I haven’t seen all of the movies up for nomination in every category, so I’m not going to pick winners. Instead, I will sound off on my thoughts for each particular category of importance.

Best Picture: I guess I’m sort of surprised to see “Juno” on there. It’s the odd-one out in the crop of sober, serious Best Picture candidates. I don’t see a teen-pregnancy movie winning Best Picture, but hey, at least they threw them a bone, right? It seems half-hearted to me. I don’t think it has any chance, so why nominate it? Just to get a mix of different types of films?

Best Actor: I fully expect Daniel Day Lewis to walk away with this one for “There Will be Blood”. He’s been waiting for it for a while, and the Academy loves to award Oscars for

1. This sort of sprawling historical thing

and

2. To actors who have been deserving Oscars for past roles but haven’t gotten one yet. Morgan Freeman got his the other year, and now it’s Lewis’s turn.

And the less I have to hear about Johnny Depp deserving Best Actor, the better. If he really, really wants one, he should consider doing a more conventional role. Less Tim Burton, more Steven Spielberg. I can just imagine a Johnny Depp acceptance speech. He would stand up there at the podium, not smiling behind dark glasses, and mumble into the microphone something about how he likes living in Paris, his unkempt Oscar-beard filled with crumbs, and then shuffle off while the audience gives a standing ovation.

Best Actress: This is the most interesting category to me because Ellen Paige, or “Juno”, really does have a fighting chance. It would be cool to see a 20-year old win Best Actress for playing a 16-year old. She really doesn’t seem to have much competition in the category. In fact, she is the only actress in the nominees whose film is one of the Best Picture nominees. Hmmm…what does that say about the Hollywood system, I wonder?

Best Director: My money would be on the Coen’s for “No Country for Old Men”. That is, if I were betting money, which I certainly wouldn’t be. For example, if you contacted me, I definitely wouldn’t have a chart of probabilities that I would use to give you very fair odds on the winners. I just wouldn’t do that.

Best Supporting Actor: The crazy-creepy Javier Bardem (”No Country for Old Men”) should have this thing locked up. This guy is seriously creepy. He might be the most violent character ever to win a Best Supporting Actor.

You know who my nomination would be, though? The “Cloverfield” monster. I’m not entirely sure it’s a he, but what the hey. Throw that big guy a bone. “His” movie just broke the all-time January box-office record! You should go see it.

Best Supporting Actress: I have seen precisely zero of the movies these actresses come from. Therefore, I say give it to Tilda Swinton, who is cool and under-appreciated. I see no more important criteria than those.

 Final Oscar Prediction: They will suck. The writer’s strike continues at full speed, and if the Golden Globes were any sort of warning, the Oscars will be a pretty drab affair this year.

 -Jim

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 8:44 pm and is filed under Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.