THE OSCARS REVISITED

By Dory B. (02/27/2007)

Sunday’s award ceremony was cathartic in that the awards were evenly spread throughout several categories and ultimately, the most important award went to my favorite film of the year- THE DEPARTED. Since the film was more of a well made popcorn flick THE DEPARTED ended up with 4 wins from 6 nominations. The all important Best Picture and Best Director went to the same film which isn’t always the case.

Here’s how I did:

Best Picture: I forecasted LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. For some reason I thought that Best Picture and Best Director would be split and I was wrong- as is typically the case, the award went to the same film- THE DEPARTED

Best Director: Finally, Martin Scorsese scored a statue. Perhaps not his best film (MEAN STREETS, TAXI DRIVER, GOODFELLAS are others that should be considered), but it was the best film of his last three (THE AVIATOR, GANGS OF NEW YORK) and therefore worthy of a win and not just a nomination.

Best Actor: The Academy isn’t as sentimental as I thought they’d be – they awarded the award to the best performance of the year. The embodiment of Idi Amin by Forrest Whitaker (Forrest, didn’t you direct box office flop FIRST DAUGHTER immediately prior to taking on this role?) The one most uncomfortable thing during the telecast was looking at Peter O’Toole’s face when he lost- he and his wife (Anjelica Huston’s doppelganger) were the only one of the 4 losing Best Actor nominees not to be happy for Forrest (at least in their expression.)

Best Actress: Helen Mirren admitted on the Barbara Walters special that this is as good as it gets. And she’s probably right.

Best Supporting Actor: I forecasted that Eddie Murphy would win for DREAMGIRLS. I think he and I were both equally disappointed (OK, fine he is more disappointed) that he didn’t win. Alan Arkin’s performance was good and this is where Alan (who is known in Hollywood circles as being a nice guy unlike Peter O’Toole who is known as being a drunk) was awarded for his longevity combined with his great turn as a grandfather who occasionally snorts heroin.

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, even a baby could have gotten that one right.

Best Original Screenplay: I forecasted THE QUEEN, the award went to Michael Arndt for his well-loved screenplay LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE which was lauded well before it was made into a film. Close call – I bet THE QUEEN came in second. We’ll never know…

Best Adapted Screenplay: THE DEPARTED – got it right. Truly great job by Bill Monaghan. Now please keep your acceptance speeches as efficient as your screenplays (OK fine, this is the guy who wrote the 3 hour + KINGDOM OF HEAVEN and THE DEPARTED was tight, but also ran over 2 and a half hours..)

Best Editing: THE DEPARTED. I think Best Editing and Best Direction usually go to the same film- not sure, but it sure feels like it.I bet I am right.

Best Cinematography: PAN’S LABYRINTH- Got this right too! Viva Mexico!

Best Art Direction: I said DREAMGIRLS, the Academy voted for PAN’S LABYRINTH. I give the Academy too little credit, but here again I am sure my choice was second place in the voting…

Best Costume Design: MARIE ANTOINETTE- told you so! Such a beautiful film- totally under appreciated- you should really rent this one – I think Sofia Coppola re-invented historical biopic genre here.

Best Makeup: PAN’S LABYRINTH- Guillermo Del Toro’s crew truly rose to the occasion- Would be great to see him direct something not as dark (not very likely from the director of CRONOS, MIMIC and HELLBOY but here’s hoping) cause he leads a team so impressively- all these kudos is proof enough. And for a foreign language film at that. I’m impressed. I think APOCALYPTO should have also gotten the award here, but maybe there was some hating on Mel Gibson this year.

Best Visual Effects: PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST – I forecasted SUPERMAN RETURNS. Interestingly this award tends to go to the film with the highest box office. My thinking was that voters would go for the film that let them down the least.

Best Sound: DREAMGIRLS – musicals have to have good sound and have the best means to showcase them. Congrats, I really loved this movie.

Best Sound Editing: LETTER FROM IWO JIMA – This one was straight out of left field. I thought this would go to PIRATES, but apparently there was a want to split the vote after awarding Visual Effects to that film.

