Oscars 2005

Gold Standard

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

MARCH 5: In one of the worst years ever, the Oscars yielded a four-way tie, with four films winning three awards each. Crash caused a huge surprise upset by winning Best Picture in a year in which all bets were on Brokeback Mountain. Crash also took Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing, while Brokeback Mountain won Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director (Ang Lee) and Best Score.

King Kong and Memoirs of a Geisha each captured three awards as well. King Kong was awarded for Sound Mixing, Sound Editing and Visual Effects, while Memoirs of a Geisha snagged Costume Design, Cinematography and Art Direction/Set Decoration.

Other unexpected upsets came in the Best Song category in which the much anticipated "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" (from Hustle & Flow) beat out favorite Dolly Parton (from Transamerica). And though Paradise Now and Sophie Scholl dominated the Foreign Language Film category, the awful Tsotsi surprisingly won.

In the major categories, Philip Seymour Hoffman carried the one lone stamp of quality by winning Best Actor for the excellent Capote. Reese Witherspoon won for an outstanding performance in a mediocre film, Walk the Line. George Clooney and Rachel Weisz won Best Supporting Actor and Actress, respectively, for two very bad films, Syriana and The Constant Gardener.

The Best Animated Feature Film category was the best on the ballot, with three very good films competing for the award. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit won.

In a year when Grizzly Man enchanted every critic, it was disqualified for the Best Documentary Oscar. The winner, predictably, was the banal and popular March of the Penguins.

The big hit The Chronicles of Narnia won Best Makeup. In the three short film categories, A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin won Best Documentary Short, Six Shooter won Best Live Action Short, and The Moon and the Son won Best Animated Short.

2006 looks pretty grim by comparison, but we can still hope...

One high point: Robert Altman getting an honorary Oscar. He enters the realm populated by Hitchcock, Hawks and other greats with no Oscar wins. He's a favorite of mine, and he's made quite a few damn good films, and a few great ones. I was honored to shake his hand once.

JANUARY 31: The nominations yielded no surprises; we have the usual batch of too few good movies, too many mediocre movies and several glaring omissions.

I made my predictions in the heat of the moment on Tuesday morning, and some of them are subject to change in the coming week. The Oscars will be broadcast on Sunday, Sunday, March 5, 2006.

Please also see current interviews with the nominees:

As well as past interviews with other current nominees:

