Oscars 2007

Gold Standard

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

JANUARY 22, 2007: The nominations came in this morning with a few excellent films overlooked, a lot of overhyped films and a few overall good choices. No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood led with eight nominations each. Awards will be announced Sunday, February 24th.

FEBRUARY 24, 2007: I fared quite poorly in my predicting, with only 10 out of 22 correct. I didn't bother to predict Foreign Language film, with its list of unknown factors, or Documentary Short, none of which I'd seen. Though I suppose I could have guessed after I saw the awful The Counterfeiters that the Academy would zero in on it. Not even my seeing the animated and live action shorts helped me to guess the winners. Ah well. Maybe next year. It seems as if the age of big sweeps is over. Very few recent films have won more than 4 awards. But that still doesn't stop the Academy from awarding the usual awful films (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) as well as the latest biopic. On the plus side, No Country for Old Men is actually the fourth great film to win the Best Picture award since 2000. Here's the final score: No Country for Old Men - 4, There Will Be Blood - 2, The Bourne Ultimatum - 3, La vie en rose - 2, and Michael Clayton, Juno, Atonement, Once, Sweeney Todd, The Golden Compass, Ratatouille, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Counterfeiters, Taxi to the Dark Side, and the shorts Freeheld, Peter & the Wolf and The Mozart of Pickpockets, with one each.

