And this year's Oscar nominations go to...NOT Ben Affleck?!

The 2013 Academy Award nominations came out today. And I'm in a bit of a daze. Not because of the films that got nominations, like the 12 for "Lincoln" and the 11 for "Life of Pi", but for the individuals that didn't get a nomination in categories that they have dominated over these past months in other award nomination fields like the Golden Globes, SAG, DGA, and Critic's Association.

So while there were nominations that were not surprising at all, - I easily predicted 8 out of the 9 Best Picture nominees - like the Academy's continued love over nominating Steven Spielberg and his works, or their aversion to nominate action films (sorry "Skyfall"!), there were far more nominations this morning that knocked me out. Let's analyze those surprises, both good and bad.

Ben Affleck didn't get a Best Director nomination -
Hello? Did Academy members see "Argo"? Well they must have, they did give it well-deserved Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations. But still, Affleck's brilliant direction is what gave this movie its energy and suspense. Anytime I'm on the edge of my seat, biting my knuckles, when I not only know what happened to the real people, but also read the autobiography that was the source material? That's a well directed film that deserves a nomination. Whom among the Direction nominees would I have eliminated instead? Probably David O. Russell. Silver Linings Playbook is great, but not necessarily because of the way it was directed.

Zero Dark Thirty got kind of shafted -
Okay, no it didn't, I'm being dramatic. It got 5 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for Jessica Chastain. But still, it feels very strange and very wrong that Kathryn Bigelow didn't get a Best Director nomination. Is it because she already won an Oscar for directing a war film and the Academy voters decided that one was enough? Bigelow should've had the nomination that was given to Ang Lee, or dare I say it, Steven Spielberg.

Silver Linings Playbook locked up ALL 4 acting nominations -
A feat that hadn't happened in over 30 years; the last time being Reds in 1981. Both supporting and both lead acting categories have nominees from this quirky movie. Listen, I loved this film and think that Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence both earned their Best Acting noms. But DeNiro and Weaver? Not so much. I like both of these actors and thought they were very good in their roles, but they weren't Oscar-worthy performances. I mean damn, compare Jackie Weaver's other supporting actress Oscar nominated performance in "Animal Kingdom" to her character work in "Silver Linings Playbook". It's no contest! She was sooo flat in "Playbook". Her nomination should've gone to Nicole Kidman or Samantha Barks.

The Academy didn't neglect Quvenzhané Wallis or “Beasts of the Southern Wild” -
Because I saw this movie way back in early June 2012 at SIFF, it feels so strange to me to be talking about award nominations for it. I just figured that anyone who cared about this movie had blown their trumpets about it months ago and it was largely forgotten by now. But instead it was rewarded with not only a Best Picture nomination, but also a Best Actress nod for Wallis (will I ever be able to pronounce or spell her first name without looking it up 45 times?), and a surprising and yet worthy Best Direction nomination for Benh Zeitlin. Yay!

Amour wasn't too depressing for the Academy members after all -
I have yet to see this movie (doesn't open in Seattle until January 25), but everything I've read about it seemed to be summed up thusly - an amazing film, but depressing as hell, and not in a "moving" way. I thought for sure Amour would get snubbed by the nominators, except for the inevitable Best Foreign Film nod. But surprisingly, not only did Emmanuelle Riva get nominated for Best Actress, Michael Haneke got a nom for direction, and "Amour" was also nominated for Best Picture. Speaking of...why does it irk me so much when films are nominated in both the "Best Picture" and "Foreign" categories? I don't know, it just does!! It's annoying to hog both film categories - The Artist I'm looking at you. Grrrrr

2012 Oscar Death Race - It's The FINAL COUNTDOWN!

di da du du, di da du doot doot...

As the last days of the Oscar Death Race wind down, I am very proud to report that as of this writing I have seen 58 of this year's 61 Academy Award nominated films. FIFTY-EIGHT!!! And I only have 2 Oscar categories left to complete.
Back in January when the nominations came out, I thought for sure I wouldn't be able to get even close to 50 movies under my belt. But in just one month's time I have been able to see 28 movies. I don't know if people should be impressed or horrified by that statistic.

As I feared, the Foreign Language Film category has been my undoing. Israel's "Footnote" is supposedly opening this weekend in Seattle so I may be able to knock off another one before Sunday's ceremony, but it's not looking good. The other foreign entry I'm missing is a Belgian film called Bullhead which I have heard neither hide nor hare about whether it will ever show up in one of the art theaters here.
Finally, the other category that I haven't completed is Animated Feature. Damn you Chico & Rita! [Ed. note - I just got an email from a friend that Chico is supposedly available on Amazon on Demand. I will be checking this out tonight.]
So technically, annoying Belgian films aside, I could possibly complete the Death Race this weekend. I don't know if it's more annoying to be one film shy or to be 30.

I'm a film buff and glorified "movie dork", so I know this endeavor sounds crazy or ridiculous to most people. But just as I felt last year, doing the race has exposed me to some great films that I possibly wouldn't have seen or given a chance otherwise.
Last year's diamond was the Australian thriller Animal Kingdom, this year I think it might be the animated short The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Sigh...It was so good you guys.

And my favorite of the 61 nominated films you ask? Hmm, that's tough. It's probably a 3-way tie between Hugo, War Horse, and Pina.

2012 Oscar Death Race - An exercise in futility

The 2012 Academy Awards nominations have arrived, and thus begins this year's Oscar Death Race in full effect!
Day 1 Race Standings:
Of the 61 films nominated this year, I have as of this writing seen 30 of them. And I've completed 5 of the 24 categories.
These stats may change considerably by the end of this day because I am seeing Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy tonight which is one of the few movies nominated for a "major award" that I have yet to see.
I'm counting on my local theater the Varsity to help me by showing the nominated shorts - Animated and Live Action - like they have the past couple of years, so that I can complete those two categories and cross off a lot of movies from the list of 61. It would be lovely if Varsity or SIFF showed the Documentary Shorts which has been one of my death knells in past year's "Races".
This year a surprisingly snag in Race completion has come in the form of the Best Foreign Film nominations. Usually my film festival attendance and general love of movies from other lands has me sitting pretty in this category. But this year's Foreign film noms only have two movies that I've seen. Two of the nominated films I've never even heard of!! Damn AMPAS, help a sista' out.
I frown upon downloading and watching illegally pirated movies, which I consider cheating during the Race. I will lament and whine for the rest of January and February if I can't find a way to see these foreign movies in a legitimate way.

2012 Oscar Nominations and the Oscar Death Race begins!!

"...Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Jennifer Lawrence at 5:30 in the morning. Nine Best Picture nominees tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things!"

That's right, the 2012 Academy Awards nominations were announced this morning. Hugo led the way with 11 nominations, with The Artist a close second, scoring 10 nominations of its own. After all of the hulabaloo over the new Best Picture nom logorithm decision process, in the end a total of 9 pictures met the qualifications to gain nominations for the big prize. Joining Hugo and The Artist are Tree of Life, War Horse, Moneyball, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, and The Help.
As I did last year, I'm participating in The Oscar Death Race, that Sarah Bunting over at Tomato Nation came up with a couple of years ago, where you attempt to see every film nominated in all categories. This year there are 61 movies nominated. I'll be giving updates on my progress as the weeks go by, but so far I've seen a good percentage of the films nominated this year. That being said however, I'm still pretty sure I'm going to fail the race again this year.
My nemesis category for 2012 is definitely Best Foreign Film. I really thought I had this category in the bag after attending various film festivals throughout 2011 and seeing a crapload of foreign films. But when all was said and done, this morning cute Jennifer Lawrence only ended up naming 2 movies that I've seen:

"Monsieur Lazhar" and "A Separation".

Footnote? In Darkness? In what now? So frustrating. I've been told that a local Seattle arthouse theater is actually going to show Bullhead soon, so I'm hoping to see this nominee soon. But for the others, I'm not holding my breath. Other potential downfall categories include Costume Design (Anonymous? REALLY?) and the Documentary Shorts. Also, I am PISSED that I am being forced to see that fucking Transformers movie. Grrrrr....

Prequel to the Oscars!

“It’s the most wonderful time of the year…”


When most people hear the dulcet tones of Andy Williams’ voice singing this holiday classic, visions of Christmas trees and sparkly lights come to mind. These days I almost always connect the song with the beginning of the movie awards season.
The Film Critics have announced their favorites, and SAG made their nominations last week, and now it’s the Hollywood Foreign Press’ turn.

The 2011 Golden Globe nominations were announced this morning. And with this list, I can begin finalizing and planning my strategy for the upcoming Oscar Death Race, where I will again attempt to see every single film nominated for an Academy Award. Even though the Oscar noms won't be released for another month or so, the Golden Globes usually give me an idea of what to expect for some of the major categories.
 