Best Original Score: BABEL’s Gustavo Santoallala composes on strings and I think this is what made this score so unique and made it stand out against the other nominees. Got this one right too!

Best Original Song: INCONVENIENT TRUTH – Melissa Etheridge. Obviously the three songs that were nominated for DREAMGIRLS split the votes and the award went to the biggest surprise of the night. Was always a possibility that would happen.

Best Animated Feature: HAPPY FEET. Wow! A film that wasn’t loved by as many critics took the award. Quite possibly because it released more recently than CARS and was fresher in voter’s minds. CARS is a Pixar film and was universally loved.

Best Foreign Language Film: LIVES OF OTHERS – Germany – I forecasted that this would win. Interesting how the category works and shows that even a film as loved as PAN’S LABYRINTH is judged by a different consistency of people than those who vote for the awards at large. Helps to know the Academy’s rules….

Best Documentary Feature: INCONVENIENT TRUTH – Al Gore didn’t win in 2004, but he wins 2 times on Oscar night. Good for him!

Best Live Action Short: WEST BANK STORY- Ari Handel directed this film and a few of my friends acted in it. I think Ari gave the best speech of the night (even better than Forrest Whitaker’s brilliant acceptance speech)- I was very impressed. Good news for Ari Handel- he’ll be getting a lot of work soon.

THE FINAL TALLY: Got 15 out of 24 right. Works out to 63% – not too bad. Good enough for 3rd place at the Oscar viewing party I went to (if you don’t count the winner who was a cheater – Not naming any names though!) Next year- look for a 75% or better score from yours truly.

OSCAR 2007 – PSYCHIC READING

By Dory B. (02/25/2007)

Every year critics complain that there is a lack of good films out there. This year I believe that there have been many good films and then reason that there is such difficulty in predicting which film will dominate tomorrow’s Oscar cast is that there hasn’t been any great films that have towered about the good ones that do exist.

The ceremony at the Kodak theater will take place under the stewardship of Ellen Degeneres and producer Laura Ziskin. Both have done it before, but not together, so this could be interesting to watch. I’m hoping it is- but here’s a little psychic insight on who I think will be taking home a statue and who will be most upset for not getting the kudos for their work.

In predicting the Oscars, its important to remember that category nominations are selected by the particular branch, but voting for the winners is done by the entire membership. Therefore, as an example look at the VISUAL ACHIEVEMENT category and notice that POSEIDON, SUPERMAN RETURNS and PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN 2 are nominated, but were not well received films by critics. This means that when the entire Academy votes on these nominees that were selected by the VISUAL branch of the Academy, they will not necessarily be experts on visual effects and vote for the nominee film that they enjoyed the most. In this case, I have determined that that will be SUPERMAN RETURNS as both POSEIDON and PIRATES 2 were seen by many as a letdown. If my perception is wrong about the nominated films, then I will be wrong in my prediction, but that is the fun in handicapping an Oscar ceremony in that it is all about how much weight you give to the strength of the nominee versus the competition and how much weight you give to the expertise of the Academy voter with regard to that category.

ACTOR
Winner: Peter O’Toole (VENUS) – O’Toole is a 5-time nominee. He has never won, he starred in the best film of all time- LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. There is no doubt he deserves recognition for this year’s performance in VENUS, even though some might say he was playing himself (a drunken old, has-been star). That being said, it wasn’t the best performance of the year and therefore I’m predicting he edges out Forrest Whitaker’s embodiment of Idi Amin in LAST KING OF SCOTLAND for sentimental reasons alone. After all, this is the Academy Awards and voters of O’Toole’s generation comprise the membership and they might want to see an O’Toole speech that will bring the house down and also may factor in the size of Whitaker’s role.

ACTRESS
Winner: Helen Mirren (THE QUEEN) – Helen Mirren is great. Mostly because she’s an older chick, but an older chick who is classy and cool. She was naked in Bob Guccione’s CALIGULA and I tip my hat to any actress who bares it al and still can keep her classiness and talent as the primary focus of her career. Despite truly excellent performances from Meryl Streep in DEVIL WEARS PRADA (too small of a role and she’s already won a few times) and Penelope Cruz in VOLVER (I re-fell in love with her in this movie where she embodied a young Sophia Loren and convinced me she should never be allowed to act in English again), it was MIrren’s performance of Queen Elizabeth II which made THE QUEEN work on many levels.

