Picture: Slumdog
Director: Boyle, Slumdog
Actor: Penn, Milk last minute change: going with Mickey! (WINNER: PENN)
Actress: Winslet, Reader
Supporting Actor: HEATH!
Supporting Actress: Cruz, Vicky Christina Barcelona
Original Screenplay: Dustin Lance Black, Milk
Adapted Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire

Editing: Slumdog
Cinematography: Slumdog
Art Direction: Button
Original Score: Slumdog
Song: Slumdog
Documentary: Man On a Wire
Animated: Wall-E
Visual Effects: Button
Makeup: Button
Costume: Duchess
Sound Mixing: Dark Knight (WINNER: SLUMDOG)
Sound Editing: Dark Knight
Live Action Short: Toy Land
Documentary Short: The Witness (WINNER: SMILE PINKI)
Animated Short: Presto (WINNER: LA MAISON)

I GOT 19 OUT OF 24 (but everyone missed the Japanese film wining Best Foreign). NOT BAD. WOULD HAVE BEEN 20 IF I DIDN’T CHANGE MY VOTE FROM PEN TO ROURKE. Overall, the show was well produced, wonderfully staged and, though, hammy, fun and moved at a nice pace. The telecast gets a B, the winners, however, get a D.

Link to my full Oscar write-up

…MEH

note: final perdictions to be made this weekend.

Slumdog Millionaire
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Milk
Frost/Nixon
The Reader

• Should Win: A close call. I consider only two films here to be slightly above average. The okay Milk and the okay Frost/Nixon. Frost/Nixon gets the edge because it takes historical figures and does something original (i.e. non bio-pic-y) with them. Milk is solid but far from original in terms of how it approaches history. The rest of the nominees are ranked in order or preference.
• Should Be Here: Oh, I don’t know, how about DARK KNIGHT! In Bale’s own words, IT’S FUCKING DISTRACTING that it wasn’t nominated.
• Thoughts: My photoshopped pic says it all. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

Best Director

• Should Win: None! Though David Fincher is one of my favorite directors, no directors nominated this year should win. All have made better, more profound and more relevant pieces. Except for Ron Howard, who lucked into Frost/Nixon and happened into the best film in his career.
• Should Be Here: Nolan (Dark Knight), del Torro (Hellboy 2) and/or Jon Faverau (Iron Man). Oh, pardon, I forgot they made comic book movies and those can’t possibley be as good as melodramas. Thoughts: Think about what a landmark year this could have been for the new generation of auteurs? For any fan of 90s director driven cinema (have any directors have stepped up this decade?) imagine the names Aranoski, Nolan, Boyle, and Fincher? Now imagine Ron Howard and Stephen Daldry taking their place. What’s the average age of Oscar voters again???????

Best Actor

• Should Win: Penn for Milk, though I’m a fan of all other nominees work in their respective films if not the films themselves. The most complete performance of the year came from Penn. It’s vivid and a complete transformation.
• Should Be Here: Christian Bale for Dark Knight. When will this guy get some respect? I think it’s a conspiracy to keep him down. That’s why cinematographers keep walking in front of him during pivotal dramatic scenes? I also feel Jean Claude Van Damme should have gotten more notices for JCVD. It’s really one of the most memorable performances of the year. It resonates a lot more than fan favorite Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler.
• Thoughts: The most exciting run of the night is if Penn or Rourke will win. It might be the only reason to watch.

Best Actress

• Should Win: Streep for Doubt. Streep for Doubt. Streep for Doubt.
• Should Be Here: Kate Winslet, Rev Road
• Thoughts: Winslet or Streep? No other actress, living or dead, could have done that role in Doubt, that well. Streep loosing is a tragedy but a predictable and possibly even necessary one. Winslet will win. I believe her performance to be supporting because characters reflecting upon a character character does not equal screen time dummies! She’s so good in this movie though that her presence can be be felt in every scene. But again, feeling someone’s presence does not equal screen time! That being said I’m cool with Winslet winning because that implies winning and Winslet needs an Oscar, even for a role in a film that’s not very good (though The Reader is growing on me). The fact that it’s her second best performance of the year is sobering. On that subject: the performances in Changeling and Rachel are also worthy of an award, a Razzie award.
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Best Supporting Actor

