Tuesday, January 25, 2005
E.K. Nation Oscar Nomination Prediction Supernova Review
PICTURE:
Immediate reaction goes like this: The one stunning omission is Paul Giamatti for Best Actor in Sideways. This movie had been racking up award after award and Giamatti was one of those performers scooping up trophies. We wonder what happened there. It's not like he had another movie he could have found himself splitting his votes with. Then again, out of the 30 nominations, we have only seen Kate Winslet's in Eternal Sunshine and Jamie Foxx's in Collateral, so we just don't know anything, really.
The good news is, we don't see anything on here that we suspect are questionable nominations; nothing like the ridiculous nomination of Seabiscuit last year. We're guessing these are all good choices. (But who knows? We hated Forrest Gump.) The one real surprise is Mike Leigh for directing Vera Drake, but that's only because we weren't really seeing his name bandied about as a possible entrant. And we also figured Mike Nichols, a well-respected director, would get a nomination for Closer 37 years after getting one for The Graduate.
Overall, The Aviator leads the nomination count with eleven, with Finding Neverland and Million Dollar Baby getting seven each. Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock's hilarious and frightening documentary about a 30-day McDonald's diet binge, got a Best Documentary nomination, and we're happy about that. The Incredibles, which should beat Shrek 2 for Best Animated Feature, got four nods, including Original Screenplay. Whichever documentary has the Holocaust as its subject will win its category. And for those people who think Hollywood is nothing but a bunch of leftist wackos, the final score for nominations between two particular films is: The Passion of the Christ 3, Fahrenheit 9/11 0.
So here's how we see things going on Oscar night as of now, with eleven movie viewings to go before then if we want to have seen everything listed here: PICTURE: The Aviator. It's the most epic-like of all of them, and Martin Scorsese helmed it. Not that he's received any Oscars before. DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese for The Aviator. As we said last year with Peter Jackson, but it has much more meaning this time, "He'll get one, finally." ACTOR: Jamie Foxx in Ray. Write it down, like you did last year with Charlize Theron. ACTRESS: Annette Bening in Being Julia. At this point, we're not too sure about Bening. Well-liked and all, but we're also considering Imelda Staunton. But we don't know how many people have seen either film. This category, more than any of the other five discussed here, is wide open. SUPPORTING ACTOR: Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby. The world's greatest living actor will get an Oscar. SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Virginia Madsen in Sideways. This is also a tough category, and we feel that the Academy will want to honor Sideways in one form or another; Madsen is as likely a choice as any, and this category is the one that is typically the most ripe for relative surprises (see Marisa Tomei, Juliette Binoche).
What We Got: The Aviator, Million Dollar Baby, Ray, SidewaysSUPPORTING ACTOR:
What We Missed: Finding Neverland got in instead of Closer
What We Got: Thomas Haden Church, Sideways; Jamie Foxx, Collateral; Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby; Clive Owen, Closer
What We Missed: Alan Alda, The Aviator, got in instead of Peter Sarsgaard, Kinsey
PORTMAN, OWEN, MADSEN, CHURCH
SUPPORTING ACTRESS:
What We Got: Cate Blanchett, The Aviator; Laura Linney, Kinsey; Virginia Madsen, Sideways; Sophie Okonedo, Hotel Rwanda; Natalie Portman, CloserACTRESS:
What We Missed: Nothing.
What We Got: Annette Bening, Being Julia; Catalina Sandino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace; Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake; Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby; Kate Winslet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
What We Missed: Nothing.
FOXX, MORENO, DiCAPRIO, WINSLET
ACTOR:
What We Got: Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda; Leonardo diCaprio, The Aviator; Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby; Jamie Foxx, RayDIRECTOR:
What We Missed: Johnny Depp, Finding Neverland, got in instead of Paul Giamatti, Sideways
What We Got: Clint Eastwood, Million Dollar Baby; Alexander Payne, Sideways; Martin Scorsese, The AviatorAn even better day than last year for E.K. Nation, going 25 for 30 overall, including all ten actresses/supporting actresses. Not bad for not seeing any of the Best Picture nominees and only seeing two performances that were tabbed.
What We Missed: Taylor Hackford, Ray and Mike Leigh, Vera Drake instead of Mike Nichols, Closer and Zhang Yimou, House of Flying Daggers
Immediate reaction goes like this: The one stunning omission is Paul Giamatti for Best Actor in Sideways. This movie had been racking up award after award and Giamatti was one of those performers scooping up trophies. We wonder what happened there. It's not like he had another movie he could have found himself splitting his votes with. Then again, out of the 30 nominations, we have only seen Kate Winslet's in Eternal Sunshine and Jamie Foxx's in Collateral, so we just don't know anything, really.
The good news is, we don't see anything on here that we suspect are questionable nominations; nothing like the ridiculous nomination of Seabiscuit last year. We're guessing these are all good choices. (But who knows? We hated Forrest Gump.) The one real surprise is Mike Leigh for directing Vera Drake, but that's only because we weren't really seeing his name bandied about as a possible entrant. And we also figured Mike Nichols, a well-respected director, would get a nomination for Closer 37 years after getting one for The Graduate.
Overall, The Aviator leads the nomination count with eleven, with Finding Neverland and Million Dollar Baby getting seven each. Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock's hilarious and frightening documentary about a 30-day McDonald's diet binge, got a Best Documentary nomination, and we're happy about that. The Incredibles, which should beat Shrek 2 for Best Animated Feature, got four nods, including Original Screenplay. Whichever documentary has the Holocaust as its subject will win its category. And for those people who think Hollywood is nothing but a bunch of leftist wackos, the final score for nominations between two particular films is: The Passion of the Christ 3, Fahrenheit 9/11 0.
So here's how we see things going on Oscar night as of now, with eleven movie viewings to go before then if we want to have seen everything listed here: PICTURE: The Aviator. It's the most epic-like of all of them, and Martin Scorsese helmed it. Not that he's received any Oscars before. DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese for The Aviator. As we said last year with Peter Jackson, but it has much more meaning this time, "He'll get one, finally." ACTOR: Jamie Foxx in Ray. Write it down, like you did last year with Charlize Theron. ACTRESS: Annette Bening in Being Julia. At this point, we're not too sure about Bening. Well-liked and all, but we're also considering Imelda Staunton. But we don't know how many people have seen either film. This category, more than any of the other five discussed here, is wide open. SUPPORTING ACTOR: Morgan Freeman in Million Dollar Baby. The world's greatest living actor will get an Oscar. SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Virginia Madsen in Sideways. This is also a tough category, and we feel that the Academy will want to honor Sideways in one form or another; Madsen is as likely a choice as any, and this category is the one that is typically the most ripe for relative surprises (see Marisa Tomei, Juliette Binoche).