The good thing is that I've already seen many of the nominated films. But I am a little worried about the Foreign Film category for the Globes. Except for one Spanish film, I haven't seen any of the nominated films. Eeek. I usually lock this category up during the summer at the Seattle International Film Festival where I get to see numerous foreign films and documentaries that wouldn't normally be available in even the trendiest of hipster art-houses here in Seattle. Hopefully Oscar will take a different route with their Foreign noms.
 

George Clooney was a big winner on many a list.Looks like I'll defninitely have to see The Descendants, The Artist, and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, all of which I already had on my to-do list. I'm still unsure about the Michael Fassbender duo or A Dangerous Method and Shame. Although since the latter features full-frontal nudity from Fassy, I can guarantee I'll be seeing that one anyway.
 
Let the movie cramming begin!!!

The 2011 Oscars are 2 days away!!!!

I can't tell you how jazzed I am about the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony on February 27, 2011. Even though a lot of the winners are foregone conclusions (congrats Portman, Firth, and Bale!), the fact that two of the most winsome and fresh-faced entertainers on Earth are hosting can't be bad right? Have you seen any of the promotional ads for the ceremony that ABC's been running this month? So funny.

And supposedly Hathaway and Franco are going to be doing various skits where they recreate scenes from famous movies from the past like Gone With The Wind. Is this why Franco posted behind-the-scenes footage of an homage the two do to Grease? Hey, no complaints here.

For those wondering about the results of my attempt to complete the Oscar Death Race this year, I am currently 8 movies away from the finish line, and although I'll be seeing two more before Sunday, I'm still going to fall short. But hey! I will have seen FIFTY of the 56 movies nominated for this year's ceremony, so I am pretty damn proud and pleased with myself. Sarah Bunting, who started this competition, wrote about her progress/results on NPR.org yesterday. I can't believe she made it so close. Damn Shakespearean movies. And foreign ones from Canada and Denmark! I'm sure that I could probably find at least some of these on an illegal Torrent site, but that's CHEATING so I'm not even going to try.
I'd tell myself "better luck next year" except that I think I was incredibly lucky that I happened to see so many of the nominated films at the 2010 SIFF, and I can't imagine getting that lucky again.

Come Sunday you will find me hanging out with some dear friends, cocktail in hand, snarking on people's outfits, talking about how dreamy James Franco is, and competing to see who can guess the most correct winners of the Oscar's 24 categories. Hope you have a similarly enjoyable experience!

Oscar Death Race 2011 - One week left

As mentioned previously, I'm participating in an Oscar Death Race to see if I can watch all 56 Academy Award nominated films for 2011.
I started out with a good base of 21 of the 56 movies under my belt, and I've slowly made my way to my current tally of 42 movies. I never expected to complete all 56, and even though I expect to knock out a few more in the coming days, I know I won't make it, but it's been really fun getting this close to the goal.
127 Hours*

Alice in Wonderland
Animal Kingdom
Another Year
Barney's Version
Biutiful
Black Swan*
Blue Valentine
The Confession
Country Strong
The Crush
Day & Night
Dogtooth
Exit Through the Gift Shop
The Fighter*
GasLand
God of Love
The Gruffalo
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows I
Hereafter
How To Train Your Dragon
I Am Love
The Illusionist
In A Better World
Incendies
Inception*
Inside Job
Iron Man 2
The Kids Are All Right*
Killing In The Name
The King's Speech*
Let's Pollute
The Lost Thing
Madagascar, a Journey Diary
Na Wewe
Outside The Law
Poster Girl
Rabbit Hole
Restrepo
Salt
The Social Network*
Strangers No More
Sun Come Up
Tangled
The Tempest
The Town
Toy Story 3*
TRON Legacy
True Grit*
Unstoppable
The Warriors of Qiugang
Waste Land
The Way Back
Winter's Bone*
Wish 143
Wolfman

2011 Oscars - Nominations, Death Races, and Opinions

It's one of my favorite times of the year! The 2011 Academy Awards nominations were announced this morning. Considering how whack-ass the noms were for the Golden Globes this year, I was worried that we were going to have some awful choices for Oscar nominations, but that didn't come to pass and for the most part I am very pleased.
A lot of the categories are sort of no-brainers for me (just give Christian Bale and Aaron Sorkin their Oscars now), but the category I'm the most excited and torn about is Best Supporting Actress. How am I supposed to choose between Melissa Leo and Amy Adams's performances in The Fighter, much less having the awesome Hailee Steinfeld in the mix to complicate things.

