Best Adapted Screenplay
THE NOMINEES: Christopher Hampton (Atonement), Sarah Polley (Away from Her), Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men), Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) – This is a magnificent category, every single nominee deserving it. The Coens, however, have swept just about everything, and for the life of me I just don’t see that changing on Sunday. And they deserve it, too, their take on Cormac McCarthy’s melancholic novel as windswept and emotionally devastating as the source material which inspired it.
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) – I’ve been stewing on this one, and having now seen the picture for a third time I can’t help but think this might be one of the most accomplished, and most complex, scripts I’ve come across in quite some time. Anderson has reworked Upton Sinclair’s Oil! into something ethereal and disturbing, a horror tale of self destruction none who see it are likely to forget.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men) – Unless Harwood can upset in this category, the Coen brothers will get the win. I like these guys as writers and directors, so a win would be most welcoming and rewarding.
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood) - Anderson expanded on the source material and created something so intense and original it deserves the win. (Plus, PTA is frakking cool.) As a serious side note, where the frak (BSG speak) is Sean Penn’s captivating adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild? The script got the audience into the heart and mind of the main character, and the people that surrounded him on his journey.
Best Original Screenplay
THE NOMINEES: 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)
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Diablo Cody (Juno) – There is a growing backlash starting to bubble in regards to Cody and her film, a buzz building that Hollywood favorite Gilroy will win for his finely nuanced script for Michael Clayton. Don’t you believe it. This former stripper is the girl of the hour, Juno the girl of the moment and her screenplay the one which will walk off into the sunset with Oscar.
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): Diablo Cody (Juno) – And why shouldn’t it? Young female characters do not come as sharply written or as intelligently minded as the pregnant little MacGuff at the center of this tale. Cody’s words are effervescent in their brazenly acute exactitude and a win by her would be very well-deserved.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Diablo Cody (Juno) – There is hardly any doubt about Cody as the ultimate favorite to take home the statue. (For the record, though I doubt anybody is keeping any record whatsoever, I wholeheartedly disagree with popular opinion that the script is all that. No, ma’am. This is not Little Miss Sunshine, no matter what a lot of people claim. That concludes my Juno rant pre-Oscars.)
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): Bird, Pinkava and Capobianco (Ratatouille) - Gilroy’s Clayton is deep and complex, and Ratatouille is heartwarmingly funny and truly original. (I haven’t seen The Savages or Lars and the Real Girl as of this writing.)
Best Supporting Actor
THE NOMINEES: Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Charlie Wilson’s War), Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild), Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton)
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) – The night’s only 100-percent guarantee. Sure Holbrook has his admirers, Wilkinson his pals and Affleck his pundits, but the real super delegate dynamo is Bardem, his depiction of pure unadulterated evil as unnerving and as frightening as any I’ve ever seen.
SHOULD WIN`(Sara Michelle): Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) – It’s a masterful performance, and while part of me is silently rooting for Affleck I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was firmly on the Bardem bandwagon.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Javier Bardem (No Country for Old Men) – Cool guy playing deranged killer guy, and the effect is downright chilling.
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): Hal Holbrook (Into the Wild) - A magnificent performance even though it appears very late in the film and he is on screen for only about 15 minutes.
Best Supporting Actress
THE NOMINEES: Cate Blanchett (I’m Not There), Ruby Dee (American Gangster), Saoirse Ronan (Atonement), Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone), Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton)
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) – This is a tough one. Ryan is deserving as the sickly self-serving mother hiding a terrible secret in Ben Affleck’s powerful directorial debut, but Blanchett has won almost as many awards for her unnerving channeling of a psychedelic Bob Dylan in Todd Haynes’ odd musical. Both Dee and Swinton could also pull upsets here, making choosing any horse in this race an almost impossible proposition.
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone) – But the actress really is heads and shoulders above them all, and if there is justice this magnetic some-would-call newcomer (who has been working steadily in film, television and on stage since 1991) will take home Oscar for her stirring portrait of motherhood gone horribly wrong.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Amy Ryan
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): Amy Ryan
Best Actor
THE NOMINEES: 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)
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) – Maybe as much of a lock as Bardem, Day-Lewis’ monstrously unnerving work in There Will Be Blood is truly a sight to behold. But not everyone digs the movie, many people (maybe justifiably) put off by it, giving Hollywood favorites Clooney and Depp a bit of a chance for an upset.
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood) – Sorry guys, but it’s not going to happen. Day-Lewis’ shocking and frightening performance is one for the time capsule, probably the best by any actor we’ve seen this young millennium. He should win, he deserves to win and gosh darn it he will win, and if his standing up on the stage at the Kodak Theater giving an acceptance speech doesn’t come to pass I’ll drink nothing but green grapes and Ritz cracker milkshakes for an entire week.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Daniel Day-Lewis is unbelievably real, commanding and a bit nutty as oilman Daniel Plainview. The year’s most riveting lead performance.
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): Daniel Day-Lewis again. However, it must be said Viggo Mortensen was incredibly “on his game” playing a Russian mobster; very satisfying he got the recognition.
Best Actress
THE NOMINESS: Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Julie Christie (Away from Her), Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose), Laura Linney (The Savages), Ellen Page (Juno)
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Julie Christie (Away from Her) – Christie has been nominated for Best Actress in four of the past five decades, her win coming in 1966 for the beautifully distressing drama Darling. She will win again for her monumental work in Sarah Polley’s devastating debut, but just because I say so doesn’t make it anything close to a sure thing. You can’t count out either Cotillard’s phenomenal work as Edith Piaf, Linney for her brutally funny work in The Savages or current it-girl Page for her magnetic ability to turn an oddly idiosyncratic independent comedy revolving around teenage pregnancy into both a critical and box office sensation.
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose) – You have no idea how much I want her to win. What Cotillard does here goes beyond mere impersonation and travels into the realm of pure inspiration. Watching her in this musical biography is pure bliss, and next to Day-Lewis hers just might be the second best performance I saw by any actor male or female in all of last year.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): I can’t make up my mind, so I’ll just pick Julie Christie right now, if just to tie with Sara for points.
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): Laura Linney, because she’s real and funny (in a lot of roles she plays). It’s her time to shine. As for Ellen Page, please, get real! It’s not best actor material, by any stretch. Quirky teenage character isn’t that hard to pull off, is it? Sure, it’s fun to watch, but don’t expect everyone to fall for/in love with it.
Best Director
THE NOMINEES: Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood), Ethan and Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men), Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton), Jason Reitman (Juno), Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) – I have this sneaky suspicion this filmmaker and painter with a penchant for wearing pajamas is going to pull the upset, his work on bringing the world of paraplegic Jean-Dominique Bauby to life too creative and monumental to easily dismiss. Here’s the thing, however, if either Anderson, the Coens or Reitman win then any mystery surrounding what the Best Picture winner will be immediately goes out the window.
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): Ethan and Joel Coen (No Country for Old Men) – I never thought the wunderkind brothers could make a better film than Fargo, didn’t think they could construct an entertainment as richly layered and unnervingly seductive. I was wrong. Their work here is profound, daring and, without question, the best of their entire careers, the elegant devastation of the coldly cognizant finale one of the finest codas I think I’ve quite possibly ever seen.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Ethan and Joel Coen – They're a great team (both writing and directing) and when they make really, really good films, they should be rewarded. Now, if Gilroy, Reitman or Schnabel upset, then the Academy will “enter a world of pain,” if you know what Walter Sobchak is talking about. Really. A world of pain.
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): The Coen’s. I'd also love to see Anderson get it. Now, if I could go back in time with the Delorean I would campaign for Sean Penn to take Jason Reitman’s place. Seriously, where is this hate coming from?!
Best Picture
THE NOMINESS: Atonement, Juno, Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): No Country for Old Men – It’s the Coens’ time to shine, their film going to take home the top award and validating a career of risk-taking and genre-breaking anyone who even remotely admits a love affair with the art of film can’t help but stand up and applaud. No upsets, no surprises, this is their year. Goodness knows they deserve it.
