The Oscars
Tonight is Oscar night. It’s a great night to review the past year of movies and watch Hollywood congratulate itself on a job well done. The tone of each year’s award ceremony just seems to get more and more obnoxiously self-gratifying every year. But that doesn’t stop me from watching it. This year should be interesting, though. There seem to be fewer solid locks to win in various categories this year than in the past and many of the most important races, including Best Picture, are completely up in the air. So I am definitely looking forward to watching this evening’s show. It should be interesting.
I’ll get to my picks in a moment, but first I want to look back and list my favorite films from the past year. I didn’t see everything, so this list is far from complete, but here is my top whatever of 2006, in no particular order: (The ones with *stars* are my top 5)
*Pan’s Labyrinth*
*Children of Men*
*V for Vendetta*
*Joyeaux Noel*(Released in the States in 2006)
*The Prestige*
Little Miss Sunshine
Curse of the Golden Flower
Monster House
Casino Royale
The Good Shepherd
Idiocracy
Rocky Balboa
Lucky Number Slevin
Superman Returns
Out of the films I saw this year, Pan’s Labyrinth really stood out among the rest. It was imaginative, entertaining, intense, and emotional. Just an amazing experience in the theater. I recently rewatched The Prestige and was even more impressed with it on the second viewing than I was the first.
Anyway, as I am running out of time before I have to go to my Oscars party, here are my picks (and my personal favorites):
Best Actor - Forest Whitaker (Peter O’Toole)
Best Supporting Actor - Eddie Murphey (Alan Arkin)
Best Actress - Helen Mirren
Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson (Abigail Breslin)
Animated Feature - Monster House
Cinematography - Pan’s Labyrinth
Editing - Babel (Children of Men)
Art Direction - Pan’s Labyrinth
Original Screenplay - Pan’s Labyrinth
Adapted Screenplay - Children of Men
Directing - The Departed
Foreign Language Film - Pan’s Labyrinth
Documentary Feature - An Inconvenient Truth
Visual Effects - Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man’s Chest
Makeup - Pan’s Labyrinth
Original Score - Pan’s Labyrinth
Costume Design - Curse of the Golden Flower
Sound Editing - Flags of Our Fathers
Sound Mixing - Flags of Our Fathers
Original Song - “Patience” - Dreamgirls
Best Picture - The Queen
Well, that’s it. Hope I get at least a couple right. Bye!
