“I HATE THE OSCARS”

Well, it’s that time of year again. No, not the cold and the snow and the walking to the classes that freeze every inch of the being. It’s time for the Academy Awards on February 27! Yes, that magical time when celebrities and celebrity fanatics work themselves up into a tizzy over the only award show that really matters. Well, perhaps we can give some credit to the Grammy and Emmy Awards, but come now, who really cares?

The Oscars are the biggest event each year, unlike their weird cousin, the Golden Globes. The problem with the Golden Globes is that it gives too many choices. Awards for best movie in Drama and then also in Comedy/Musical? Please. The Oscars do not stoop to such indecisiveness, they pick the one overall winner and say: this is it, this is the best film of the year. They finalize the best director, actor, actress, and so on.

Last year, I was spot on with all my choices for what would win (Who ever doubted Return of the King? Really.) so this year I’m going for a repeat performance with my guessing, although I have not seen as many movies this year as I have in previous ones. But I shall do my best.

Let us first look at what is nominated for Best Picture: The Aviator, Ray, Sideways, Million Dollar Baby, and Finding Neverland. I have seen three of these films and plan to see the other two before the actual awards to make a much more educated guess. The Aviator and Sideways both won best picture at the Golden Globes in their respective categories (although Sideways is certainly not all comedy). For the Oscars though? I believe The Aviator will take home the award. It’s really between this film and Million Dollar Baby. But, the Academy always seems to prefer the biopic to the dark and lesser-seen film. The Oscars have been known to throw curveballs though: remember when Shakespeare in Love beat Saving Private Ryan? What a travesty! So, it is actually anyone’s game, but my money is on The Aviator.

The Aviator’s director Martin Scorsese will no doubt be taking home the Best Director statue at the end of the night as well. Clint Eastwood may have won the Golden Globe for Million Dollar Baby, but the Academy has been known to reward directors (along with actors/actresses) for past work (Return of the King’s sweep last year is the perfect example). Scorsese has never won an Oscar and is one of the most prolific directors of our time, so it seems like a shoo-in. Eastwood, while a very formidable opponent, has already claimed an Oscar for directing 1992s Unforgiven, and the Academy often likes to give the award to those who have not won before.

Which is what causes a problem in the Best Actor category: all five actors have not won an award: Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Don Cheadle, Clint Eastwood and Jamie Foxx are all statue-less when it comes to acting. The question here is: who pushed the limit as an actor and showed us something that we have never seen before? Well, we could say Don Cheadle, because he’s not often in a deadly serious role. But the money should be bet on Jamie Foxx. His portrayal of Ray Charles was out of this world; a million miles away from his roles in Bait and Booty Call. Plus, he also has a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Collateral. It’s a safe call to bet on Jamie Foxx.

Best Actress is a different story, though, a lot harder to call. In the actress category we have a few actresses that have no real name in America: Catalina Sandino (for Maria Full of Grace) and Moreno Imelda Staunton (for Vera Drake) are both unknowns. Annette Bening on the other hand, is very well known, as are Kate Winslet and Hillary Swank. But, Swank has already won an Oscar and Winslet is young and has more time to prove herself. On Oscar Night, I’m betting on Annette. And if there is any doubt, her husband, Warren Beatty, will pull some strings.

There are other smaller categories that I could delve into, but it would take far too much time, so I will merely give a few final predictions: The Motorcycle Diaries will take home Best Adapted Screenplay, while Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or The Incredibles will take home Best Original Screenplay (that one is too close to call). Morgan Freeman will be Best Supporting Actor, while Cate Blanchett will be Best Supporting Actress. The Incredibles will be Best Animated Film and Super Size Me will be Best Documentary.

Whoever said this was a bad year for film can suck an egg. As long as there are good films (some to entertain, some to make us think), it was a good year for movies. The selection of films for this year’s Academy Awards is proof enough that there were indeed good movies this year. But, as always, there were the bad too, and even sometimes they get nominated: The Passion of the Christ has some nominations, for example. But thankfully, the film gods will look down and say: “No. Bad movies do not win awards.” Thankfully, though, the good ones do.