Best Supporting Actress

• Should Win: As much as it hurts to admit: Cruz. Though Davis has a lot of heat.
• Should Be Here: Lina Leandersson, Let The Right One In
• Thoughts: Fact: Cruz is the best nominee of the bunch. Fact: her performance in VCB is a marvelous example of a director knowing exactly how to use one of his actresses (no pun intended). But… it’s Penelope Cruz.As much as I would like to rag on Viola Davis being nominated for ONE SCENE’s worth of work in Doubt –goddamn– she makes that scene count. Poor Amy Adams, she does all the heavy lifting in Doubt (I bet she has more screen time than Streep!) but the Mary Sue blandness inherent to the part keeps it from being memorable. Tomi’s entire existence in The Wrestler is an unnecessary distraction. Henson, as the mother in Button, did what the role required but the fact that her performance has only one note (sassy momma!) hurts her chances.

Best Original Screenplay

• Should Win: IN BRUGES!
• Should Be Here: Knight, duh. Also, where’s Woody!
• Thoughts: A total toss up. All films good to great but Wall-E has the momentum. Reall-Y?! Great storytelling to be sure but when I think of screenplay I think of all around output and creativeness. Wall-E has no dialogue for the first half and when it finally introduces the human element, it’s not as interesting. And then I think about In Bruges for its brilliant storytelling and even better dialogue. Frozen River is another cool crime film. Happy Go Lucky is a fine, fine film but everyone knows Mike Leigh’s approach and knows too that his screenplays are but “blueprints” for the performers. Next to Wall-E, or perhaps even more so after the Writers guild win, Milk has the best shot and, again, a good film and all but way too traditional to single out. And I’m sorry, biopics are not “original.” They’re just not… unless they are Bob Dylan biopics.

• Should Win: Dark Knight. Like Batman, it’s flawed but facinating.
• Should Be Here: Let the Right One In had a perfect sense of pacing. The editing made it even more scary and moody.
• Thoughts: An almost certain win for Slumdog but for all the wrong reasons. It’s slick and stylish. Okay, but ask yourself why? Beyond coolness there is no essential reason for the editing to be that way and the editing serves the story only for its own interests rather than, well, the story’s. Which is fine in a sense because the film is entertaining. Button is well cut to be sure but plays things safe. Frost/Nixon is a “job well done” but the film feels underwhelming at this point. Milk too has a very nice sense of progress and movement but sometimes that’s all it is (the film and editing are all about then this happens, then that happens, then this happensetc.). Even Dark Knight I’m mixed on. The reason is because it could have been tighter in the third act and there are a few continuity errors (the epic botch that is the gangster Gambol stabbed in the face) but, still, the editing works in all the ways Slumdog doesn’t. The approach shadows the mood and the storytelling beautifully without calling attention to itself.

Best Cinematography

• Should Win: Button
• Should Be Here: Let The Right One In
• Thoughts: Oh, hey, look another win for Slumdog. The DP captures India by, uhh… pointing a camera at it???????? And captures the tension but shaking the camera to follow the boys being chased because, you see, they’re being chased and the film is running along with them and, um, it’s like WE’RE THERE. Jesus Christ, people are buying this as good filmmaking! Seems like. In terms of realartistry it’s between Button and Dark Knight for me. Both get an A+ because, first, they make us forget we’re watching nearly 3 hour movies. Second, they make it so beautiful we’d gladly watch a 4 hour movie! Though Pfister is really due for an Oscar after The Prestige, in the end I’m going with Button because the visuals there will outlive the film’s story sentiments where as Knight is good all around.