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Winner: Eddie Murphy (DREAMGIRLS) – I told Eddie when I saw him at the Sundance Film Festival that he would be nominated for an Oscar and he was the very next morning. Now, I think he might be an Oscar winner for his career-changing performance in DREAMGIRLS. He was delightful and showed so much range and versatility as well as all of that god-given talent he has. My worry is that NORBIT and Eddie’s past indiscretions for picking up a female hooker on Hollywood Blvd. or for some of the racy jokes he’s made about people may turn off conservative voters, but in this category, more than anywhere else in the program, there’s room for liberal views. Clearly, Jackie Earle Haley’s performance in LITTLE CHILDREN was good (he was Kelly in Bad News Bear if you can remember that far back), Djimon Hounsou was powerful in BLOOD DIAMOND (there might be the feeling we’ve seen him do this kind of role before in GLADIATOR and in AMISTAD) and Alan Arkin was truly magical in his performance in LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. Therefore, the only person who I feel has no shot here is Mark Wahlberg, who gave a great performance in THE DEPARTED, but was joined by other great supporting performances in that movie such as those of Alec Baldwin and Martin Sheen.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Winner: Jennifer Hudson (DREAMGIRLS) – This is probably the easiest category to select as it was by far the most shocking performance of the year. When Jennifer Hudson’s voice booms out at you in song or in dialogue in DREAMGIRLS you take notice and you feel something. She is of course new and this impression that she’s made is something that Academy voters typically like to vote for in the Supporting Categories.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Winner: THE QUEEN – This is a hard category to pick, I believe that THE QUEEN was very efficiently written and that its richness in dialogue and action played out against real facts and occurrences made many viewers think that they were getting a glimpse into the real lives of the royals. What is imagined here is so well executed on the page that it truly makes us wonder if this is what its like to have been in the company of the royals immediately following the death of Princess Diana in 1997. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE in my opinion is another film nominated here that was excellently written and although its in the familiar genre of road-movies, I believe it takes such a refreshing and original viewpoint on a dysfunctional family that it is worthy of this prize.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Winner: THE DEPARTED – William Monaghan took the Chinese language classic INFERNAL AFFAIRS and re-set it in Boston, Massachusetts. Re-freshed it and re-worked it and made the script and movie pop. The tense pacing and structure of the script accomplished what every adapted screenplay should accomplish- it stands on the basis of the work it comes from, but takes it to an entirely new level and place. I believe that BORAT, LITTLE CHILDREN and CHILDREN OF MEN were also very well adapted, but that their minor flaws are much more visible than the seamless writing of THE DEPARTED.

COSTUME DESIGN
Winner: MARIE ANTOINETTE – Period pieces have it easy. I think this is a no-brainer.

ART DIRECTION
Winner: DREAMGIRLS – Although PAN’S LABYRINTH was also very well staged, I believe that it will be the versatility and scope of the epic musical DREAMGIRLS that takes home the prize.

EDITING
Winner: THE DEPARTED. I think UNITED 93 might have been the best cut work, and that THE DEPARTED’s length might be called into question, but it flowed and moved and kept pacing and tension throughout- so it gets my vote.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Winner: PAN’S LABYRINTH- Having spent the morning listening to the hysterical musings of Guillermo Del Toro, I believe that this foreign language film will pick up an award Sunday night and that this is one of the possibilities. Shot very darkly and stylized it looked unlike any other film and beats out the other good nominees in this category- CHILDREN OF MEN. I do feel that THE FOUNTAIN was snubbed by not being nominated, but Matthew Libatique’s work in that film for me was probably even better than the film I predicted.

MAKEUP
Winner: PAN’S LABYRINTH – honorable mention to APOCALYPTO. CLICK was truly awful make up and I can’t believe its even nominated.

VISUAL EFFECTS
Winner: SUPERMAN RETURNS – takes home the prize cause the flying didn’t look cheesy. It looked good.

