This was my favorite ceremony since the Lord of the Rings sweep three years ago. The main reason: Martin Scorsese. The academy finally granting him his overdue win restored my faith in the process which was on shaky ground the last couple of years. I would have liked to see O'Toole win as well, but you can't win them all.
As for Ellen hosting, she was half decent. But she was not Billy Crystal, nor Steve Martin, nor even Jon Stewart. At least she wasn't Chris Rock. But I wouldn't suggest bringing her back, at least not until she learns the differnece between Spain and Mexico. But the show was entertaining and not too long. The acrobatic people making symbols was nice. The Will Ferrell-Jack Black-John C. Really musical number was great, and it gave a good message about comedic performances. And the song performances were good including seeing all three Dreamgirls on stage together. The only weird part was emphasizing the diversity of this year's nominees, then having a montage of film clips saluting America.
And like last year, the awards were very spread out with no film winning more than four. But the winner of the most was still a best pic nominee, unlike what I thought would happen. I'm beginning to think that the age of the sweep is over. There may not be anymore Titanics or Lord of the Rings' to win over seven categories. Still this was a year with a whole lot of surprises, more than the last couple of years. I got 15/24 correct, with six others being my alternate pick, which is about the consensus. Only Kris Tapley, Tom O'Neil, "Oscar Beachhouse", and "And the winner is..." got 16. Even though I scored about the same as the consensus, I'm glad I didn't go with the consensus. By abandoning the consensus, I acurrately predicted the surprise wins for Alan Arkin and Marie-Antoinette. But I guess I should have gone with the consensus for picture and documentary short.
So my thoughts about the individual categories are below. The winners are in BOLD and my personal pick is in Italics, and they are ranked by how I was predicting them.
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Best Picture 1. Letters from Iwo Jima 2. The Departed 3. Little Miss Sunshine 4. Babel 5. The Queen |
What a great year. Any of the five could have just as easily won, so I don't really blame myself for being wrong. I'm just glad it didn't go to Babel, the only one I didn't like. After Departed won director, editing and screenplay, at that point I realized it would win best picture, but it was too late to change my prediction. It's also weird to have a more entertainment film rather than prestige to win picture. Oh well, deserving anyway. But one question: why did Jack Nicholson present this award two years in a row... and why was he bald? |
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Best Director 1. Martin Scorsese (The Departed) 2. Clint Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima) 3. Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu (Babel) 4. Stephen Frears (The Queen) 5. Paul Greengrass (United 93) |
HALLELUJAH!!! This made it the happiest Oscar ceremony since the Lord of the Rings sweep three years ago. I am so glad the academy finally got smart and gave Marty what he has deserved since Taxi Driver. And how great was it to have Spielberg, Lucas and Coppola present the award, thus basically welcoming Scorsese to the club. And unlike any other winner you could really see the happiness in his eyes. I'm so happy for him. |
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Best Actor 1. Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) 2. Peter O'Toole (Venus) 3. Leonardo Dicaprio (Blood Diamond) 4. Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) 5. Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness) |
Well, sorry Peter O'Toole. Looks like you'll have to settle for the record number of acting nominations without a win. You could see his disappointed reaction when Whitaker's name was called. And I guess Whitaker deserved it anyway. And I'm glad to see he improved his speech ability. |
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Best Actress 1. Helen Mirren (The Queen) 2. Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada) 3. Kate Winslet (Little Children) 4. Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal) 5. Penelope Cruz (Volver) |
No contest no question. And with Mireen, Scorsese and Arkin, the average age between them is 66, and between all acting and director winners, the average age is 53.4 years. That's the highest it's been since 65.6 years in 1982 (Henry Fonda, Katherine Hepburn, John Gielgud, etc.) |
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Best Supporting Actor 1. Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) 2. Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls) 3. Mark Wahlberg (The Departed) 4. Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) 5. Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children) |
I'm SOOO glad I got this right. Everybody was saying Murphy, including the statistics. But I had a good feeling that Norbit would come back to bite him. And it did. Thus giving Arkin his long overdue win. This also made the night for me. And I'm not surprised that Murphy decided to walk out of the show minutes after the loss. In some ways, he really does have an overblown ego. If he had taken the loss gracefully, he might have a shot of being nominated again. But the sour routine will be remembered and he may never be welcomed back. |
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Best Supporting Actress 1. Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgilrs) 2. Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) 3. Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) 4. Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal) 5. Adriana Barraza (Babel) |
No cometition no question. And I'm glad to see she was one of the happiest recipients. Interesting thing is how Dreamgirls only won two awards when most people were predicting it to win four or five. |
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Best Original Screenplay 1. Little Miss Sunshine 2. Babel 3. The Queen 4. Pan's Labyrinth 5. Letters From Iwo Jima |
It definitely went to the most deserving nominee. After winning this, as well as supporting actor, I was gettting a feeling Sunshine could get picture. But in a spread-out spectrum like this year, two awards is pleanty. |
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Best Adapted Screenplay 1. The Departed 2. Children of Men 3. Little Children 4. Notes on a Scandal 5. Borat |
Definitely the most deserving. I'm starting to wonder if the WGA is also becoming increasingly accurate in predicting the Oscar winners. The SAG is turning that way, and I think the WGA too. |
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Best Art Direction 1. Pan's Labyrinth 2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 3. Dreamgirls 4. The Prestige 5. The Good Shepherd |
First award of the evening, and I got it. I actually started off pretty well, but then the categories in the middle of the evening I was losing left and right. |
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Best Cinematography 1. Children of Men 2. Pan's Labyrinth 3. The Illusionist 4. The Black Dahlia 5. The Prestige |
One of the biggest upsets of the night. Not only was it the best cinematography I've seen in years, but this means that Alfonso Cuaron is the only member of the "Three Amigos" whose film won nothing. And how did Pan's Labyrinth win this without winning foreign-language film? Emmanuel Lubezki is now possibly the most overdue cinematographer. |
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Best Editing 1. Babel 2. The Departed 3. United 93 4. Children of Men 5. Blood Diamond |
I bet Babel was dead close, but Departed just pulled through. I suspected this category would determine the best picture winner and it did. |
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Best Costumes 1. Marie-Antoinette 2. Dreamgirls 3. The Curse of the Golden Flower 4. The Devil Wears Prada 5. The Queen |
YES! Another unlikely prediction I got right. Everybody was saying Dreamgirls, but I believe the musical could only win so many. And it did. Thus my unlikely prediction of Marie-Antoinette came through. |
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Best Makeup 1. Pan's Labyrinth 2. Apocalypto 3. Click |
No surprise here, even though I really think Apocalypto deserved it. I guess the creature/fantasy makeup will almost always prevail in this category. |
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Best Visual Effects 1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 2. Superman Returns 3. Poseidon |
The obvious choice won. I think this is consistently the most predictable category. But who will win next year? Pirates 3, Spider-Man 3, Harry Potter 5, or Transformers? |
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Best Sound 1. Dreamgirls 2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 3. Apocalypto 4. Blood Diamond 5. Flags of Our Fathers |
You can never stop musicals from winning this category. But it's sad to see Kevin O'Connell and Greg P. Russell to have a combined 30 nominations without wins. Maybe next year. |
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Best Sound Editing 1. Letters From Iwo Jima 2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 3. Flags of Our Fathers 4. Blood Diamond 5. Apocalypto |
I'm glad I got this one. It seems this category always goes to the large scale blockbuster, unless there is a war movie present. |
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Best Score 1. Pan's Labyrinth 2. The Queen 3. Babel 4. Notes on a Scandal 5. The Good German |
I found this to be a big surprise. Instead of giving the award to the strong career of Alexandre Desplat for The Queen or the hauntingly memorable seven-note lullaby from Pan's Labyrinth, they give it to Gustavo Santaolla who just won last year. Personally, I'm really disappointed in that choice. |
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Best Song 1. Dreamgirls ("Love You I Do") 2. Dreamgirls ("Listen") 3. An Inconvenient Truth 4. Cars 5. Dreamgirls ("Patience") |
I guess the Dreamgirls votes canceled eachother after all. And really, I found Ethridge's song to be the worst of the nominees. Nobody is going to remember it five years from now the same way they remember "It's Hard out Here for a Pimp." |
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Best Animated Film 1. Cars 2. Happy Feet 3. Monster House |
BIG UPSET! Almost everyone got this one wrong. But at the beginning of the ceremony, after having an intro and presentation that included Happy Feet, I thought this might be a sign of it winning. This marks the first time both the BFCA and Annie incorrectly forsaw this category. |
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Best Foreing Language Film 1. Pan's Labyrinth 2. The Lives of Others 3. Water 4. Days of Glory 5. After the Wedding |
BIGGEST UPSET OF THE NIGHT!!! But kudos to Kris Tapley for predicting it. I really don't understand how Pan's Labyrinth can get six nominations and three wins, but not pick this one up. I really can't explain it. |
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Best Documentary Feature 1. An Inconvenient Truth 2. Deliver Us From Evil 3. Iraq in Fragments 4. Jesus Camp 5. My Country, My Country |
Despressing. Most people are for the separation of church and state. I'm for the separation of Hollywood and state. This evening violated that movement. A politician being a presenter and receiver, and a liberal one for that matter, really angers me. And Al Gore wasn't even supposed to come up to accept the award. Only the director and/or producer is allowed to come up. Gore violated the rules!!! Hopefully this means he won't be invited back. |
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Best Documentary Short 1. Recycled Life 2. The Blood of Yingzhou District 3. Two Hands 4. Rehearsing a Dream |
I should have known this one. I have shamed myself. |
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Best Short Film 1. West Bank Story 2. Binta y la Gran Idea 3. Eramos Pocos 4. Helmer and Son 5. The Saviour |
It was the obvious choice and the most entertaining. |
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Best Animated Short Film 1. The Little Match Girl 2. Maestro 3. No Time for Nuts 4. Lifted 5. The Danish Poet |
Not too often does my fifth prediction turn out to be the correct one. But fortunately, I'm not sure anybody got this one right. |