Best Art Direction
Benjamin Button
Revolutionary Road
Changeling
Duchess
The Dark Knight

• Should Win: Dark Knight
• Should Be Here: Hellboy’s design blows away anything that was nominated. And Synechodoche New York’s self has the most innovative and self aware use of art direction of the year, if not ever.
• Thoughts:Slumdogis… oh, cool, it isn’t. Well, then, in that (curious) case any of these nominated set designs are worthy. Button epically for obvious reasons: it’s so beautifully lived in. The hotel setting where Pitt meets with the older MILF is particularly well realized. Dark Knight also stands out for its stark visuals that range from cool and sporadic sets (batman’s warehouse is so genus because it almost reflects his barren soul) to cozy environments like Dent’s office, cluttered with books. You know what, I just changed my mind, Dark Knight should beat Button. But wont.

Best Original Score

A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Alexandre Desplat, Benjamin Button
Thomas Newman, Wall-E
James Newton Howard, Defiance
Danny Elfman, Milk

• Should Win:Desplat
• Should Be Here: Gran Torino, just kidding.
• Thoughts: The last few years have fucked us over with mediocre “original” music that wins the category because it’s either “different” (Brokeback) or “world” (Babel).This year won’t be any different when AR Rahman flimsy “world” music score wins. Personally, I would rather listen to the slurping of actual raman. Desplat is the only genus in this category (sorry, but Elfman, Newman, and Howard have become hacks) but he’s going to go home empty handed just as he did when he lost for The Queen.

Best Song
“Down to Earth” by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Wall-E
O Saya, Slumdog Millionaire
Jaiho, Slumdog Millionaire

• Should Win: Down to Earth, Peter Gabriel. J-Ho J-Blows!
• Should Be Here: The Boss. Also ”Requiem for Dracula” from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
• Thoughts: Call me a hack but I just love that Wall-E song. Every time I see the film I stay for the song. I’m going to continue going la-la-la, pretending Slumdog isn’t going to spoil all the good nominees. And I’m also going to pretend Bruce Springsteen got nominated over fucking MIA.

Best Foreign Language Film

Waltz with Bashir (Israel)
The Class (France)
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
Revanche (Austria)
Departures (Japan)

• Should Win: None
• Should Be Here: Let the Right One In. 4 Months, 3 Weeks etc. Christmas Story
• Thoughts: A great year for foreign films. Not a great year for nominated foreign films. Waltz is, perhaps, the most overrated art house film of the year. And The Class……….

Best Documentary Feature

Man on Wire
Trouble the Water
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)

• Should Win: Encounters at the End of the World
• Should Be Here:Dear Zhacery: A Letter to a Son About His Father. The film is not well made but it sure sticks with you.
• Thoughts: Man will trouble the encounter. Aww, come on, give Herzog an Oscar! I mean he directed this doc as opposed to, say, interviewing an old flamboyant attention whoring tight rope artist. The best scenes in Man on a Wire were the archival footage! I love the film but should archival footage really get an Oscar?  

Best Animated Feature

Wall-E

• Should Win: Wall-E
• Should Be Here: Though I dislike the film,  Waltz with Bashir should have been nominated over Bolt.
• Thoughts: The biggest slam-dunk of the night. I’m not even going to bother writing out the other nominees.

Best Visual Effects
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

• Should Win: Iron Man
• Should Be Here: Wanted’s effects, recalling Night Watch of course, were outlandish and fun.
• Thoughts: Dark Knight may be the best of the bunch but the reason it’s so good is because it relies more on storytelling than FX. Seriously, how many of us are talking about how the effects blew us away vs. the same in terms of acting/screenplay/directing etc.? Conversely, I feel Iron Man should win here because the creation and implementation of the Iron Man suit is half of what’s so good about the film (the other half is Downey Jr.). I get lost in all those beautiful images of that damn suit flying around. It’s majestic in one sense, comical in another and, even still, an intimidating weapon of military might. As is Iron Man himself! Button will win though but I wonder if people are confusing the visual effects of aging with the crafted effects of aging through makeup. I know I’m confused. Still, it’s always great when a non summer movie gets some attention in this category.

Awards that Should Have Their Own Night

Seriosuley, wouldn’t the Oscars be a lot more popular if these categories were not here. Or at least announced along with the technical nominations awards: call it the Technology and Craft Oscars. And it’s not like I don’t care about sound mixing or costumes, I would watch these if they were, say, broadcast the night before on A&E or something.

Best Sound Mixing
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Wanted
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button