouldn't pretend to be so clueless about why so many people are outraged.

You're smarter than that.

Best,
Geoff Berkshire

Los Angeles, California

The Morning After

Now that some of the blinding rage has subsided (some, not all), I realized I made a big, embarrassing mistake in my post of outrage: Million Dollar Baby didn't lose a script Oscar to Lord of the Rings, it lost a script Oscar to Sideways, which is fine and as it should be. Mystic River lost to Lord of the Rings, but we'll let that go...

Since the world hasn't actually ended I'll go ahead and mention a few things I liked about this year's Oscars:

1) Reese Witherspoon's speech (and George Clooney's wasn't so bad either)
2) The honorary Oscar segment, with a fantastic presentation by Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin and a rather inspiring speech from Robert Altman
3) The mock political attack ads for the Best Actress and Best Sound Editing categories; cheeky, brilliant
4) Jon Stewart's presence throughout the show; his opening monologue was weak (and I did miss Chris Rock) but Stewart improved as the show went on, which was vital for a ceremony short on surprises or otherwise riveting moments; that said I have a feeling it'll be back to Crystal or Martin next year, one of them will probably be willing to give it another go

And I think that's about it. Not a really great production (literally, what was up with all the sound flubs?), but even if it had been a great show the ending would've ruined everything.

Kenneth Turan has his say on Oscar's folly, it's a great read.

What is there to say?

I've been disappointed in the past (like when Saving Private Ryan lost to Shakespeare in Love), I've been prepared for disappointment (like when Jack Nicholson beat Peter Fonda, or Traffic and Crouching Tiger both lost to Gladiator), I've been slightly appalled by surprise choices (like when Adrien Brody beat Jack Nicholson, or Paul Haggis' Million Dollar Baby script lost to Lord of the freakin' Rings) but I've never been AS DISGUSTED as when I heard Jack Nicholson announce Crash as the Academy Award winner for Best Picture of 2005.

Best Picture. Crash.

As someone who likes movies, loves movies, really cares about movies, I am dumbfounded by such blatant stupidity. Such cluelessness. Such utter disregard for movies as an art.

To single out such mediocrity in what was a pretty damn good year for filmmaking (and for Oscar nominations) is beyond absurd. It's pathetic.

And here's the thing. Mediocre is the key word when it comes to this "Best" Picture. I don't consider Crash to be a terrible film. I don't think it's an abomination. It has some good qualities and it's impossible to say it's not well intentioned. I understand why people like it.

But liking it is completely different from calling it the best film of the year, or choosing it as the best film when your other choices are Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck and Munich. That is what I simply can not wrap my head around, and never will.

There are a lot of people (and organizations) to fault for this ridiculous victory. But I'm confident about how this will play in the record books. A "controversial" choice at best, an all-time Oscar low point at the worst.

As I mentioned in my predictions post, Brokeback Mountain has won the top awards from BAFTA, the Directors Guild, the Producers Guild, the Writers Guild, the Golden Globes, the Venice Film Festival and the Broadcast, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Southeastern U.S. and Vancouver critics groups. It has the highest ranking among Best Picture nominees on both the Village Voice critics poll and the Film Comment critics poll and it's the highest grossing nominee as well.

Add to that list Brokeback's victory over the weekend at the Independent Spirit Awards (where Crash was relegated to Best First Feature, not allowed to play with the big boys, although it could've been nominated as Best Feature if it had the support: Tommy Lee Jones' debut film The Three Burials of Melqiuades Estrada was nominated in the Best Feature category this year). And throw in critics groups from Florida, Iowa and St. Louis that I neglected to mention (probably others as well).

So yes, it will look like a mistake. It already does. But let's not kid ourselves, the Best Picture Oscar is the big one. It's the one award that Brokeback deserved more than anything else. For it to have lost to a good film would be unfortunate, for it to have lost to a film that didn't even deserve a nomination is...disgusting.

I never hated Crash.

I do now.

Oscar predictions 2006

And here we go... lots of predictions this year for "unpredictable" things happening. The nominees were much easier to forecast than Oscarwatchers were expecting and I think the winners will be to. Honestly I hope so, because in most cases the frontrunners will make for a very nice winners' circle.

Best Picture
Brokeback Mountain; Capote; Crash; Good Night, and Good Luck.; Munich

Brokeback Mountain has won the top awards from BAFTA, the Directors Guild, the Producers Guild, the Writers Guild, the Golden Globes, the Venice Film Festival and the Broadcast, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, London, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Southeastern U.S. and Vancouver critics groups. It has the highest ranking among Best Picture nominees on both the Village Voice critics poll and the Film Comment critics poll and it's the highest grossing nominee as well. It's not just a great movie, it's a great zeitgeist movie. That's what Oscar really loves. Even in such a great year for nominees anything else winning would be a mistake for the record books.

Best Actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman; Terrence Howard; Heath Ledger; Joaquin Phoenix; David Strathairn

Hoffman is the actor's actor. Generally unrecognized by award groups until his work in Capote he's been on a tear all year, and it won't end here.

