Oscars

The never-changing Academy (Oscars 2004) Posted on February 28, 2005

So... what did you think of this year's Oscars? In my case, let me just sum it up by saying that the only surprising wins came in the shorts categories! Those, and the best song which unexpectedly went to a Spanish song: Al otro lado del Rio from Motorcycle Diaries. That is something to appreciate and I appreciated even more how Jorge Drexler went up on stage to accept his award and just... sang a bit of his song! That was not necessarily targeted at Antonio Banderas's performance a few minutes earlier (although it is fun to see it as a "That's how my song should be performed" statement) but rather at this year's show producers who did not allow non-music stars to perform their own songs! That would also explain why Beyonce had to perform 3 of the 5 nominated songs, spending the entire evening changing outfits, make-up and voices. And while I believe she's a great performer, she managed to completely ruin my favorite nominated song, Vois sur ton chemin, which was supposed to be just a beautiful choral piece, not a solo piece with chorus backup.

Speaking of the producers, the "refreshing" ideas of bringing all of the nominees on stage for some of the categories was funny at best. They did it mainly for technical and standalone awards where the nominees were largely unknown. I'm not sure if this was viewed as a way of giving them more recognition or only as a way to rejuvenate the show, but the main effect was to cause confusion, as in the case of Best Sound Mixing award when Jamie Foxx in the audience was looking around with a clear confused look of "Is it us?", not being able to figure out at first if the names called belonged to Ray or some other movie.

Chris Rock, on the other hand, was a fun presenter, with a solid opening, pointing out hillariously, among other things, the difference between what people watch and what the Academy nominates. He even managed to react to Sean Penn's complete lack of humor and/or intelligence. Penn started "defending" Jude Law, who was the target of some of Rock's earlier jokes, and then tried to lamely tie it into the presentation of the Best Actress award: "Jude Law is a great actor, and for every great actor in a movie there are 5 phenomenal actresses...". Huh?

Now about the awards themselves...

First count Posted on February 28, 2005

Another ceremony wraps up and really the only surprise is that there were no surprises. At least not for the usual predictors who all saw Million Dollar Baby's surge in popularity and were one step ahead of the bookmakers and of the dreamers (like myself) who thought that the Academy will finally reward the legendary Scorsese. However, it was once more Eastwood's year. But more discussion later. For now let's do some counting:

Total wins among feature films: Aviator - 5, Million Dollar Baby - 4, Ray, The Incredibles - 2, Finding Neverland, Motorcycle Diaries, Spiderman 2, Lemony Snicket, Sideways, Eternal Sunshine, The Sea Inside, Born into Brothels - 1.

My predictions: 5/8 (62.5%) in the top categories and 17/24 (71%) overall. Not too bad considering that 3 of my misses were in the short categories where my predictions were nothing but pure guesses. This makes it a 17/21 (81%) in the feature film categories. Check out the winner list marked according to my predictions: predicted winners, 2nd choice winners and surprise winners. Some immediate comments are also added here and there on some categories.

Oscar 2004 Final Predictions Posted on February 26, 2005

The time has come for the final predictions. I have made minor changes in the technical and standalone categories, the main one being Finding Neverland for Original Score. Voters are likely to vote for the score that they remembered best out of the movies that they saw, and Finding Neverland will likely benefit from his Best Picture nomination there.

Now onto the real thing - the big 8. You have a few choices: The overwhelming majority of the usual Oscar predictors go like this: Million Dollar Baby, Clint Eastwood, Jamie Foxx, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Sideways, Eternal Sunshine. The bookmakers still lean towards Aviator so their predictions seem to be: Aviator, Martin Scorsese, Jamie Foxx, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Cate Blanchett, Sideways, Eternal Sunshine.

So... where do I stand? My wishful thinking predictions would look like this: Ray, Martin Scorsese, Jamie Foxx, Imelda Staunton, Morgan Freeman, Natalie Portman, Motorcycle Diaries, Eternal Sunshine.

My final predictions...: Aviator, Martin Scorsese, Jamie Foxx, Hilary Swank, Morgan Freeman, Natalie Portman, Sideways, Eternal Sunshine. Why this line-up? Read on...