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): No Country for Old Men – In a magnificent year for film in which so many pictures have the opportunity to go down as classics (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Once, Ratatouille, Into the Wild, The Bourne Ultimatum as well as fellow nominees There Will Be Blood, Atonement and Juno – if only to name a few) this might be the one towering above them all. No two ways about it, the Coens deserve the award. Here’s hoping they get it.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): No Country for Old Men – What she said. (If for some strange time continuum anomaly or bad judgment Juno should win, I will send a very angry letter to the Academy telling them how angry I am. Despite Atonement being Oscar tailor-made, a win would not just be an upset, but a disservice; the last 20 minutes are too off-putting. Speaking of last 20 minutes, Coen’s…)
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): There Will Be Blood – I just liked it more. And its towering achievement of realism and old country/oil politics is more involving and surprising. There Will Be Blood is fascinating, too. (As a side note, the absence of Into the Wild is unforgiving.)
The Rest
Best Animated Film
THE NOMINESS: Persepolis, Ratatouille, Surf’s Up
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Ratatouille
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle: Ratatouille – It should actually be up for Best Picture, too, but that’s a discussion for an entirely different day.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Ratatouille
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): Ratatouille – On a side note, where is The Simpsons Movie? I call for a recount of the ballots, Academy.
Best Foreign Language Film
THE NOMINESS: 12 (Russia), Beaufort (Israel), The Counterfeiters (Austria), Katyn (Poland), Mongol (Kazakhstan)
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): The Counterfeiters (Austria)
SHOULD WIN(Sara Michelle): none of the above – I’ve seen two of these, so maybe I’m speaking out my behind, but the fact 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, The Orphanage and Persepolis aren’t amongst this group really ticks me off. The first of those three is spectacular, and decades from now we’ll still be talking about it long after these five nominees (sorry Andrzej Wajda, I still love you but Katyn isn’t one of your classics) have been completely forgotten.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): The Counterfeiters
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): The Counterfeiters
Best Documentary Feature
THE NOMINEES (Sara Michelle): No End in Sight, Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience, SiCKO, Taxi to the Dark Side, War Dance
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): No End in Sight
SHOULD WIN: No End in Sight – In a year of a fantastic documentaries about the war experience in Iraq and Afghanistan, this is the one impossible to forget. If this doesn’t get you to rethink all you know (or thought you know) about the current presidential administration than I don’t know what will.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): No End in Sight – Incredible what went on, and what didn’t. This documentary was very insightful. (There’s also a great book about the first year in Iraq called Imperial Life in the Emerald City. Paul Greengrass’ upcoming film based on that book uses the location and basic idea as a jumping off point, but bears no direct reference.)
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): No End in Sight – I had to pick one of the two favorites, so there it is. SiCKO is eye-opening and a great watch. (I haven’t seen Operation, Taxi or War Dance.)
Best Cinematography
THE NOMINEES: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Roger Deakins), Atonement (Seamus McGarvey), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Janusz Kaminski), No Country for Old Men (Roger Deakins), There Will Be Blood (Robert Elswit)
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): There Will Be Blood (Robert Elswit)
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Roger Deakins) – I can’t help but think Deakins is going to cancel himself out (especially considering he could have also been nominated for In the Valley of Elah), too, but that doesn’t make his visual compositions in Andrew Dominik’s criminally overlooked Western any less magnificent.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): There Will Be Blood (Robert Elswit) – Remarkable.
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): There Will Be Blood
Best Editing
THE NOMINEES: The Bourne Ultimatum, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Into the Wild, No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): The Bourne Ultimatum
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): No Country for Old Men – With a third act twist as controversial and as difficult as the one on display here, you need editors with an eye for detail unlike any others. That’s just the eye the Coen brothers have but they can’t win everything (even if, in this case, they probably deserve to).
