Here are my non-comprehensive predictions of who will win, not who should win. We’ll see how it turns out. I’m online if anyone wants to chat while watching.
- Actor in a leading role: Sean Penn
- Actor in a supporting role: Benicio Del Toro
- Actress in a leading role: Charlize Theron
- Actress in a supporting role: Shohreh Aghdashloo
- Art Direction: Girl with a Pearl Earring
- Directing: Lost in Translation
- Documentary Feature: The Fog of War
- Makeup: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Best Picture: Mystic River
- Visual Effects: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
- Writing (Adapted Screenplay):
American SplendorMystic River
Update: Okay, so I was correct about Best Actor, Best Actress, Documentary Feature, Makeup, Visual Effects. Not such a great record compared to my predictions last year.
Tim Robbins gets best actor in a leading role. Thanks everyone, avoids political statements, but, having won the award for playing a character who suffers sexual abuse as a child, encourages victims of sexual abuse to seek help.
The Lord of the Rings wins best art direction.
This is an inauspicious beginning to my predictions.
Robin Williams is remarkably unfunny, isn’t he?
Best animated feature film goes to Finding Nemo. Cute movie, I’ve heard, but surely The Triplets of Belleville is more deserving.
And they’ve just done an instant replay of Tim Robbins winning best supporting actor. What’s that about?
By the way, you can participate online in what ABC is calling enhanced tv.
The Lord of the Rings wins best costume design.
For someone who’s won an award for costume design, Richard Taylor dresses kind of funny.
The woman sitting next to Peter Jackson has a beehive hairdo like Kate Pierson of the B-52s.
Nicholas Cage wears a surprisingly ill-fitting jacket, apparently wears too much makeup.
Meanwhile, academic blogger makes catty remarks about celebrities.
Renee Zellwegger wins best supporting actress.
To no one’s surprise, it turns out I suck at these predictions.
Bummer about Triplets…I really liked the movie. Also I did notice that Tim Robbins was at least wearing a peace logo as a lapel pin, but pretty much apolitical.
Bizarrely, the orchestra plays “Hail to the Chief” when Tom Hanks comes out on stage to pay tribute to Bob Hope.
Hanks struts around like he owns the place. Chuck IMs me: “You know, he more or less does.”
Bummer about Zellwegger winning the supporting actress, too. I really wanted Shohreh Aghdashloo to win. Her performance in House of Sand and Fog was amazing.
They showed an old clip of Hope standing up to wave to the audience and for a second I thought they’d brought him back to life just for thw show. He is dead, right?
Oscar Blogging
George is blogging the Oscars. I’m trying to throw in some snarky comments, too. Come join the fun….
Two Soldiers, basedon a William Faulkner short story, wins best live action short. Where does a filmgoer find a venue to watch live action shorts?
Why does Hollywood even pretend to care about works like these?
Yep, Hope is dead. I could say something about his jokes since about 1970, but I won’t.
Harvie Krumpet wins best animated short.
You know, I can remember a time when theaters used to show short films before the main feature, but now all they show are advertisements. Where do these shorts get shown?
Liv Tyler comes out to introduce the performance of a song from Cold Mountain. She refers to the Civil War as the most violent years of our nation’s history.
L says, “She might want to ask Native Americans what they think about that statement.”
If i recall, the Atlanta Film Society has an annual screening of all the Oscar nominated shorts (animated and live-action), but there really isn’t much access. They probably simply do these awards b/c they “always” have.
BTW, isn’t Allison Krauss supposed to be wearing $2.5 million shoes?
Ooh…Nice comment, L.
If I were to do a little research, I could probably find a similar venue here in KC instead of just complaining.
Oddly, Krauss’ right shoe is worth $1.5 million, but the left shoe is worth only $1 million.
Aren’t right shoes harder to make. Oh, I think the beehive hairdo belonged to Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River). Not the hairstyle I would have chosen, but she’s a great actress (even though her Mystic River role sucked).
Cold Mountain‘s Oscar-nominated “Scarlet Tide,” sung tonight by Alison Kraus and a chorus, is really quite nice:
Taken out of context, it’s interesting to read these lines in light of the current political context.
It turns out Alison Krauss’ right foot is 50% bigger than her left one, thus the right shoe is more expensive.
Lord of the Rings wins best visual effects. Finally! I get one right.
Ouch. “Intelligent?”
