Ratexla's unprofessional & not very annual Oscar... non-bets

Con commentz. Carin may herewith consider her wish for a certain review granted (it deals mainly with pants and slaughter videos).

Best Motion Picture of the Year
-Atonement (2007): Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Paul Webster
-Juno (2007): Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick, Russell Smith
-Michael Clayton (2007): Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox, Kerry Orent
-No Country for Old Men (2007): Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, Scott Rudin
-There Will Be Blood (2007): Paul Thomas Anderson, Daniel Lupi, JoAnne Sellar

+This is starting out well as I HAVEN'T SEEN ANY OF THE FILMS IN THE MOST "IMPORTANT" CATEGORY. That means they have nominated the wrong movies. However, I read about There will be blood yesterday and, uh, it's about oil and stuff, in the olde days. Still it reminds me of Nine Inch Nails' newer work. :D

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role
-George Clooney for Michael Clayton (2007)
-Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood (2007)
-Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)
-Tommy Lee Jones for In the Valley of Elah (2007)
-Viggo Mortensen for Eastern Promises (2007)

+Cuz Johnny was working with Alan & Sacha... Well, nothing wrong with Johnny either. I'm surprised I'm not obsessed with him. Aaaaaaaaaand I HAVE seen Sweeney Todd! Flashback to Earthlings.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
-Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007)
-Julie Christie for Away from Her (2006)
-Marion Cotillard for Môme, La (2007)
-Laura Linney for The Savages (2007)
-Ellen Page for Juno (2007)

+Cate is my fave among these! Elizabeth I II is on my gonna-see list, even though I didn't get shit of the first one. *bites into another flax seed*

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role
-Casey Affleck for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
-Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men (2007)
-Philip Seymour Hoffman for Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
-Hal Holbrook for Into the Wild (2007)
-Tom Wilkinson for Michael Clayton (2007)

+Um, yeah, Into the wild is on my will-see list. I just gotta read the book first. After I've read 64 other books. I heard that it's about/for the kind of people who have read too much Jack London (my fave piece of fiction is THE CALL OF THE WILD!) and Henry Thoreau (my fave piece of non-fiction is THE FUTURE OF LIFE, WHICH CONTAINS A CHAPTER ABOUT THOREAU! I also wanna read Thoreau's book about civil disobedience. Dunnask. :D ). The background story sounds like something I would have liked to do when I was 12 and suicidal...er. Who is Hal Holbrook? This was a tough choice since Casey Affleck is rumoured to be best buddies with my fave piece of mankind, JOAQUIN PHOENIX!

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role
-Cate Blanchett for I'm Not There. (2007)
-Ruby Dee for American Gangster (2007)
-Saoirse Ronan for Atonement (2007)
-Amy Ryan for Gone Baby Gone (2007)
-Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton (2007)

+Fuck it, let's get Cate another one.

Best Achievement in Directing
-Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood (2007)
-Ethan Coen, Joel Coen for No Country for Old Men (2007)
-Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton (2007)
-Jason Reitman for Juno (2007)
-Julian Schnabel for Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007)

+The one I'd most like to see in this category cuz... I've briefly attempted to imagine such a life.

Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen
-Juno (2007): Diablo Cody
-Lars and the Real Girl (2007): Nancy Oliver
-Michael Clayton (2007): Tony Gilroy
-Ratatouille (2007): Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco
-The Savages (2007): Tamara Jenkins

+I have seen a few minutes of Ratatouille... (In Swedish, alas.) Rats rule. The Juno trailer actually sounded terribly promising, but seeing how it's from the anti-death lobby... (Yeah yeah yeah, I know it officially ISN'T... *puts recycled Al foil on head... or somewhere else*)

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published
-Atonement (2007): Christopher Hampton
-Away from Her (2006): Sarah Polley
-Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007): Ronald Harwood
-No Country for Old Men (2007): Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
-There Will Be Blood (2007): Paul Thomas Anderson

+AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA. Again, seen none. The one that's supposedly from the pro-imagination lobby, then.

Best Achievement in Cinematography
-The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007): Roger Deakins
-Atonement (2007): Seamus McGarvey
-No Country for Old Men (2007): Roger Deakins
-Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007): Janusz Kaminski
-There Will Be Blood (2007): Robert Elswit

+I have seen... THE TRAILER! It could be good, right. Cinematography in one's head.

Best Achievement in Editing
-The Bourne Ultimatum (2007): Christopher Rouse
-Scaphandre et le papillon, Le (2007): Juliette Welfling
-Into the Wild (2007): Jay Cassidy
-No Country for Old Men (2007): Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
-There Will Be Blood (2007): Dylan Tichenor

+A London-Thoreau thingy can't not have BRILLIANT EDITING!

Best Achievement in Art Direction
-American Gangster (2007): Arthur Max, Beth A. Rubino
-Atonement (2007): Sarah Greenwood, Katie Spencer
-The Golden Compass (2007): Dennis Gassner, Anna Pinnock
-Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007): Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo
-There Will Be Blood (2007): Jack Fisk, Jim Erickson

+Mmmmmmmmmmhm, it had pretty nice art direction I guess... When does this list end, I'm relatively unobsessed with movies at the mo.

Best Achievement in Costume Design
-Across the Universe (2007): Albert Wolsky
-Atonement (2007): Jacqueline Durran
-Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007): Alexandra Byrne
-Môme, La (2007): Marit Allen
-Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007): Colleen Atwood

+Alanpants... Sacha...pants or whatever... Johnnystripedbathingsuit... Thanx.

Best Achievement in Makeup
-Môme, La (2007): Didier Lavergne, Jan Archibald
-Norbit (2007): Rick Baker, Kazuhiro Tsuji
-Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007): Ve Neill, Martin Samuel

+The one with the bloke with eyeliner/eyeshadow/it's one of those/I should work in an evil bimbo makeup shop and fail to endorse animal-tested shit! Sooty-eyed blokes, though... See also: Sweeney Todd, Gladiator, Trent during the Fragile era.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score
-Atonement (2007): Dario Marianelli
-The Kite Runner (2007): Alberto Iglesias
-Michael Clayton (2007): James Newton Howard
-Ratatouille (2007): Michael Giacchino
-3:10 to Yuma (2007): Marco Beltrami

+Didn't he do the Vertical limit soundtrack? Which was good.

Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song
-August Rush (2007): Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack, Tevin Thomas ("Raise It Up")
-Enchanted (2007): Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz ("Happy Working Song")
-Enchanted (2007): Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz ("So Close")
-Enchanted (2007): Alan Menken, Stephen Schwartz ("That's How You Know")
-Once (2006): Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová ("Falling Slowly")

+Happy working song sounds like shit (title-wise, I ain't heard it)... So close, however, sounds closer to Closer, the classic Nine Inch Nails tune we always used to sing during Kindergarten assembly... No, of course we didn't, for that was in the EIGHTIES, SILLY!

Best Achievement in Sound
-The Bourne Ultimatum (2007): Scott Millan, David Parker, Kirk Francis
-No Country for Old Men (2007): Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff, Peter F. Kurland
-Ratatouille (2007): Randy Thom, Michael Semanick, Doc Kane
-3:10 to Yuma (2007): Paul Massey, David Giammarco, Jim Stuebe
-Transformers (2007): Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell, Peter J. Devlin

+*SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK*

Best Achievement in Sound Editing
-The Bourne Ultimatum (2007): Karen M. Baker, Per Hallberg
-No Country for Old Men (2007): Skip Lievsay
-Ratatouille (2007): Randy Thom, Michael Silvers
-There Will Be Blood (2007): Matthew Wood
-Transformers (2007): Mike Hopkins, Ethan Van der Ryn

+Squeak.

Best Achievement in Visual Effects
-The Golden Compass (2007): Michael L. Fink, Bill Westenhofer, Ben Morris, Trevor Wood
-Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007): John Knoll, Hal T. Hickel, Charlie Gibson, John Frazier
-Transformers (2007): Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Russell Earl, John Frazier

+Was it Compass that enchanted Carin so greatly, or was it Enchanted? I'll just take my chances with Compass. *shrug* Though Johnny Sparrow is visually tasty.

Best Animated Feature Film of the Year
-Persepolis (2007): Vincent Paronnaud, Marjane Satrapi
-Ratatouille (2007): Brad Bird
-Surf's Up (2007): Ash Brannon, Chris Buck

+I made a mental note to see Persepolis... I think... and if I could find it after it finished its 3-second run in local theatres. That is. Rats still rule, but they also don't need me support because they've got Disney now. There there.