SOUND
Winner: DREAMGIRLS – PIRATES 2 and APOCALYPTO might be more deserving, but a musical has the advantage went it comes to the sound categories.

SOUND EDITING
Winner: PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN- DEAD MAN’S CURSE – Takes home the prize despite the great work my friend Herwig Maurer and his team did on APOCALYPTO.

ANIMATED FEATURE
Winner: CARS – Pixar has a proven track record in this category.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Winner: INCONVENIENT TRUTH – The state of Florida can be responsible for George W. Bush, but Hollywood elects Al Gore on Sunday night. For that very same reason, I wouldn’t be surprised if any of the other non-sympathetic to Red State movies wins (JESUS CAMP, IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS and MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Winner: THE LIVES OF OTHERS – GERMANY – This brilliant film is most likely the winner because of the buzz it generated in the small group of voters that votes for this category. Although heavily nominated in other categories, PAN’S LABYRINTH nomination in this category is voted on by an entirely different constituency and I believe that that will handicap it in this category. WATER – a film about India from Canada however was appreciated, but not as warmly received as Susanne Bier’s AFTER THE WEDDING (Denmark). Bier very well known in Hollywood and in the festival community for her brilliant films- most notably OPEN HEARTS delivers perhaps too simple a film in premise to gain the kudos here. I am told (but haven’t had the pleasure to see) that DAYS OF GLORY (Algeria) is the most amazing war film and that it deserves to win, but despite changing the mind of French President Jacques Chirac to include Algerian soldiers from WW2 in French veteran pensions, it will not be able to change the mind of the Academy voters on Sunday night.

ORIGINAL SCORE
Winner: BABEL – No standout nominees, so I go with the most nominated film of the night

ORIGINAL SONG
Winner: “LISTEN” (DREAMGIRLS) – 3 songs from a single movie screws up the odds of a single song winning, but in this case I am confident it will be a DREAMGIRLS song, but not confident which one it will be.

DIRECTOR
Winner: Martin Scorsese (THE DEPARTED) – my theory that director’s over the age of 50 should retire gracefully was well in tact when Scorsese blatantly tried to win on his past two attempts at Oscar glory. THE AVIATOR and GANGS OF NEW YORK were – to me – contrived and undeserving. However, in THE DEPARTED, Scorsese embodies himself from 20 years ago and re-creates the GOODFELLAS genius. Directors have a great legacy and they are responsible for the entirety of a film, therefore it is my view that Marty Scorsese should win for THE DEPARTED for its great achievement, but also because of the other great films that he has made in his career and never won for. Others may argue that Paul Greengrass (UNITED 93) or Alejandro Gonzales Inaritu (BABEL) are equally deserving, but both films have polarized most cinemagoers as either lovers or haters of the work. Clint Eastwood’s LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA has been well received, but he has won recently and the movie hasn’t been seen yet by many voters, so I am ruling him out altogether. Stephen Frears did an excellent job with THE QUEEN, but my feeling is that the film is too small in scope (feels like an HBO movie at times) to merit a Best Director or Best Picture award this year.

PICTURE
Winner: LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE – Despite the notion that the film with the most other awards in other categories should win the Best Picture award, I think that LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE did cause the most amount of talk and appreciation as well as show that a small film can accomplish a lot. It is the most inspiring story of the nominated films on the screen and also, the behind the scene struggle to get the film made, to the Sundance Film Festival purchase and then massive theatrical release success for Fox Searchlight that leads me to believe that the “little best picture” campaign will have worked come Sunday for LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. My own allegiance in this category goes to THE DEPARTED, but in many ways the film was too manly and violent for some to appreciate it and might be discriminated against for that very reason. BABEL was an excellent film, but its disparate structure is reminiscent of last year’s winner CRASH and its bleak view on humanity from a global perspective told with dark individual tales is interesting and powerful, but also may leave a bad taste in some voters’ mouths. THE QUEEN, as discussed above is too small in scope although flawless crafted and executed and LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA is a foreign language film from perennial winner Clint Eastwood that was not widely seen by the time votes were needed.