January 22, 2008

Reactions to the Nominations!

Best Picture
Atonement makes it, but Into the Wild doesn't. So I had my foot in my mouth putting it in the front as the likely winner. I can admit when I'm wrong. Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, and There Will Be Blood make it as expected. Juno makes the attack of all attacks today...
Igloo Prediction: 4/5 - missing Atonement for Into the Wild
Davis Blog - 4/5 - missing Juno for Into the Wild (Juno was alternate)
Best Director
...with Jason Reitman pulling a 1998 Full Monty move, mirroring the Best Picture nomination with a director bid. Paul Thomas Anderson, Joel & Ethan Coen, and Julian Schnabel show up as expected. Tony Gilroy even though predicted by many, people were expecting him to get the shaft for the lone director spot which went to Schnabel.
Igloo Prediction - 4/5 - missing Reitman for Penn
Davis Blog - 4/5 - missing Reitman for Penn
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
George Clooney & Daniel Day-Lewis make their expected showing. Johnny Depp was vulnerable for sometime and made the cut. Could he upset Lewis? It's great to see Viggo Mortensen with his first nomination because he truly is fabulous in Eastern Promises. But the talk of the hour...Where the hell did Tommy Lee Jones come from with his nomination for In the Valley of Elah. His buzz was completely dead for the past two months and he made a sneak attack big time. It's great to see him nominated again and for the right film.
Igloo Prediction - 4/5 - missing Jones for Gosling
Davis Blog - 4/5 - missing Jones for Hirsch
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
What seem sealed for weeks has completely revamped into an interesting race. Ellen Page, Julie Christie, and Marion Cotillard make their showings. Angelina Jolie is left off in place of not only Cate Blanchett's horrific film but for the gorgeous and talented Laura Linney for The Savages. Does she have the steam to upset favorites Christie & Cotillard? Can Page jump in front? Any four of those are feasible winners at this point.
Igloo Prediction - 4/5 - missing Linney for Jolie
Davis Blog - 3/5 - missing Linney & Blanchett for Marinca & Jolie (Blanchett was alternate)
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
As boring as it is, these five men had been locked in for weeks. Affleck, Hoffman, Bardem, Holbrook, and Wilkinson all make it. Bardem has the precursors and momentum but Holbrook could snag it on veteran and career status alone. It'll be a close one. We'll see how SAG goes...
Igloo Prediction - 4/5 - missing Hoffman for Jones (No Country)
Davis Blog - 5/5 !!! (Woo hoo!)
Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
So little Saoirse Ronan did make the cut. Wow, I thought she was out. Keener is left off for Into the Wild which is a huge disappointment. She finally can get nominated for a great performance and AMPAS forgets her. Dee makes it for the mediorce American Gangster. I'm just glad the film didn't.
Igloo Predictions - 4/5 - missing Dee for Keener
Davis Blog - 4/5 - missing Ronan for Keener
Screenplays
Original went as predicted with no surprises there. The Academy wasn't cool enough to nominate Knocked Up or clever enough to nominate Before the Devil Knows You're Dead.
Adapted on the other hand, had Away from Her making a late surge into the race and Atonement making it in the end despite the WGA snub. I believe Juno & No Country for Old Men may have this in the bag.
Igloo Predictions - Original - 5/5 !!!!
Adapted - 4/5 - missing Away from Her for Into the Wild
Davis Blog - Original - 5/5 !!!!
Adapted - 3/5 - missing Away from Her & Atonement for Into the Wild & Zodaic
Technical Nominations
Art Direction
Igloo Prediction - 3/5 missing American Gangster & The Golden Compass
Davis Blog - 4/5 - missing American Gangster


Costume Design
Igloo Prediction - 2/5 - missing Elizabeth: The Golden Age, La Vie en Rose, Across the Universe
Davis Blog - 4/5 - missing Across the Universe

Cinematography
Igloo Predictions - 5/5 !!!!
Davis Blog - 5/5 !!!!

Film Editing
Igloo Predictions - 4/5 - missing The Diving Bell & the Butterfly (alternate)
Davis Blog - 4/5 - missing The Diving Bell & the Butterfly

Makeup
Igloo Prediction - 1/3 missing Pirates & Norbit (both alternates)
Davis Blog - 1/3 missing Pirates & Norbit

Original Score
Igloo Prediction - 3/5 - missing 3:10 to Yuma & Michael Clayton
Davis Blog - 3/5 - missing Michael Clayton & Ratatouille (alternate)

Original Song
Igloo Prediction - 2/5 - missing two Enchanted songs and August Rush
Davis Blog - 1/5 - only naming Once "Falling Slowly"

Sound Mixing
Igloo Prediction - 3/5 - missing 3:10 to Yuma & Ratatouille
Davis Blog - 2/5 - only getting Bourne & Transformers

Sound Editing
Igloo Prediction - 2/5 - only calling Ratatouille & Transformers
Davis Blog - 2/5 - only calling Ratatouille & Transformers

Visual Effects
Igloo Prediction - 3/3 !!!!
Davis Blog - 3/3 !!!!

All in all, a pretty great day. What was the most surprising to you?

7 comments:

  1. Depp may upset Day-Lewis. But I'm predicting Tommy Lee Jones to give them both a run for their money, especially given his "come out of nowhere come-back" (and for the right movie). :)

    I'm not counting out Viggo, especially if he wins the SAG this weekend. He was fantastic in Eastern Promises. Nor am i counting out George Clooney. Remember. He's the new Tom Hanks.

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  2. Daniel Day-Lewis is the clear favourite. But does anyone remember 5 years ago...

    ...when Day-Lewis was again a favourite (Gangs of New York), and was alongside Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine and Nicolas Cage? And then all of a sudden... Oscarless Brody won!!!

    We´ve sure seen some fantastic things happen at the Oscars. So don´t be at all surprised if Viggo won. (Unfortunately, many seem to believe a nomination is already a reward for him).

    As for the actresses, Marion deserves it. However, La Vie en Rose will most definitely win for Best Makeup, which actually, makes a disadvantage for her.

    I still can´t see Christie and Page winning though... could last minute underdog linney actually take Oscar away from those fabulous 3??

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  3. Daniel Day Lewis is still the strong frontrunner, but I can make a case for an upset by Clooney and Jones. Clooney is Mr. Hollywood and knows how to play the game well with his prodigious amount of friends, so I could see him winning. Jones obviously has a LOT of support for him to be included with no buzz since like October, so as Alison said if he can make a stealth attack on the nominations--he can do the same with a win.

    Viggo has finally broken through and I'm glad for him. I think Johnny has the least chance of winning. He isn't a Hollywood player like Clooney. Most people don't think he gave the performance on the same scale as DDL (although I do). He isn't an older actor who is a favorite and kind of "made man" of the Academy like Jones (and I don't mean to slight Jones' performance because he was terrific as usual). He isn't the cool, maverick guy anymore like Viggo (again not to slight his performance). However, I'm really glad that Depp got chosen to be among the top 5 in a year when there were at least 5 other performances every bit as viable and worthy.

    Personally I'm hoping for an upset, by any of the other actors except Clooney because I really didn't care for DDL's performance.

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  4. I must confess that I don't think I have ever been so disappointed with an oscar nomination day as today...

    I mean, leaving into the wild completely out??? And you might not like the movie itself, but how can you not nominate at least his songs????? Eddie Vedder for me is the biggest snub today! Not too mention Hirch, Keener and Penn...

    Talking about Penn, what about the directors spot?? As much as I appreciate Michael Clayton and Juno (and believe me, I do) am I the only one not to understand how their directors can steal the spot from the likes of tim burton, david cronenberg, sidney lumet or even david fincher and todd haynes????

    Well some good things also happened, such as viggo mortensen, laura linney and phillip seymor hoffman (even if for the wrong film) nominations... But to snub these for me would also be just another tremendous disappointment.

    At least there was tommy lee jones' nomination to keep things moving, and yes a deserved one... And at least there was no major attention given to american gangster, charlie wilson war or (and i really feared this one) hairspray.

    I just hoped for something a bit more edgy, some kudos for zodiac, for example, or an unexpected directo nod for cronenberg or burton... The academy is boring as ever! And i don't think that will change on the big day:

    Film - no country
    Director - Coen Bros
    Actor - Day Lewis (even though i have my fingers crossed for viggo!)
    Actress - Christie
    Supp Actor - Bardem
    Supp Actress - Blanchett

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  5. I'm glad so many of you are giving Cotillard support, but she just can't win for one single reason: she lip-synched her songs. It killed Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, and Cotillard will be the Academy's next victim, regreattably.

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  6. How about Jamie Foxx in Ray? That was a whole lot of lip-synch.
    Audrey Hepburn wasn´t even nominated in My Fair Lady...

    Ok, sure Angela Bassett did lip-synch as well in What´s Love Got to do With it, and didn´t win...

    But Cotillard did sing half of the songs in La Vie en Rose - when she´s singing in the streets, practicing with a teacher, singing at bars and at two theatre scenes. It´s just impossible to put another person singing "Je ne regrette rien" - the real Piaf´s voice was absolutely necessary...

    Which is definitely not the same case for Reese Witherspoon´s mediocre singing in Walk the Line. Oscars are Oscars, not Grammys - which doesn´t really look like it after Jennifer Hudson... still...

    I do hope Cotillard wins. There´s no way in hell Christie or Page deserve it more than she does. Cotillard gave the best performance of the year - be it male or female.

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  7. Cate Blanchett is definitely IN to win her 2 Oscar now.

    Did anyone forget she played the SAME character as Heath Ledger?

    Who will she dedicate her Oscar to?

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