Best Actress
Judi Dench; Felicity Huffman; Keira Knightley; Charlize Theron; Reese Witherspoon

Possibly the only category with a "superstar" winner: was there anyone Witherspoon didn't charm with the best country music film performance since Sissy Spacek 25 years ago?

Best Supporting Actor
George Clooney; Matt Dillon; Paul Giamatti; Jake Gyllenhaal; William Hurt

The one where no one knows anything. But Clooney is the golden boy of the moment, with good reason. (My nagging doubt: when actors prove themselves as filmmakers they usually don't win an Oscar for acting.)

Best Supporting Actress
Amy Adams; Catherine Keener; Frances McDormand; Rachel Weisz; Michelle Williams

The name that keeps going through my head is Marisa Tomei, who pulled off a shocker of a win 13 years ago that many people credit to video screeners. If enough people watch Junebug then the same thing might happen for Adams. But I fear the movie is too small, and The Constant Gardener is too well liked, and Weisz becomes the latest actress nobody thought would win an Oscar to win an Oscar.

Best Director
George Clooney; Paul Haggis; Ang Lee; Bennett Miller; Steven Spielberg

Lee. A master filmmaker winning an Oscar for one of his best films doesn't happen very often. Enjoy it.

Best Adapted Screenplay
Brokeback Mountain; Capote; The Constant Gardener; A History of Violence; Munich

I hope Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana have a good speech ready when Brokeback wins.

Best Original Screenplay
Crash; Good Night, and Good Luck.; Match Point; The Squid and the Whale; Syriana

Crash has had a lock on this for months, unfortunately.

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

Wallace & Gromit has to be one of the night's surest locks.

Best Documentary
Darwin's Nightmare; Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room; March of the Penguins; Murderball; Street Fight

I wouldn't consider those mega-grossing Penguins locks, but I think they'll, uh, march off with the win anyway...

Best Foreign Language Film
Don't Tell (Italy); Joyeux Noel (France); Paradise Now (Palestine); Sophie Scholl-The Final Days (Germany); Tsotsi (South Africa)

I was wrong with this at the Globes but I'm sticking by Tsotsi for the Oscar (South Africa's first after two consecutive nominations).

Best Original Song
"In the Deep" (Crash); "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" (Hustle & Flow); "Travelin' Thru" (Transamerica)

I'm actually looking forward to the performances for once but I feel incredibly uncertain about who will win. Dolly Parton (who wrote Travelin') is the respected vet, but things haven't been going so well for vets lately in this category. Pimp is showcased the best in its film, it's undeniably catchy and voters have already embraced rap with Eminem's win three years ago. But Bird York has been promoting her song like crazy and Crash is nominated for Best Picture. I want Dolly to get her Oscar (imagine how great her speech would be!) but I think In the Deep takes it.

Best Cinematography
Batman Begins; Brokeback Mountain; Good Night, and Good Luck.; Memoirs of a Geisha; The New World

Memoirs of a Geisha won at BAFTA and the Cinematographers' Guild but the whole Oscar body votes on this and I think it'll be Brokeback's one tech win.

Best Editing
Cinderella Man; The Constant Gardener; Crash; Munich; Walk the Line

Crash. :(

Best Original Score
Brokeback Mountain; The Constant Gardener; Memoirs of a Geisha; Munich; Pride & Prejudice

John Williams has two nominations this year and has won five times in the past. I think he'll win again for Geisha (but that Brokeback score is awfully catchy...).

Best Visual Effects
The Chronicles of Narnia; King Kong; War of the Worlds

King Kong

Best Art Direction
Good Night, and Good Luck.; Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; King Kong; Memoirs of a Geisha; Pride & Prejudice

Memoirs of a Geisha

Best Costume Design
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; Memoirs of a Geisha; Mrs. Henderson Presents; Pride & Prejudice; Walk the Line

Memoirs of a Geisha

Best Sound
The Chronicles of Narnia; King Kong; Memoirs of a Geisha; Walk the Line; War of the Worlds

Walk the Line

Best Sound Editing
King Kong; Memoirs of a Geisha; War of the Worlds

King Kong

Best Makeup
The Chronicles of Narnia; Cinderella Man; Star Wars: Episode III

Cinderella Man

According to my predictions Brokeback Mountain will win four awards and Crash and Memoirs of a Geisha will win three. King Kong and Walk the Line take two.

What a weird year.

More Oscar (and how'd I do?)

I don't have many more reactions to add, it was pretty easy to take in and react to this morning. Instead I'll offer a few random tidbits:

Last year that all five Best Picture nominees also received Best Director nominations: 1981 (Warren Beatty's Reds, Hugh Hudson's Chariots of Fire, Louis Malle's Atlantic City, Mark Rydell's On Golden Pond and Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark; Beatty won for director, Chariots won picture)

Number of years running the Best Picture nominees match the Directors Guild of America nominations: 4

Last year my favorite film of the year was nominated for Best Picture: 2001 (Traffic)

Last year my favorite film of the year won Best Picture: 2000 (American Beauty) (Go Brokeback!)

