Oscar Predictions

I don't recollect an Academy Awards season when I felt less meh. There were very few good movies last year, very few movies that made you sit up and think. Sit up and watch, yes - we did have Avatar after all. But movies that made you think? Movies that made you scratch your head, go look up the Wikipedia entry on it, movies that made you burst out laughing or those that got you walking on air out of the theater, silly grin plastered on your face? Just compare this year's crop to 2007, when we had No Country For Old Men competing with There Will Be Blood and Juno.

Like I said, meh.

 

At any rate, here are my predictions for this year's Oscars. Not the ones that I like, but the ones I think will win:

Best Picture - Avatar. Yes, I did like The Hurt Locker, but I think Mr Cameron will be back on the deck.

Best Actor - Jeff Bridges. The dude has it coming.

Best Actress - Sandra Bullock. I hated myself writing that, damn! I really don't think there's a better actor alive than Ms Streep, but one more Oscar? Unlikely.

Best Director - Kathryn Bigelow. No, James Cameron. Nah, Bigelow. I'll stick to Bigelow.

Best Original Screenplay - I'm going out on a limb here and predicting Up. 

 

There, I'm done. Didn't enjoy doing it, but I'm done.

Posted via web from Mostly Charmless

Stick-my-neck-out-dept v2009

Here we go with my predictions for the Oscars:

Picture: Slumdog Millionaire

Director: Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire

Actor in a Leading Role: Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Actress in a Leading Role: Kate Winslet, The Reader

Actor in a Supporting Role: Robert Downey Jr, Tropic Thunder. I'm kidding. Heath Ledger of course, for the picture that should have been nominated as Best Pic.

Actress in a Supporting Role: Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona

Original Screenplay: Wall.E

I'm not going to try and predict the winner for Best Original Song and Best Score, for some reason.

And the winners...

Well, 5 out of 7 ain't bad.

Stick-my-neck-out dept

Ok, here are my predictions for the Oscars. Bets, anyone?

Picture: No Country For Old Men

Director: The Coens

Lead Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis. He will drink your milkshake on stage.

Lead Actress: Julie Christie for Away From Her. Alzheimer's, come on.

Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody for Juno

Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men

Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There

The egg on my face will be wiped clean on the 25th, of course.

Best and Worst Oscar Winners - Male leads

Edward Copeland is running a survey on the best and worst performances that have won Oscars for Best Actor. If interested, check out the site, read the list and mail him your votes.



Best:

1. Robert de Niro (Raging Bull)
2. Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
3. Marlon Brando (The Godfather)
4. Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront)
5. Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Worst:

1. Roberto Benigni (Life is Beautiful)
2. Charlton Heston (Ben-Hur)
3. Russel Crowe (Gladiator)
4. Yul Brynner (The King and I)
5. Humphrey Bogart (The African Queen)

Hurrah for Clint!

I haven't seen Million Dollar Baby yet, but I'm very happy ye olde Eastwood won. Morgan Freeman too, finally.

And ahem!

Woo-hoo !

The Return of the King ties with Titanic and Ben-Hur for the maximum number of Oscars (11). It won in every single category it was nominated. First fantasy-pic to win Best Picture. Great !

I didn't expect Sean Penn to win, given his unpopularity. Must see Mystic River asap.

Damn. Power went out at home while I was watching...

Damn. Power went out at home while I was watching the Oscars. Now trying to catch the webcast from office.

Adaptation and the Oscars

Saw Adapatation the other day. Found it quite clever and well made. The ending felt slightly contrived and a bit too pat, given how the movie started off. That apart, I enjoyed every minute. Nicholas Cage turned out to be a much better actor than I imagined. Chris Cooper clearly deserved his Oscar too.

Speaking of which, here are my predictions for the major awards this year at the Oscars. These are those whom I think will win and not those which I think should. (I haven't seen most of these movies in any case !)

Best Picture - Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Best Director - Peter Jackson for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Best Actor - I'll go out on a limb and guess Bill Murray (Lost in Translation) instead of Sean Penn (Mystic River) here
Best Actress - Charlize Theron for Monster
Best Original Screenplay - Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation