So, yeah....it's about that time.
Though I have yet to see many of these films, and believe me I intend to, here are my selections / guesses for what this year's Academy Awards results will end up being. Basically, these are the ones who, based on my perceptions of tracking Hollywood as I normally do and reading the views of others as well as the work input of these people, appear to have, if not the best chance of winning, at least a high reasonable probability. (* = need to see it)
____________________________________________________________________
Best Picture: There Will Be Blood* (It's really a toss-up between this film and No Country for Old Men. Considering Juno as the Little Miss Sunshine light entry of this year because I feel they're both received the same despite any differences. All these are good contenders, from the feeling I'm getting about them, so honestly it's going to be random, though I really lean towards my choice. We'll see.)
Best Actor: Johnny Depp (Competition feels like it's between him, Viggo Mortensen and, of course, Daniel Day-Lewis. Lewis has already won 2, but doesn't mean he won't snatch another statue from what I'm hearing. Depp has recently become a shed of light in some years, especially following the...Pirates episodes and seems like more of a crowd favorite for Sweeny Todd*, not to mention another Tim Burton collaborative project. We'll see.)
Best Actress: Ellen Page (This one's a total guess. Juno* is probably destined to take at least one or 2 this year I feel. We'll just have to see. Cate Blanchett was my initial choice and may actually win. Then again, maybe not since she's recently won one for The Aviator. Juno may actually walk away with one for writing / screenplay. Again this is a toss-up guess as I haven't seen these films yet and probably won't before Oscar time comes. They are on my to-see list, however far in the future that may be. We'll see.)
Best Supporting Actor: Tom Wilkinson (Very unsure about this one, but I feel somewhat sure that it won't go to Philip Seymour Hoffman after he's snagged one a couple of years ago for Capote. I did, however, see Charlie Wilson's War and he indeed pulls off an impressive performance -- better than Tom Hanks even. Why Wilkinson? Well, he's done some very decent performances in the past. Some roles he pushed potential at least up to par with short time on screen (Batman Begins) and has respectfully played much more grander yet very subtle supporting roles (The Patriot). I have yet to see Exorcism of Emily Rose, but I hear he does a good job in that as well. Maybe time's just caught up. I could be completely wrong and Javier Bardem might take it this year. We'll see.)
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett (Generally, in some aspects, the Oscar picks follow the Golden Globe picks. It's true, despite any other surprised at different times and awards seasons. It might go to Ruby Dee for American Gangster. I don't feel her performance was anything memorable, but she did a really, really great job in her role. We'll see.)
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (Maybe I'm being biased, but whatever. There Will Be Blood seems to have a strong pulse -- especially to have an 8.9/10 on imdb.com and rank fairly high on the top 250 films. I really wished Ridley Scott was considered for nomination, but hey you never know. They waited for 8 nominations before feeling guilty for not giving Martin Scorsese one. We'll see.)
Best Writing, Original Screenplay: Juno (Ratatouille is a contender as well, surprisingly. I'd love to see the scripts for all the films one day though. Why Juno for my pick? The Little Miss Sunshine feeling strikes again. We'll see.)
Best Adapted Screenplay: _________ (I'm very unsure about this one. All nominees in this category seem to have equal fair chances. We'll see.)
Best Cinematography: _________ (Have yet to see these films that are up for nomination. Being who I am, I would initially pick Janusz Kaminski, who's done many films for Steven Spielberg and even winning cinematography Oscars for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. This one's a real uncertainty because you can never really tell when it comes to this category. We'll see.)
Best Art Direction: ____________ (Of the nominees, I've only seen American Gangster, but I don't have a feeling that this one will walk away with that particular Oscar. The other films seem as if they would easily topple this great mob flick.....especially in this category. Art direction for a rough neighborhood full of mobsters? Doesn't seem that hard to pull off. I may be wrong, though. There's always that possibility. We'll see.)
Best Costume Design: Atonement* (Just feels like a period piece carries more punch power than most things up against it. We'll see.)
Best Sound: Transformers (Probably hot competition between Transformers and Ratatouille. All I have to say is this. While watching Transformers in my room on my system, there was one scene where the sub managed to blow a gust of wind all the way across the floor. OMG Yes, it was that good. We'll see.)
Best Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum (I thought this was cut together quite well, but I still need to see the other films. This pick is a biased experienced one. So I'm going with it anyways. We'll see.)
Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Transformers (Yes, Transformers looks way better than POTC3: At World's End. It just does. Probably the best Special effects of 2007 and maybe the best I've seen in film history -- Including all 6 Star Wars films, especially the prequels. Now that's saying something. Even if the story was racky-tacky in Transformers, no one will argue that it wasn't damn good to look at. We'll see.)
Best Achievement in Make up: POTC3: At World's End (I'm being very biased here simply because it was up against....Norbit. Yeah. Unbelievable that kind of shit would be nominated. then again, maybe their make-up only is amazing. But, I feel the film is shitty, I haven't seen it and have no intention to. So yeah, just give it to the Pirates since that's the competition it has. We'll see.)
Best Original Song: _________ (I have no clue. We'll see.)
Best Original Score: __________ (Good thing for these people that John Williams isn't nominated for this year otherwise we know who I would pick. I feel this category is a toss-up between James Newton Howard, Marco Beltrami (surprisingly) and Michael Giacchino. We'll see.)
Best Short Film, Animated: ___________ (Haven't seen any of them and I know nothing of these people as I do the previous heavyweights at the top of the list. Generally these are newcomers with talent. We'll see.)
Best Short Film, Live Action: _______ (See previous category comment. We'll see.)
Best Documentary, Feature: Sicko* (Shut up, I know I'm being biased. What can I say. I like Michael Moore, despite what people think about the man. We'll see.)
Best Foreign Film: _________ (I know nothing of these people or the films. Have yet to see. We'll see.)
Best Animated Feature: Ratatoullie (Seriously.....do you think they would give it to anything else? Surf's Up? No. Too many damn penguin movies out there already. We'll see.)
I may have hit some on the head, I may have missed a few. I may have gotten them exactly right, I may have completely missed the target on all. Sometimes you can be sure with Oscars, but most of the time you will be completely surprised with the picks. It's fun to watch though, seeing art recognition awards. Anyways, all I can say is........We'll see.
____________________________________________________________________
Best Picture: There Will Be Blood* (It's really a toss-up between this film and No Country for Old Men. Considering Juno as the Little Miss Sunshine light entry of this year because I feel they're both received the same despite any differences. All these are good contenders, from the feeling I'm getting about them, so honestly it's going to be random, though I really lean towards my choice. We'll see.)
Best Actor: Johnny Depp (Competition feels like it's between him, Viggo Mortensen and, of course, Daniel Day-Lewis. Lewis has already won 2, but doesn't mean he won't snatch another statue from what I'm hearing. Depp has recently become a shed of light in some years, especially following the...Pirates episodes and seems like more of a crowd favorite for Sweeny Todd*, not to mention another Tim Burton collaborative project. We'll see.)
Best Actress: Ellen Page (This one's a total guess. Juno* is probably destined to take at least one or 2 this year I feel. We'll just have to see. Cate Blanchett was my initial choice and may actually win. Then again, maybe not since she's recently won one for The Aviator. Juno may actually walk away with one for writing / screenplay. Again this is a toss-up guess as I haven't seen these films yet and probably won't before Oscar time comes. They are on my to-see list, however far in the future that may be. We'll see.)
Best Supporting Actor: Tom Wilkinson (Very unsure about this one, but I feel somewhat sure that it won't go to Philip Seymour Hoffman after he's snagged one a couple of years ago for Capote. I did, however, see Charlie Wilson's War and he indeed pulls off an impressive performance -- better than Tom Hanks even. Why Wilkinson? Well, he's done some very decent performances in the past. Some roles he pushed potential at least up to par with short time on screen (Batman Begins) and has respectfully played much more grander yet very subtle supporting roles (The Patriot). I have yet to see Exorcism of Emily Rose, but I hear he does a good job in that as well. Maybe time's just caught up. I could be completely wrong and Javier Bardem might take it this year. We'll see.)
Best Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett (Generally, in some aspects, the Oscar picks follow the Golden Globe picks. It's true, despite any other surprised at different times and awards seasons. It might go to Ruby Dee for American Gangster. I don't feel her performance was anything memorable, but she did a really, really great job in her role. We'll see.)
Best Director: Paul Thomas Anderson (Maybe I'm being biased, but whatever. There Will Be Blood seems to have a strong pulse -- especially to have an 8.9/10 on imdb.com and rank fairly high on the top 250 films. I really wished Ridley Scott was considered for nomination, but hey you never know. They waited for 8 nominations before feeling guilty for not giving Martin Scorsese one. We'll see.)
Best Writing, Original Screenplay: Juno (Ratatouille is a contender as well, surprisingly. I'd love to see the scripts for all the films one day though. Why Juno for my pick? The Little Miss Sunshine feeling strikes again. We'll see.)
Best Adapted Screenplay: _________ (I'm very unsure about this one. All nominees in this category seem to have equal fair chances. We'll see.)
Best Cinematography: _________ (Have yet to see these films that are up for nomination. Being who I am, I would initially pick Janusz Kaminski, who's done many films for Steven Spielberg and even winning cinematography Oscars for Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. This one's a real uncertainty because you can never really tell when it comes to this category. We'll see.)
Best Art Direction: ____________ (Of the nominees, I've only seen American Gangster, but I don't have a feeling that this one will walk away with that particular Oscar. The other films seem as if they would easily topple this great mob flick.....especially in this category. Art direction for a rough neighborhood full of mobsters? Doesn't seem that hard to pull off. I may be wrong, though. There's always that possibility. We'll see.)
Best Costume Design: Atonement* (Just feels like a period piece carries more punch power than most things up against it. We'll see.)
Best Sound: Transformers (Probably hot competition between Transformers and Ratatouille. All I have to say is this. While watching Transformers in my room on my system, there was one scene where the sub managed to blow a gust of wind all the way across the floor. OMG Yes, it was that good. We'll see.)
Best Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum (I thought this was cut together quite well, but I still need to see the other films. This pick is a biased experienced one. So I'm going with it anyways. We'll see.)
Best Achievement in Visual Effects: Transformers (Yes, Transformers looks way better than POTC3: At World's End. It just does. Probably the best Special effects of 2007 and maybe the best I've seen in film history -- Including all 6 Star Wars films, especially the prequels. Now that's saying something. Even if the story was racky-tacky in Transformers, no one will argue that it wasn't damn good to look at. We'll see.)
Best Achievement in Make up: POTC3: At World's End (I'm being very biased here simply because it was up against....Norbit. Yeah. Unbelievable that kind of shit would be nominated. then again, maybe their make-up only is amazing. But, I feel the film is shitty, I haven't seen it and have no intention to. So yeah, just give it to the Pirates since that's the competition it has. We'll see.)
Best Original Song: _________ (I have no clue. We'll see.)
Best Original Score: __________ (Good thing for these people that John Williams isn't nominated for this year otherwise we know who I would pick. I feel this category is a toss-up between James Newton Howard, Marco Beltrami (surprisingly) and Michael Giacchino. We'll see.)
Best Short Film, Animated: ___________ (Haven't seen any of them and I know nothing of these people as I do the previous heavyweights at the top of the list. Generally these are newcomers with talent. We'll see.)
Best Short Film, Live Action: _______ (See previous category comment. We'll see.)
Best Documentary, Feature: Sicko* (Shut up, I know I'm being biased. What can I say. I like Michael Moore, despite what people think about the man. We'll see.)
Best Foreign Film: _________ (I know nothing of these people or the films. Have yet to see. We'll see.)
Best Animated Feature: Ratatoullie (Seriously.....do you think they would give it to anything else? Surf's Up? No. Too many damn penguin movies out there already. We'll see.)
I may have hit some on the head, I may have missed a few. I may have gotten them exactly right, I may have completely missed the target on all. Sometimes you can be sure with Oscars, but most of the time you will be completely surprised with the picks. It's fun to watch though, seeing art recognition awards. Anyways, all I can say is........We'll see.