The Animated Short Nominees Posted on February 25, 2005

It would be really nice if the short movies competing at the Oscars would be available online... But I'm afraid that's not likely to happen although I am not quite certain what the market for short movies really is. How do they actually make money? I firmly believe that having at least the 15 short Oscar nominated movies available online can give a serious boost to the branch and to the producers themselves. With more exposure, the sales of dvds containing collections of short movies might raise to an interesting level.

Anyway, for now all I could find is the usual overview from the Animation World Network Showcase which includes short clips from the five nominated animated shorts. So... given the movie length, in some cases you get to see about 10% of the entire film :). Enjoy and let me know if you find any places showcasing the short docus or action films.

Time to make up our minds Posted on February 21, 2005

The academy members made up their minds a few days ago, as their ballots are due tomorrow for the official counting. However, our task here is a bit trickier because making up our mind about who we want to win it's quite easy. The question is who did they vote for?

You can view my quasi-final predictions. The race is quite open in a few of the main categories including Best Picture and Best Director and also in many of the technical categories. Will it be a year where voters think of past history and reward those that are due? Did they vote for who they thought are the truely deserving performers in the movies nominated this year? We shall find out next Sunday. I will check my predictions one last time Saturday and make last minute adjustments. :)

BAFTA Winners Posted on February 13, 2005

The British Academy of Film and Television announced their winners on Saturday. No surprises in any of the movie categories:

Best Film - The Aviator
Best Director - Mike Leigh (Vera Drake)
Best Actor - Jamie Foxx (Ray)
Best Actress - Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake)
Best Supporting Actor - Clive Owen (Closer)
Best Supporting Actress - Cate Blanchett (The Aviator)
Best Original Screenplay - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Best Adapted Screenplay - Sideways

Screen Actors Guild Awards Posted on February 06, 2005

The SAG announced their awards last night. The winners in the movie categories were:

Best Actor: Jamie Foxx, Ray
Best Actress: Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
Best Supporting Actor: Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby
Best Ensemble Cast: Sideways

The Ballots are Out Posted on February 02, 2005

According to the AMPAS press communicate, fnal ballots for the 77th Academy Awards were mailed today to the 5,808 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Listed on the ballots are the nominees in 19 Oscar® categories. Separate ballots for 5 award categories (foreign language film, short and feature-length documentaries and animated and live-action short films) will be distributed after verification of mandatory member attendance at screenings. The completed ballots should be returned to PricewaterhouseCooper tallying committee by Feb 22nd, 5 days before the ceremony night on Feb 27th.

As such, I created the entries for the 2004 nominees. So far the entries contain only the lists of nominees but I will add my comments and predictions shortly.

Technical Categories Posted on February 02, 2005

Marked below are my predictions as to who will win and who could win (my 2nd guess). For my comments and opinions on who should win had I had a ballot, scroll all the way down.

Cinematography

• The Aviator
• House of Flying Daggers
• Passion of the Christ
• Very Long Engagement
• Phantom of the Opera

Editing

• The Aviator
• Collateral
• Million Dollar Baby
• Ray
• Finding Neverland

Original Score

• Finding Neverland (Jan Kaczmarek)
• Passion of the Christ (John Debney)
• Harry Potter 3 (John Williams)
• Lemony Snicket (Thomas Newman)
• The Village (James Howard)
  The last minute change was warranted. Indeed voting here goes for the most memorable score among the most viewed/popular movies. This is how Newman and Howard keep increasing their count of win-less nominations

Art Direction

• The Aviator
• Lemony Snicket
• Finding Neverland
• Very Long Engagement
• Phantom of the Opera

Costume Design

• The Aviator
• Ray
• Finding Neverland
• Lemony Snicket
• Troy

Makeup

• Passion of the Christ
• The Sea Inside
• Lemony Snicket

Visual Effects

• Spider-Man 2
• I, Robot
• Harry Potter 3

Sound Editing

• Spider-Man 2
• The Incredibles
• Polar Express

Sound Mixing

• The Incredibles
• Spider-Man 2
• Ray
• The Aviator
• Polar Express

Original Song

• Believe (Polar Express)
• Learn to be Lonely (Phantom of the Opera)
• Accidentally in Love (Shrek 2)
• Al otro lado del rio (Motorcycle Diaries)
• Look to your Path (The Chorists)
  This category was transformed into a Beyonce recital for some reason. Are there really no other singers willing to perform at the Oscars? While she did a pretty good job with Believe and Learn to be Lonely she completely butchered the beautiful Look to your Path by changing it from a choir piece into a solo act with choir backup.

