Oscar Predictions - 26/08/08

Because I can and I'm bored. Predicted winners (because I'm craaazy) in bold. To see where I was on 05/03/08 click here. I'm loving that I went beserk wild for Atonement because apparently it's doozy, but we still don't have much word about any of the other contenders. Oh well.

BEST PICTURE
Atonement
Charlie Wilson's War
Gone Baby Gone
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

I figured I had to keep more than just Atonement from my original predix and I don't know why I'm still on Gone Baby Gone. I just am. I'd predict In the Valley of Elah but the poster was dreadful. I'm reading books by their covers.

BEST DIRECTOR
Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood
? Coen, No Country for Old Men
Todd Haynes, I'm Not There
Mike Nichols, Charlie Wilson's War
Joe Wright, Atonement

I'm never sure what Coen brother is directing. Is it one? Or both? Do they alternate?

BEST ACTOR
George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Benicio del Toro, Things We Lost in the Fire
James McAvoy, Atonement
Joaquin Phoenix, Reservation Road

It was del Toro or Lee Jones so I stuck with who I originally predicted in March (del Toro) cause that'd be sucky if he ended up nominated and I dropped him.

BEST ACTRESS
Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie, Away From Her
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose (unfortunately)
Nicole Kidman, Margot at the Wedding
Keira Knightley, Atonement

I sense that now The Invasion has been released and died it's death that the tides will change for Kidman and this will be a big "THAT'S why we love her" moment. Unless she doesn't do press for it. I'm still tentative about Knightley but... who else?

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men
Ed Harris, Gone Baby Gone
Armen Mueller-Stahl, Eastern Promises
Mark Ruffalo, Reservation Road
Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton (or Cassandra's Dream?)

I dunno. Makes sense to me. And it's obvious they're gonna do a Lead/Support thing with Phoenix/Ruffalo.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emily Blunt, Charlie Wilson's War
Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There
Abbie Cornish, Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Margot at the Wedding
Susan Sarandon, In the Valley of Elah

I couldn't decide with Atonement girl to predict so I stuck with Blunt. She'll get there eventually, but will it be this year for a flick I'm predicting for BP? Why not, I say. I hope Cornish doesn't have a Uma/Dangerous Liaisons on her hand where her work will get completely ignored?

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Brave One
Eastern Promises
I'm Not There
Margot at the Wedding
Ratatouille

I'm surprising myself by keeping 4/5 of my original predix for many categories, just like here. Just a crazy hunch on the Rat win. Wouldn't that be a blast?

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Atonement
Charlie Wilson's War
Gone Baby Gone
No Country For Old Men
There Will Be Blood

I'm keeping Paul Haggis away because he can't be nominated every single time he types some words on a page (Last Kiss obviously doesn't count).

BEST EDITING
American Gangster
Atonement
Charlie Wilson's War
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
There Will Be Blood

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Assassination of Jesse James...
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood

BEST ART DIRECTION
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
The Golden Compass
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
3:10 to Yuma
Atonement
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Hairspray
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

BEST MAKE-UP
Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Hairspray
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
The Golden Compass
Transformers

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Gone Baby Gone
Manolete
Ratatouille

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
Enchanted
Hairspray
Hairspray
Mr Margorium's Wonder Emporium
Once

Margorium just seems like the perfect film for some aging rock star to sing a mid-tempo song about love and how the world is such a crazy place and to place it over the credits. Instant nomination, non?

BEST SOUND DESIGN
Beowulf
I Am Legend
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Transformers

BEST SOUND EDITING
Beowulf
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
Ratatouille
Transformers

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Beowulf
Ratatouille
The Simpsons Movie

I'm so glad I didn't predict Shrek the Third back in March. That series was destined for a swift kick up the duff.

It feels so good to not predict Spider-Man 3 for anything.

Happy Birthday to "The Next Big Thing"

Today is the 25th birthday of, depending on who you read, the next big thing to come from these fertile movie star shores - Abbie Cornish. Here she is to the left looking all dreamy in blue light from her breakthrough performance, Cate Shortland's endearingly offkilter Somersault. After also starring with Heath Ledger in last year's drug drama Candy she has the upcoming sequel to Elizabeth in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, which is getting mightily big buzz and many are predicting she's Oscar bound. She also has Kimberley Pierce's Stop Loss - finally following up the Oscar-winning Boys Don't Cry. It was also the film that started those nasty (and seemingly non-evolved) rumours that she was the reason for the breakup of Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe's marriage.

Also on Cornish's agenda is Jane Campion's latest Bright Star, which could be amazing and perhaps the chance of being a "Bond Girl" in the 22nd James Bond feature. Busy actress that she is I'm sure she'll have time to blow out some candles and eat a slice of cake. She has four AFI nominations to her name, including wins for Wildside and Somersault and two FCCAA awards for Somersault and Candy. Needless to say, she's one to watch!

Happy Birthday to her! Check out, below, the American trailer for Somersault.

Hurrican Elizabeth

I don't know about you, but when Cate Blanchett's Queen Elizabeth says "I too can command the wind, Sir. I have a hurricane in me that will strip Spain bare if you dare betray me", I just get chills up my spine. This is why I think Cate will win her second Oscar, and will rank alongside the legendary Paul Newman as only the second actor to ever win an Academy Award for a sequel (right?) - Newman won for The Color of Money after losing for the original The Hustler, if my memory serves me well.

Other than Blanchett's sure-to-be-astonishing performance there looks to be plenty of other things in Elizabeth: The Golden Age such as Geoffrey Rush and amazing cinematography, art direction and make-up - all of which were evident in the original. But The Golden Age also has Clive Owen (I love seeing "Academy Award Nominee" next to his name), Samantha Morton (who doesn't get a credit in the trailer, interestingly enough) and Abbie Cornish (who gets enough screentime to put justification to those Best Supporting Actress ideas).

While I'm not sure if using an Enyesque song for the second half of the trailer was the best movie possible (except at the very end), and I'm sure that Cate's horseback cliff-side speech will remind people of both Braveheart and The Lord of the Rings, this movie looks very amazing indeed and I can't wait. I was a fan of Elizabeth and I am actually a fan of solid adult fare getting sequels - I mean, look at how The Godfather Part II turned out!

My favourite part of the trailer is at the very very end with that shot of Cate wearing that massive white outfit (whatever it is) with the light reflecting through it. Sublime. Watch the trailer below and decide for yourself.