Nominees	Jeff's Take
Best Picture Brokeback Mountain Capote Crash Good Night, and Good Luck Munich	The Winner: Crash My Prediction: Brokeback Mountain My Vote: Good Night, and Good Luck Unfairly Overlooked: A History of Violence
Best Director George Clooney, Good Night, and Good Luck Paul Haggis, Crash Ang Lee, Brokeback Mountain Bennett Miller, Capote Steven Spielberg, Munich	The Winner: Ang Lee My Prediction: Ang Lee My Vote: George Clooney Unfairly Overlooked: David Cronenberg, A History of Violence; Terrence Malick, The New World
Best Actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck	The Winner: Philip Seymour Hoffman My Prediction: Philip Seymour Hoffman My Vote: Philip Seymour Hoffman Unfairly Overlooked: Bill Murray, Broken Flowers
Best Actress Judi Dench, Mrs. Henderson Presents Felicity Huffman, Transamerica Keira Knightley, Pride & Prejudice Charlize Theron, North Country Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line	The Winner: Reese Witherspoon My Prediction: Reese Witherspoon My Vote: Reese Witherspoon Unfairly Overlooked: Radha Mitchell, Melinda and Melinda
Best Supporting Actor George Clooney, Syriana Matt Dillon, Crash Paul Giamatti, Cinderella Man Jake Gyllenhaal, Brokeback Mountain William Hurt, A History of Violence	The Winner: George Clooney My Prediction: Paul Giamatti My Vote: William Hurt Unfairly Overlooked: Jeffrey Wright, Broken Flowers & Frank Langella, Good Night, and Good Luck
Best Supporting Actress Amy Adams, Junebug Catherine Keener, Capote Frances McDormand, North Country Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener Michelle Williams, Brokeback Mountain	The Winner: Rachel Weisz My Prediction: Rachel Weisz My Vote: Amy Adams Unfairly Overlooked: Sandra Bullock, Crash; Scarlett Johansson, Match Point
Foreign Language Film Don't Tell (La Bestia nel cuore) (Italy) Joyeux Noël (France) Paradise Now (Palestine) Sophie Scholl (Germany) Tsotsi (South Africa)	The Winner: Tsotsi My Prediction: Paradise Now My Vote: Sophie Scholl Unfairly Overlooked: Saraband; 2046; The World
Adapted Screenplay Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana, Brokeback Mountain Dan Futterman, Capote Jeffrey Caine, The Constant Gardener Josh Olson, A History of Violence Tony Kushner, Eric Roth, Munich	The Winner: Brokeback Mountain My Prediction: Brokeback Mountain My Vote: Capote Unfairly Overlooked: Liev Scrheiber, Everything Is Illuminated
Original Screenplay Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco, Crash George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Good Night, and Good Luck Woody Allen, Match Point Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale Stephen Gaghan, Syriana	The Winner: Crash My Prediction: Crash My Vote: Good Night, and Good Luck Unfairly Overlooked: Jim Jarmusch, Broken Flowers; Miranda July, Me and You and Everyone We Know
Animated Feature Film Corpse Bride Howl's Moving Castle Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit	The Winner: Wallace & Gromit My Prediction: Wallace & Gromit My Vote: Corpse Bride Unfairly Overlooked: Pooh's Heffalump Movie
Art Direction Good Night, and Good Luck Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire King Kong Memoirs of a Geisha Pride & Prejudice	The Winner: Memoirs of a Geisha My Prediction: Memoirs of a Geisha My Vote: King Kong Unfairly Overlooked: Sin City
Cinematography Wally Pfister, Batman Begins Rodrigo Prieto, Brokeback Mountain Robert Elswit, Good Night, and Good Luck Dion Beebe, Memoirs of a Geisha Emmanuel Lubezki, The New World	The Winner: Memoirs of a Geisha My Prediction: Brokeback Mountain My Vote: The New World Unfairly Overlooked: Christopher Doyle, Kwan Pun-leung and Lai Yiu-fai, 2046
Sound Mixing The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe King Kong Memoirs of a Geisha Walk the Line War of the Worlds	The Winner: King Kong My Prediction: Walk the Line My Vote: King Kong Unfairly Overlooked: The New World
Sound Editing King Kong Memoirs of a Geisha War of the Worlds	The Winner: King Kong My Prediction: King Kong My Vote: King Kong Unfairly Overlooked: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Original Score Gustavo Santaolalla, Brokeback Mountain Alberto Iglesias, The Constant Gardener John Williams, Memoirs of a Geisha John Williams, Munich Dario Marianelli, Pride & Prejudice	The Winner: Brokeback Mountain My Prediction: Brokeback Mountain My Vote: none Unfairly Overlooked: David Newman, Serenity; James Horner, The New World
Original Song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from Hustle & Flow, Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman, Paul Beauregard "In the Deep" from Crash, Michael Becker, Kathleen York "Travelin' Through" from Transamerica, Dolly Parton	The Winner: "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" My Prediction: "Travelin' Through" My Vote: none Unfairly Overlooked: "I Like to Move It, Move It" from Madagascar, Sacha Baron Cohen, Erick Morillo
Costume Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Memoirs of a Geisha Mrs. Henderson Presents Pride & Prejudice Walk the Line	The Winner: Memoirs of a Geisha My Prediction: Memoirs of a Geisha My Vote: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Unfairly Overlooked: 2046
Documentary Feature Darwin's Nightmare Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room March of the Penguins Murderball Street Fight	The Winner: March of the Penguins My Prediction: March of the Penguins My Vote: Street Fight Unfairly Overlooked: Grizzly Man
Documentary Short God Sleeps in Rwanda A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin The Life of Kevin Carter The Mushroom Club	The Winner: A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin My Prediction: n/a My Vote: n/a Unfairly Overlooked: n/a
Film Editing Cinderella Man The Constant Gardener Crash Munich Walk the Line	The Winner: Crash My Prediction: Crash My Vote: none Unfairly Overlooked: A History of Violence
Makeup The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Cinderella Man Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith	The Winner: The Chronicles of Narnia My Prediction: The Chronicles of Narnia My Vote: n/a Unfairly Overlooked: Sin City
Animated Short Badgered The Moon and the Son The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello 9 One Man Band	The Winner: The Moon and the Son My Prediction: n/a My Vote: n/a Unfairly Overlooked: n/a
Live Action Short Ausreißer Cashback Síðasti bærinn í dalnum Our Time Is Up Six Shooter	The Winner: Six Shooter My Prediction: n/a My Vote: n/a Unfairly Overlooked: n/a
Visual Effects The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe King Kong War of the Worlds	The Winner: King Kong My Prediction: The Chronicles of Narnia My Vote: King Kong Unfairly Overlooked: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith