from wildaboutmovies.com
Oscar Pools are a beautiful form of democracy in action: You don't have to have seen all of the nominated movies to fill out a ballot (sorry, Letters From Iwo Jima), or even to win (thank you, Helen Mirren). All you need is conventional wisdom with a dash of inspiration, plus, for the super-competitive, the time to Google all the Live Action Shorts. Here at ETP, we do not apologize for making the reference without having seen the movie (WE ARE NOT AN ANIMAL!) and we don't apologize for thinking Leo DiCaprio is sorta puffy, loving Devil Wears Prada for the clothes, and being freaked out by the weird-looking goat-man thing in Pan's Labyrinth. That said, we have, on occasion, won Oscar pools in the past, through the same blind, dumb luck that a not-at-all-bitter Annie Proulx ascribed to last year's Best Picture winner Crash. See? We can Google with the best of 'em. Join us now as we fill out our ballot, which may or may not be read as a passive-aggressive vote against the Academy for snubbing Dreamgirls. Follow along at home, or just print out our picks and take your chances — but remember, we're the people who think Fellini tastes great with clam sauce. Bruce Vilanch, don't steal that. Breslin or Barazza? Norbit or Dirk Diggler? Horny Old Man or Idi Amin? We have no idea, but we're willing to guess. Devils, Dreams, Queens and Iwo Jims after the jump!
ETP's Oscar Ballot [ETP]
Related:
The Critic And The Producer [NYMag]
Initial Picks: Best Week Ever [BWE]
In no particular order, except that in which we copied and pasted:
ACTOR - LEADING
Leonardo DiCaprio - BLOOD DIAMOND
Ryan Gosling - HALF NELSON
Peter O'Toole - VENUS
Will Smith - THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS
Forest Whitaker - THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND
Whitaker takes it, easy. DiCaprio loses the votes of people who liked him better in The Departed, Gosling has forever alienated manly-men with The Notebook, and also everyone is suddenly claiming not to know him although, really, he sorta made his bones being Sandra Bullock's boytoy after Murder By Numbers (and plus, the critics freaking loved him). Still, Gosling, it's an honor just to be nominated. O'Toole's film is too small, and Smith's is too precious (cf. spelling). Dark horse: Gosling.
ACTOR -SUPPORTING
Alan Arkin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jackie Earle Haley - LITTLE CHILDREN
Djimon Hounsou - BLOOD DIAMOND
Eddie Murphy - DREAMGIRLS
Mark Wahlberg - THE DEPARTED
An Oscar-obsessive friend of mine is submitting two ballots this year: One with conventional fave Murphy and one recognizing just how unbelievably damning Norbit is. Sans Norbit, this would have been a lock; it probably still is (he really was great in Dreamgirls) but Alan Arkin could sneak in there with the "quirky indie sensibility" vote.
ACTRESS - LEADING
Penélope Cruz - VOLVER
Judi Dench - NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Helen Mirren - THE QUEEN
Meryl Streep - THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
Kate Winslet - LITTLE CHILDREN
It is so hard not to vote for Meryl Streep, ever, but this year is easier because The Queen was such an unlikely (and thus far more powerful) hit, and Devil Wears Prada is, after all, no Sophie's Choice. (Or Silkwood. Or Out Of Africa. Or She-Devil.) Mirren is probably the surest vote on the ballot - she is LOVED. What an amazing field though. Nice plum for Cruz; she really didn't get enough credit for Woman On Top.
ACTRESS - SUPPORTING
Adriana Barraza - BABEL
Cate Blanchett - NOTES ON A SCANDAL
Abigail Breslin - LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
Jennifer Hudson - DREAMGIRLS
Rinko Kikuchi - BABEL
Jennifer Hudson. All you got to do is dream, baby.
BEST PICTURE
BABEL
THE DEPARTED
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
THE QUEEN
The toss-up here is between The Queen and The Departed. Plaudits for Lizzie II aside, The Departed's got the deck pretty stacked between Scorsese, Wahlberg, DiCaprio's phantom nomination, Matt Damon looking pretty (but actin' gritty), and Jack Nicholson throwing cocaine on hookers (his idea, by the way). Despite its Golden Globe, Babel's got the feeling of being this year's Crash, and, well, we know what Annie Proulx has to say about that. The Academy tends not to repeat itself; see Chicago, Dreamgirls.
ANIMATED FEATURE
CARS
HAPPY FEET
MONSTER HOUSE
Only three? How badly did Over The Hedge have to suck? Everyone loved Cars but everyone loves dancing penguins threatened with extinction more. Suck it, Cavuto!
CINEMATOGRAPHY
THE BLACK DAHLIA
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE ILLUSIONIST
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE PRESTIGE
Here are two movies everyone loved, and neither of them had Scarlett Johanssen or Jessica Biel in period garb: Pan's Labyrinth and Children of Men. We gave the edge to Children of Men because Those In The Know were really, really annoyed it got shut out. We didn't see it, but it sure sounded like some toe-tapping entertainment! Clive Owen, call us!
COSTUME DESIGN
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER
THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
DREAMGIRLS
MARIE ANTOINETTE
THE QUEEN
This is a FANTASTIC category every year, because, let's face it, God is in the details and great clothes just make everything better. ETP loved the trailer for Marie Antoinette - so much so that we didn't feel the need to see the movie, mercifully, as we understand it - and The Queen was lauded for its pitch-perfect design elements almost as much as it was for Mirren's performance (inevitably, gushing praise for how she embodied Elizabeth included her very proper royal attire). The clothes in Devil Wears Prada were extravagant, exciting, fun and whimsical yet totally not cartoonish or campy (a la Pret A Porter), and really took the form of almost an additional character, pushing the movie forward in a distinct and noticeable way. Yet, at the end of the day it's Devil Wears Prada - not a serious film, and hence a no-brainer for filing under "Honor Just To Be Nominated." Dreamgirls, however, was a costume tour de force, with wildly inventive (and amazing) outfits for Beyoncé & Co., but also a hugely sprawling epic across decades and social divisions, so these clothes made a statement. There's got to be Dreamgirls backlash guilt among Academy voters, and everybody likes pretty sequins. (Sorry, Curse of the Golden Flower, you were waaaaaaaay down on our list.)
DIRECTING
BABEL - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
THE DEPARTED - Martin Scorsese
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA - Clint Eastwood
THE QUEEN - Stephen Frears
UNITED 93 - Paul Greengrass
Scorsese! It's your time! No Gangs of New York this - everyone loved it, it didn't take ten years to make and it's Scorsese's most bankable flick to date, even adjusted for inflation. (Somewhere, Harvey Weinstein is bonking his head against a wall.) Clint Eastwood doesn't need another Oscar, for God's sake, even if this year's efforts had that killer one-two punch of being ambitious and patriotic. But still. It's Scorsese's turn.
DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
DELIVER US FROM EVIL
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS
JESUS CAMP
MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY
Duh. Inconvenient Truth, obvi. But let's take a moment to give major props to Jesus Camp (by HuffPosters Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady), whose surprise Ted Haggard-starrer has gotten killer reviews.
FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
AFTER THE WEDDING
DAYS OF GLORY (INDIGÈNES)
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
PAN'S LABYRINTH
WATER
Pan's Labyrinth, though we are still confused as to where Letters From Iwo Jima fits, really.
ORIGINAL SCORE
BABEL
THE GOOD GERMAN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN
This was one of our wild guesses, since The Departed wasn't nominated and hence we could not show love for fellow Canadian Howard Shore. We went with The Queen. Did we mention it was popular?
ORIGINAL SONG
"I Need to Wake Up" - AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
"Listen" - DREAMGIRLS
"Love You I Do" - DREAMGIRLS
"Our Town" - CARS
"Patience" - DREAMGIRLS
Yes, Beyonceé, we're listening. And you knocked that one out of the park, it's true, even if you were only the fourth-credited writer and as such won't technically even be getting the Oscar. But still. That's the song. Though we loved "Patience" when we heard it in the film (why, Curtis, why????) and it would make a nice hat-tip to the under-appreciated Anika Noni Rose. Meanwhile, "I Love You I Do" is just a great pop song. Henry Krieger -3; Kander & Ebb - 0.
DOCUMENTARY SHORT
THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT
RECYCLED LIFE
REHEARSING A DREAM
TWO HANDS
We saw none of them. But still, when blind-picking Oscar, it is always safe to go with the Jews. Two Hands it is!
ART DIRECTION
DREAMGIRLS
THE GOOD SHEPHERD
PAN'S LABYRINTH
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:
DEAD MAN'S CHEST
THE PRESTIGE
We wanted to go with Dreamgirls here, we did, if only for the giant Beyoncé-head in Curtis and Deena's living room. But still, Pan's Labyrinth was eligible in Art Direction, not in Costume Design, so that is how our vote is split. For those keeping score, Prestige - 2, Illusionist -1 (but, we think, Justin Timberlake, both).
MAKEUP
APOCALYPTO
CLICK
PAN'S LABYRINTH
Again with the just-three nominations? And one is to freakin' Click? Advantage: Pan. Sorry, Apocalypto - talk to the hand!
FILM EDITING
BABEL
BLOOD DIAMOND
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
UNITED 93
We're going with Children of Men here, though this category is pretty specifically expert. We do wonder where Dreamgirls is here, though, considering there were about a gazillion edits. Categories like this are the reason that different point categories for Oscar pools were created.
VISUAL EFFECTS
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST
POSEIDON
SUPERMAN RETURNS
Only three categories again - that's just insulting to Norbit. Bill Nighy, now is your moment to shine! Pirates, def.
SOUND EDITING
APOCALYPTO
BLOOD DIAMOND
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:
DEAD MAN'S CHEST
It seemed weird to pick Apocalypto over highbrow nominees, but how to split the diff between Flags and Iwo Jima? And Blood Diamond just sorta seemed to fit in with those two, somehow. We went with Pirates, just to be contrarian.
SCREENPLAY - ADAPTED
BORAT: CULTURAL LEARNINGS OF AMERICA FOR MAKE BENEFIT GLORIOUS NATION OF KAZAKHSTAN
CHILDREN OF MEN
THE DEPARTED
LITTLE CHILDREN
NOTES ON A SCANDAL
We love the juxtaposition of the first two. A few weeks ago we'd have voted for Borat but the Children of Men movement has just kept on growing, so we picked that. People really want that flick to win Oscars.
SCREENPLAY - ORIGINAL
BABEL
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA
LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE QUEEN
Letters From Iwo Jima is all sorts of impressive, but does it have an 11-year old striptease? Noooooo. Love for Sunshine fits best here, though in truth we would have rather seen it show up in the Best Supporting Actor category for Steve Carrell.
SOUND MIXING
APOCALYPTO
BLOOD DIAMOND
DREAMGIRLS
FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:
DEAD MAN'S CHEST
Here, Apocalypto, we're throwing you a bone. Stick it through your nose or something.
SHORT FILM - LIVE ACTION
BINTA AND THE GREAT IDEA (BINTA Y LA GRAN IDEA)
ÉRAMOS POCOS (ONE TOO MANY)
HELMER & SON
THE SAVIOUR
WEST BANK STORY
See above re: The Rule of Jews - those themes play really, really well with Academy voters (cf. Into The Arms Of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport though, we guess, not Munich). We're going with West Bank Story ("Falafel, I just ate my boyfriend's falafel...").
SHORT FILM - ANIMATED
THE DANISH POET
LIFTED
THE LITTLE MATCHGIRL
MAESTRO
NO TIME FOR NUTS
Watch at least three of them here; we're going to go with The Danish Poet . Poems are written by fools like Torill Kove!
