It's that time of year again when Hollywood pats itself on the back for a job well done on a bunch of films that came out in fall or winter, ignoring great films that came out earlier in the year like "Zodiac." While I care very little about the Oscars in general (let's be honest here: a silly little statue of a naked gold man means nothing), here are my picks for the show on Sunday.
BEST PICTURE
"Juno"
I can't decide between "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood," the only truly worthy choices, so I'm going to predict the crowd-pleasing underdog "Juno" gets a surprise win, irritating a nation of film students who worships the likes of Paul Thomas Anderson and the Coen brothers.
BEST DIRECTOR
Julian Schnabel,
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
The film features the flashiest direction of the nominees, but not in a bad way. Schnabel deserves it for his true story of a man with locked-in syndrome. It's easy to make such a film heartbreaking, but he also manages to make it appropriately funny.
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Day-Lewis or Johnny Depp
I think we can all universally agree that Day-Lewis is most deserving of the statue. The cynic in me has doubts, though: all of these men have statues except Depp and Mortensen, and the Academy likes to make up for its snubbing blunders by awarding previous people for lesser work (see: Martin Scorsese). Depp has been nominated two other times and has been great in each role, so the award might be his. Sorry, Viggo.
BEST ACTRESS
Ellen Page
Laura Linney was good in "The Savages," but I see the beloved (and with good reason) Ellen Page getting the Oscar for being such a loveable, spunky kid.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem
Whilte adorable tyke Affleck showed some off serious acting chops in "Gone Baby Gone" and Hoffman did some wonderful scenery-chewing in "Charlie Wilson," Bardem's performance as a killer sociopath in "No Country" gets the win.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett
Blanchett's performance as Bob Dylan (which is hardly a "supporting role") in "I'm Not There" is so fantastic that it's easy to forget it's a woman playing a man. Or that she's not really Bob Dylan, for that matter.
BEST ORIGINAL
SCREENPLAY
Diablo Cody, "Juno"
Diablo Cody is the "it girl" of screenwriters, so it's hard not to see her get the win. Her script has its flaws, but it's hard not to get behind the underdog with serious contenders as "The Savages" and "Ratatouille."
BEST ADAPTED
SCREENPLAY
"No Country for
Old Men"
Despite my irritation that Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary weren't nominated for "Beowulf" (not only do they make proper sense of the epic, but they also inject it with things like character development and humor), the Coen Brothers clearly deserve the Oscar for their adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's novel.
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Not "Surf's Up"
Apply my "Beowulf" complaint here, too. "Ratatouille" was a great film, but "Persepolis" is a legitimate film based on an autobiographical indie comic and looks different from the other films, so it would be nice to see something non-Pixar get some recognition. As long as the winner doesn't have penguins in it, I'll be happy.
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
"Falling Slowly"
What's with all the "Enchanted" songs? Why nothing from "Walk Hard?" The Academy is lazy and tasteless, that's why. Regardless, to reiterate what I've been saying since I got this writing gig, "Once" is a beautiful film about love and music with more emotional power than the biggest of big-budget music spectacles. The best song in the film, "Falling Slowly," so deserves this award that this would be the only one I would get mad over.
And I didn't even get mad when "Crash" won an Oscar!
