Gone to America

The R* job is continuing, I had a very promising meeting in Magno which will hopefully lead somewhere, I wrote some more and I’ll be teaching at the NYFA again in March. But those things aren’t important right now.

Oscar picks! These aren’t predictions – I have no idea how the Academy works. I freely admit to not having seen most of the films – if I’ve reviewed it, I’ve linked to the review. Just because I didn’t review a movie doesn’t mean I haven’t seen it. Sometimes I just can’t think of anything to say, sometimes I can but leave it too long and forget, and sometimes I’m just lazy. Films here that I saw but didn’t review include The Aviator, Collateral, House of the Flying Daggers and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

I will base my picks on the following criteria, which I believe closely mirror those of actual Academy voters:

1. Do I know any of the nominees?

Just one this year. Step forward Tom Johnson!

1. Was I involved in any of the movies?

None this year.

1. My actual opinion

Yes, this only comes third. And obviously it doesn’t apply if I haven’t seen the movies or know anything about the category. (People wear makeup in movies? Even the guys?)

1. Other peoples opinions

Depends on the other people, obviously.

1. The Righting of Past Injustice

We all know Martin Scorsese should have won for Raging Bull, Goodfellas, Casino and Gangs of New York.

1. Best title

I’ll be bringing this into play in the Documentary and Shorts categories.

1. Blind prejudice

Tupac Shakur is dead, and he wasn’t that interesting when he was alive. Let it go, people.

And so, without further ado…

My Oscar Picks 2005!

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role

• Don Cheadle in HOTEL RWANDA
• Johnny Depp in FINDING NEVERLAND
• Leonardo DiCaprio in THE AVIATOR
• Clint Eastwood in MILLION DOLLAR BABY
• Jamie Foxx in RAY

I was very impressed by DiCaprio in The Aviator, even if they didn’t bother to age him, but Johnny Depp just doesn’t have enough Oscars – even if this isn’t his most interesting performance ever.

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role

• Alan Alda in THE AVIATOR
• Thomas Haden Church in SIDEWAYS
• Jamie Foxx in COLLATERAL
• Morgan Freeman in MILLION DOLLAR BABY
• Clive Owen in CLOSER

It’s Alda time!

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role

• Annette Bening in BEING JULIA
• Catalina Sandino Moreno in MARIA FULL OF GRACE
• Imelda Staunton in VERA DRAKE
• Hilary Swank in MILLION DOLLAR BABY
• Kate Winslet in ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

Kate Winslet. The only one I saw. She was good, and her hair was blue for a lot of it – that has to count for something.

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role

• Cate Blanchett in THE AVIATOR
• Laura Linney in KINSEY
• Virginia Madsen in SIDEWAYS
• Sophie Okonedo in HOTEL RWANDA
• Natalie Portman in CLOSER

Cate Blanchett. Just because Katherine Hepburn hasn’t actually been in any movies recently.

Animated Feature Film of the Year

• THE INCREDIBLES Brad Bird
• SHARK TALE Bill Damaschka
• SHREK 2 Andrew Adamson

Shrek 2 had better jokes, but The Incredibles was the better movie.

Achievement in Art Direction

• THE AVIATOR

Art Direction: Dante Ferretti
Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo

• FINDING NEVERLAND

Art Direction: Gemma Jackson
Set Decoration: Trisha Edwards

• LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS

Art Direction: Rick Heinrichs
Set Decoration: Cheryl A. Carasik

• THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Art Direction: Anthony Pratt
Set Decoration: Celia Bobak

• A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT

Art Direction: Aline Bonetto

A toss up between the Lemony Snicket yoke and The Aviator. Spruce Goose! A Very Long Engagement looks pretty from the trailers, but I still throw up a little in my mouth when I think of Amelie.

Achievement in Cinematography

• THE AVIATOR Robert Richardson
• HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS Zhao Xiaoding
• THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST Caleb Deschanel
• THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA John Mathieson
• A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT Bruno Delbonnel

The Aviator. Two strip Technicolor!

Achievement in Costume Design

• THE AVIATOR Sandy Powell
• FINDING NEVERLAND Alexandra Byrne
• LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS Colleen Atwood
• RAY Sharen Davis
• TROY Bob Ringwood

Lemony Snicket, for Jim Carrey’s threadbare coat.

Achievement in Directing

• THE AVIATOR Martin Scorsese
• MILLION DOLLAR BABY Clint Eastwood
• RAY Taylor Hackford
• SIDEWAYS Alexander Payne
• VERA DRAKE Mike Leigh

There are people other than Martin Scorsese nominated? Surely a mistake.

Documentary Feature

• BORN INTO BROTHELS

Ross Kauffman and Zana Brisk

• THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL

Luigi Falorni and Byambasuren Davaa

• SUPER SIZE ME

Morgan Spurlock

• TUPAC: RESURRECTION

Lauren Lazin and Karolyn Ali

• TWIST OF FAITH

Kirby Dick and Eddie Schmidt

Best name? Morgan Spurlock. I was going to go by the title of the film, but “Morgan Spurlock” is just such a great name.

Documentary Short Subject

• AUTISM IS A WORLD

Gerardine Wurzburg

• THE CHILDREN OF LENINGRADSKY

Hanna Polak and Andrzej Celinski

• HARDWOOD

Hubert Davis and Erin Faith Young

• MIGHTY TIMES: THE CHILDREN’S MARCH

Robert Hudson and Bobby Houston

• SISTER ROSE’S PASSION

Oren Jacoby and Steve Kalafer

Hardwood, because it’s intriguing.

