we’ve barely watched any of the nominees in the major categories, but if “ray” is nominated for best picture it must mean it is a bad year. i’m currently going with “million dollar baby” as best picture and scorcese finally getting his best director. i think foxx will get best actor, thereby really pissing off both tom cruise and will smith. for best actress i think there will be an upset and the woman from the new mike leigh will win (and thereby assure herself a lifetime of roles in very un-mike leigh’ish quaint english movies made for the american arthouse circuit). the category that confuses me is best documentary feature as it appears, going entirely off of titles of nominees, that no holocaust or civil rights themed docs have been nominated (though i suppose “the story of the weeping camel” may yet turn out to be one or the other)–are we witnessing a paradigm shift in the academy’s approach to documentary award-giving?
but these are my current picks–as oscar night approaches i will doubtless fine-tune them before once again crushing all opponents in various online and offline pools.
the old hollywood is dying or dead; therefore we can no longer count on the holocaust documentary winning. the new crop will not go too far and give a film about Tupac an award, nor do they eat fast-food, limiting their diet to Lowry’s, Ruth’s Chris, Spago and Matsuhisa. Super-Size Me and Tupac have ZERO chance. The camel–touching but not sufficiently humanitarian. Prefer others. This leaves Born into Brothels and Twist of Faith: Born has poor kids, in Calcutta no less! but, Twist has tearful confession, acknowledgement, confrontation and redemption. Twist is the one to beat. Use Born into Brothels in your exotics.
Maybe this: a concession? I’m sure people have suggested this already. Because “The Passion of the Christ” wasn’t nominated for any but the lesser of categories (makeup, cinematography, music, best spleen piercing). No Jew-hating, lunatic fringe Traditionalist Catholic films? No pro-Israel, pro-civil rights films either. No one is hurt. Except Jesus.
I predict I won’t watch the Oscars. Or perhaps that I’ll watch them with a sneering sense of superiority, but behind that sneer will be a deep-seated fear that, actually, actors are better than me. Those rat bastards! God love ’em.
I think Jesus actually was nominated this year, in the “Best Deity Incarnate” category, where he’s a shoo-in over Vishnu and Thor. Plus he already has the Golden Globe, so the bookmakers think it’s a lock.