It’s Oscar weekend and if you’re interested in that sort of thing, you’ve probably been reading all about which films and performances are more than likely to be given Academy Awards on Sunday night.
Anyone can predict the Oscar winners … heck, even YOU can predict the winners. But what fun is that? Read enough prognostications and you can be relatively successful … until something like Foreign Film or Cinematography puts the whammy on your ballot.
Far better to have that one or two predictions in the big categories that set you apart from the crowd (or at least into the small group of those who thought outside the ballot box). So, here’s your chance. Free and unsolicited, alternative choices in the Top 10 categories for this year’s Academy Awards.
Sound effects editing? Sorry, you’re on your own.
Best Adapted Screenplay: The smart money here has been on “Up In The Air,” as a way to acknowledge what had been a prime contender for much of the Oscar season. But there’s another film here that has generated a lot of goodwill that might get shut out as well and that’s “An Education.” The screenplay is by Nick Hornby, a brilliant writer whose novels have been made into films by several of those who will be voting.
Best Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarrantino would seem a shoo-in here for “Inglourious Basterds.” Don’t buy into it. One of the most clever screenplays of the year was for the animated film “Up,” with its depiction of growing old with and without the one you love.
Animated Feature: “Up,” of course, is nominated for Best Picture, so it’s a lock in this category … NOT. One of the independent darlings of Hollywood is director/writer Wes Anderson, and the Academy can find a way to honor him by giving the win in this category to “The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” which might have been the better film anyway.
Foreign Film: This prize is headed for “The White Ribbon” from Germany. And then, at the last moment, here comes “The Milk of Sorrow” from Peru to snatch it away. Why? Because the Academy likes to spread this category out among as many countries as possible; and Peru hasn’t been a hotbed of filmmaking.
Best Supporting Actor: Since “Inglourious Basterds” premiered, Christoph Waltz was headed for this prize. he’s won every conceivable award for his performance. The single, most-likely winner Sunday night … and he’ll lose … to Christopher Plummer (“The Last Station”). At age 80, after a brilliant career, Plummer has received his first nomination. This has classic upset written all over it.
Best Supporting Actress: As with the writing award for “Up in the Air,” here’s where “Precious” was a cinch to be recognized, for the performance of Mo’Nique, who like Waltz has won every award until this point. But Maggie Gyllenhaal was a surprise nominee for “Crazy Heart” and has been an indie-film icon for years. Just sayin’ …
Best Actor: Jeff Bridges, of course, for “Crazy Heart.” I look at this category and think of the year that Nicholson, Cage, Day-Lewis and Caine were nominated … and Adrian Brody won the Oscar. Four established stars are in the field here (Clooney, Freeman, Firth and Bridges), while Jeremy Renner was the heartbeat of the much-admired “The Hurt Locker.”
Best Actress: Meryl Streep (“Julie & Julia”) hasn’t won an Oscar in 27 years. Sandra Bullock (“The Blind Side”) is a well-loved Hollywood survivor. The pair have won every award except the Cy Young until this point and the race is thought to be too close to call. Which is why the winner will be Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious.” She made what could have been a film unbearable to watch into an engrossing moment of viewer empathy.
Best Director: This one also has been carved in stone for months, Kathryn Bigelow for “The Hurt Locker.” The Academy has even lined up Barbra Streisand to present this award, so sure it is that Bigelow will win. However, no film this year had the stamp of auteur placed on it as Quentin Tarrantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” and one of the mavericks of Hollywood gets payback with the prize he should have won for “Pulp Fiction.”
Best Picture: “Avatar” or “The Hurt Locker,” that’s been the question during the parade of award shows and critics prizes. But the weighted voting system will come into play here, and the film that seems to be everyone’s second choice, “Inglouious Basterds,” will keep piling up points as the others fall by the wayside.
How many of these predictions will prove correct? If I knew that, I’d be in Vegas.
