Oscar Predictions

[innerSpaceman]

My relief at Dreamgirls getting shut out of Best Picture and Best Director does not compensate for my disapppintment at the cluelessness of the general Academy in nominating Babel for both awards. Bah.

Though I'll readily admit the two women who got best supporting nods from that picture were terrific. I'm glad Kate Winslet got a best actress nom for Little Children. That's a great picture and should be more widely seen, imo.

I'm ecstatic about Peter O'Toole's best actor nod. He was fantastic, and Venus likewise deserves greater visibility.

I'm pleased that Paul Greengrass got a best director nom for United 93, and that it got an editing nomination. That was just a terrific movie. If Greengrass goes on to win, it might just make up for his movie missing its just desserts as a Best Picture nominee.

The acting noms for Little Miss Sunshine are cool, but I think Toni Collette was wrongly overlooked. Meryl Streep, while I adore her, was merely a supporting player (imo) in The Devil Wears Prada ... but I guess when you're Meryl Streep, your persona looms larger than your actual role.

Mark Wahlberg's nom for best supporting was d'uh ... but I'm surprised Nicolson got nada. It was his best performance in decades. He actually didn't play Jack Nicholson in the role. It's nice that DiCaprio's nod came for Blood Diamond instead of The Departed. He was good in both films, but - - heheh, I loved his SouthAfrikan accent in his nominated performance.

Bah that Children of Men got only screenplay, cinematography and editing. It had terrific performances by Clive Owen and Michael Caine, was fantastically directed by Alfonso Cuaron, and was simply the best movie I've seen in a long time.

It's also too bad that the far-more pedestrian Letters from Iwo Jima shone in the noms much brighter than Flags of Our Fathers, which got only a few tech nods.

Helen Mirren's nom as The Queen was approrpriate. Now I've got to go out and see Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin and Judi Dench in Notes on a Scandal. All things being equal, I'll likely root for Judi Dench, playing a fictional character.

I'm also going to have to catch Penelope Cruz's performance in Volver and Ryan Gosling in Half Nelson. I'm surprised at how many best actor and actress nominated performances were missed in my annual screener deluge. Seems I'll be hitting a few pre-Oscar movies at the cinema after all.