Sarah Bunting at TomatoNation is also doing her annual Oscar Death Race, and this year I'm going to participate. Every year I try (and usually succeed) to see every film nominated for Best Picture, and as I suspected yesterday, I've already seen all of the Best Pic noms for 2011. Woo hoo!
So I was definitely feeling the need to up my game a bit, and this year's Death Race with its 56 movies nominated in 24 categories is right up my alley. Will I succeed in seeing all 56 films? Probably not. Wolfman is after all one of them. But I'm going to try my damndest. As of day one I've already seen 21 out of the 56 movies, and completed 10 of the 24 categories.


Wish me luck! Or better yet, join me in the fun.

Things and things

It's being reported that the producers of the Oscars have asked my boyfriend Hugh Jackman to host the 2011 ceremony again based on how successful he was when he hosted back in 2009.
But he's turned them down because he's scheduled to start shooting the X-Men: Wolverine sequel in late February/early March. Right around the time that ceremony is usually televised.




Sigh...another chance to see this fine speciman of a human exquisitely fill a tuxedo has been squandered.


In other news, I am WOEFULLY behind in my novel writing venture for NaNoWriMo. To be on schedule I should've written close to 9,000 words by now. I don't want to tell you how many words I actually have on paper, but it's way less than 9K. I'm trying not to throw in the towel.

Best moments of the 2010 Oscars

I won't go into a big long thing here about last night's Oscar ceremony. It's being rehashed and discussed everywhere and I'm sure y'all are "Oscared" out. Sure last night's production was super long and could've been shortened by removing unnecessary bits - Horror movie montage I'm looking at you - but in general I thought it was one of the more entertaining Oscar telecasts in recent memory. And I didn't even win my office's Oscar pool this year (2nd place) and I'm not upset about it, so you know I had to be enjoying the show if it took my mind off that loss.

From reading various blogs, some of the highlights for me weren't that popular with other folks:

Best Score nominees presented with interpretive dance -

I know I'm a So You Think You Can Dance fanatic, but I can't be the only person who loved this part of the ceremony, can I? It was great seeing past season SYTYCD alums like Travis, Jakob, Russell, Kathryn, Nick, and Ivan. And the choreography was amazing! I thoroughly approve of them getting rid of the Best Song performances like they did this year and replacing it permanently with these dance presentations.

John Hughes tribute -

Even though this loving tribute from Hughes' past teen stars made me feel incredibly old, it was still very touching and brought a little tear to my eye. Also bringing a tear? Judd Nelson's tux and facial hair. I loved the beginning with Molly Ringwald and Matthew Broderick even more than when the rest of the Hughes alums came out on stage; and I was happy to see that they did something special for Hughes beyond just the normal "parade of dead people" that happened later in the show.

Kathryn Bigelow WON!!
Okay, how funny is the photo below? Hee hee. I'm sure James Cameron tried to play it off as a "joke".
I was totally stoked for Bigelow, who absolutely deserved her historic win for Best Director. And to get to have the Oscar presented to you by Barbra Streisand herself? AWESOME.

Best Presenters/Witty Teleprompter Banter -

Tina Fey & Robert Downey Jr. really brought the funny with their little tete a tete about the difference between what actors want and what writers expect of them before giving out the Oscars for best original screenplay and best adapted screenplay. Maybe these two should host next year!



Finally, FASHION!

A big WOO HOO shout out to my beloved gay teddy bear (and Project Runway S4 contestant) Chris March and his awesome dress that he made for Meryl Streep. Seriously, a chance of a lifetime. Yay Chris!

And now for something a little more controversial...

I am like the only person on Earth (except for Zoe Saldana's stylist apparently) that really liked Zoe's Givenchy gown. Yes, it does look like two different dresses sewn together. And yes it does sort of look like those 2 dresses were then attacked by a rabid band of purple plastic and crepe paper leis.

But somehow I still adore this dress. Maybe it's just my love for Zoe Saldana that's blinding me? Oh well.

"Do you know me?"

Mladen Sekulovich passed away today at the respectable age of 97. After these past few weeks of various celebrities dying of cancer, suspicious heart attacks and other things, it's almost nice to hear about someone leaving this Earth from plain ol' old age.
A lot of folks in their thirties and forties probably remember Karl Malden mostly from the American Express ads he did for decades.

But I loved him for being the wise, awesome Detective Lt. Mike Stone from the great 70s cop drama The Streets of San Francisco. Starring first with Michael Douglas playing Inspector Steve Keller ("buddy boy") and later with yummy Richard Hatch (pre-Battlestar days) as Inspector Dan Robbins. I could watch this show every day and not get sick of it. I'm hoping that because of Malden's passing they might finally release the last couple of seasons of the show on DVD.Malden of course will also be remembered for his Oscar-winning turn as sad-sack Mitch in A Streetcar Named Desire. And as Herbie in the 1962 movie version of Gypsy with Natalie Wood and Rosalind Russell.
He will be missed. So long dear man, keep it classy up there in Heaven!

Oscar 2009 tally

Some 2009 Academy Awards ceremony thoughts –

Overall, I really enjoyed the new format of the show. They were hands down the most entertaining Oscars in years if not decades. It goes without saying that my boyfriend Hugh did a great job as host. Charming charming charming.

Some highlights:

• The opening musical number was great. Seriously, Hugh Jackman is made of awesome. And Anne Hathaway was good as well.
• The new way that the acting awards were presented was really well done. I was worried when I heard what they were proposing. And in practice it seemed like it took a much longer time to present these awards but the time didn’t matter because it was executed so well. Ok, some people did better (Shirley Maclaine) than others (ahem Alan Arkin), but still, I liked what they did here. Now I don’t know if I want to see this done every year, but I liked it last night.
• Another reason why the aforementioned length of the acting awards didn’t matter so much? They grouped together most of the other awards so that there were fewer presenters. The result was that these awards took less time to present and grouping things like “Art Direction”, “Costume” and “Make Up” just made the show more seamless.
• Ben Stiller’s Joaquin Phoenix impersonation. Stiller usually bugs the crap out of me on these things but gawd, if he wasn’t hilarious making fun of Phoenix’s strange behavior of late.
• All of the kids from Slumdog Millionaire. SO FREAKIN' ADORABLE!
• The presentation of the movie genre groupings for 2008. I know a lot of people hated these segments but I really enjoyed them. Especially the comedy section that was presented in a sort of digital short mini-movie format with James Franco and Seth Rogen spoofing their characters from their movie "Pineapple Express". And the fact that award-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski played along was brilliant.
• Dustin Lance Black’s acceptance speech for winning the best original screenplay award for “Milk”. Perfection.
• The winners. Seriously, except for “Waltzing With Bashir” not winning the Foreign Film prize, I was happy with all of the winners. That may be a first for me. And you know how I love to complain.
  

The lowlights (speaking of complaining):

• As much as I love musicals, and musical numbers, and boyfriend Hugh, and in small doses Beyonce, I really disliked the second musical extravaganza of the evening. It was a tribute to musicals even though there weren’t any musicals nominated from last year? And why were Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Effron, that annoying Seygfried girl and that Dominic guy who was in “Mama Mia” with her, all on stage singing back up and “dancing” behind Hugh and Beyonce? The whole unnecessary performance came off as forced, and twee. I mean we get it, Jackman’s a triple threat. That doesn’t mean that he has to sing and dance every 5 minutes, especially when it’s such a waste of time. That was 15 min that they could have cut out of the show.
• Sean Penn's hair. It's so crazy; it comes off his head in this big bouffanty way and makes his noggin look HUGE. gah! But I'm very happy that he won and that he didn't make too much of a political speech. It was just enough.
• "Departures" and the country of Japan for ruining my perfect winning streak in the Oscar winner pool at my work. Because this movie won Best Foreign Film instead of my pick "Waltzing With Bashir" or my chief rival in the game's pick of France's "The Class" there ended up being a 3-way tie so we had to split the $100 pot. Grrrr...at least I still technically came in the lead - I just share the top spot with two others.

Regarding my Oscar winner picks - I missed 2. The aforementioned Foreign Film and Best Actor. As the ceremony started I knew in my heart that Rourke wasn't going to win. Again, I'm very happy that Sean Penn won. His work in Milk was amazing.

One last thing I enjoyed? The previews of the 2009 movies during the ceremony's credits. Made me so excited.

