the fresh films awards

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The Academy Awards 2007
to be presented at the Kodak Theatre, Hollywood
Sunday, February 25, 2007

 

THE OSCARS

 

The Golden Globes are always tabbed as the indactor to who will be up for the Oscars. But what about turning the table? To me, the Golden Globes is a better show than the Academy Awards (mainly, it's not as frantic), and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association seems to be noticing a few things the Academy doesn't.

This years Golden Globes was noteworthy for the fact that everyone was there. And with everyone, I mean the good ol' generation. Great moments included Meryl Streep's thank you-speech, Warren Beatty receiveing the Cecil B. DeMille award, Sacha Baron Cohen's speech, and many others (Alec Baldwin, Bill Nighy, etc). But what do the Golden Globes make us expect from the Oscars?

As usual, the 10 nominated films in the two best film categories of the Globes (Drama and Musical/Comedy) make up the 5 films in the best film category of the Oscars. And as usual, the majority (4) come from the drama section, with only Emilio Estevez' Bobby being substituted for Dreamgirls. Babel won the Globe, something I hope it will reprise at the Oscars.

In the Best Actor catagory, Ryan Gosling was somewhat of a surprise nominee. He won't be the winner though. The other four were also nominated for the Globes, although Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated twice there. That still wasn't enough to win, as Forest Whitaker took the award. He will probably do that again, but it is a rather strange situation, because the film (The Last King of Scotland) isn't nominated for anything else. Even stranger is the fact that this is true for Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness) and Peter O'Toole (Venus) as well.

 Sacha Baron Cohen, who won the Globe for best Musical/Comedy actor, isn't nominated (of course, being as it is a comedy), but he is compensated with an award for best writing (writing? really?).

When it comes to Best Actress, the award will most definitely be a race between Helen Mirren and Meryl Streep - each winning their respective Globe. Seeing as Mirren has gotten the most rave reviews, and as she's in a drama, my bet is on her.

The Best Director is probably not an even contest this year, although it should be. Martin Scorsese will win - but not rightly, because Alejandro González Iñarritu has made the by far best picture, and done the most demanding job in the directors chair. Maybe he will make up for it, as on the Golden Globes, by winning the Best Film.

 

BEST FILM

BABEL

THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
  LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
  THE QUEEN
 
PREDICTION (0/1) BABEL
MY PICK BABEL
SHOULD HAVE
BEEN NOM'ED
DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN

 

BEST ACTOR

RYAN GOSLING for HALF NELSON

 

LEONARDO DICAPRIO for BLOOD DIAMOND
  PETER O'TOOLE for VENUS
  WILL SMITH for THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

 

FOREST WHITAKER for THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
 
PREDICTION (1/2) FOREST WHITAKER
MY PICK WILL SMITH
COULD HAVE
BEEN NOM'ED
AARON ECKHARDT (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING)
ULRICH MÜHE (DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN)
WILL FERRELL (STRANGER THAN FICTION)
GREG KINNEAR (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE)

 

BEST ACTRESS

JUDI DENCH for NOTES ON A SCANDAL
  PENÉLOPE CRUZ for VOLVER

 

HELEN MIRREN for THE QUEEN

 

MERYL STREEP for THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
KATE WINSLET for LITTLE CHILDREN
 
PREDICTION (2/3) HELEN MIRREN
MY PICK HELEN MIRREN
SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOM'ED -

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

ALAN ARKIN for LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
  JACKIE EARL HALEY for LITTLE CHILDREN
  DJIMON HOUNSOU for BLOOD DIAMOND

 

EDDIE MURPHY for DREAMGIRLS
MARK WAHLBERG for THE DEPARTED
 
PREDICTION (2/4) EDDIE MURPHY
MY PICK NONE OF THE ABOVE
SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOM'ED PAUL GIAMATTI (THE ILLUSIONIST)
BOUKBER AIR EL CAID (BABEL)
BILL NIGHY (NOTES ON A SCANDAL)

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

 

ADRIANA BARRAZA for BABEL
  CATE BLANCHETT for NOTES ON A SCANDAL
ABIGAIL BRESLIN for LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

JENNIFER HUDSON for DREAMGIRLS
  RINKO KIKUCHI for BABEL
 
PREDICTION (3/5) JENNIFER HUDSON
MY PICK RINKO KIKUCHI
SHOULD HAVE
BEEN NOM'ED
MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL
(STRANGER THAN FICTION)

 

BEST DIRECTING

CLINT EASTWOOD for LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA

 

STEPHEN FREARS for THE QUEEN
  PAUL GREENGRASS for UNITED 93
  ALEJANDRO GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU for BABEL

 

MARTIN SCORSESE for THE DEPARTED
 
PREDICTION (4/6) MARTIN SCORSESE
MY PICK ALEJANDRO GONZÁLEZ IÑÁRRITU
SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOM'ED FLORIAN HENCKEL VON DONNERSMARCK

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCRIPT

BABEL - Guillermo Arriaga
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA - Iris Yamashita, Paul Haggis

LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE - Michael Arndt
  EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO - Guillermo Del Toro
  THE QUEEN - Peter Morgan
 
PREDICTION (4/7) BABEL
MY PICK BABEL
SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOM'ED DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN

 

BEST ADAPTED SCRIPT

BORAT - S. Baron Cohen, A. Hines, P. Baynam, D. Mazer, T. Phillips
  CHILDREN OF MEN - A. Cuarón, T. Sexton, D. Arata, M. Fergus, H. Ostby

 

THE DEPARTED - William Monahan
  LITTLE CHILDREN - Todd Field, Tom Perrotta

 

NOTES ON A SCANDAL - Patrick Marber
 
PREDICTION (5/8) THE DEPARTED
MY PICK NOTES ON A SCANDAL
SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOM'ED -

 

 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

EFTER BRYLLUPET - Denmark
  INDIGÈNES - Algeria
  EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO - Mexico

 

DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN - Germany

 

WATER - Canada
 
PREDICTION (5/9) EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO
MY PICK DAS LEBEN DER ANDEREN
SHOULD HAVE BEEN NOM'ED -

 

  WINNERS - OTHER CATEGORIES
 
CINEMATOGRAPHY (6/10) EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO
ART DIRECTION (6/11) EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO
COSTUME DESIGN (6/12) MARIE ANTOINETTE
SOUND MIXING (7/13) DREAMGIRLS
EDITING (7/14) THE DEPARTED
SOUND EDITING (8/15) LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
VISUAL EFFECTS (8/16) PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 2
MAKE UP (8/17) EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO
ORIGINAL SONG (8/18) AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH ("I NEED TO WAKE UP")
ORIGINAL SCORE (9/19) BABEL
ANIMATED FEATURE (9/20) HAPPY FEET
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE (10/21) AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH