Oscar Picks-2008

So let's get to it. With the 80th Annual Academy awards just a few hours around the corner, I think now is the right time to squeeze in my annual picks before the eventual winners are revealed to the world.

I'm not going to dwell with much verbiage. To be honest, the Oscars just do not seem to carry the same excitement or importance like it used to in the past. And rightly so, with more than half-a-dozen award ceremonies prior to the Oscars, and where most often than not, winners in those awards are duly honored by academy. So pray, where is the unpredictability?

But I must admit, as an avid movie-watcher, this has been a good year. The body of work produced this year, whether they received a nomination or not, has been fantastic. And that for every Spiderman-III, Hostel-II or Transformers, there is an No Country for Old Men, Juno, Michael Clayton, Atonement and many more. Hollywood is alive and well, and quite amazingly always seems to maintain that fine balance between art & commercialism. Only hope the Indian movie industry will one day be able to display such diversity and maturity.

And Hope is a good thing.

Anyhow, here are my picks for this year.

BEST MOTION PICTURE OF THE YEAR:-

1)Atonement (2007): Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster - Good movie. Wrong Year.
2)Juno (2007): Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick, Russell Smith - Fresh and indulging. But not quite ready to take the big one.
3)Michael Clayton (2007): Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox, Kerry Orent - Tight, crisp & effective. My kind of movie.
4)No Country for Old Men (2007): Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin - WINNER
5)There Will Be Blood (2007): Paul Thomas Anderson, Daniel Lupi, JoAnne Sellar - Haven't watched.Probably the only movie which can stop the 'No country for Old men' momentum. And it probably cannot.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE :-

1)George Clooney for Michael Clayton (2007) - Like the movie, a quiet & effective performance but cannot stop the Daniel Day-Lewis juggernaut.
2)Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007) - WINNER
3)Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)- Unusual role. Deserved the nomination. Third time unlucky.
4)Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elah (2007) - Surprise nomination. kudos.
5)Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises (2007) - Brilliant performance, but early theatrical release has definitely hurt his chances. Plus Daniel Day-Lewis is going to win.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE:-

1)Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) - Have not seen. And not enough firepower to upstage Julie Christie.
2)Julie Christie for Away from Her (2006) - WINNER
3)Marion Cotillard for Môme, La (2007) - Haven't seen, but based on rave reviews seem to threaten Julie Christie's sure hand.
4)Laura Linney for The Savages (2007) - Happy for her nomination. She is a solid, underrated actor & usually never disappoints. I'm happy that the academy had the conviction to back her performance and she is definitely going to win in the near future.
5)Ellen Page for Juno (2007) - Personally did not find anything spectacular about her performance. Quirky. Very well written character.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:-

1)Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) - Haven't seen. But is turning out to be fine young actor based on his performance in Gone Baby Gone. Watch out for this guy.
2)Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men (2007) - WINNER
3)Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War (2007) - Good performance. Funny and dramatic all at once. Pretty awesome year and one of the powerhouse actors in the years to come.
4)Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild (2007) - Emotional favorite. But can't beat Javier Bardem.
5)Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton (2007) - Steady performance. Sometimes its key to blend in with the movie. Tom Wilkinson excels in such roles.

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE:-

1)Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There. (2007) - Is the 20th century academy ready to embrace independent movies? If yes, then cate blanchett should be the automatic choice. But I dont think the academy voters are there yet. Sad to see Cate Blanchett lose two for two.
2)Ruby Dee for American Gangster (2007) - Emotional Favorite to win. WINNER
3)Saoirse Ronan for Atonement (2007) - Beautiful performance considering her age. Age and overall lackluster excitement generated by Atonement may well lead to her not winning the award.
4)Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone (2007). Effective potrayal of grief stricken mom. Not enough publicity though.
5)Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton (2007). Michael Clayton is saddled with acting nominations. Tilda Swinton has done better work for no recognition whatsoever. So I think she'll take the nomination.

BEST ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTING :-

1)Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood (2007) - One of my favorite directors. Complete change in directional style for this movie. Maybe in another year would've been a sure shot.
2)Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007) - WINNER
3)Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton (2007) - Screenwriter turned director. Looks extremely promising.
4)Jason Reitman for Juno (2007) - Riding the independent wave. Will crash and burn against the fantastic Coen Brothers.
5)Julian Schnabel for Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007) - Have not seen the movie. Heard good things. On my must-watch list.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen:-

1)Juno (2007): Diablo Cody - WINNER
2)Lars and the Real Girl (2007): Nancy Oliver- Have not seen. reviews praise unique storyline.
3)Michael Clayton (2007): Tony Gilroy - Tense, terse yet multi-layered story.
4)Ratatouille (2007): Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco - I loved this movie. If only the academy showed animation more respect. After all this was one of the highest grossing movies in 07'..
5)The Savages (2007): Tamara Jenkins - Not quite.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published :-

1)Atonement (2007): Christopher Hampton - Atonement was one of my favorite movies of the year. Difficult story to adapt, but the movie & screenplay dove deep into the emotional core of the movie, of love and war. Fantastic effort. You've won my oscar. If that counts for anything.
2)Away from Her (2006): Sarah Polley - Have not seen. Cannot Comment. Heard good things.
3)Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007): Ronald Harwood - Have not seen. Cannot comment.
4)No Country for Old Men (2007): Joel Coen, Ethan Coen - Effective adaptation.
5)There Will Be Blood (2007): Paul Thomas Anderson - WINNER. Sticking my neck out here.

Good Luck.

Nav

P.S- As an afterthought, to satisfy my own curiosity, I compared my picks (see two posts below) to that of the academy. Out of the possible fourty predictions across eight categories, I had 7 wrong predictions. One wrong pick in each of the categories except the best original screenplay and Best supporting actor categories (where I had pegged all correct) and Best adapted screenplay (where I had two wrong). That roughly translates to 17.5 % of my forecasts being incorrect. Now that is the kind of odds which I need to improve upon. Imagine if I were in the business of buying and selling stocks & bonds. With that %age of wrong choices, I would be soon find myself filing for unemployment.