That One Day Oscar Came to Town

OSCARS tonight and I am so freaking thrilled, more excited than ever before (mainly because I have become gradually more and more obsessed with movies as the year has gone on). So, I thought I would hop on here before the show tonight and throw out some predictions.

Actor in a Leading Role: This one is far too easy. Since this movie was put into production, he was a guaranteed winner. They have been talking about this performance for over a year and have called it the best performance in 10 years (still can't believe I haven't seen it). The oscar goes to Daniel Day-Lewis.

Actor in a Supporting Role: This category may be a little harder to peg (at least for me because I have only seen "No Country" and "Charlie Wilson"). I would put my money on either Javier Bardem or Phillip Seymour Hoffman (who is incredible in Wilson), though I am worried because I think "Michael Clayton" is going to steal some back door wins. Still, gotta go with the best from the best movie of the year. The oscar goes to Javier Bardem.

Actress in a Leading Role: I'm just going to come out and say I have no idea. The only movie I saw in this category was "Juno" and if Ellen Page wins I will kill someone. Most talked about is either Julie Christie in "Away from Her" or Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth." And the oscar goes to Julie Christie.

Actress in a Supporting Role: Here's another difficult one that I think could go to anyone. I hear good things about Amy Ryan from "Gone Baby Gone." Saoirse Ronan gives one of the best young performances I've seen to date in "Atonement," so I'm glad she gets a nod, but I doubt she wins. And the oscar goes to Cate Blanchett for her portrayal of Bob Dylan in "I'm Not There."

Cinematography: Both "No Country" and "Atonement" have terrific cinematography. "Atonement" has one of the best segments I've seen next to "Children of Men." And the oscar goes to Atonement.

Directing: In my opinion, I would love to see the Coen brothers nab this one, but I am afraid they won't even though they made the best movie. Paul Thomas Anderson is a genius, so he could get it, but I think there might be too much focus on Day-Lewis for people to pay attention to the rest of the film. The oscar goes to Joel and Ethan Coen just cause I want them to win.

Music (Score): Jeez, "The Kite Runner" was such a terrific movie and the music is so beautiful and melodic, but I'm afraid this is an easy pick in the other direction. And the oscar goes to Atonement.

Best Picture: The biggie in a year of pretty good movies. Aside from the horrible nomination of "Juno," this is a stacked category. The top three are "Atonement," "Michael Clayton" and "No Country for Old Men." In my opinion, no other movie could eclipse the brothers' latest social commentary. And the oscar goes to No Country for Old Men.

Visual Effects: No movie has ever come close to the ridiculousness of "Transformers." It is hands down the greatest display of visual effects ever created. There was no need to even nominate anything else. Michael Bay is incredible. And the oscar goes to Transformers.

Adapted Screenplay: Honestly, I thought you knew me by now, why are you still reading. Because I have no clue, I'm going to give it to my favorite. And the oscar goes to No Country for Old Men.

Original Screenplay: The outcome of this category could lead me to forever hate the Academy. If "Juno" wins I will never watch the Awards again. I like "The Savages" for this.

But the oscar goes to Michael Clayton (please oh please do this for me Academy).

There it is. Relish on it and watch the Awards show tonight at 8/7c p.m. And watch "No Country for Old Men" because it is so very good.

I win.

Oscalujah

Kinda getting a late run at this, but I've been supremely busy.

Oscar noms came out last weekend and there were some screw-overs and some unexpected nominations.

The first thing I noticed was the ridiculous amount of nominations for "Juno" (Actress: Ellen Page, Director: Jason Reitman, Best Picture, and Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody). This really makes me angry. Unfortunately, it will probably win best screenplay (I think the director made the movie work, not the screenplay, so I would not be too upset if Reitman wins, but he won't). But come on. Best Picture? Really? This is totally ridiculous. Did they see the same movie I did? Because I have already expressed my hatred for this movie for ruining the indie genre, I will just leave it at that.

Back to my world. A huge surprise to me is this hype on "Michael Clayton" (which was recently re-released in theaters, so maybe I will get a chance to see it). Clayton picked up seven noms right behind "No Country for Old Men" and "There Will Be Blood." (Nominations for actor and supporting actor, supporting actress, direction, original score, best picture and original screenplay). I really can't wait to see this one. Very confusing to see this get so many because when it came out, it got mixed reviews.

Another out of nowhere nomination is Tommy Lee Jones for best actor not for No Country, but rather for "In the Valley of Elah." Another movie we did not hear much about. "The Savages" seem to come out of nowhere as well (I guess because it wasn't released anywhere near me). Laura Linney gets her third Oscar nom in 7 years, which is pretty impressive (maybe she will win this one). Savages also picks up original screenplay (pray it beats out Juno).

I was glad to see 'The Bourne Ultimatum" get a few nominations even if its for the really technical stuff (which is very important for a film's success). Matt Damon's third installment picks up sound editing, sound mixing and film editing. Usually a movie that gets nominated for both mixing and editing will one of the two.

I was pretty disappointed "The Kite Runner" did not get more nominations. It was nominated for original score which was beautiful. I thought it should have gotten a shot at best foreign language film or best adapted screenplay. It really was a delight.

Another screw-over is leaving Eddie Vedder out of the list for best original song for his song "Guaranteed" in "Into the Wild." That's alright though.

"Lars and the Real Girl" and "Ratatouille" somehow get best original screenplays (may show how far movies have sunk).

By far the biggest letdown in all of the Academy Award nominations was the complete snub of "American Gangster." I thought this was a sure lock for best picture when it came out, but no, we have to have Juno. I thought Russell Crowe would have been perfect with a supporting actor nod. Aside from a couple nominations, it is almost as if the movie never existed. I think the movie came out too early and it lost its hype and was forgotten in the season (though that did not seem to hurt Clayton which came out a month earlier).