It’s that time of the year, Oscar season. This year is pretty tough because many nominated movies were in the same genre. Winners in Bold.

PICTURE
Atonement
Juno
Michael Clayton
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood

No Country will take this one. Sure it’s overrated, but it seems like it can’t be stopped.

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

I’ll take a wild guess and go with Paul Thomas Anderson. You’d think that winning best director would also win best picture but it’s not necessarily true. Look at 2006, Crash won for best picture but Ang Lee won for best director. Doesn’t make sense to me but that’s the Oscars for you.

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

Daniel Day-Lewis deserves and will get this award. Depp will get it one of these days.

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

Ellen Page will hopefully take this one. Her role as pregnant teenager is one to be remembered.

SUPPORTING ACTOR
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

Javier Bardem as a crazed hitman is a guaranteed winner.

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Cate Blanchet – I’m Not There
Ruby Dee – American Gangster
Saoirse Ronan – Atonement
Amy Ryan – Gone Baby Gone
Tilda Swinton – Michael Clayton

Tilda Swinton was great in Clayton but I think Cate Blanchet will take it. Funny how Ruby Dee got nominated when she was only in American Gangster for about 15 minutes.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Juno – Diablo Cody
Lars and the Real Girl – Nancy Oliver
Michael Clayton – Tony Gilroy
Ratatouille – Brad Bird
The Savages – Tamara Jenkins

I want Brad Bird but they will go with Diablo Cody for Juno.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
Atonement – Christopher Hampton
Away from Her – Sarah Polley
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – Ronald Harwood
No Country for Old Men – Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
There Will Be Blood – Paul Thomas Anderson

Wow, this one is tough. I think it’ll be a close call between Anderson and Coen Brothers. But, I’ll go with the Coen brothers.

ANIMATED FEATURE
Persepolis
Ratatouille
Surf’s Up

Ratatouille will definitely win this one.

ART DIRECTION
American Gangster
Atonement
The Golden Compass
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
There Will Be Blood

This is an easy one for me: Atonement. Besides, There Will Be Blood, the rest of the nominees failed to impress.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Beaufort – Israel
The Counterfeiters – Austria
Katyn – Poland
Mongol – Kazakhstan
12 – Russia

I haven’t seen any of these movies but I’ll go with 12 just because it sounds cool.

CINEMATOGRAPHY
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

I’m surprised Elizabeth: Golden Age wasn’t nominated. Atonement was beautifully shot and Seamus should win.

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance

I’ve only seen Sicko but I’ve heard good things about No End In Sight. Sicko won’t win because Moore already won before.
The next three categories, I’ve never seen any of the movies nominated so it’s just a guess.

DOCUMENTARY SHORT
Freeheld – Cynthia Wade and Vanessa Roth
La Corona (The Crown) – Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
Salim Baba – Tim Sternberg and Francisco Bello
Sari’s Mother – James Longley

ANIMATED SHORT FILM
I Met the Walrus – Josh Raskin
Madame Tutli-Putli Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
M̻me Les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven) РSamuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
My Love (Moya Lyubov) – Alexander Petrov
Peter & the Wolf – Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman

LIVE-ACTION SHORT FILM
At Night – Christian E. Christiansen and Louise Vesth
Il Supplente (The Substitute) – Andrea Jublin
Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) – Philippe Pollet-Villard
Tanghi Argentini – Guido Thys and Anja Daelemans
The Tonto Woman – Daniel Barber and Matthew Brown

VISUAL EFFECTS
The Golden Compass
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End
Transformers

The transformation of the robots in Transformers was just astounding. The amount of details that went into it should be a guaranteed win. But then again, Oscars hate Transformers’ director Michael Bay.

COSTUME DESIGN
Across the Universe – Albert Wolsky
Atonement – Jacqueline Durran
Elizabeth: The Golden Age – Alexandra Byrne
La Vie en Rose – Marit Allen
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Colleen Atwood

Elizabeth’s costumes were amazing. It had so much texture to it and it looked genuine.

FILM EDITING
The Bourne Ultimatum – Christopher Rouse
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – Juliette Welfling
Into the Wild – Jay Cassidy
No Country for Old Men – Roderick Jaynes
There Will Be Blood – Dylan Tichenor

I’ll go with Bourne Ultimatum. It was tightly paced yet the viewers were never confused with the story.

SOUND MIXING
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
3:10 to Yuma
Transformers

Transformers sound effects were pretty awesome, especially as the robots were transforming.

SOUND EDITING
The Bourne Ultimatum
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
There Will Be Blood
Transformers

Again Transformers will take it.

ORIGINAL SCORE
Dario Marianelli – Atonement
Alberto Iglesias – The Kite Runner
James Newton Howard – Michael Clayton
Michael Giacchino – Ratatouille
Marco Beltrami – 3:10 to Yuma

James Newton Howard somber score was perfect for Michael Clayton.

ORIGINAL SONG
“Falling Slowly” – Once, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
“Happy Working Song” – Enchanted, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
“Raise It Up” – August Rush
“So Close” – Enchanted, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz
“That’s How You Know” – Enchanted, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz

Falling Slowly will take it because it’s an original song created by the two performers.

MAKEUP
La Vie en Rose – Didier Lavergne and Jan Archibald
Norbit – Rick Baker and Kazuhiro Tsuji
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End – Ve Neill and Martin Samuel

This is an easy one: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

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