Last year four films on my top ten were nominated for Best Picture: 2005 (last year - The Aviator, Finding Neverland, Million Dollar Baby, Sideways; this year - Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night, and Good Luck., Munich; and the fifth nominee in both years, Ray and Crash, was nowhere near my list)

Percentage of nominations I correctly predicted: 78%

Percentage of final nominees I correctly predicted or listed as an alternate: 85%

Percentage of correct predictions in the top six categories: 87% (90% with alternates)

Here's how I did, category by category:

Best Picture

I got four out of five: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Crash and Good Night, and Good Luck. The fifth nominee, Munich, was an alternate pick. My incorrect prediction was Walk the Line.

Best Director

Also four out of five: George Clooney (Good Night, and Good Luck.), Paul Haggis (Crash), Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain), Bennett Miller (Capote). My alternate pick, Steven Spielberg (Munich), trumped my prediction David Cronenberg (A History of Violence).

Best Actor

Direct hit: Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote), Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow), Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain), Joaquin Phoenix (Walk the Line), David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck.)

Best Actress

Four out of five: Judi Dench (Mrs. Henderson Presents), Felicity Huffman (Transamerica), Charlize Theron (North Country), Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line). And I was happy to be wrong because it meant my alternate pick Keira Knightley (Pride & Prejudice) was nominated instead of Zhang Ziyi (Memoirs of a Geisha).

Best Supporting Actor

Four out of five: George Clooney (Syriana), Matt Dillon (Crash), Paul Giamatti (Cinderella Man), Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain). My "daring" prediction of Terrence Howard (Crash) is replaced on the actual list with the closest thing to main category surprise: William Hurt (A History of Violence).

Best Supporting Actress

Five for five: Amy Adams (Junebug) (yay!), Catherine Keener (Capote), Frances McDormand (North Country), Rachel Weisz (The Constant Gardener), Michelle Williams (Brokeback Mountain)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Five for five: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, The Constant Gardener, A History of Violence, Munich

Best Original Screenplay

Five for five: Crash, Good Night, and Good Luck., Match Point, The Squid and the Whale, Syriana

Best Animated Film

I'm very happy to get this one right! Three for three: Howl's Moving Castle, Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Best Foreign Language Film

A surprising four out of five: Joyeux Noel (France), Paradise Now (Palestine), Sophie Scholl-The Final Days (Germany), Tsotsi (South Africa). I predicted Hungary's Holocaust-related Fateless instead of actual nominee, Italy's Don't Tell.

Best Documentary (Feature Length)

Three out of five: Enron: The Smartest Guys In the Room, March of the Penguins, Murderball. I missed Darwin's Nightmare and Street Fight.

Best Art Direction

Three out of five: Good Night, and Good Luck., King Kong, Memoirs of a Geisha. I incorrectly said Brokeback Mountain and Walk the Line instead of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (a real surprise to me) and Pride & Prejudice.

Best Cinematography

Three out of five: Brokeback Mountain, Good Night, and Good Luck., Memoirs of a Geisha. I incorrectly said The Constant Gardener and King Kong. I mentioned actual nominees Batman Begins and The New World, but not as alternates.

Best Costume Design

Four out of five: Memoirs of a Geisha, Mrs. Henderson Presents, Pride & Prejudice, Walk the Line. I went with a wild card pick, Casanova, but the Oscars went with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Best Editing

Three out of five: Capote, The Constant Gardener, Crash. I said Brokeback and Good Night, Oscar said Cinderella Man and The Constant Gardener.

Best Makeup

Two out of three: The Chronicles of Narnia, Cinderella Man. In my eagerness to predict a near shut out of Star Wars: Episode III I selected it as an alternate and incorrectly said The New World would get a nom instead.

Best Original Score

Four out of five: Brokeback Mountain, Memoirs of a Geisha, Munich, Pride & Prejudice. I'm a little surprised that Cinderella Man missed out but it did, and The Constant Gardener got in.

Best Original Song

Two out of three: "In the Deep" (Crash), "Travelin' Thru" (Transamerica). With five picks (no one knew for sure how many would be nominated in this category) I should've nailed this. But I predicted "Hustle & Flow" from Hustle & Flow would be nominated. Right movie, wrong song. Instead it was "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp." This is probably the first year in a long time, maybe ever, when all the original song nominees are from films that are also nominated in an acting category.

Best Sound

Three out of five: King Kong, Memoirs of a Geisha, Walk the Line. I said Batman Begins and Munich but instead both of my alternate picks made the cut (the lion's roar of Chronicles of Narnia and the alien invasion of War of the Worlds).

Best Sound Editing
Two out of three: King Kong, War of the Worlds. I said Chronicles of Narnia but the rather inexplicable reality was Memoirs of Geisha.

Best Visual Effects

Two out of three: King Kong, War of the Worlds. Star Wars: Episode III got the smackdown (voters must have taken the "too busy" criticism seriously). The mediocre effects of Chronicles of Narnia, an alternate pick, made the cut instead.