Well, since I posted my prognostications on the potential winners earlier this week, I felt that including the actual winners might be a decent gesture on my part, especially since I was incorrect with a few of my guesses. The winner will be underlined and I will denote my incorrect predictions.
The Complete List of Major Award Winners
Best Picture:
Atonement (My Guess)
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men (Actual Winner) To be honest, I am glad this film won, as it was beautifully stark and imaginative, keeping the audience engaged and on the edge of their seats. I would have been happy with almost any of these films winning, with the exception of the snarky, witty, brilliant film Juno (whose writer, ex-stripper Diablo Cody, won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay), not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because it simply wasn’t nearly as powerful or masterful a film as the other selections.
There Will Be Blood
Best Actor:
George Clooney – Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis – There Will Be Blood (I was right!)
Johnny Depp – Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Tommy Lee Jones – In The Valley Of Elah
Viggo Mortensen – Eastern Promises
Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett – Elizabeth: The Golden Age
Julie Christie – Away From Her (My Guess)
Marion Cotillard – La Vie En Rose (Actual Winner)
Laura Linney – The Savages
Ellen Page – Juno
Best Supporting Actor:
Casey Affleck – The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Javier Bardem – No Country For Old Men (I was right!)
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Charlie Wilson’s War
Hal Holbrook – Into The Wild
Tom Wilkinson – Michael Clayton
Best Supporting Actress:
Cate Blanchett – I’m Not There
Ruby Dee – American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan – Atonement (My Guess)
Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton (Actual Winner) For some reason, this was the strangest selection from the major awards and one that I quibble with the most. Did Tilda do a great job? Yes she did. This was a compelling movie that forced you to pay attention at all times. But did she really have enough screen time to warrant her winning such an award? I personally didn’t think so, much like I didn’t feel that Ruby Dee was on screen enough to earn a nomination for her (excellent) work in American Gangster. Yes, I understand that this is for Best Supporting Actress, the award for the woman who played an integral role in the movie, but wasn’t the main female focus of the film; however, one still needs to have ample face time to deserve the nomination. THAT is why Saoirse Ronan should have won, but child actors & actresses rarely win.
Best Director/Directing:
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country For Old Men (I was right!)
There Will Be Blood
February 26th, 2008 11:44
February 26th, 2008 11:52
It was a good movie, an above-average movie, a movie that I will most likely purchase when it comes out on DVD. But was it ever Oscar-worthy? Only in the category where it was ultimately successful — Best Original Screenplay. 3 of the 5 Best Picture candidates where up for Best Adapted Screenplay (The Coen Brothers won that for No Country For Old Men). Juno just happened to beat out Michael Clayton (the other Best Picture Candidate). The acting was good, but the story was what made everything work so well.
Here’s some food for thought — two of the hipper, higher-grossing comedies of 2007 (Knocked Up and Juno) prominently featured women who chose to have their babies as opposed to getting an abortion. How’s THAT for flipping the script?