My Oscars

Here it is, my long awaited Oscar Preview issue. I will give you who I think should win first, who I think will win second and the breakdown of the category overall. I will not cover all the categories, just the ones I care about. Because, all I care about is me.

Best Score
The Passion of the Christ/The Passion of the Christ

The Music throughout Mel Gibson’s epic was fantastic. It was a remarkable part of the movie without interrupting it, which is what score does. The other nominees do not really stack up except maybe The Harry Potter movie. That is the only other competition.

Best Song
Accidentally in Love (Shrek 2)/I Believe (Polar Express)

When watching Shrek 2 I was totally blown away by the opening song and sequence. It marked the movie perfectly. I Believe from The Polar Express seems to be a favorite because of the success of the movie and the magic of it.

Adapted Screenplay
The Motorcycle Diaries/Sideways

The Motorcycle Diaries is this years totally forgotten film. It is one of the top 3 movies of the year and deserves to be recognized in someway. Unfortunately everyone (except me) is enthralled with the stupid buddy picture Sideways and its buzz will create winner in this category where it has a chance to stack up against other nominees. Million Dollar Baby has a chance in any category it is nominated.

Original Screenplay
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind/ Hotel Rwanda

Both very moving and very original movies. Eternal Sunshine has great premise and should be the winner. I have a feeling this is the category for Don Cheadle’s Hotel Rwanda. To me this is a very interesting category and I really think anyone can win. Biggest disappointment was not seeing Garden State nominated in this category.

Art Direction
The Aviator/ The Aviator

This is a no brainer in this category. The set design for the warehouse of the Spruce Goose itself deserves to win. Everything about the design of the movie was great as are most Scorsese movies, other winners & nominated Scorsese movies in this category include; The Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York, and The Color of Money.

Film Editing
Collateral/ Million Dollar Baby

This is a very tricky category, but Michael Mann’s thriller was beautifully edited. It really had some great cuts back and forth moved the mood of the piece along. I have a feeling this is one of many for Million Dollar Baby, the training and fight scenes were allowed to happened without too much editing which was good to see.

Cinematography
The Passion of the Christ/ The Passion of the Christ

This is the one thing that was masterful in Mel Gibson’s epic. Everything about the cinematography was outstanding. Visually it is the best movie I have seen since Mel Gibson directed Braveheart, it was that moving.

Director
Martin Scorsese/ Clint Eastwood

This is easily the hardest category to pick of the year. I saw many very good movies this year and while I believe Million Dollar Baby is one of the best movies ever made I fell Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator is the most well directed movie. It is much like his other big grand movies, great sets, magnificent cinematography, wonderful acting, outstanding score all blended together to make a wonderful and entertaining film. Scorsese has the ability to bring all that together to make a great film.

Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio/ Jamie Foxx

I had seen Ray 3 times before I ever saw The Aviator twice. I firmly believe DiCaprio did the best job of portraying a character. Foxx is the big time favorite and his portrayal of Ray Charles was incredible, but there was just something about DiCaprio’s performance that truly made his character jump off the screen at me and knock my socks off. I will be real interested to see if Leo sneaks away with this award.

Supporting Actor
Clive Owen/ Clive Owen

Overall the movie Closer was kind of dreadful. Mostly, Julia Roberts was useless and Portman was dry in the film, but Clive Owen’s complex character was the only thing that made the movie tolerable. He was excellent in this and King Arthur and I look forward to more good work by him. However, this category is stacked with the always reliable Morgan Freeman, Thomas Haden Church who everyone (except me) loved in Sideways, and I have a sneaking suspicion about Alan Alda in The Aviator. But I will stick with Owen.

Actress
Hilary Swank/ Hilary Swank

I am terribly unqualified to talk about this category seeing as how I only saw one of the performances. However, it is hard to imagine anyone better than Swank in Million Dollar Baby. She was at her best in this role (even better than Boys Don’t Cry). I can only hope she remembers to thank her husband this time.

Supporting Actress
Laura Linney/ Cate Blanchett

This category sucks major donkey dick. I thought Blanchett was dreadfully over acting throughout the movie, Virginia Madsen in Sideways (we all know how I feel about that film) was mediocre, and Natalie Portman gave maybe her worst performance of her career in Closer (much rather she her nominated for Garden State). Laura Linney was very good in the weird swinging sex movie Kinsey. Unfortunately people loved Blanchett and she will run away with this award

PICTURE
The Aviator/ The Aviator
I know I know, I have bragged for almost a month about how good Million Dollar Baby was, but there is just something about The Aviator that tickles my fancy. Most importantly I think it will win, I just think that some people are down on Clint Eastwood’s Baby because of the moral conflict at the end and some are down on it because they see it as a “boxing” movie, which it is far from. Scorsese again has made a great film and I think he will be grandly rewarded at the 77th Academy Awards