Oscars 2006

Gold Standard

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

JANUARY 23, 2007: This is the list of Oscar nominations, accompanied by my personal vote, were I given one as of this morning. I also listed a few "unfairly overlooked" items, off the top of my head. I will get to my predictions soonish, as well as filling in the blanks of a couple of leftover films I didn't see.

As for comments, I was pleasantly surprised to see both Pan's Labyrinth and Children of Men -- both of which I liked -- get more nominations that I expected, with six and three, respectively. I was also pleasantly surprised to see Dreamgirls -- which I didn't like -- get fewer nominations than I expected. (It leads the pack with eight nods, but three of those are in Best Song.) Four of the five Best Picture nominees are actually good films, which is an unusual development. And a couple of my dark horse favorites wound up with nominations, Marie Antoinette for Costume Design and The Black Dahlia for Cinematography. (Art School Confidential and Inland Empire came away with nothing.)

I was also very happy to see the animated short The Little Matchgirl, released on Disney's The Little Mermaid DVD, get a nomination. It's a heartbreakingly lovely little film, and I'm rooting for it very strongly.

The Oscars will be announced February 25th. More later...

FEBRUARY 25, 2007: Some happy wins and some disappointments, but more good choices than not. Two of the year's best films, The Departed and Pan's Labyrinth led the night, with 4 awards and 3 awards, respectively, though Pan's Labyrinth lost the Best Foreign Film award to the more award-friendly The Lives of Others (a film no one will ever remember or ever want to see again). The overrated Dreamgirls took two awards, and five years from now people will wonder why, just as they did with Roberto Benigni. As for silver linings, the wonderful Happy Feet beat out the more conventional Cars and Sofia Coppola's under-appreciated Marie Antoinette picked up a surprise award for Costume Design. Even Clint Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima picked up a single Oscar for Sound Editing. But the most important pair of awards went to An Inconvenient Truth. Let's hope they inspire even more people to see it and to take its warnings to heart. As for my predictions, I got a lousy ten right, which has to be my worst year ever. Just wait till next year...

