I loved how you could see hints of their "special underwear" through their white shirts. Those kinds of details make a film wonderful.
:)

Hahahaah - An Oscars First!!!

For the first time in my roughly 40 years of watching the Academny Awards, I'll likely care most about the Best Animated and Live-Action Shorts contests.

And Kevy Baby's

And, with 3 hours to go ... here's how I'd vote if I were a member of the Academy .... (not who I think will win).
I copied the format from Alex, and I left his "ranking" of my picks ... just 'cause.


Best Picture
4. The Queen
and I also put Babel at 27 or lower

Best Actor
1. Peter O'Toole - Venus
(Forest Whitaker and Ryan Gosling unseen)

Best Actress
1. Kate Winslet - Little Children
an upset (in my own mind even) over Helen Mirren
(Judy Dench and Penelope Cruise unseen)

Best Supporting Actor
1. Jackie Earle Haley - Little Children

Best Supporting Actress
1. Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

Best Director
1. Paul Greengrass - United 93

Best Original Screenplay
2. Guillermo del Toro - Pan's Labyrinth

Best Adapted Screenplay
1. Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fregus, Hawk Ostby - Children of Men

Best Cinematography
1. Emmanuel Lubeski - Children of Men
(unseen - The Prestige)

Best Art Direction
Pan's Labyrinth - Eugenio Caballero
- what's being evaluated is set design and, separately, the artistic design of the entire picture (which likely includes preliminary elements of set design). Set decoration, a yet separate and integral element of any picture's "look" is not recognized by the Academy.

Best Costume Design
1. Patricia Field - The Devil Wears Prada
yes, these real clothes were the best costumes of the year ... and far from being authentic high fashion, were very carefully selected for the pop-image of high fashion that the story portrays.

Best Sound Mixing
John Reitz, Dave Campbell, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin - Flags of Our Fathers

Best Achievement in Editing
1. Clare Douglas, Richard Pearson, Christopher Rouse - United 93

Best Sound Editing
Sean McCormack and Kami Asgar - Apocalypto

Best Visual Effects
1. Pirates of the Caribbean

Best Make-Up
2. Apocalypto
(Click unseen)

Best Song
Truth be told, I have no idea which Dreamgirls song was which ... 3 were nominated, and each was likely inferior to many of the ineligible songs from the original show. So I can vote neither honestly nor honorably in this category.

Best Score
Alexandre Desplat - The Queen
(Notes on a Scandal - Unseen and unheard)
I found each of the nominated scores fairly unremarkable

Best Short Film, Animated
The Danish Poet

Best Short Film, Live Action
The Saviour

Best Short Documentary
None seen.

Best Feature Documentary
An Inconvenient Truth - which I liked better than the only other one I saw, Jesus Camp

Best Foreign Language Film
I only saw Pan's Labyrinth and am completely confident it's the best foreign language film of the year.

Best Animated Feature
2. Cars
Indicating it was poor year for animated features.


In a couple of hours, we'll see how well the Academy agrees with me .... but it turns out Alex and I agree on quite a lot. ;)

Thanks for the info, Alex.

I didn't know that about Mormons either. I'm used to the concept of undergarments with religious significance. My father and brothers wore Tallit katan for years.

I'll list what I'd vote for and what I guess will win. If they're the same I'll just list the one. (I'm taking some risks this year, but that's fun.)

Best Picture
Little Miss Sunshine

Best Actor
Forest Whitaker - The Last King of Scotland

Best Actress
Helen Mirren - The Queen

Best Supporting Actor
I'd vote for: Alan Arkin - Little Miss Sunshine
Will win: Eddie Murphy - Dreamgirls

Best Supporting Actress
Jennifer Hudson - Dreamgirls

Best Director
I'd vote for: Clint Eastwood - Letters from Iwo Jima
Will win: 2. Martin Scorcese - The Departed
(or possibly Clint. The academy really doesn't like Scorcese.)

Best Original Screenplay
Michael Arndt - Little Miss Sunshine

Best Adapted Screenplay
Alfonso Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fregus, Hawk Ostby - Children of Men

Best Cinematography
Will win: Emmanuel Lubeski - Children of Men
I'd vote for: Guillermo Navarro - Pan's Labyrinth

Best Art Direction:
Pan's Labyrinth

Best Costume Designi
Patricia Field - The Devil Wears Prada


Best Sound Mixing
Dreamgirls

Best Achievement in Editing
Will win: Thelma Shoonmaker - The Departed
Would vote for: Children of Men (non-editing notwithstanding.)

Best Sound Editing
Letters from Iwo Jima

Best Visual Effects
Pirates of the Caribbean

Best Make-Up
Pan's Labyrinth

Best Song
Will win: Dreamgirls, "Patience"
Would vote for: Cars, "Our Town"

Best Score
Javier Navarette - Pan's Labyrinth

Best Short Film, Animated
The Danish Poet

Best Short Film, Live Action
Bintu and the Great Idea

Best Short Documentary
Rehearsing a Dream

Best Feature Documentary
An Inconvenient Truth (but we hope Tom's friend will win for Iraq in Piece)

Best Foreign Language Film
Pan's Labyrinth

Best Animated Feature
Cars

They don't talk about it (Mormons) at all. If you want to quickly and likely irredeemably offend a Mormon try to talk about it with them. Among the most offensive things (to a member) done at anti-LDS events is the public display and desecrtaion of these garments.

Yaaaaaaaaaaay Danish Poet!

Does Will Smith's son have the world's longest name?

West Bank story was great but I really thought the Saviour was a better film.

Hurrah Danish Poet!!