Oscar picks/predictions 2006

Best Motion Picture of the Year
  Nominees:
             Brokeback Mountain – Diana Ossana, James Schamus 
             Capote –  Caroline Baron, William Vince, Michael Ohoven
             Crash – Paul Haggis, Cathy Schulman
             Good Night, and Good Luck. – Grant Heslov
             Munich – Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Barry Mendel

Should Win:  Brokeback Mountain
Will Win:  Brokeback Mountain

Without  a doubt, Brokeback Mountain was my favorite movie of the year.  I loved it and I think it totally deserves to win.  The funny thing is, when I saw Crash earlier in the year, I had made the comment that I would be pissed if it didn’t win a lot of awards.  I loved that movie and I think it deserves every accolade it has received, but in my opnion, Brokeback was the better movie.  I think I would be upset if it didn’t win. Apparently there is a lot of anti-Brokeback sentiment going around in Hollywood which is surprising to me, and Crash seems to be a fave of a lot of the voters, but I still think this one is Brokeback’s to lose.

Best Achievement in Directing
  Nominees:
            George Clooney for Good Night, and Good Luck. 
            Paul Haggis for Crash 
            Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain
            Bennett Miller for Capote 
            Steven Spielberg for Munich 

Should Win:  Ang Lee
Will Win:  Ang Lee

Ang Lee deserved it the year he lost for Crouching Tiger.  I’m still bitter about that.  He totally deserves it this year.  I don’t think he has any compition at all!

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
  Nominees:
            Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote  
            Terrence Howard for Hustle & Flow  
            Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain  
            Joaquin Phoenix for Walk the Line  
            David Strathairn for Good Night, and Good Luck.

Should Win: Heath Ledger
Will Win: Phillip Seymour Hoffman

I’ve only seen Heath’s performance out of all of these, though Capote, Walk the Line and Good Night are all on my list of movies to watch.  Still, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Heath had the best performance.  He did a beautiful job of portraying Ennis DelMar.  His performance was heartbreaking and I think he deserves it the most.  However, I don’t think Hoffman can lose this one.  He’s won every other award for this role and though I haven’t seen it, I have heard it was great and he looks great in the scenes that I have seen.  But I still think (like I did last year) that it’s easier to portray someone who you’ve seen before then to play an original character.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
  Nominees:
            Judi Dench for Mrs. Henderson Presents 
            Felicity Huffman for Transamerica 
            Keira Knightley for Pride & Prejudice  
            <a href="http:

//www.imdb.com/name/nm0000234/”>Charlize Theron for North Country  
            Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line 

Should Win: Reese Witherspoon
Will Win:  Reese Witherspoon

I haven’t seen any of these movies though Walk the Line, Pride & Prejudice and Transamerica are on my list of movies to watch.  I have no idea who should win.  I’ll go with Reese Witherspoon because I like her.  Not a good reason, I know.  And I think Reese will win it. 

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
  Nominees:
            George Clooney for Syriana 
            Matt Dillon for Crash 
            Paul Giamatti for Cinderella Man 
            Jake Gyllenhaal for Brokeback Mountain 
            William Hurt for A History of Violence

Should Win:  Jake Gyllenhaal
Will Win:  George Clooney (Maybe Paul Giamatti)

Oh I definitely have a favorite here.  Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting was so underrated that it wasn’t even funny.  He made me feel of his character.  When I think back to this movie, it’s his lines, his pain that I always remember.  He so deserves this.  But I think he’s got the young good looking thing working against him.  Where Hollywood will award hot young ladies Oscars, they don’t seem to do the same with guys.  This is one of the only categories I think that are really still up in the air.  I think George probably has the best shot at winning.  He’s nominated 3 times this year and I can’t imagine them letting him walk away without a single one.  He’s NOT going to win for writing or directing, so this may be the one they give him.  At the same time, Paul Giamatti really should have been nominated last year for Sideways but wasn’t and I wonder if they will feel sorry for him and give this one to him this year to make up for i.  Then there’s Matt Dillon who was my favorite in Crash.  I think he may have a good chance as well.  But in the end, I still think this one belongs to Clooney.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
  Nominees:
              Amy Adams for Junebug 
             Catherine Keener for Capote
             Frances McDormand for North Country
             Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener
             Michelle Williams for Brokeback Mountain

Should Win: Rachel Weisz
Will Win: Rachel Weisz

Rachel Weisz did a phenomenal job and she totall deserves the win.  Michelle Williams may be a dark horse.  As much as I loved Brokeback, I didn’t think there was anything too special about her performance.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
  Nominees:
             Crash  – Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco
             Good Night, and Good Luck.  – George Clooney, Grant Heslov 
             Match Point  – Woody Allen 
             The Squid and the Whale  – Noah Baumbach
             Syriana  – Stephen Gaghan

Should Win:  Crash
Will Win: Crash

This is the one category where I feel Crash has the best chance.  It really was a great script.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
  Nominees:
             Brokeback Mountain – Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana
             Capote – Dan Futterman
             The Constant Gardener – Jeffrey Caine 
&nb

sp;            A History of Violence – Josh Olson
             Munich – Tony Kushner, Eric Roth

Should Win:  Brokeback Mountain
Will Win: Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain was a great script.  I’ve read the original short story that it’s based on and it’s pretty close to the story and the things they added were perfect.  I deserves this win.  At the same time, if The Constant Gardener were to win, I wouldn’t be upset.  In any other year where it was up against less compitition, I think this would have been a sure thing for a lot of wins.

