Oscar Joy

So the Oscars are in twelve hours. I'm excited because I love the Oscars, even if they are dumb.

Anyway, I think it's time I make my predictions on who's going to win what. I'll probably be wrong, I haven't even seen all the movies, but why should that stop me.

My picks are in bold.

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Iron Man had good visual effects, but it didn't, in my view, break any new ground, it just did old stuff well. But I could be wrong, I don't really know how they made it. Dark Knight did most of their stuff in camera. Which is amazing. But I think this one is going to Benjamin Button. And I think it should get it too. The work they did on Cate and Brad, it was fantastic. I had trouble picking when they were at their real age and when they were being manipulated. At least in the middle of the film.

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

Truthfully, I have no idea. I don't generally notice if a mix is good or bad. I'm gonna say WALL-E because I at least noticed that there was a lot of sound in the film.

BEST SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

Iron Man needs to win for something. And this film did sound good. The effects were top notch.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
''Down to Earth,'' WALL-E
''Jai Ho,'' Slumdog Millionaire
''O Saya,'' Slumdog Millionaire

There are some good songs missing from here. Most notably "The Wrestler" by Springsteen. That's a fantastic song. Anyway, I'm going with WALL-E because I don't know which songs the other two were, I just remember Slumdog had songs.

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat
Defiance, James Newton Howard
Milk, Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman
WALL-E, Thomas Newman

Slumdog did have a good score. At least I enjoyed it. Thomas Newman, in my view, is a little too same, same. I don't remember Button's and I haven't seen the other two.

BEST MAKEUP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

This is a tough category, but Button is the darling of these Oscars, so I'm going with that. I wouldn't be upset with any of the three winning.

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

I have no idea. The Pig sounds the most fun.

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

Again, I have no idea. Although The Class has buzz, so I'm going with that. Usually as far as foreign language films go there is only going to be one winner because there is only one film everyone's heard off. At least that's how I see it.

BEST EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

As much as I love editing, I rarely notice editing. Every now and then I'll notice bad editing. Rarely will I notice really good editing. So I'm going with Frost/Nixon because I noticed that editing.

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306

No idea. I like the name.

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

I haven't seen any of them, but I've only heard good things about Man on Wire. I really want to see it.

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

This category usually goes to a period piece. Judging by the time frames of each of the films it should go to The Duchess, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say Revolutionary Road. It did have good costumes. I was impressed.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Go The Dark Knight! That was a well shot film.

BEST ART DIRECTION
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

I'm going The Dark Knight again. They do really good work with Batman.

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory — Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

How can a film about a Toilet Lovestory fail to win over the the hearts and minds of the Academy?

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

WALL-E has to win. Bolt was ok. Kung Fu Panda was fun. But WALL-E was something special.

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth
Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan
The Reader, David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy

I haven't actually seen it, but it's got the feel of an Oscar winner, people shouting and all that. Frost/Nixon should win.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen River, Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh
In Bruges, Martin McDonagh
Milk, Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter

If Milk doesn't win I'd be very surprised. I haven't seen Frozen River, but any of the other three could win and I'd be fine with that. In fact, I think I'll be cheering for In Bruges.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

I'm going for Taraji. She'll make a good acceptance speech.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Milk
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

If Heath Ledger wasn't running in this, I would be cheering for Robert Downey Jr. Comedy actors never win. But Ledger was amazing. He can't not win this one.

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader

I actually haven't seen any of these but Kate is in the Holocaust flick.

BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

This is tough. I'm going to go for Mickey Rourke. Langella was brillant. Sean Penn is great but I haven't seen Milk. I haven't seen The Visitor. Brad Pitt was good as Benjamin but not Oscar worthy, in my eyes. Rourke however did wonderfully, and I reckon Hollywood wants to give him a pat on the back.

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
Gus Van Sant, Milk

I think it's Danny Boyle's year.

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

The toss up is between aging, politics, homosexuality and politics, the Holocaust and poverty. I think it's poverties year. It's the biggest issue at the moment. Obama has won. The holocaust was a while ago. Aging is boring except when Brad Pitt does it backwards and homosexuality is so last decade. Poverty is where it's at and it'll make the academy feel good about itself. Me, I'm going for Frost/Nixon.

Now all I'm regretting is that I didn't see Milk, The Reader or Doubt. I was too busy watching things like Hellboy 2.