Nominees	Jeff's Take & Results
Best Picture Atonement Juno Michael Clayton No Country for Old Men There Will Be Blood	The Winner: No Country for Old Men My Prediction: There Will Be Blood My Vote: No Country for Old Men Unfairly Overlooked: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Best Director Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton Jason Reitman, Juno Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	The Winner: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen My Prediction: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen My Vote: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen Unfairly Overlooked: Andrew Dominik, The Assassination of Jesse James; David Cronenberg, Eastern Promises; Sidney Lumet, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
Best Actor George Clooney, Michael Clayton Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises	The Winner: Daniel Day-Lewis My Prediction: Daniel Day-Lewis My Vote: Viggo Mortensen Unfairly Overlooked: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead; Brad Pitt, The Assassination of Jesse James
Best Actress Cate Blanchett, Elizabeth: The Golden Age Julie Christie, Away from Her Marion Cotillard, La vie en rose Laura Linney, The Savages Ellen Page, Juno	The Winner: Marion Cotillard My Prediction: Laura Linney My Vote: Laura Linney Unfairly Overlooked: Amy Adams, Enchanted; Ashley Judd, Bug
Best Supporting Actor Casey Affleck, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Javier Bardem, No Country for Old Men Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlie Wilson's War Hal Holbrook, Into the Wild Tom Wilkinson, Michael Clayton	The Winner: Javier Bardem My Prediction: Javier Bardem My Vote: Casey Affleck Unfairly Overlooked: Josh Brolin, American Gangster; Armin Mueller-Stahl, Eastern Promises; Andy Griffith, Waitress; Chiwetel Ejiofor, Talk to Me
Best Supporting Actress Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There Ruby Dee, American Gangster Saoirse Ronan, Atonement Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton	The Winner: Tilda Swinton My Prediction: Ruby Dee My Vote: Amy Ryan Unfairly Overlooked: Kristen Thomson, Away from Her; Taraji P. Henson, Talk to Me; Maggie Smith, Becoming Jane
Foreign Language Film Beaufort (Israel) The Counterfeiters (Austria) Katyn (Poland) Mongol (Kazkhstan) 12 (Russia)	The Winner: The Counterfeiters My Prediction: n/a My Vote: n/a Unfairly Overlooked: Offside (Iran), Private Fears in Public Places (France), The Host (South Korea), 12:08 East of Bucharest (Romania), Exiled (Hong Kong)
Adapted Screenplay Christopher Hampton, Atonement Sarah Polley, Away from Her Ronald Harwood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood	The Winner: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men My Prediction: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men My Vote: Ethan Coen & Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men Unfairly Overlooked: Andrew Dominik, The Assassination of Jesse James; The Simpsons Movie
Original Screenplay Diablo Cody, Juno Nancy Oliver, Lars and the Real Girl Tony Gilroy, Michael Clayton Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Ratatouille Tamara Jenkins, The Savages	The Winner: Diablo Cody, Juno My Prediction: Diablo Cody, Juno My Vote: Diablo Cody, Juno Unfairly Overlooked: Kelly Masterson, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead; Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg, Hot Fuzz
Animated Feature Film Persepolis Ratatouille Surf's Up	The Winner: Ratatouille My Prediction: Ratatouille My Vote: Persepolis Unfairly Overlooked: The Simpsons Movie, Paprika
Cinematography Roger Deakins, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford Roger Deakins, No Country for Old Men Robert Elswit, There Will Be Blood Janusz Kaminski, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Seamus McGarvey, Atonement	The Winner: Robert Elswit, There Will Be Blood My Prediction: Robert Elswit, There Will Be Blood My Vote: Roger Deakins, The Assassination of Jesse James Unfairly Overlooked: Peter Suschitzky, Eastern Promises
Art Direction American Gangster Atonement The Golden Compass Sweeney Todd There Will Be Blood	The Winner: Sweeney Todd My Prediction: There Will Be Blood My Vote: Sweeney Todd Unfairly Overlooked: The Assassination of Jesse James, No Country for Old Men, Bug, The Darjeeling Limited
Sound Mixing The Bourne Ultimatum No Country for Old Men Ratatouille 3:10 to Yuma Transformers	The Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum My Prediction: 3:10 to Yuma My Vote: 3:10 to Yuma Unfairly Overlooked: The Assassination of Jesse James
Sound Editing The Bourne Ultimatum No Country for Old Men Ratatouille There Will Be Blood Transformers	The Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum My Prediction: There Will Be Blood My Vote: The Bourne Ultimatum Unfairly Overlooked: The Assassination of Jesse James
Original Score Dario Marianelli, Atonement Alberto Iglesias, The Kite Runner James Newton Howard, Michael Clayton Michael Giacchino, Ratatouille Marco Beltrami, 3:10 to Yuma	The Winner: Dario Marianelli, Atonement My Prediction: Dario Marianelli, Atonement My Vote: Marco Beltrami, 3:10 to Yuma Unfairly Overlooked: Alexandre Desplat, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium; Howard Shore, Eastern Promises
Original Song "Raise It Up" from August Rush "Happy Working Song" from Enchanted, Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz "So Close" from Enchanted, Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz "That's How I Know" from Enchanted, Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz "Falling Slowly" from Once, Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová	The Winner: "Falling Slowly" My Prediction: "Falling Slowly" My Vote: "Happy Working Song" Unfairly Overlooked: none
Costume Across the Universe Atonement Elizabeth: The Golden Age La vie en rose Sweeney Todd	The Winner: Elizabeth: The Golden Age My Prediction: Atonement My Vote: Sweeney Todd Unfairly Overlooked: The Assassination of Jesse James
Documentary Feature No End in Sight Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience Sicko Taxi to the Dark Side War/Dance	The Winner: Taxi to the Dark Side My Prediction: No End in Sight My Vote: No End in Sight Unfairly Overlooked: Into Great Silence, The King of Kong, Strange Culture
Documentary Short Freeheld La Corona Salim Baba Sari's Mother	The Winner: Freeheld My Prediction: n/a My Vote: n/a Unfairly Overlooked: n/a
Film Editing The Bourne Ultimatum The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Into the Wild No Country for Old Men There Will Be Blood	The Winner: The Bourne Ultimatum My Prediction: No Country for Old Men My Vote: No Country for Old Men Unfairly Overlooked: The Assassination of Jesse James
Makeup La vie en rose Norbit Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End	The Winner: La vie en rose My Prediction: La vie en rose My Vote: none Unfairly Overlooked: Bug, Rescue Dawn
Animated Short Even Pigeons Go to Heaven (Même les pigeons vont au paradis) I Met the Walrus Madame Tutli-Putli My Love (Moya Lyubov) Peter & the Wolf	The Winner: Peter & the Wolf My Prediction: Even Pigeons Go to Heaven (Même les pigeons vont au paradis) My Vote: none Unfairly Overlooked: n/a
Live Action Short At Night The Mozart of Pickpockets The Substitute (Il Supplente) Tanghi Argentini The Tonto Woman	The Winner: The Mozart of Pickpockets My Prediction: At Night My Vote: n/a Unfairly Overlooked:
Visual Effects The Golden Compass Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End Transformers	The Winner: The Golden Compass My Prediction: Transformers My Vote: none Unfairly Overlooked: Grindhouse