Game On! Oscar Predictions for 2008
Best Actor George Clooney in Michael Clayton Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises I think any of these men are worthy of the trophy, unfortunately they all stand in the shadow of Daniel Plainview, Day-Lewis’ megalomaniacal oil man. |
 |
 |
Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson’s War Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton This is another interesting category where the nominees, though all worthy, are really in a race for second place. Clearly, No Country’s Bardem as the super bad Anton Chigurh is the favourite, and why shouldn’t he? If you’ve seen No Country you know that Bardem’s the freakiest screen killer since Lector. But typically, it’s the supporting categories where the upsets come. Does that mean Bardem’s not a sure thing? Perhaps, and if he doesn’t get the nod then Wilkinson is a good back up choice, followed by Halbrook with the sentimental vote. |
| Best Actress Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age Julie Christie in Away from Her Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose Laura Linney in The Savages Ellen Page in Juno This category is much more competitive than the Actor line-up, but immediately we can eliminate Linney and Blanchett. Christie has picked up a lot of hardware for her role as n Alzheimer’s victim in Away, but Page could split the vote as Juno, which could allow Cotillard to slip up the middle for Rose. Still, I’ll take Christie for the win. |
|
| Best Supporting Actress Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There Ruby Dee in American Gangster Saoirse Ronan in Atonement Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton The supporting actress category is somewhat easier to interrupt. First, with Dee and Ronan you cover the older and the younger (My apologies to Ms Dee but the only part I remember her from in Gangster is when Denzel Washington as her drug kingpin son shows her the house he just bought her). Blanchett is bold as one of six Bob Dylans in There but she won three years ago for The Aviator. This leaves Ryan and Swinton; Ryan’s the safe bet, but it’s possible that the Academy will award Clayton through Swinton. |
|
| Best Original Song “Falling Slowly” from Once “Happy Working Song” from Enchanted “Raise It Up” from August Rush “So Close” from Enchanted “That’s How You Know” from Enchanted In the tradition of the fact that this is a category that Disney used to own, the animated/live action combo fantasy Enchanted runs away with three out of five slots, and will probably win for one of them, most likely “That’s How You Know”. It would have been nice though for the Academy to spread the love, like the perfectly kitchy “Pop! Goes my Heart” from Music & Lyrics. |
|
 |
|
| Best Adapted Screenplay Atonement by Christopher Hampton Away from Her by Sarah Polley The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Ronald Harwood No Country for Old Men by Joel & Ethan Coen There Will Be Blood by Paul Thomas Anderson This is such a good category, but I think that the contest comes down to a battle between the Coens and Anderson. But No Country at heart is basically a chase movie and Blood is by far the better written. Advantage: There Will Be Blood. |
|
Best Original Screenplay Juno by Diablo Cody Lars and the Real Girl by Nancy Oliver Michael Clayton by Tony Gilroy Ratatouille by Brad Bird The Savages by Tamara Jenkins Diablo Cody wins hands down. The Academy loves to lavish praise on new blood in this category. |
 |
Best Animated Feature Persepolis Ratatouille Surf's Up The mind boggles at how Surf’s Up took the third spot over Beowulf. Regardless, I think Ratatouille is the clear winner over the bolder choice of Persepolis. |
 |
Best Documentary Feature No End in Sight Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience Sicko Taxi to the Dark Side War Dance Even though the War on Terror was failed to make for engaging viewing for dramatic fare this year, three of the five nominees in this category are about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Taxi deals with torture, Operation shares war stories in the soldiers own words (with celebrity narration) and No End dissects the bungling in Iraq by the Bush Administration. If you discount the pandering nomination for Sicko, then War Dance, which is about child refugees in Uganda competing in a national music and dance festival, may squeeze up the middle to victory. (Plus, it’s a feel good story.) |
|
 |
Best Director Julian Schnabel for The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Jason Reitman for Juno Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton Joel Coen and Ethan Coen for No Country for Old Men Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood Like the adapted screenplay category, this comes down to a real tight contest between the Coens and Anderson and what’s worse is that they’ve pretty much split the lead-up hardware between them. But the Coens did win the Director’s Guild prize which is usually the most reliable indicator of who will win the Director’s Oscar, so I’ll side with their judgment. |
| Best Picture Atonement Juno Michael Clayton No Country for Old Men There Will Be Blood Logic dictates that the winner of Best Director also goes on to win Best Picture, but this is not always the case. I have a feeling that if the Coens win direction for No Country, then Blood will be awarded with Best Picture. |
 |
Login
Create an account
Contact
Login
Create an account
