Indeedie friends, it's time once again for the motion picture industry's 76th annual "Good for us" ceremony, otherwise known as the Academy Awards (or Oscars).
This year promises to be wacky, what with Johnny Depp getting nominated as a Pirate, a 13 year old girl getting a Best Actress nomination...and a whole bunch of other stuff. Will Eminem win another Oscar? Thankfully not. He's not even nominated. So...here's what's happening Sunday night, with my predicts added.
HOST: Billy Crystal PRESENTERS: Nicole Kidman, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Will Smith, Jack Black, Will Ferrell, Jude Law, Charlize Theron, Jim Carrey, Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, Robin Williams, Jennifer Garner, Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Tim Robbins, Bill Murray, Naomi Watts, Sofia Coppola & Uma Thurman
PREDICTIONS: Picture: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King [Barrie M. Osborne, Peter Jackson & Fran Walsh; 1st win for all] Lead Actor: Bill Murray [Lost In Translation; 1st win] Lead Actress: Charlize Theron [Monster; 1st win] Supporting Actor: Tim Robbins [Mystic River; 1st win] Supporting Actress: Renee Zellweger [Cold Mountain; 1st win] Director: Peter Jackson [The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; 2nd win (of the night)] Original Screenplay: Sofia Coppola [Lost in Translation; 1st win] Adapted Screenplay: Brian Helgeland [Mystic River; 2nd win]
I expect Murray to deliver a hilariously awesome speech...OR ELSE.
THE FLAMES: 31-23-5-3 for 70 points in 62 games IGINLA WATCH: 30 goals and 24 assists for 54 points in 60 games
I heard Steven Spielberg is presenting for best picture and Tom Cruise is presenting for best director. Anyone have confirmation on that?
Will Sean Penn even show up to the ceremony? People think Sean Penn is going to win, but I don't see the Academy giving an award to a guy who never even goes to the Oscars.
(edited by The Vile1 on 28.2.04 1521)
"Just a humble bounty hunter, ma'am." -Spike Spiegel
for best actor im gonna pridict ben kingsly. he was great in that movie and i cansee them giving it to him. i personally want penn or murry to win. or depp since i love all them. murry moreso form my childhood and it would be great to see him get it. depp cuase he rocks and jack sparrow was just a great character, but personally penn is my fav cuase he just is one of the best out there today.
realated i really am hoping for mystic river to get best picture cuase i thought it was the best , i've seen all year
Fuckin' rights, I already got half a fuckin' buzz on
CATEGORY Actor: Sean Penn or Bill Murray S. Actor: Tim Robbins Actress: Charlize Theron S. Actress: Renee Zellweger or Shohreh Aghdashloo Animated: Finding Nemo Art Direction: Lord of the Rings Cinematography: Master and Commander or Seabiscuit (too close to call) Costume: Lord of the Rings Directing: Peter Jackson Doc. Feature: The Fog of War or Capturing the Friedmans (too close to call) Doc. Short: Chernobyl Heart (a total guess, I have no clue) Film Editing: Lord of the Rings or City Of God Foreign: Barbarian Invasions Makeup: Lord of the Rings or Pirates Score: Howard Shore, Lord of the Rings Song: Probably the Annie Lennox song from LotR, but the song from Mighty Wind might pull off the upset PICTURE: Lord of the Rings Anim. Short: Nibbles (a total guess) Live Short: Most (a total guess) Sound Editing: Master and Commander Sound Mixing: Lord of the Rings Visual FX: Lord of the Rings A. Screenplay: Brian Helgeland, Mystic River O. Screenplay: Sofia Coppola, Lost in Translation
Waitif its MLK Jr. Day AND Pat Pattersons Birthdaywho gets the token win here?-- Matt "Excalibur05" Hocking on a match between Mark Henry and Rico
MH: Whats a clever way to say that I have a penis? CJ: UhMark, nobodys going to buy that shirt. MH: How about if I say that Ive gotauh? CJ: Coming up with T-Shirt ideas is hard Mark, why not leave it to the WWE marketing department. MH: I know! Ive got it! CJ: Got what? MH: Stank! Thats Mah Stank! Im gonna make a fortune!! CJ: Thats Mah Stank? MH: On the front itll say Can You Smell It? and on the back itll say Thats Mah Stank. Everybodyll buy it because theyll think its a Rock shirt. CJ: You knowyou might be on to something there, sad to say. MH: I cant wait to show mah stank to Trish.
You know, I have a feeling that Spanky didnt quit, he was fired. Why? So they could repackage Mark Henry as Stanky. Think about THAT! --Matt "Excalibur05" Hocking, 1/19/04 Raw Satire
ROTK takes Best Picture, Sofia Coppola get the upset for Best Director, Penn takes Best Actor, Theron takes Actress, and Watanabe and Zellweger win their categories. The rest of my picks are up at 411, although I've probably flubbed 90% of them as I think we're in for a night of uber-shocks.
Side note: Whilst Penn and Murray's performances are technically the best, A Depp victory would mean that the Academy could spend the next ten years awarding Miramax crap-a-thons and I'd still be smiling.
"You're A Big Hunk Of Hero Sandwich, And You Wanna Save The Girl!"
I'm not predicting nothing too shocking, but I pull a few underdogs out here. As taken from my blog:
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Let's get the gimme pick out of the way right off the top. Finding Nemo wins. Hands down.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: I finally saw Mystic River last night. (Short form review: Do I really have to tell you how good this movie is at this point?) Tim Robbins should* and will pick this one up. Sadly, that's probably going to be just about it for this movie...
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Here's where I'm hedging my bets. Every year in recent memory, they've given at least one of the acting awards to someone who was basically unknown at that point (Adrien Brody, Hillary Swank, Marcia Gay Harden - who deserves to win another here but won't, etc.) Everyone seems to be picking Squinty, but I'm noticing the pattern and this one's going to the ultimate actress no one's ever heard of, The House of Sand and Fog's Shohreh Aghdashloo.
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. This and every other technical award - Art Direction, Makeup, Editing, etc., etc., etc.
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Lost In Translation. That one's pretty obvious, too.
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: This will be one of the few Lord of the Rings misses out on. All logic says it's going to that or Mystic River, but I've gotta pull for the dark horse candidate and pick American Splendor. (It's a crime this is it's only major nomination.)
BEST ACTRESS: It's a tossup between Lost In Translation's Scarlett Johannsen and American Splendor's Hope Davis. Of course, Uma Thurman really delivered in Kill Bill - Volume 1. And, of course, none of those people are actually nominated, so I'll just say Charlize Theron because she did that "pretty woman makes herself ugly for a movie" that always gets you an Oscar these days.
BEST ACTOR: The toughest call of the night. I think you can toss Jude Law and Ben Kingsley out right away. I'm not as convinced as everyone else that Johnny Depp has no shot here, but I do agree that a nomination for that role may have been a big enough coup. I wouldn't count him out entirely, but the favorites are indeed Bill Murray and Sean Penn. As good as Penn was, I have to go with Bill Murray here. Mystic River didn't hinge upon Penn's performance like Lost In Translation did with Murray's. If he was off, that movie would've been ruined.
BEST DIRECTOR: Nothing against Sofia Coppola or Clint Eastwood, but after everything the man went through to make what essentially amounts to a near twelve-hour sweeping epic, if Peter Jackson somehow doesn't pick this up, it'll be one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in the history of the awards.
BEST PICTURE: Ditto here for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The only way it loses is if everyone assumed that it would run away with it, and decided to throw a courtesy vote to, say, Mander and Commaster or Seabiscuit. Hopefully, that won't happen.
(*: Actually, Albert Finney *should* win Best Supporting Actor for Big Fish, but they all got high and somehow forgot to nominate him.)
"The only reason my wife and I got married in the first place was because it was something gays couldn't do. Our wedding was conceived entirely as a giant homosexual taunt. But now the vows I made to my wife seem as shallow and empty as the vows I made to my three previous wives." ---Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show
Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastardAnd, of course, none of those people are actually nominated, so I'll just say Charlize Theron because she did that "pretty woman makes herself ugly for a movie" that always gets you an Oscar these days.
I think you forgot to add "Oh, and also her performance was pretty good, too."
Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastardAnd, of course, none of those people are actually nominated, so I'll just say Charlize Theron because she did that "pretty woman makes herself ugly for a movie" that always gets you an Oscar these days.
I think you forgot to add "Oh, and also her performance was pretty good, too."
Oh, that goes without saying, but how often is that really the main criteria these days?
"The only reason my wife and I got married in the first place was because it was something gays couldn't do. Our wedding was conceived entirely as a giant homosexual taunt. But now the vows I made to my wife seem as shallow and empty as the vows I made to my three previous wives." ---Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show
In this particular case, it's a very good criteria. Whereas someone like a Sean Penn gives so many good performances and it almost becomes rote, a heretofore unheralded actress like Theron REALLY turns heads when she gives not just a good performance, but a GREAT one like she did in Monster. Call it the "Wow, she can really muthafuckin' act" effect.
Waitif its MLK Jr. Day AND Pat Pattersons Birthdaywho gets the token win here?-- Matt "Excalibur05" Hocking on a match between Mark Henry and Rico
MH: Whats a clever way to say that I have a penis? CJ: UhMark, nobodys going to buy that shirt. MH: How about if I say that Ive gotauh? CJ: Coming up with T-Shirt ideas is hard Mark, why not leave it to the WWE marketing department. MH: I know! Ive got it! CJ: Got what? MH: Stank! Thats Mah Stank! Im gonna make a fortune!! CJ: Thats Mah Stank? MH: On the front itll say Can You Smell It? and on the back itll say Thats Mah Stank. Everybodyll buy it because theyll think its a Rock shirt. CJ: You knowyou might be on to something there, sad to say. MH: I cant wait to show mah stank to Trish.
You know, I have a feeling that Spanky didnt quit, he was fired. Why? So they could repackage Mark Henry as Stanky. Think about THAT! --Matt "Excalibur05" Hocking, 1/19/04 Raw Satire
PICTURE: Mystic River DIRECTOR: Peter Jackson ACTOR: Sean Penn ACTRESS: Charlize Theron SUPP. ACTOR: Benicio Del Toro SUPP. ACTRESS: Renee Zellweger ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Lost in Translation ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Mystic River CINEMATOGRAPHY: Master and Commander COSTUME DESIGN: Lord of the Rings ART DIRECTION: Lord of the Rings EDITING: Lord of the Rings ANIMATED FEATURE: Finding Nemo FOREIGN LANGUAGE: Barbarian Invasions MAKEUP: Lord of the Rings SCORE: Cold Mountain DOCUMENTARY: Capturing the Friedmans DOCUMENTARY SHORT: Chernobyl Heart SHORT FILM (LIVE): Two Soldiers SHORT FILM (ANIM.): Destino VISUAL EFFECTS: Lord of the Rings SONG: "Into the West," LotR SOUND: Lord of the Rings SOUND EDITING: Master and Commander
I played it pretty safe, although Mystic River for Picture would be kind of an upset, I guess. Fuzzy has a point about supporting actresses -- they often go to the "surprise!" nominee -- but I'm going with the obvious one there, too.
I hit about 70% the last couple of years, but I'm not feeling particularly confident this year.
When I was at a college station, all we did was report every song to the publishing companies. That doesn't count ID's or bumpers, for which we used "real" songs (as opposed to library music), just because we could.