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year
-Fälscher, Die (2007) (Austria)
-Beaufort (2007) (Israel)
-Mongol (2007) (Kazakhstan)
-Katyn (2007) (Poland)
-12 (2007) (Russia)

+Poor Borat-victimised Kazakhstan.

Best Documentary, Features
-No End in Sight (2007): Charles Ferguson, Audrey Marrs
-Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience (2007): Richard Robbins
-Sicko (2007): Michael Moore, Meghan O'Hara
-Taxi to the Dark Side (2007): Alex Gibney, Eva Orner
-War Dance (2007): Andrea Nix, Sean Fine

+Only one I've heard of... And I do wanna see.

Best Documentary, Short Subjects
-Freeheld (2007): Cynthia Wade, Vanessa Roth
-Corona, La (2008): Amanda Micheli, Isabel Vega
-Salim Baba (2008): Tim Sternberg, Francisco Bello
-Sari's Mother (2006): James Longley

+... ... ... I'll just pick the oldest movie. Perhaps it's unfairly struggling if it needed 2 years to get recognition. If only the same attention would be given to some of my struggling faves. *weep*

Best Short Film, Animated
-Même les pigeons vont au paradis (2007): Samuel Tourneux, Vanesse Simon
-I Met the Walrus (2007): Josh Raskin
-Madame Tutli-Putli (2007): Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski
-Moya lyubov (2006): Aleksandr Petrov
-Peter & the Wolf (2006): Suzie Templeton, Hugh Welchman

+Someone among the NIN.com blog comments have been nagging about a walrus, which is my fully legitimate reason to, uh, place my bets on this movie.

Best Short Film, Live Action
-Om natten (2007): Christian E. Christiansen, Louise Vesth
-Supplente, Il (2006): Andrea Jublin
-Mozart des pickpockets, Le (2006): Philippe Pollet-Villard
-Tanghi argentini (2006): Guy Thys, Anja Daelemans
-The Tonto Woman (2007): Daniel Barber, Matthew Brown

+That's some Nordic title. Root root.

The laaaaa' and the Oscars!

The environmental law course kinda sucked. I wasn't Aspie enough to remember the whole law book, like. Didn't have to, but it still would have helped to know all the things one could look for in any given case. :p Whatever, I passed the exam! :D

Funniest environmental law moment.

Teacher: "Blah blah blah... Sure we could have an ecological dictatorship. But who wants to live in such a society?!"
Class: :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) ...
Teacher: "Yeah... You, maybe."
Bloke: "Miss! Miss! Er, actually, several prominent scientists said -"
Teacher: "No, boy! No matter how good your intentions are, power always takes over!"
Yozemind: *flashback to LOTR*

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Sacha's got an Oscar nomination! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! So, since I have once again found someone to root for on Oscar night, I will give you my great perfect list of all the nominees plus comments on my faves, which are usually picked for unprofessional and irrelevant reasons. :9

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio, Blood Diamond
Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson
Peter O'Toole, Venus
Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happiness
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland

I kind of only know about Will and Leo, and I mostly know Leo from Titanic where he grins too much. :p Hehe.

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jackie Earle Haley, Little Children
Djimon Hounsou, Blood Diamond
Eddie Murphy, Dreamgirls
Mark Wahlberg, The Departed

I have seen all of the above in 0-1 roles, but Djimon Hounsou was in my dahling Gladiator!

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Volver
Judi Dench, Notes on a Scandal
Helen Mirren, The Queen
Meryl Streep, The Devil Wears Prada
Kate Winslet, Little Children

Kate is probably my 2nd fave actress!

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barazza, Babel
Cate Blanchett, Notes on a Scandal
Abigal Breslin, Little Miss Sunshine
Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
Rinko Kikuchi, Babel

Tough choice since Cate rocks, and Abigail may have more future Oscar chances (Has Cate won any?) but she was so cool in Signs, and Little Miss Sunshine sounds like a better movie than Notes on a scandal! Which... I know nothing about... but.

Best Picture
Babel
The Departed
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen

With one Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine's Abigal Breslin it's only fair that The queen gets an Oscar too, because I'm equally eager to see those two movies.