Nominees	Jeff's Take
Best Picture Babel The Departed Letters from Iwo Jima Little Miss Sunshine The Queen	The Winner: The Departed My Prediction: Little Miss Sunshine My Vote: The Departed Unfairly Overlooked: Children of Men; Inland Empire
Best Director Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima Stephen Frears, The Queen Paul Greengrass, United 93 Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel Martin Scorsese, The Departed	The Winner: Martin Scorsese My Prediction: Martin Scorsese My Vote: Martin Scorsese Unfairly Overlooked: Guillermo Del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth; Alfonso Cuarón, Children of Men; David Lynch, Inland Empire
Best Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson Peter O'Toole, Venus Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland	The Winner: Forest Whitaker My Prediction: Forest Whitaker My Vote: Peter O'Toole Unfairly Overlooked: Clive Owen, Children of Men; Denzel Washington, Inside Man
Best Actress Penélope Cruz, Volver Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal Helen Mirren, The Queen Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada Kate Winslet, Little Children	The Winner: Helen Mirren My Prediction: Helen Mirren My Vote: Meryl Streep Unfairly Overlooked: Lee Yeong-ae, Lady Vengeance; Laura Dern, Inland Empire
Best Supporting Actor Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls Mark Wahlberg, The Departed	The Winner: Alan Arkin My Prediction: Djimon Hounsou My Vote: Alan Arkin Unfairly Overlooked: Jim Broadbent, Art School Confidential; Bill Nighy, Notes on a Scandal; John Hurt, The Proposition
Best Supporting Actress Adriana Barraza, Babel Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls Rinko Kikuchi, Babel	The Winner: Jennifer Hudson My Prediction: Jennifer Hudson My Vote: Abigail Breslin Unfairly Overlooked: Sandra Bullock, Infamous; Meryl Streep, A Prairie Home Companion; Robin Tunney, Hollywoodland; Jodie Foster, Inside Man; Gillian Anderson, The Last King of Scotland
Foreign Language Film After the Wedding (Denmark) Days of Glory (Algeria) Pan's Labyrinth (Mexico) The Lives of Others (Germany) Water (Canada)	The Winner: The Lives of Others My Prediction: The Lives of Others My Vote: Pan's Labyrinth Unfairly Overlooked: Three Times, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Lady Vengeance
Adapted Screenplay Sacha Baron Cohen/Todd Phillips, et al, Borat Alfonso Cuarón/Timothy Sexton, et al, Children of Men William Monahan, The Departed Todd Field/Tom Perrotta, Little Children Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal	The Winner: The Departed My Prediction: The Departed My Vote: Children of Men Unfairly Overlooked: Daniel Clowes/Terry Zwigoff, Art School Confidential
Original Screenplay Guillermo Arriaga, Babel Iris Yamashita, Paul Haggis, Letters from Iwo Jima Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine Guillermo Del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth Peter Morgan, The Queen	The Winner: Little Miss Sunshine My Prediction: The Queen My Vote: Pan's Labyrinth Unfairly Overlooked: Rian Johnson, Brick
Animated Feature Film Cars Happy Feet Monster House	The Winner: Happy Feet My Prediction: Cars My Vote: Happy Feet Unfairly Overlooked: A Scanner Darkly
Cinematography Vilmos Zsigmond, The Black Dahlia Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men Dick Pope, The Illusionist Guillermo Navarro, Pan's Labyrinth Wally Pfister, The Prestige	The Winner: Guillermo Navarro, Pan's Labyrinth My Prediction: Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men My Vote: Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men Unfairly Overlooked: Pin Bing Lee, Three Times; Lance Acord, Marie Antoinette
Art Direction Dreamgirls The Good Shepherd Pan's Labyrinth Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest The Prestige	The Winner: Pan's Labyrinth My Prediction: Dreamgirls My Vote: Pan's Labyrinth Unfairly Overlooked: Marie Antoinette, The Fountain
Sound Mixing Apocalypto Blood Diamond Dreamgirls Flags of Our Fathers Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	The Winner: Dreamgirls My Prediction: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest My Vote: Flags of Our Fathers Unfairly Overlooked: Inland Empire
Sound Editing Apocalypto Blood Diamond Flags of Our Fathers Letters from Iwo Jima Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	The Winner: Letters from Iwo Jima My Prediction: Letters from Iwo Jima My Vote: Letters from Iwo Jima Unfairly Overlooked: Inland Empire
Original Score Gustavo Santaolalla, Babel Thomas Newman, The Good German Philip Glass, Notes on a Scandal Javier Navarrete, Pan's Labyrinth Alexandre Desplat, The Queen	The Winner: Babel My Prediction: The Queen My Vote: none Unfairly Overlooked: Alexandre Desplat, The Painted Veil
Original Song "I Need to Wake Up" from An Inconvenient Truth, Melissa Etheridge "Listen" from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger, Scott Cutler, Anne Preven "Love You I Do" from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger, Siedah Garrett "Our Town" from Cars, Randy Newman "Patience" from Dreamgirls, Henry Krieger, Willie Reale	The Winner: "I Need to Wake Up," Melissa Etheridge My Prediction: none My Vote: none Unfairly Overlooked: "Put Your Records On" from Venus, Corinne Bailey Rae
Costume Curse of the Golden Flower The Devil Wears Prada Dreamgirls Marie Antoinette The Queen	The Winner: Marie Antoinette My Prediction: Dreamgirls My Vote: Marie Antoinette Unfairly Overlooked: Three Times
Documentary Feature Deliver Us from Evil An Inconvenient Truth Iraq in Fragments Jesus Camp My Country, My Country	The Winner: An Inconvenient Truth My Prediction: An Inconvenient Truth My Vote: An Inconvenient Truth Unfairly Overlooked: 49 Up, Romantico
Documentary Short The Blood of Yingzhou District (Ruby Yang) Recycled Life Rehearsing a Dream Two Hands	The Winner: The Blood of Yingzhou District My Prediction: n/a My Vote: n/a Unfairly Overlooked: n/a
Film Editing Babel Blood Diamond Children of Men The Departed United 93	The Winner: The Departed My Prediction: United 93 My Vote: Children of Men Unfairly Overlooked: Inside Man, The Fountain
Makeup Apocalypto Click Pan's Labyrinth	The Winner: Pan's Labyrinth My Prediction: Pan's Labyrinth My Vote: Pan's Labyrinth Unfairly Overlooked: Find Me Guilty
Animated Short The Danish Poet Lifted The Little Matchgirl Maestro No Time for Nuts	The Winner: The Danish Poet My Prediction: n/a My Vote: The Little Matchgirl Unfairly Overlooked: n/a
Live Action Short Binta and the Great Idea Éramos pocos Helmer & Son The Saviour West Bank Story	The Winner: West Bank Story My Prediction: n/a My Vote: n/a Unfairly Overlooked: A Perfect Place, Peter's Price, Whitebread and Goatman
Visual Effects Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest Poseidon Superman Returns	The Winner: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest My Prediction: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest My Vote: Superman Returns Unfairly Overlooked: The Prestige, The Fountain