2007 Oscars Predictions

MadProfessah's Oscar nomination prediction accuracy rate in the Top 8 categories (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Original Screenplay and Adapted Screenplay) was an impressive 29 out of 40, or 72.5%. EW.com has a very cool Flash-powered game where you can enter EW's Oscars prediction contest. The awards ceremony will be hosted by Ellen Degeneres and broadcast next Sunday February 25th at 5pm from The Kodak Theater in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.

Best Picture











Of course the major story here is what I like to call in my classes the Wideman question, i.e. "What's not here?" or "What's left out?" The answer is Dreamgirls! In my opinion, it was the Best Picture of the Year. Although I have seen a lot of movies in the last year, I only saw Babel and Letters from Iwo Jima in the last week but I can't say that I was overly impressed with either of these films enough to endorse their Best Picture worthiness.

If I go with the film that I enjoyed the most while watching it I would have to vote for Little Miss Sunshine though I must admit that I felt that there were moments of "Damn! That's good film making" while watching The Departed (for the intricacy of William Monahan's script), Babel (for the impact of Gustavo Santolalla's heart-tugging score) and The Queen (for the amazing Helen Mirren's transformation into Queen Elizabeth II). Sadly, I felt no transcendent moments while watching Letters from Iwo Jima ("Oscar voters snubbed Dreamgirls for this?" this weekend.

Anyway, many Oscar prognosticators have forecast a win by Babel for Best Picture on Sunday while others have gone for The Departed or Little Miss Sunshine. Anyway, Oscar ballots had to be in by Tuesday February 20th. Here are my picks:

SHOULD WIN: Little Miss Sunshine
WILL WIN: The Departed

Best Director

• Clint Eastwood, Letters from Iwo Jima
• Stephen Frears, The Queen
• Alejandro González Iñárritu, Babel
• Martin Scorsese, The Departed
• Paul Greengrass, United 93
  
  SHOULD WIN: Stephen Frears, The Queen
  WILL WIN: Martin Scorsese, The Departed

Best Actress

• Penelope Cruz, Volver
• Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
• Helen Mirren, The Queen
• Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
• Kate Winslet, Little Children
  
  SHOULD WIN: Helen Mirren, The Queen
  WILL WIN: Helen Mirren, The Queen

Best Actor

• Leonardo Dicaprio, Blood Diamond
• Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
• Peter O'Toole, Venus
• Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness
• Forrest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
  
  SHOULD WIN: Forrest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland
  WILL WIN: Forrest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

Best Supporting Actress

• Adriana Barraza, Babel
• Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
• Abigail Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
• Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
• Rinko Kicuchi, Babel



SHOULD WIN: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
WILL WIN: Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls

Best Supporting Actor

• Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
• Jackie Early Haley, Little Children
• Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
• Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
• Mark Wahlberg, The Departed
  
  SHOULD WIN: Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
  WILL WIN: Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls

Best Original Screenplay

• Guilllermo Arriaga, Babel
• Iris Yamashita and Paul Haggis, Letters From Iwo Jima
• Peter Morgan, The Queen
• Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine
• Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
  
  SHOULD WIN: Guillermo del Toro, Pan's Labyrinth
  WILL WIN: Michael Arndt, Little Miss Sunshine

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Sacha Baron Cohen and Anthony Hines and Peter Baynham and Dan Mazer and Todd Phillips, Borat Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
• Todd Field and Tom Perrota, Little Children
• Patrick Marber, Notes on a Scandal
• Alfonso Cuarón and Timothy J. Sexton and David Arata and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, Children of Men
• William Monahan, The Departed
  
  SHOULD WIN: William Monahan, The Departed
  WILL WIN: William Monahan, The Departed
  

REVIEW: Notes on a Scandal

Went to the local multiplex at Edwards Renaissance Theaters in Alhambra, CA and saw Notes on a Scandal this past weekend. The movie stars Academy Award winners Dame Judi Dench (Best Supporting Actress, Shakespeare in Love) and Cate Blanchett (Best Supporting Actress, The Aviator) in an adaptation of Zoë Heller's Booker Prize-nominated novel What Was She Thinking?: Notes on a Scandal by Patrick Marber (Academy Award nominee for Closer). These principals are all nominated for 2007 Oscars, as is Phillip Glass for his evocative score.

The story is of a toxic friendship between first-time art teacher Sheba Hart (played by Blanchett) and teaching veteran Barbara Covett (played by Dench) at a gritty, urban public school in North London. The plot follows a tragic personal mistake made by Sheba Hart to begin a sexual relationship with one of her 15-year old male students. The performances by the two leads are riveting to watch, and even the supporting roles are a pleasure to behold. The veteran British actor Bill Nighy (Love, Actually and more recently Pirates of the Caribbean) plays Sheba Hart's husband (and former professor). The young (born January 1, 1989) actor who plays Sheba Hart's romantic interest Steven Connolly who is an active and willing participant in the illicit affair is Andrew Simpson. He does an excellent job of portraying a boy who is mature enough to be involved with an adult much more than twice his age but not mature enough to know how to react when the situation becomes complicated. And things DO become complicated!

The movie has a visceral emotional impact and is compelling to watch, not unlike watching a car crash in slow motion involving people we care about but do not necessarily like. The audience knows what Sheba is doing is wrong, but Blanchett does an amazing job humanizing her character. Dench's character is such a repressed, self-deluded misanthrope that her job is more difficult: to get the audience to continue to watch and attempt to understand Barbara's motivation and actions without disgust. Both actresses succeed at their tasks magnificently. However, the end result is in the service of material which tends to sully the human spirit, not dignify it. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

REVIEW: B+.