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): No Country for Old Men
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): The Bourne Ultimatum
Best Art Direction
THE NOMINEES: American Gangster, Atonement, The Golden Compass, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, There Will Be Blood
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): Atonement – Sweeney Todd looks incredible, yes, but the world of Atonement is a world entirely of the mind. Or, more to the point, of the remembered mind, a writer putting pen to paper and reconnecting to a childhood she’d really rather forget.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Atonement
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): There Will Be Blood
Best Costume Design
THE NOMINEES: Across the Universe, Atonement, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, La Vie En Rose, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – This is more of a hope. I fear Elizabeth: The Golden Age will actually take this.
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Atonement – Everything fit perfectly. Ah-ha.
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): Atonement
Best Original Score
THE NOMINEES: 3:10 to Yuma (Marco Beltrami), Atonement (Dario Marianelli), The Kite Runner (Alberto Iglesias), Michael Clayton (James Newton Howard), Ratatouille (Michael Giacchino)
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Ratatouille (Michael Giacchino)
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): Ratatouille (Michael Giacchino) – A delightful score for a delightful film. Beltrami or Marianelli would also be worthy winners here, but this is the score I loved most this year and the one I can’t help but be pulling for.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Atonement – I can hear the score’s typewriter notes now as I type this. Ah-ha.
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): 3:10 to Yuma – Among the year’s top scores is Marco Beltrami’s best effort to date. (As much as I admire James Newton Howard’s body of work, Michael Clayton is not his very best effort.)
Best Original Song
THE NOMINEES: “Falling Slowly” (Once), “Happy Working Song” (Enchanted), “Raise it Up” (August Rush), “So Close” (Enchanted), “That’s How You Know” (Enchanted)
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): “Falling Slowly” (Once) – Question: While I loved Enchanted as much as the next girl (and can’t wait to get the Blu-ray DVD) why the heck are three – count’em three! – songs from the film nominated for an Oscar?
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): “Falling Slowly” (Once) – The year’s best song in the year’s best film.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): “Falling Slowly” (Once) - I’m looking to secure some points…
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): none of the above – Never heard any of these, but perhaps I should for the sake of writing this article. Perhaps.
Best Sound
THE NOMINEES: 3:10 to Yuma, The Bourne Ultimatum, No Country for Old Men, Ratatouille, Transformers
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): 3:10 to Yuma
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): 3:10 to Yuma
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): 3:10 to Yuma - The more love going to Yuma, the better the night.
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): 3:10 to Yuma
Best Sound Editing
THE NOMINEES: The Bourne Ultimatum, No Country for Old Men, Ratatouille, There Will Be Blood, Transformers
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): There Will Be Blood
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): There Will Be Blood
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): There Will Be Blood
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): There Will Be Blood
Best Visual Effects
THE NOMINEES: The Golden Compass, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Transformers
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Transformers
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): Transformers
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Transformers - Incredible special effects, the work performed here definitely deserves to win.
SHOULD WIN (Dennis Landmann): Transformers
Best Documentary, Short Subjects
THE NOMINEES: Freeheld, La Corona, Salim Baba, Sari’s Mother
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): Freeheld – Haven’t seen it, but how can you bet against a documentary about a dying New Jersey lesbian and police officer battling the system to give her pension to her life partner?
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Salim Baba
Best Short Film, Animated
THE NOMINEES: Even Pigeons Go to Heaven, I Met the Walrus, Madame Tutli-Putli, My Love, Peter & the Wolf
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): My Love (Moya Lyubov) – The painterly animation is stunning and beyond beautiful. Too bad it’s also boring.
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): Even Pigeons Go to Heaven (Même Les Pigeons Vont Au Paradis) – Silly, imaginative and most of all fun, it wouldn’t shock me in the slightest if this takes home the award.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): Even Pigeons Go to Heaven
Best Short Film, Live Action
THE NOMINEES: At Night, The Substitute, The Mozart of Pickpockets, Tanghi Argentini, The Tonto Woman
WILL WIN (Sara Michelle): At Night (Om Natten) – Three women in a terminal cancer ward spending time with one another during the New Year’s holiday, how can it not win?
SHOULD WIN (Sara Michelle): The Substitute (Il Supplente) – Full of life, energy and winning moments, this story of a pretend teacher reliving his childhood is an absolute joy.
WILL WIN (Dennis Landmann): At Night (Om Natten)
