Oscar Review

I managed a respectable 14 of 24, but missed Best Picture. I did predict a few surprises, most notably Best Foreign Language Film and Best Supporting Actor. I finished in second place in both Mark's birdbath (3-way tie) and Jeff's pool, and I enjoyed following Jeff's blog commentary during the broadcast.

Correct: 1Best Director, 2Best Actor, 3Best Actress, 4Best Supporting Actor, 5Best Supporting Actress, 6Best Original Screenplay, 7Best Adapted Screenplay, 8Cinematography, 9Art Direction, 10Best Makeup, 11Sound Mixing, 12Best Visual Effects, 13Best Foreign Language Film, and 14Best Documentary Feature

I was 6 of 7 in the majors, 5 of 8 in the technical, 2 of 2 in the writing, 1 of 1 in the Political Statement category (aka Best Documentary), and struck out in the animated (Cars was sideswiped and Hoodwinked should have been nominated!), music (Note: multiple nominations from one film always cancel each other out) and short form categories.

UPDATE: Last year I correctly predicted 14 as well (3rd place in both pools), and in 2005 I correctly predicted 13 (1st in Jeff's pool and 2nd in Mark's). My best performance was in 2004 with 17 of 24 (the year LOTR:ROTK won everything).

2007 Oscar Picks

Here are my picks for which films I think will win on Sunday (my personal preferences or 2nd choices are in parentheses). I've submitted these in two Oscar pools.

Best Picture: Little Miss Sunshine (Letters from Iwo Jima)
Best Director: Martin Scorsese for The Departed (Paul Greengrass)
Best Actor: Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland
Best Actress: Helen Mirren in The Queen
Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin in Little Miss Sunshine
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls (Abigail Breslin)
Best Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine (Letters from Iwo Jima)
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Departed
Cinematography: Pan's Labyrinth
Editing: United 93
Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth
Costume Design: Dreamgirls
Original Score: Pan's Labyrinth
Original Song: "Listen" — Dreamgirls
Best Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth
Sound Editing: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Sound Mixing: Dreamgirls
Best Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Best Animated Feature Film: Cars
Best Foreign Language Film: The Lives of Others — Germany
Best Documentary Feature: An Inconvenient Truth (Deliver Us From Evil)
Best Documentary Short: Rehearsing a Dream
Best Live Action Short: Helmer & Son
Best Animated Short: Maestro

Our Winter Film Fest

The winter months are the perfect time to catch up on all the movies we missed last year due to the Oscar rush, the cold weather and the lack of any good new releases. Since my last post about movies, we've managed to watch seven. Here's the list:

Over the Hedge
An above average animated flick - William Shatner and Steve Carell steal the show - and the commonalities with Hoodwinked are uncanny (zany squirrels and Ben Folds for starters).

Cars
Fantastic animation and a pretty good story line, yet it failed to have as much memorable dialogue as past Pixar movies (we quote a lot of Nemo and Incredibles around our house).

United 93
This film may be the best drama we've seen in a long while. It is inspiring without being sentimental. During the final ten minutes, I was sitting at the edge of my seat hoping beyond reason that the passengers would "win" in the end. And in one sense, they did.

X-Men: The Last Stand
This "final" installment in the X-men franchise is fun, but doesn't live up to the quality of the first two. It ultimately suffered from too many plot lines.

Little Miss Sunshine
This is the "buzz movie" of 2006, I can only echo the praise this little indie film has already received. Great acting, great soundtrack, great story, and great laughs. The deleted scenes on the dvd are a must see.

World Trade Center
The second 9/11 film isn't quite as good as United 93 even though it is more hopeful in tone. The story though is captivating and miraculous. Oliver Stone surprised me with a film that strikes just the right tone at the five-year anniversary.

Inside Man
This is just an okay heist flick. Not quite up to par with Ocean's 11 or the Italian Job, but still pretty good.

My revised must see list includes: Flags of Our Fathers, Letters From Iwo Jima, Sophie Scholl, Casino Royale, Wordplay, Marie Antoinette, The Pursuit of Happyness, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, Stranger Than Fiction, Fast Food Nation, Thank You for Smoking, A Prairie Home Companion, Nacho Libre, and The Queen. Somehow I don't think winter is going to last long enough to see all these (at least I hope it doesn't).

Nashville Snowmen

He isn't much, but its all I could manage this morning considering the lack of good packing snow.

After completing him, Addy asked me "Daddy, does the snowman wear shoes?"

This afternoon, Janell told Addy that he was likely melting and that he could not come inside. She replied, "I guess I'll give him a hug." And she went outside and did just that.