Best Achievement in Cinematography
  Nominees:
            Batman Begins  – Wally Pfister 
            Brokeback Mountain – Rodrigo Prieto
            Good Night, and Good Luck.  – Robert Elswit
            Memoirs of a Geisha – Dion Beebe
            The New World – Emmanuel Lubezki

Should Win: Brokeback Mountain
Will Win: Brokeback Mountain

Again, Brokeback Mountain was great not only because of the story and the acting, but the cinematography was amazing.  Made me want to go see Wyoming.  I wouldn’t be upset if Memoirs of a Geisha won this one either.  The movie changed the ending from the book which took a lot away, but the cinematography was still great.

The Other Nominations:

Best Achievement in Editing:  Crash 
Best Achievement in Art Direction: Memoirs of a Geisha
Best Achievement in Costume Design: Memoirs of a Geisha
Best Original Score: Brokeback Mountain
Best Original Song: Transamerica Dolly Parton ("Travelin’ Thru")
Best Achievement in Makeup: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 
Best Achievement in Sound: King Kong
Best Achievement in Sound Editing: King Kong
Best Achievement in Visual Effects: King Kong (I think it’s sad that Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith wasn’t even nominated in this category.)
Best Animated Feature Film of the Year:  Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Best Foreign Language Film of the Year:  Tsotsi (South Africa)
Best Documentary, Features: The March of the Penguins
Best Documentary, Short Subjects: God Sleeps in Rwanda
Best Short Film, Animated: The Moon and the Son
Best Short Film, Live Action: Our Time Is Up

 

As always, my favorite movies aren’t always the ones that are nominated for Oscars though this year, there are quite a few that are nominated for one thing or another that I absolutely loved.

List of 2005 Oscar Nominated Movies I have yet to see and want to see:
King Kong
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Walk the Line
Pride & Prejudice
Good Night, and Good Luck
Syriana
Capote
Transamerica

That’s a long list.  Usually, there aren’t that many Oscar nominated films that I watch or really want to watch.

Here’s my list of favorite movies of 2005:

10.  The Constant Gardener – This was an amazing story that really made me think and the acting was great.  I think any other year, Ralph Finnes would have received an acting nomination for this movie.  It made me a Ralph Finnes fan.
9.    Kingdom of Heaven – From what I remember reading, this received pretty bad reviews.  It might just have to do with my recent acquired obsession with Orlando Bloom, but loved this movie, especially Edward Norton as the King.
8.   In Her Shoes  – What’s not to love about this movie? It was the cutest romantic comedy out this year.  Great chick flick and I loved it.  Made me wish I had a sister!
7.   The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants – I’m a pretty big fan of the books and I loved how close this movie came to capturing the magic of the book.  It’s a great movie for young girls.  It shows storng girls being there for each other and not the cattiness and bitchiness that seems to be in other teen girl movies.
6.   Sin City – Best movie based on a Comic Book almost ever.  I loved the way this movie was shot and the storyline was great too. 
5.   Elizabethtown – Yes, another Orlando Bloom movie…I sware it’s not just about my obsession with him.  I LOVED this movie that flopped and did awful in critics reviews.  I loved the love story…I lo

ved the story about the family…and most of all, I loved the story about his relationship with his dad.
4.   Crash – What more can I say about this one? It had me at the edge of my seat the whole time.  I loved how it wasn’t clearly black and white (no pun intended there) when it came to each of the characters.  The movie stayed with me long after I finished watching it.
3.   Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – The best of the Harry Potter series.  They out do themselves with each one.  I loved it.  I especially loved how the kids are growing up and growing as actors.
2.   Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith – Episode I and II were disappointing, I know, but I still loved them because they were Star Wars.  This one didn’t disappoint me at all. I loved it and I loved seeing how Anakin becomes Darth Vader.
1.   Brokeback Mountain – The best love story of the year and on the list of best love stories of all time.  There isn’t much more I can say about it.  It stayed with me for days and I still think about the movie sometimes and it still makes me sad when I do.

There were some movies that didn’t make the top 10 but came close and were really good movies:
Batman Begins – It’s a movie I think I need to watch again.  I liked it but I didn’t seem to love it as much as everyone else did.  I think it was just the mood I was in that day.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith – Great movie and both Brad and Angelina are smokin’ HOT!
Memoirs of a Geisha – I think I would have loved this movie even more if the ending had been like the ending of the book.  The book’s ending was powerful and they didn’t do it in the movie.
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory – Who doesn’t love a Johnny Depp movie? He was so freaky in this one!