78 Annual Academy Awards.

[hector]

The nominees, and my picks:

Best Picture

Brokeback Mountain
Munich
Good Night, and Good Luck
Capote
Crash

Brokeback Mountain is almost a lock. Golden Globe, Lee got the DGA award, etc.


Achievement in Directing

Bennett Miller Capote
Ang Lee Brokeback Mountain
Steven Spielberg Munich
Paul Haggis Crash
George Clooney Good Night, And Good Luck.

Same as Best Picture. Lee got the award in his pocket.


Vote for Best Actor

Heath Ledger Brokeback Mountain
Joaquin Phoenix Walk the Line
Philip Seymour Hoffman Capote
David Strathairn Good Night, And Good Luck.
Terrence Howard Hustle & Flow

I'm gonna go for Hoffman. It's the kind of performance the Academy likes to award.


Vote for Best Actress

Charlize Theron North Country
Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice
Felicity Huffman Transamerica
Reese Witherspoon Walk the Line
Judi Dench Mrs. Henderson Presents

Witherspoon got the buzz. She might get it.


Vote for Best Supporting Actor

William Hurt A History of Violence
George Clooney Syriana
Matt Dillon Crash
Jake Gyllenhaal Brokeback Mountain
Paul Giamatti Cinderella Man

Clooney has proved a great actor and very capable director. They are not going to award Good Night, Good Luck, but I'm sure the academy will love to award him in the future. For now, he'll get the supportinga ctor nod.

Vote for Best Supporting Actress

Frances McDormand North Country
Rachel Weisz The Constant Gardener
Amy Adams Junebug
Michelle Williams Brokeback Mountain
Catherine Keener Capote

I'm gonna go for Amy Adams. Why? because this category is mostly the members flipping a coin.


Vote for Best Original Screenplay

Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco Crash
George Clooney and Grant Heslov Good Night, And Good Luck.
Woody Allen Match Point
Noah Baumbach The Squid and the Whale
Stephen Gaghan Syriana

Hmm.. Syriana.

Vote for Best Adapted Screenplay
Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana Brokeback Mountain
Dan Futterman Capote
Jeffrey Caine The Constant Gardener
Josh Olson A History of Violence
Tony Kushner and Eric Roth Munich

Capote. Again, it's the kind of movie the academy likes to award.

Vote for Achievement in Cinematography
Dion Beebe Memoirs of a Geisha
Emmanuel Lubezki The New World
Wally Pfister Batman Begins
Rodrigo Prieto Brokeback Mountain
Robert Elswit Good Night, And Good Luck.

I'm gonna go for Rodrigo Prieto.

Vote for Best Film Editing
Mike Hill and Dan Hanley Cinderella Man
Claire Simpson The Constant Gardener
Hughes Winborne Crash
Michael Kahn Munich
Michael McCusker Walk the Line

Munich.

Vote for Best Art Direction
Art Direction: Jim Bissell; Set Decoration: Jan Pascale Good Night, And Good Luck.
Art Direction: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Art Direction: Grant Major; Set Decoration: Dan Hennah and Simon Bright King Kong
Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gretchen Rau Memoirs of a Geisha
Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer Pride and Prejudice

King Kong will sweep the technical awards.


Vote for Achievement in Costume Design
Colleen Atwood Memoirs of a Geisha
Sandy Powell Mrs. Henderson Presents
Jacqueline Durran Pride and Prejudice
Arianne Phillips Walk the Line
Gabriella Pescucci Charlie & the Chocolate Factory

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.


Vote for Achievement in Makeup
Howard Berger and Tami Lane The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
David Leroy Anderson and Lance Anderson Cinderella Man
Dave Elsey and Nikki Gooley Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Narnia will win this. Even if it was below par but there wasnt anything else to award.


Vote for Best Original Score
John Williams Memoirs of a Geisha
Gustavo Santaolalla Brokeback Mountain
John Williams Munich
Alberto Iglesias The Constant Gardener
Dario Marianelli Pride and Prejudice


Another one for John? Well, he has the odds.


