Oscars 2007

Allllllrighty then.

Here's the rundown for the Academy Awards:

Things I'll be watching for:

After watching the Independent Spirit Awards last night, I'll be looking for the same folks. Last night they were understated and the women were gorgeous, mostly because there was tons of light and as mentioned less affected looks.

I'll be looking for some excitement. The Golden Globes memorable moments were Warren Beatty rambling, no Borat, and worse no Jack Nicholson antics. I'm expecting a great moment from Forest Whitaker, and Al Gore. It could totally suck, but lets at least hope against it.

Now to the meat of what is to be done here. I'll give you that lame who will win, who should win and unlike the rest, I'll give you a who I will pull against.

Original Screenplay:
Will Win: Little Miss Sunshine
Should Win: Pan's Labyrinth
Pulling Against: Little Miss Sunshine, I didn't like this movie. You'll find that I'm typically difficult to please. This movie irritated me from about the middle of act one. As David Spade might say I liked it the first time when it was called National Lampoon's Vacation.

Adapted Screenplay:
Will Win: The Departed
Should Win: Maybe Little Children, haven't seen it, but Todd Field is pretty sharp. Still The Departed was really well crafted.
Pulling Against: Borat. what script? Adapted from what, his own show's writers? Forgive me, I didn't love Borat either.

Director:
Will Win:Stephen Frears. Yeah I just threw you an upset....
Should Win:probably Stephen Frears, but lets hook Martin Scorsese up with a statue for a film deserving. It always happens that the past due get awards for crappy movies. The best three or four films he has made will go unrewarded, and then hell get a lifetime achievement award, for a pedestrian effort.
Pulling Against: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. No reason.

Supporting Actress:
Will Win: Jennifer Hudson, although watch very carefully for an upset here...you never know
Should Win: Emily Blunt from The Devil Wears Prada. I only lasted an hour, but she was memorable, and here not nominated, I'm pulling for Abigail Breslin the only redeeming quality of Little Miss Sunshine.
Pulling Against: If you read this on the regular, you know I'm pulling against Jennifer Hudson. Tired of all the stuff about her. We all know she won't be in another good movie in her life. Unless you think Little Man 3 is good.

Supporting Actor:
Will Win: Eddie Murphy
Should Win: This is tough. This is my favorite category of the night. All five should win. Its amazing...Alan Arkin was good in a bad movie, Murphy is fantastic in all that I've seen, Djimon Hounsou must have been good and powerful...and his story is better than any Jennifer Hudson story. But I want Mark Wahlberg and Jackie Earle Haley to tie. These guys were for all intents and purposes troubled child stars turned good. It would be a boon for a guy like Haley to win an Oscar, and you talk about special...imagine Mark Wahlberg winning. From jail to hit single, to model, to actor, to damn solid actor...
Pulling Against: Hounsou, only because I like him fifth.

Actress:
Will Win: Helen Mirren. It's a coronation, literally.
Should Win: Kate Winslet, because I love her. She gets hotter and hotter.
Pulling Against: It won't matter, this might be the most solid prediction, but I don't want Judi Dench to win. We get it allready, you're a good old lady actress. Yee Haw.

Actor:
Will Win: Forrest Whitaker
Should Win: Go get a beverage this could take a while. I don't know who should but I've got a couple of things to say. First Peter O' Toole didn't win for Lawrence of Arabia, he lost to Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird. Okay. I just watched Lawrence of Arabia, we owe Peter O'Toole an Oscar. Not that Peck isn't good, O'Toole was definitive. Will Smith continues to do really good work and has his award, but it looks to me like he is maturing into a really really powerhouse. I don't know what he might have coming up, but I have every expectation that he will win again. Leonardo DiCapprio is my should win though, but for The Departed. I cannot for the life of me understand why it didn't work out that he get pushed in the lead category for this movie. He didn't dominate the screen time...but he dominated the screen. That guy matured measures in the last ten years. We might look back at this movie and this particular role as the Raging Bull or the TE Lawrence of this year...Leo should win and really for The Departed over Blood Diamond.
Pulling Against: Will Smith...he's a goober, I really don't have a reason

Best Picture:
Will Win: The Departed, I'm thinking it splits Babel and Little Miss Sunshine and stretches ahead. Allthough I'm still concerned The Queen is going to do really well.
Should Win: The Departed...it is that good, and this is the stuff the Academy seems to do every so often. This win, for a lesser film, will put the final seal of approval on Scorsese. GoodFellas and Raging Bull should have won. Taxi Driver maybe...you get where I'm going. It's goofy. They did Speilberg this way...it happens.
Pulling Against: Little Miss Sunshine. Why is everybody drinking the Kool Aid on this thing? This movie sucked hard. We act like they are disfunctional and cute. They are not. There is disfunction, but its relatively normal. A teenager that hates his life, a dad struggling with work, a degenerate grandpa, a little girl with wide eyes, and the suicidal Proust scholar...lets not forget wonder mom trying to keep them all together. Almost each of these are archetypes for dysfunction, boring.
Also, this thing stopped dead for me when the grandfather died...the way it was handled by the family was appalling. You get involved with movies that portray realism and conveniently it gets abandoned. No way I believe a family is that hell bent on any goal, especially when its merely a beauty pagent. Stupid stupid crap movie. Hated it.
I'm upset now. I need to go for a walk.