Tuesday, February 26, 2008

The Internet Is Pissed Because I Complained About It Recently

Along with the other million bad side effects of not having regular relaxed access to a computer, I've found there are drawbacks to sending large emails to Blogger from my once wonderful, now evil TyTn phone (yes, my excitement has palled considerably in the last few weeks, as its buggy software and habit of hanging up mid-call has outweighed the benefits of having such a wonderful keyboard). For a start, writing tags manually in Word Mobile means you end up with all sorts of nonsense when Blogger tries to translate this < and this > into normal characters. Secondly, there appears to be a character limit, because even though I made predictions for all categories, only eleven appeared. This would have been the event that made the small readership of this blog realise I was some kind of dumbhead chump-man, but seeing as this was easily my worst year for accurate Oscar predictions, I would have been tarred with that brush no matter what.

In the interests of completion, here are my choices for the last few categories (including the tough categories). I promise, these are the original picks I made in the original post (written from memory, as emails from the TyTn disappear instead of hide out in a Sent Items folder; another annoying feature), and the one or two I got right were really right. I know, there really is no need for me to be posting this two days after the fact, but I'm a completist, and I spent ages doing it only for technology to screw me, and my OCD won't allow me to leave it alone. Feel free to ignore it totally.
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Best Actor in A Supporting Role:

Will win:
Javier Bardem - No Country for Old Men
Should win:
Casey Affleck - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Should have been nominated:
John Carroll Lynch - Zodiac / Sam Rockwell - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Best Actress in A Supporting Role

Will win:
Cate Blanchett - I’m Not There
Should win:
Cate was seriously great in I'm Not There, but as Canyon pointed out after we watched it, almost any actor would have been able to make a meal of those scenes. They were the most interesting moments, and featured some terrific playful dialogue. On the other hand, Saoirse Ronan's performance in Atonement was probably my favourite thing about it, and makes me very excited about The Lovely Bones (in addition to the usual Peter-Jackson-created excitement).
Should have been nominated:
I'd like to think Robin Wright Penn and Marcia Gay Harden wouldhave been given some attention for their excellent performances in Beowulf and The Mist respectively, but which choice would be more improbable? The Oscar winner "slumming" it in a horror movie, or the Oscar nominee in a performance capture suit?

Best Animated Feature Film

Will win:
Ratatouille
Should win:
Ratatouille
Should have been nominated:
Paprika

Best Art Direction:

Will win:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Should win:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Should have been nominated:
Zodiac

Best Costume Design

Will win:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Should win:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Should have been nominated:
Zodiac

Best Documentary Feature:

Will win:
No End in Sight
Should win:
No End in Sight
Should have been nominated:
The King of Kong

Best Documentary Short:

Will win:
Salim Baba
Should win:
Again, I have no informed idea.
Should have been nominated:
Do DVD extras count?

Best Makeup:

Will win:
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Should win:
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Should have been nominated:
Grindhouse (specifically Planet Terror)

Best Music:

Will win:
Dario Marinelli - Atonement
Should win:
Michael Giacchino - Ratatouille
Should have been nominated:
The rules that have excluded Jonny Greenwood's ominous and oppressive music for There Will Be Blood are a sham of a mockery of a joke, as Gustavo Santoalalla's Oscar-winning Babel soundtrack featured music from previous films (one of which went as far back as The Insider, and perhaps earlier than that), but even without taking that into account, no nomination for David Shire's excellent Zodiac soundtrack is shocking.

Best Short Animated Film:

Will win:
Peter & The Wolf
Should win:
Peter & The Wolf
Should have been nominated:
Lifted, of course.

Best Live Action Short Film

Will win:
Il Supplente
Should win:
Il Supplente
Should have been nominated:
No idea. Some YouTube clips have made me laugh this year. (Short films are very poorly represented on TV, is my excuse.)

Best Sound Mixing:

Will win:
The Bourne Ultimatum
Should win:
Transformers
Should have been nominated:
Again, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was horribly horribly robbed.

Best Visual Effects:

Will win:
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Should win:
Transformers
Should have been nominated:
Sunshine
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So yes, it's the day after the day after, and we watched the recorded ceremony last night. Unfortunately Canyon got spoiled like crazy during the day, though I was luckier, hiding from the news and not looking at newspapers during a trip out of the computer-less house to gape in slackjawed astonishment at the brain-and-gut-soaked carnage that is Rambo IV: Infinite Blood (it made Mad Mel Gibson's brilliantly berserk and hyper-violent Apocalypto look like an episode of Dora the Explorer). I was horrified by my mistakes, and pleased for the Coens (though that adapted screenplay award really stuck in my craw), not to mention thrilled to the core by the award to Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (who I wanted to hug until they popped).

However, Transformers was totally totally robbed, and I wonder if there was some trouble or controversy within the FX community. I know that sounds like I'm being mean-spirited and unable to take it when a personal favourite loses like some kind of bratty kid, but it was the one movie of last year that never ceased to amaze me. That incredible finale alone justified the award. Hell, the shot of Megatron slamming Optimus Prime though a building should have won!

Oh, and Tilda Swinton rules the entire world. I've been saying it since Orlando, and her quirky and mischievous Gabriel in Constantine cemented my admiration, and everyone* ignored me! The last laugh is mine!

* Shades of Caruso Dictionary definition of "everyone": An exaggeration referring to a few select sceptics due to lack of perspective by over-excitable blogger.

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