Oscar Predictions 2009

My friends and family know how much I LOVE the Oscars. I adore everything about the ceremony and all things leading up to it –
- The onslaught of “quality” films that come slamming into each other every December just before the Academy eligibility cut-off date.
- All of the lesser awards shows like the SAG, DGA, WGA, Golden Globes etc. that come before – and then the actual Oscar nomination day itself.
- I have been known to actually wake up at 5:30 AM PST on that cold January morning to watch the nominations live. I know… I need help.
The Oscar season brings out the film nerd in me. I make sure to try and see all of the films nominated in the major categories, and I feel disappointed with myself when I don’t get to see everything. This year I did pretty well, although I missed Happy Go Lucky and a few of the documentary and foreign film nominees.

This year I have even more of a reason to celebrate because my #1 boyfriend, Hugh Jackman is hosting!! (squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!)

I don’t know if you know this but, I am very competitive. I participate in an Oscar pool at work and I am the undefeated champion 5 years running. My friends have stopped doing their own Oscar pool contests with me because they say that it’s unfair to play against me! I think it’s unfair that my friends are denying me the chance to beat them fair and square! It’s not my fault that I’m so good – people should do their homework.


Every year I enter Roger Ebert's contest that he does through the Sun Times where he encourages people to try and beat him. I have yet to do so (damn you Ebert!) but one of these days I'm going to win that prize (a ticket to the following year's ceremony).
ANYWAY, here are my predictions – feel free to use them for your own Oscar contests. My guesses below are only for the "major" awards; but here is the full list of nominees just in case you actually have a life and aren’t obsessed about them like I am.

The Duchess's 2009 Oscar predictions:

Best Picture:
Slumdog Millionaire. If ever there was a Dickens story for the 21st century, this is it. And it's a phenom that's broken almost every rule of Hollywood marketing. Another reason why I think this film will win the big prize? Danny Boyle, the film's director, won the Directors Guild Award a few weeks ago, and in 52 of the last 58 years, the DGA winner's film has won the Oscar as best picture. So don't bet against it.

Best Director:
Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, not only because it was an awesome directorial challenge, using untrained actors on unfamiliar locations, but because he won the Directors Guild Award (see above).

Best Actor:
I have been battling back and forth on this race. It's between Sean Penn in Milk and Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler. As of today, when I submitted my choices to the office pool I have Mickey Rourke, but I am sort of starting to backtrack and think the Penn might get it again. And I usually don't let my sentimentality cloud my predicitions but, in this race I'll say that I think Richard Jenkins should win the statuette but he won't.

Best Actress:
I've got to go with Kate Winslet for her inCREdible performance in The Reader. I suppose Meryl Streep is a dark horse favorite who could steal it from her, but since Winslet also gave a pretty great turn in Revolutionary Road I think she has this race sewn up.

Best Supporting Actor:
Duh. Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight. No doubt. No contest.

Best Supporting Actress:
This has been the hardest race to call for me. Like with Actor, I've changed my mind about 50 times. But unlike the Actor race, I can actually see any of the supporting actress nominees winning. Penelope Cruz has the most buzz; and maybe it’s because while I thought she was good in “Vicky Cristina” I didn’t think she was all that, but I don’t necessarily think Cruz is a definite. So I went with Cruz in my pool, but I think that both Viola Davis and Marisa Tomei have an outside chance, with the edge to Davis because Tomei already won this award (undeservedly IMO).

Best Foreign Film:
I'm going with Waltz With Bashir. But the other contender is the French film The Class. "Waltz" was the only one of the nominees that I saw.

Best Animated Film:
WALL-E. Almost as sure a bet as Supporting Actor.

Best Documentary:
I'm going with "Man On Wire", only because it's the one with the most buzz. "Trouble The Water" about Katrina could steal it though.

Best Original Screenplay:
Will probably go to Dustin Black for Milk. Mcdonagh has a small shot for his writing In Bruges.

Best Adapted Screenplay:
I can't imagine the Oscar going to anyone other than Simon Beaufoy for Slumdog Millionaire. But boy did David Hare do a great job with The Reader.

Best Cinematography:
Another tough race. This is the tie-breaker category in my work Oscar pool. I went with Dod Mantle for Slumdog Millionaire, but it could easily go to Wally Pfister for The Dark Knight.

Best Visual Effects:
The last two awards I'm giving up to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

Best Make-up:
"Benji Button" -I mean seriously, how could you not?


Happy Oscars 2009!!! Here's another pic of my boyfriend to end things right.