Vote for Best Original Song

'In the Deep' - Music by Kathleen 'Bird' York and Michael Becker; Lyrics by Kathleen 'Bird' York Crash
'Hard Out Here for a Pimp' - Music & Lyrics by Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard Hustle & Flow
'Travelin' Thru' - Music & Lyrics by Dolly Parton Transamerica

No idea.

Vote for Achievement in Sound Editing
Mike Hopkins and Ethan Van der Ryn King Kong
Wylie Stateman Memoirs of a Geisha
Richard King War of the Worlds

King Kong again.

Vote for Achievement in Sound Mixing
Terry Porter, Dean A. Zupancic and Tony Johnson The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges and Hammond Peek King Kong
Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Rick Kline and John Pritchett Memoirs of a Geisha
Paul Massey, D.M. Hemphill and Peter F. Kurland Walk the Line
Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer and Ronald Judkins War of the Worlds

I'm gonna go with Kong again.

Vote for Best Visual Effects

Dean Wright, Bill Westenhofer, Jim Berney and Scott Farrar The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Dennis Muren, Pablo Helman, Randy Dutra and Daniel Sudick War of the Worlds
Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers and Richard Taylor King Kong

And again.

Vote for Best Animated Feature Film
Howl's Moving Castle
Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Hmm. Interesting category. Anyone would be great.


Vote for Best Foreign-Language Film
Paradise Now (Palestine)
Joyeux Noel (France)
Tsotsi (South Africa)
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Germany)
Don't Tell (Italy)

Paradise Now has the buzz.

Vote for Best Documentary Feature
Darwin's Nightmare
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Murderball
March of the Penguins
Street Fight

The march of the Penguins.

[Elliot Kane]

Hard to argue with most of those, Hec, I must admit.

I will say Weisz for best supporting actress, though, as she has enormous buzz. I think she's won everything else.

Witherspoon is a lock for best actress, not least becuse it's about time they gave her something.

Brokeback will sweep the awards because it's a worthy film as well as a good one.

[hector]

Wow, Crash? I wasn't expecting that at all. Just when the ceremony was extremely predictable and without surprises.

All in all, mostly deserving winners. And Stewart did a great job.

The rest of the winners:

Best Motion Picture of the Year
Crash (2004) - Paul Haggis, Cathy Schulman

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Reese Witherspoon for Walk the Line (2005)

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
George Clooney for Syriana (2005)

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener (2005)

Best Achievement in Directing
Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
Crash (2004) - Paul Haggis, Robert Moresco

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Larry McMurtry, Diana Ossana

Best Achievement in Cinematography
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - Dion Beebe

Best Achievement in Editing
Crash (2004) - Hughes Winborne

Best Achievement in Art Direction
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - John Myhre, Gretchen Rau

Best Achievement in Costume Design
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) - Colleen Atwood

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
Brokeback Mountain (2005) - Gustavo Santaolalla

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
Hustle & Flow (2005) - Jordan Houston, Cedric Coleman, Paul Beauregard ("It's Hard Out Here For a Pimp")

Best Achievement in Makeup
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) - Howard Berger, Tami Lane

Best Achievement in Sound
King Kong (2005) - Christopher Boyes, Michael Semanick, Michael Hedges, Hammond Peek

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
King Kong (2005) - Mike Hopkins, Ethan Van der Ryn

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
King Kong (2005) - Joe Letteri, Brian Van't Hul, Christian Rivers, Richard Taylor

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) - Steve Box, Nick Park

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
Tsotsi (2005) - Gavin Hood (South Africa)

Best Documentary, Features
Marche de l'empereur, La (2005) - Luc Jacquet, Yves Darondeau
Other Nominees:

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin (2005) - Corinne Marrinan, Eric Simonson

Best Short Film, Animated
The Moon and the Son (2005) - John Canemaker, Peggy Stern

Best Short Film, Live Action
Six Shooter (2005) - Martin McDonagh

[janggut]

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005) - Steve Box, Nick Park

well deserved for Nick Park especially although i would love for Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle to win. the reason being that W&G's feature film is a million times better than Tim Burton's Corpse Bride with its memorable cast & sublime voice acting. plus it works at many many levels, from children (straight-forward entertainment) to adults (very clever subtle jokes/innuendos).

[janggut]

& also as an asian & half-chinese, i am happy to see Ang Lee winning the Best Director award.

[Elliot Kane]

Crash? Woah! I definitely never saw THAT coming!

[hector]

I loved how the Academy wussed out at the end. After telling us how daring they are for hours, and how Brokeback Mountain was already the best written, the best directed and enough well acted to have nominees in the acting categories, they freak at the end giving the Oscar to such a safe movie.

Oh well, the rest of the winners were deserving, mostly.

[TheScreamMan]

half asian and half chinese? Doesnt that make you all asian and half chinese?

There were some surprises at the end, but mostly it went as predicted. Ironically Crash was the only nominated picture i havent seen.

edit; tell a lie, i forgot one was GNAGL. i thought it was Geisha. And walk the line deserved a spot.

[janggut]

heheheh! i think u misread my post, screamie! ;D

i am indeed all asian. i'm also half-chinese (my mom's side) & half bidayuh (an indigenous race in Borneo).

too bad Transamerica didn't win anything.

[metalliman98]

Did anyone see Tom Hanks while he was walking up to present his award? He looked REALLY pissed and he was cursing, though you could only see his mouth move, not hear it. Turns out (so I hear) he was upset that they introduced him to the music from Forrest Gump. Apparently, he's tired of being known for that role, says he's moved on, etc. etc. DUH, hello, it's your best known movie, what other music are they supposed to play, the theme from Big? Bosom Buddies? Get over it already.

[janggut]

@ metalliman -> heheheh! maybe they should've played music from the Green Mile. ;D

[Terrordar]

Actually, I thought Crash was more deserving then Brokeback Mountain, I have seen neither, but I know the scripts for both, and how both play out.

Brokeback Mountain would not even have gotten what it did were it a regular lovestory. It was overhyped due to the homosexuality in it.

I personally think Syrianna was the best movie however...

[hector]

A movie is much more that just the script. A great director can turn a regular script into a brilliant film, and no amount of great writing can overcome a bad director.

Crash wasn't a bad movie, but it didn't deserved to win. Especially how the whole show was the academy patting themselves on the back for being oh-so-progressive.

[philster]

Crash was pretty good. I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain, but it's one of these movies I felt right from the start - when I heard about it - that it would be nominated for an Oscar simply because of the premise, and sure enough.

Btw, I thought Matt Dillon was more deserving than George Clooney for Supporting Actor. I think the Oscars just gave him an Oscar there because they didn't want to give him a Best Actor or Best Director, honestly.

[TheScreamMan]

To be fair, BBM isactually made very very well. And it has great actors in it.

And yeah sorry Janngut my ees are going blurry more often coz i stare at the screen to long.

[janggut]

@ screamman -> yeah, i can tell from your typos.

no prob, screamie.

[Sir Ped of Ro]

^{Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
Philip Seymour Hoffman for Capote (2005)}


i was happy (and surprised) that the academy gave an oscar to an actor!!! ;D

this guy has been acumulating some of the best second roles of the movies history...

regards

[hector]

Then he'll go prove his thespian skills opposite Tom Cruise in MI:3!

I finally saw all five nominated films, ranking in order from best to worst:

Brokeback Mountain.
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Capote.
Munich.
Crash.

My personal favorites were Munich and Good Night, and Good Luck. I loved both movies quite a bit.

And Crash is worst movie to won Best Picture since Driving Miss Daisy...