Best Director
Alejando Inaritu, Babel
Martin Scorsese, The Departed
Clint Eastwood, Letters From Iwo Jima
Stephen Frears, The Queen
Paul Greengrass, United 93

I have seen only United 93, which I thought had great direction! Oh, and the villain soothed my eyes as usual! :B

Best Foreign Film
After the Wedding, Denmark
Days of Glory, Algeria
The Lives of Others, Germany
Pan's Labyrinth, Mexico
Water, Canada

I haven't seen any of the above. Well, Denmark is almost Sweden, and there is a Swede, Rolf Lassgård, in After the wedding! *desperate* (Sweden almost made it though, with a film called Farväl Falkenberg.)

Best Animated Film of the Year
Cars
Happy Feet
Monster House

I have seen neither, but the charming Elijah Wood is in Happy feet, eh? :)

Achievement in Art Direction
Dreamgirls
The Good Shepherd
Pan's Labyrinth
Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest
The Prestige

Again I have seen none of these movies, but Johnny was artfully decorated in Pirates 1.

Achievement in Cinematography
The Black Dahlia
Children of Men
The Illusionist
Pan's Labyrinth
The Prestige

Children of men is the only one I've seeeeeeeeen... Yeah, visually nice. (But Clive Owen's voice is nice as hell. :) The human population decrease was the nicest thing, till...)

Achievement in Costume Design
Curse of the Golden Flowers
The Devil Wears Prada
Dreamgirls
Marie Antoinette
The Queen

Uh, well, that is the REAL costume movie, innit? Though I know not when Curse of the golden flowers is set.

Best Documentary
Deliver Us from Evil
An Inconvenient Truth
Iraq in Fragments
Jesus Camp
My Country, My Country

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOU AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL! XD

Best Documentary Short
The Blood of Yingzhou District
Recycled Life
Rehearsing A Dream
Two Hands

I know all about them! NOT! But hey, recycling is the shit! :)

Achievement in Film Editing
Babel
Blood Diamond
Children of Men
The Departed
United 93

I have no expertise knowledge about editing, but how about United 93. I heard it was filmed in really long takes and it sounded hard to edit. :p They didn't have the hot villain in every shot, however. :/

Achievement in Makeup
Apocalypto
Click
Pan's Labyrinth

Hmm, two options. Pan's labyrinth sounds more intriguing. But then, I only know their titles. :B

Best Original Score
Babel
The Good German
Notes On A Scandal
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

God, I've seen neither. I'll go and check who made the scores. *back* I don't know any of them. So, The queen then since it's the one I most want to... see.

Best Original Song
"I Need to Wake Up" An Inconvenient Truth
"Listen" Dreamgirls
"Love You I Do" - Dreamgirls
"Our Town" Cars
"Patience" Dreamgirls

Indeed.

Best Animated Short
The Danish Poet
Lifted
The Little Matchgirl
Maestro
No Time For Nuts

Another mention of the almost Swedish country.

Best Live Action Short
Binta and the Great Idea
One Too Many
Helmer & Son
The Saviour
West Bank Story

Sounds like a bit of fun. *steals name of binta for name collection*

Achievement in Sound Editing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Flags of Our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima
Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest

Out of these, I would pick Pirates for a movie night...

Achievement in Sound Mixing
Apocalypto
Blood Diamond
Dreamgirls
Flags of Our Fathers
Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest

Again Pirates would be my pick, for a night of profound sound-mixing euphoria.

Best Visual Effects
Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest
Poseidon
Superman Returns

Superman, for I saw a few stills from it and am still wondering whether the guy was CGI. :p Heehee, is that a compliment on the effects people?

Best Adapted Screenplay
Borat
Children of Men
The Departed
Little Children
Notes on a Scandal

ONLY ONE CATEGORY?! XC

Best Original Screenplay
Babel
Letters From Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
Pan's Labyrinth
The Queen

Sunshine sounded good... Hmm, it's probably the only TRAILER I've seen out of these, but.

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Now... They're airing the Oscars on some new weird channel which I didn't think we could watch. At least I got an invitation from DA CINEMA CLUB to watch the Oscars in real time at the fancy cinema! 1 hour before takeoff it turned out that we WERE able to watch the channel. PHEW! :O I am now staying at home and happily deev-ing all the little sound mixing and animated short film categories, which evil Normal Channel surely will have emitted from their little summary next week. I SUPPOSE they will at least show The Sacha Category so I haven't been crying.

I'm off! Sacha's gonna WIN!!! :D