Standalone Categories Posted on February 02, 2005

Foreign Film

• The Sea Inside (Spain)
• The Chorists (France)
• Downfall (Germany)
• As It Is in Heaven (Sweden)
• Yesterday (South Africa)

Documentary

• Super-Size Me
• Born Into Brothels
• Story of the Weeping Camel
• Twist of Faith
• Tupac: Resurrection

Animated Feature

• The Incredibles (Pixar/Disney)
• Shrek 2 (DreamWorks)
• Shark Tale (DreamWorks)

Documentary Short

• Children of Leningradsky
• Autism is a World
• Mighty Times: The Children's March
• Sister Rose's Passion
• Hardwood

Live-action Short

• Everything in This Country...
• Little Terrorist
• Two Cars, One Night
• 7:35 in the Morning
• Wasp

Animated Short

• Guard Dog
• Gopher Broke
• Birthday Boy
• Ryan
• Lorenzo

The votes in all these categories, except for animated feature film will be cast only by those members that attended screenings of all the nominated movies in the respective categories.

Best Screenplay Posted on February 02, 2005

Original Screenplay

• Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine...)
• John Logan (The Aviator)
• T. George & K. Pearson (Hotel Rwanda)
• Brad Bird (The Incredibles)
• Mike Leigh (Vera Drake)

Adapted Screenplay

• Sideways
• Million Dollar Baby
• Motorcycle Diaries
• Finding Neverland
• Before Sunset

Best Supporting Actress Posted on February 02, 2005

Cate Blanchett (The Aviator)	Laura Linney (Kinsey)	Virginia Madsen (Sideways)	Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda)	Natalie Portman (Closer)

Should win: Natalie Portman Could win: Cate Blanchett Will win: Natalie Portman
My hopeful surprise did not happen. Aviator looks strong early in the show.

Best Supporting Actor Posted on February 02, 2005

Alan Alda (The Aviator)	Thomas Haden Church (Sideways)	Jamie Foxx (Collateral)	Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby)	Clive Owen (Closer)

Should Win: Clive Owen Could Win: Thomas Haden Church Will Win: Morgan Freeman

Best Actress Posted on February 02, 2005

Annette Bening (Being Julia)	Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace)	Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake)	Hillary Swank (Million Dollar Baby)	Kate Winslet (Eternal Sunshine...)

Should Win: Imelda Staunton/ Kate Winslet Could Win: Imelda Staunton/Annete Bening Will Win: Hillary Swank
Watching the clips of the nominees and then Swank winning as predicted I could only be sad that the typical oscar-bait roles are still the ones that win easily in this category. And God, Swank gave one of the worst speeches possible...

Best Actor Posted on February 02, 2005

Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda)	Johnny Depp (Finding Neverland)	Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator)	Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby)	Jamie Foxx (Ray)

Should Win: Jamie Foxx Will Win: Jamie Foxx
Leo DiCaprio was among the few that did not stand up to applaud Foxx... Perhaps he was tired. Or did he really think he deserved to win this one?

Best Director Posted on February 02, 2005

Clint Eastwood (Million Dollar Baby)	Taylor Hackford (Ray)	Mile Leigh (Vera Drake)	Alexander Payne (Sideways)	Martin Scorsese (The Aviator)

Should Win: Martin Scorsese Could Win: Clint Eastwood Will Win: Martin Scorsese
Up until the last minute I believed that Scorsese was about to receive his rightful reward. Seeing Eastwood win Best Director, all I could think was that I do not believe in "splitting" between this category and the Best Picture award...

Best Picture Posted on February 02, 2005

The Aviator (Miramax)	Finding Neverland (Miramax)	Million Dollar Baby (Warner Bros)	Ray (Universal)	Sideways (Fox Searchlight)

Should Win: Ray Could Win: Million Dollar Baby Will Win: The Aviator
I was right about one thing: Best Picture and Best Director did not split this year. And that leaves Scorsese empty handed one mrore time...