Jennifer Garner comes out to announce some scientific and technical awards, which had been handed out at a special oscar awards ceremony two weeks ago.
The relative obscurity of these awards is kind of a shame, really. So much creativity and innovation goes into the technical aspects of making films.
Yes, Crystal referring to Will and Jada Pinkett Smith as “intelligent” did seem a little weird.
Jim Carrey comes out to present an honorary Oscar to Blake Edwards. A lame slapstick skit ensues. I’m no film historian, but didn’t Edwards make a lot of lame movies?
I thought some of his films (Switch, Blind Date) were absolutely wretched.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s is, of course, brilliant.
So can we officially ask the question now: Has Jim Carrey jumped the shark? That was a weak skit.
Of course, I’m still looking forward to his new film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Bill Murray refers to the 32-year-old Sofia Coppola as an “American girl.” Weird. As Chuck IMs, “Maybe it’s an inside joke.”
Lord of the Rings wins best makeup.
…’cause it’s so difficult to make Orcs look just right.
…’cause rubbing dirt on those Hobbits’ faces and feet was quite an achievement.
Anway, I get another prediction right.
Lord of the Rings wins best sound mixing.
Perhaps this film will sweep all the dinky awards.
Meanwhile, I’m still ticked that Monster didn’t even get a nomination for the makeup work on Charlize Theron.
John Travolta and Sandra Bullock are remarkably unfunny.
Master and Commander wins for sound editing. The camera catches Adrien Brody stifling a yawn.
Weird moment: Julia Roberts says, “This year we lost Katherin Hepburn,” and everyone applauds.
They show many clips from Katherine Hepburn’s long career. She kicks ass, no?
Hepburn totally kicks ass.
Just as Bill Murray introduced a clip from Lost in Translation, Oprah Winfrey provides an introduction to a clip of Sean Penn overacting his way through Mystic River.
No word on whether Dr. Phil is scheduled to appear.
Chernobyl Heart wins for best documentary short subject. The director, Maryann DeLeo, is a woman, as her name would suggst. I wonder how many female directors have won in categories other than the big one for which Sofia Coppola is nominated.
Errol Morris: “Forty years ago, we went down a rabbit hole in Vietnam. Millions died. I fear we’re going down that rabbit hole again.”
Indeed.
Alec Baldwin and Naomi Watts announce the winner of the best documentary.
The Fog of War wins! Errol Morris thanks the Academy for “finally recognizing my films!” There’s a man with a healthy sense of self.
Baldwin breaks Watts’ leg with an iron pipe. (Just kidding. A little Cooler humor.)
Morris says, “Forty years ago this country went down a rabbit hole … I fear we’re going down a rabbit hole again … if people can stop and reflect on some of the issues in this film, then perhaps I’ve done some damn good. Thank you very much!”
Billy Crystal follows up by saying, “I can’t wait for his tax audit! (pause) Scary times.”
The best moment of the awards so far.
I *think* there have been quite a few winners for documentaries who are women. Certainly some for screenwriting. But none for the big prize.
Yeah, Morris is a bit quirky. When he said, “I thought you’d never recognize my films,” I was impressed.
We get the annual montage of people who have died in the previous year. The academy will have to forgive me if I notice that they are overwhelmingly white. Either people of color in the film industry are incredibly healthy or there’s some other explanation. What could it be?
This is followed up with a commercial in which Tiger Woods plays the Bill Murray part in a remake of the gopher chasing scenes from Caddyshack. Huh?
Another Cadillac ad featuring the Led Zeppelin song “Rock and Roll.” It’s official. Rock music is for old people.
The “dead people” montage always strikes me as strange. How do they decide who makes the cut? It certainly privileges people who were in front of the camera…
Also seems weird to do the montage after the documentaries. Maybe it’s because documentaries are often depressing. It also seems a bit weird to applaud the image of people who have died (and to applaud louder for some people than for others).
Strange stuff.
Phil Collins and Sting come out to announce the Oscar for musicians whose best work is behind them… No wait, I’m wrong, it’s the award for best score, which is won by Lord of the Rings.
Yikes. Umm…I’m going to say Led Zepplin is for old people, not rock-n-roll in general.
LOTR just won for best score. Let the Ring-love fest continue. Grrr….
I’m feeling guilty about the Sting and Phil Collins comment, but not guilty enough to delete it.