My Preditions!

First I do not go to movies very often and even if I do, they are hardly first run films. That said, here are my predictions in bold {and why I think hollywood will vote for it} I notice that there is blatant lack of Harry Potter upon this list--hmmm, even hollywood hated the screenplay....maybe that should tell Warner Brother's something--like stop cutting all the info out from the book!~!!!!

List of 80th Annual Oscar Nominees
Complete list of 80th annual Academy Award nominations announced Tuesday:
1. Best Picture: "Atonement," "Juno," "Michael Clayton," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood." {double header, anti-oil(aka antiBush family) and anti-christian}

2. Actor: George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"; Daniel Day-Lewis, "There Will Be Blood"; Johnny Depp, "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street"; Tommy Lee Jones, "In the Valley of Elah"; Viggo Mortensen, "Eastern Promises." {its an anti-establishment movie}

3. Actress: Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"; Julie Christie, "Away From Her"; Marion Cotillard, "La Vie en Rose"; Laura Linney, "The Savages"; Ellen Page, "Juno." {it challenges traditional family values}

4. Supporting Actor: Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"; Javier Bardem, "No Country for Old Men"; Hal Holbrook, "Into the Wild"; Philip Seymour Hoffman, "Charlie Wilson's War"; Tom Wilkinson, "Michael Clayton." {its anti-American involvement-athough it doesn't look like it}

5. Supporting Actress: Cate Blanchett, "I'm Not There"; Ruby Dee, "American Gangster"; Saoirse Ronan, "Atonement"; Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"; Tilda Swinton, "Michael Clayton." {anti-big business}

6. Director: Julian Schnabel, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; Jason Reitman, "Juno"; Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"; Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood." {see reasons above--although it was hard not to take 'diving bell' as it is a nod to one of hollywood's own}

7. Foreign Film: "Beaufort," Israel; "The Counterfeiters," Austria; "Katyn," Poland; "Mongol," Kazakhstan; "12," Russia. {blind hope on my part that hollywood won't ever forget!}

8. Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton, "Atonement"; Sarah Polley, "Away from Her"; Ronald Harwood, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"; Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"; Paul Thomas Anderson, "There Will Be Blood." {all other choices were novels, plenty of material to draw from...'Away from Her' comes from a short story, although I can not find anything that tells me exactly how long this short-story is}

9. Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody, "Juno"; Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real Girl"; Tony Gilroy, "Michael Clayton"; Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava and Jim Capobianco, "Ratatouille"; Tamara Jenkins, "The Savages." {now what is more original than a story about a man with a life-sized rubber doll}

10. Animated Feature Film: "Persepolis"; "Ratatouille"; "Surf's Up." {slim pickings, a b&w foriegn film, a movie trying to ride the tux-tails of 'March of Penguins', or a movie about a food expert Rat....ugh. $ gets the prize}

11. Art Direction: "American Gangster," "Atonement," "The Golden Compass," "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street," "There Will Be Blood." {I have only heard great things from people on how well they brought this book to life}

12. Cinematography: "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," "Atonement," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood." {this was tough...I looked at the trailers and I think 'Jesse James' did a better job at catching the mood of the movie with the shots then 'Blood' did...but it was a close call. Besides, Pitt is the golden boy}

13. Sound Mixing: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "No Country for Old Men," "Ratatouille," "3:10 to Yuma," "Transformers." {it's the film's only nomination-and considering the way the film has been touted, they want to be able to add "Oscar winner" to it...even if its just for sound}

14. Sound Editing: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "No Country for Old Men," "Ratatouille," "There Will Be Blood," "Transformers." {I've got to give them at least one.}

15. Original Score: "Atonement," Dario Marianelli; "The Kite Runner," Alberto Iglesias; "Michael Clayton," James Newton Howard; "Ratatouille," Michael Giacchino; "3:10 to Yuma," Marco Beltrami.

16. Original Song: "Falling Slowly" from "Once," Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova; "Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; "Raise It Up" from "August Rush," Nominees to be determined; "So Close" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz; "That's How You Know" from "Enchanted," Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. {who are we kidding....Enchanted will take it, so it doesn't really matter which one actually gets it--it was all pretty lame this year...Little Mermaid it ain't}

17. Costume: "Across the Universe," "Atonement," "Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "La Vie en Rose," "Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street." {It was hard to chose between Sweeney and Elizabeth--hollywood loves their seamstresses (as do watchers) and nothing is so complicated and knit-picked apart as period costuming...hitting it dead-on is hard, and amazing!}

18. Documentary Feature: "No End in Sight," "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience," "Sicko," "Taxi to the Dark Side," "War/Dance." {I would hope that hollywood would have enough Anti-Bush and Micheal Moore to truly push a film that shows a plight that everyone is trying to ignore!!}

19. Documentary (short subject): "Freeheld," "La Corona (The Crown)," "Salim Baba," "Sari's Mother." {gay rights}

20. Film Editing: "The Bourne Ultimatum," "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," "Into the Wild," "No Country for Old Men," "There Will Be Blood." {how do you show what a man trapped in his own body would see and how his imagination takes him places??}

21. Makeup: "La Vie en Rose," "Norbit," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." {hmmm, 1920 makeup-not hard, fat suits-so over done, or Johnny Depp's eyeliner...geez, slim pickings--PASS}

22. Animated Short Film: "I Met the Walrus," "Madame Tutli-Putli," "Meme Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)," "My Love (Moya Lyubov)," "Peter & the Wolf." {actually words from anti-war activist, and music star, John Lennon}

23. Live Action Short Film: "At Night," "Il Supplente (The Substitute)," "Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)," "Tanghi Argentini," "The Tonto Woman." {absolutely NO IDEA}

24. Visual Effects: "The Golden Compass," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," "Transformers." {the other two simply applied old techniques}
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Academy Award winners previously announced this year:
HONORARY AWARD (Oscar statuette): Robert Boyle