Achievement in Film Editing

• THE AVIATOR Thelma Schoonmaker
• COLLATERAL Jim Miller and Paul Rubell
• FINDING NEVERLAND Matt Chesse
• MILLION DOLLAR BABY Joel Cox
• RAY Paul Hirsch

I’m going to go with Finding Neverland. Not flashy, but beautifully timed performances.

Foreign Language Film of the Year

• AS IT IS IN HEAVEN Sweden
• THE CHORUS France
• DOWNFALL Germany
• THE SEA INSIDE Spain
• YESTERDAY South Africa

I haven’t seen any of these, so I’m going to go with “Best Country”. Gotta be… Sweden.

Achievement in Makeup

• LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS Valli O’Reilly and Bill Corso
• THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST Keith Vanderlaan and Christien Tinsley
• THE SEA INSIDE Jo Allen and Manuel Garc�a

Oh, what the hell – Lemony Snicket.

Achievement in Music written for Motion Pictures (Original Score)

• FINDING NEVERLAND Jan A.P. Kaczmarek
• HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN John Williams
• LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS Thomas Newman
• THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST John Debney
• THE VILLAGE James Newton Howard

I don’t remember any of these scores, but Finding Neverland was the most emotional experience and the music probably had something to do with it.

Achievement in Music written for Motion Pictures (Original Song)

• “Accidentally In Love” from SHREK 2

Music by Adam Duritz, Charles Gillingham, Jim Bogios, David Immergluck, Matthew Mallery and David Bryson
Lyric by Adam Duritz and Daniel Vickrey

• “Al Otro Lado Del R�o” from THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

Music and Lyric by Jorge Drexler

• “Believe” from THE POLAR EXPRESS

Music and Lyric by Glen Ballard and Alan Silvestri

• “Learn To Be Lonely” from THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyric by Charles Hart

• “Look To Your Path (Vois Sur Ton Chemin)” from THE CHORUS

Music by Bruno Coulais
Lyric by Christophe Barratier

The omission of “America, Fuck Yeah!” from Team America: World Police renders this category meaningless.

Best Motion Picture of the Year

• THE AVIATOR
• FINDING NEVERLAND
• MILLION DOLLAR BABY
• RAY
• SIDEWAYS

Finding Neverland. Because out of these, it was.

Animated Short Film

• BIRTHDAY BOY

Sejong Park and Andrew Gregory

• GOPHER BROKE

Jeff Fowler and Tim Miller

• GUARD DOG

Bill Plympton

• LORENZO

Mike Gabriel and Baker Bloodworth

• RYAN

Chris Landreth

On title, I’d go for (or “gopher”) Gopher Broke (it’s a pun!) but I’m a fan of Bill Plympton so I’ll assume Guard Dog is best.

Live Action Short Film

• EVERYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY MUST

Gary McKendry

• LITTLE TERRORIST

Ashvin Kumar

• 7:35 IN THE MORNING

Nacho Vigalondo

• TWO CARS, ONE NIGHT

Taika Waititi and Ainsley Gardiner

• WASP

Andrea Arnold

WASP, because I’m bored with typing.

Achievement in Sound Editing

• THE INCREDIBLES Michael Silvers and Randy Thom
• THE POLAR EXPRESS Randy Thom and Dennis Leonard
• SPIDER-MAN 2 Paul N.J. Ottosson

Spider Man 2 hands down. Doc Ock’s arms were a miraculous marriage of menace and sync (in the broadest sense of the word).

Achievement in Sound Mixing

• THE AVIATOR Tom Fleischman and Petur Hliddal
• THE INCREDIBLES Randy Thom, Gary A. Rizzo and Doc Kane
• THE POLAR EXPRESS Randy Thom, Tom Johnson, Dennis Sands and William B. Kaplan
• RAY Scott Millan, Greg Orloff, Bob Beemer and Steve Cantamessa
• SPIDER-MAN 2 Kevin O’Connell, Greg P. Russell, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Joseph Geisinger

Tom Johnson, (and the others for Polar Express) because he let me handle one of his others, and if he has three he can juggle. Even if it was too loud .

Achievement in Visual Effects

• HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN Roger Guyett, Tim Burke, John Richardson and Bill George
• I, ROBOT John Nelson, Andrew R. Jones, Erik Nash and Joe Letteri
• SPIDER-MAN 2 John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier

Spider Man 2 again, again because of those arms. A feat of puppetry as well as CGI.

Adapted Screenplay

• BEFORE SUNSET

Screenplay by Richard Linklater & Julie Delpy & Ethan Hawke
Story by Richard Linklater & Kim Krizan

• FINDING NEVERLAND

Screenplay by David Magee

• MILLION DOLLAR BABY

Screenplay by Paul Haggis

• THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

Screenplay by Jos� Rivera

• SIDEWAYS

Screenplay by Alexander Payne & Jim Taylor

Finding Neverland, for the bait-and-switch emotional sucker punch.

Original Screenplay

• THE AVIATOR

Written by John Logan

• ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND

Screenplay by Charlie Kaufman
Story by Charlie Kaufman & Michel Gondry & Pierre Bismuth

• HOTEL RWANDA

Written by Keir Pearson & Terry George

• THE INCREDIBLES

Written by Brad Bird

• VERA DRAKE

Written by Mike Leigh

Eternal Sunshine, because it really was original, without being tricksy or whimsical.

That’s it. Last year my prediction record was abysmal, but I’m not really trying to be accurate. This year, well we’ll see. I don’t know if anybody’s throwing a party yet. One of these days I should throw one, but this flat really isn’t big enough.